REVIEW: KENWOOD TS-2000
BY THOMAS BROOKS, KG5ZSU
August 2021
	The Kenwood TS-2000 was my first real radio. I got it used for somewhere close to $800, and I must admit that it was probably one of the better things I’ve seen money spent on.
	First, some background. The TS-2000 was one of three radios of a product line including the TS-2000X (which included 1.2 GHz by default) and the TS-B2000. I believe the 1.2 GHz option was available for the TS-B2000 and standard TS-2000 model. These radios came out in late ‘99 if I am not mistaken, right when DSP was beginning to hit the scene. VHF/UHF operating was also popular then, including satellite work and packet, and this rig tried to tap into each of those markets. Each had a built-in 9600 baud TNC, CAT control, packet cluster tune, dual receivers, 2 HF transmit ports, 1 HF receive only port, 1 port for 2m, one for 70 cm, and one for the 1.2 GHz option, if installed. Then there were the ports for the Kenwood tuner, ports for both a CW key and a paddle, 2 speaker outputs, a serial port, the ACC2 socket for connection to a TNC or sound card, and two ports for control of amplifiers. There’s no shortage of connectors. The front panel has a 3.5 mm port for headphones, and the 8-pin mic connector. An optional voice recorder unit could be added, along with a remote head (which is the same as certain Kenwood mobiles), and a voice synthesizer. 
	After listing all of those traits, I miss using it just a little bit, but I digress....
	This thing is a beast. The manual says it weighs 17.2 pounds, but it feels heavier. The case is steel and it feels like a truck could drive over it without causing damage. The front panel has been the subject of many a forum debate due to its abnormal shape, but I never minded it. The orange backlight on the large screen was easy to read in just about all situations, and had a decent viewing angle. There are an impressive number of front panel controls: 5 single dial knobs, 3 dual-dial knobs, 44 buttons, AND a full 12 button keypad! (The price-per button is very low compared to other rigs.) There are independent controls for volume and squelch for both main and sub receivers, and tuning controls for both, depending on the other functions in use. This radio can do cross band repeat as long as the bands being used aren’t on the same antenna port. This means HF to VHF or UHF is possible. The catch is that the sub receiver—which is what gets used for cross banding—only handles FM on 2m or 70cm. This means you are always limited to those two bands to the other, or HF to VHF or UHF. Since this was intended in part for remote operating, the TNC can be enabled on either receiver to work with Kenwood’s SkyCommand system. I could not test this. However, there is no override when using the standard cross-band repeat mode (with or without DTMF control, I might add), so if the main receiver is set to HF and the squelch gets tripped, you can’t turn it on or off until the time out timer is activated in 2 minutes, assuming that the signal wasn't toggling the squelch on and off quickly! I never got to use it for HF cross banding because of that, but for FM work where you can set a tone squelch, it worked great once I got used to the slight transmit delay. There is a satellite tuning functions which will adjust the uplink or downlink frequencies simultaneously as you tune for linear “birds,” but I never tried that either.
	Enough about specs, here’s what I thought. This was a fun rig. I made a lot of QSO’s with it, and I pushed it. Hard. 100 watts output on HF and 2m, as well as 50 watts on 70cm is a lot of fun, especially when you can run FT8 at those power levels! I like to rag chew, and the fan would hardly ever kick on running FM at full power on 6m, 2m, and 70cm for several minutes. Kenwood did a very good job with heat dissipation on this one. Tuning is fun and smooth with the big knob. It almost feels analogue because of all the tuning steps. The jog dial is great for jumping around on 2m. The memory banks are nice, and the tuner did everything I needed it to to have fun. All in all, its a great rig for talking, but there were a few things I didn’t like too much. 
	The DSP isn’t all that great. The filter bandwidths are easily adjustable for SSB and FM on the main receiver, the sub receiver’s bandwidths are fixed, except for wide and narrow FM. That isn’t a problem for phone on either receiver. The problem is, for digital modes on the main receiver, you can’t shrink the filter down very far on SSB mode unless you enable the packet filter setting in the menu, and then you can’t fine tune the bandwidth for phone! That’s annoying! The noise reduction is lousy. The IC-7100 and IC-7300 blows the TS-2000 out of the water here. Kenwood also made a very big oops: the CAT command TX; doesn’t key up the audio from the rear port: it’s from the mic connector! So for digital modes, you have to use an external PTT interface that drives the PTT line on the ACC2 connector. Second, the serial port requires a null modem cable, not a standard cable. Also, I think it needs true RS-232C levels, not TLL, so you may need a level shifting circuit using MOSFET’s or something like that.(I haven't confirmed this.) There is no internal sound card, so you have to add that, too. The internal speaker is okay, but I liked a larger external one better. The 1/4 inch connector for headphones on the front was a pain since hardly any phones use those connectors. This radio pulls about 2 amps on receive with the backlight and sub receiver running. Key down on FM, it pulls a little over 20 amps. This is a lot for portable or emergency/off-grid work, and it weighs so much that you don’t want to carry it very far. You can’t mount it on its side, it has to stay flat, and Kenwood stopped making the remote head. (And the TS-2000 lineup at the time of writing.) Those cost a lot, too. The internal TNC was just okay. I never used 9.6 kB, but 1200 was alright. I liked my PK-232MBX or Direwolf better, but that’s just me. It did not want to play well with Winlink Express or XASTIR for that matter, but I did get it to work after some trial and error. Oh, and if you enable “Packet Mode” to use the TNC, you can’t use CAT control. Another pain.
	But, if you want to chat or chew the rag with a local group (like I was doing for years) or play with digital modes now and then, and use packet every once in a while, then the TS-2000 isn’t bad: it just has some limitations. As for the TX audio quality, I didn’t think it was great, but I only ever got good reports. On RX, everything I have seen said that it isn’t that great, but with 100 watts, I don’t think I was ever talking farther than I could hear. With a 1.5 kW amp, maybe that would change.
	If you have some cash and want to try something different, then give the TS-2000 a shot. Its a little overkill for repeater work, but the 100 watts output on 2m and 6m is quite handy. I wish I had room to leave it sitting on my desk along side something like an IC-7100, but I don't. If I did, I'd probably use the TS-2000 more than the ICOM, but that's probably just old habits dieing slowly....