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TS-850

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Kenwood TS-850

Service Manual

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Kenwood TS-850S Information

While the manual shows 35 power-on front panel adjustments, there really are 36. Function number 35 is set from the factory to the OFF state. Well, what exactly is this unknown function? This enables the transceiver to transmit on 27.500 through 28.000 mhz!
Tone control. The setup only allows Burst or Continuous modes, there is no way to turn it OFF, even though the manual indicates there is a way.
Quick memory function. You MUST pass through either the VFO A or VFO B registers to program these.. You cannot go from standard memory to quick memory directly.
Hereby a list of items that might be of interest to some:

RF Board Controls
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VR - RX BAL
VR - TX BIAS
VR - TX BAL
VR - TYP (50W output power adjust, used with S1 below)
VR - MIN (?????) / internal antenna tuner
VR - TUN (Tune mode power adjust)
VR - VSF (THIS IS THE 100W POWER OUTPUT CONTROL)
VR - SWR Protect activation
VR - PWM (Forward power meter calibration)
VR1 - RWM (Reflected power meter calibration)
VR1 - AL0 (ALC meter zero)
VR1 - ALM (ALC meter calibration)
VR1 - CPM (Processor meter calibration)
VR1 - ALG (ALC gain adjustment)

S - All Band Power Down Switch (Decreases power to 50 watts)

IF Board Controls
-----------------
VR      -
VR      -
VR      -
VR      - Beep volume
VR      - Sidetone volume
VR      - Processor adjust
VR      - ?????
VR8 & VR9 - ?????
VR1      - ?????
VR1      -
VR12 & VR13 - S Meter adjust
VR14 & VR15 - AGC adjust
VR1      - Notch filter adjust
PLEASE NOTE!
Most of these controls are 1/8" pots, so if you intend to adjust them use a VERY SMALL non-metallic tool.
My 850S also came out of the box with the RIT/XIT control not dis- playing 0.00 khz at fiducial (12 o'clock position) center. Behind the front panel in the upper right corner is the control for center adjust. It just needed a wee bit of tweaking... Along with this control on the circuit board are the master adjust- ments for the SSB slope tuning (High Cut and Low Cut).
When both top and bottom covers are removed, on the left-hand side is the FM board. There are 3 (three) pots on the board. They are FM Wide (12khz) deviation, FM Narrow (6khz) deviation, and FM Mic gain.
FM mode defaults to WIDE (12khz). This is WAY too wide for accessing any 10m repeater. Hit the 455khz filter button again for FM-N (narrow). This will set the IF to 6khz width, and you be able to work FM 10m stations. Note: The 8.83 filters are NOT selectable in FM mode.
Memory scrolling via M CH./VFO CH. You can bypass all unused channels if you press the 1 mhz button. With the button active, only stored memory channels will be displayed as the knob is rotated.
Tuneable memories. Out of the box, the radio is set up for non- tuneable memories. Just bring up setup function xx on the display, and set it to ON, and ALL memories can be tuned via the VFO. When use the M.CH/VFO CH. switch you will be returned to the original frequency & mode setting in the memory.
It may or may not be obvious to some, but the radio is capable of cross-band and/or cross-mode operation. Just pump the required modes and frequencies into memory channels or VFOs, and you're off and running. Hope you have a very broadbanded antenna!
CW message storage is lost when you power off the radio. I didn't order the DRU-2 option (yet), so I don't know whether these messages will be saved. You'd think that with everything else that is stored in RAM and backed up by battery, that Kenwood would have made pro- visions to keep recorded messages alive also. A modification????
When adding additional filters, is is necessary to set the corresponding switch on. Under the hatch on top, is a 4 position dip switch. The manual shows a picture of it, but makes no mention of their settings. This switch is necessary to inform the micro- processor of the filters' absence or presence. ON is for presence, OFF is for absence. Below is the switch diagram:
```
   -----
   | = |  <-- YK-88C-1, YK-88CN-1, YK-88SN-1
   | = |  <-- YK-88CN-1, YK-88CN-1, YK-88SN-1
   | = |  <-- No Function
   | = |  <-- YG-455C-1 or YG-455CN-1
   -----
   O   O
   N   F
       F
```
I received the DRU-2, voice recording unit this week, and installed it.Here's what I found:
The unit comes witè a lithium battery for backing up the voice messages when tèe rig is powered off.
The initial state of the DRU-2 is:

Message 1 - 8 seconds
Message 2 - 8 seconds
Message 3 - 16 seconds

You can halve the sampling rate via front panel setup control xx. This will effectively DOUBLE the time of of each message, however, the quality of voice repro- duction will suffer because of the lower sampling rate.
On playback of the messages, the microphone IS NOT disabled, so be quiet when you're transmitting stored messages.
Use the MONI function to hear what you've recorded and/or are transmitting, and tèe MIC gain control to keep the ALC in range, as the DRU-2 drives the radio much harder than the microphone input.
The high boost function and speech processor are available to the DRU-2 during transmit.
I also got the VS-2 voice unit. The voice is the same as the older VS-1 for the TS-440, and TS-940, but the unit is in a smaller package. It will speak the frequency in either English or Jápanese. There is a volume control pot on the bottom of the board whécè should be adjusted PRIOR to screwing down the VS-2. The output on my unit was very low, until I tweaked it up. Also there are jumpers on the board to speed up the voice playback... You'll need to consult the instruction page for the VS-1 for speeds, as there is nothing mentioned in the instructions for the VS-2.
A note on output power of the rig. The radio uses 2SC2789's... These devices are rated as 100 watt devices Kenwood is running the finals VERY conservatively. When playing around with output, I had the rig dead-keying 175 watts, but backed it down to 100 watts, as I didn't want to blow up the rig, but I was äefinitely smiling as the Birds' meter swung with a 250 watt slug!
The ROM chip on the digital board is socketed. Kenwood had problems witè early 440's and 940's with poor soldered connections. While it's a nice idea to allow removal and replacement of the ROM to add features/fix bugs, this might become a problem area in the future.
Hidden function!!! If you turn on the radio while holding down the VOICE button, EVERY button on the radio will acknowledge its function via morse code! This is a terrific feature for sightless hams! I can't understand why it is not mentioned in the owners manual or marketing literature!
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DréCB/19MIR000=27.805Mhz./USB.