Kenwood TS-890S worth it in 2024? 

This is not only become iconic , but it's a fab investment, possibly the finest radio ever

The best guy in ML. Highly recommended, awesome customer service.

I love my 890, it does everything I want it to do. I keep finding new buttons to push, yesterday I found the MONI button. It enables me to hear my transmission through my speaker or headphones and it is adjustable! Fabulous radio!

The trouble for me with a big money purchase of anything (this is big money to me) is to know how future proof the product is. Kenwood show nothing other than they are pulling out of the market - look at their range. The 590SG - 10 years old? The 990 - gone. They do a few mobile a few handhelds and have not produced any SDR stuff? This may be the best radio in the world but in my opinion it could become another DeLorean.

About time someone said just how good the TS-890s really is, well done . I've always regarded this radio as a, 'sleeper' that will be become appreciated as time goes by . For me the TS-990s was wonderful but true overkill and this is just right visually and operationally a real , users radio. .I'm a technical writer, reviewer and photographer and I love my TS-890s it's worth every penny . I've had it almost a year now and I still haven't run out of features and benefits to explore. The CW performance is phenomenal ! I love how you can set/limit the frequency span of the display. It's so useful on crowded bands or contests helping you to find the gaps . My favourite feature of all is that if you tune off the end of the display the radio will re set the cursor to the centre and ad just the tuning range on the bottom of the display to match so that you're never just reliant on the frequency counter once you've gone off scale. - You didn't include it but it also does RTTY . There's an on-screen clock for logging, and I love to set mine with bar graph display of ALC and SWR displayed just below the bandwidth display, top right really gives you confidence that all is well. - love it , love it ! Richard G3UGF

That’s a gorgeous radio. If I decide to operate QRO, I might have to get me one of these.

Mark.. First class review mate. Top Banana. Callum.

Love the 890, have the 990,890,590 available here, but for ease of use it the 890 every time. Two 890's in the shack one on HF/6/4m on Gemini DX 1200 with the other on 6/4m 300w amp, then they are paired up for our contest ops on HF. Thanks for your presentation.

Not having dual receive was the killer for me and no I couldn’t jump to the 990 a bit too much $$! But the 890s is a beautiful radio indeed thank you 73

Still own my TS-940 and only occasionally operate but getting the bug for a new radio. 7610 looks impressive but I see the 890 was made to follow the 940. The case dimensions and weight are almost identical to 940. 7610 looks like quality rig but half the weight. For extra 900 dollars, you get a heftier device built to almost mil specs. BTW bought the 940 used in 1998 and almost flawless since it was used a lot for first ten years I had it

I saw the preview and though "ML&S are teasing a big announcement at Hamvention"...and yet, here we are yet again. Sigh. Come on JVCKenwood...we all have thousands of $ and Ł to spend, ICOM has sold over 100 THOUSAND 7300's...and still you can't even give us a glimmer of hope in 2024. Sigh. Love you guys from across-the-pond 73 de KN4HGI - your pal, Thumpy

Great video. Had mine for about 3 years. Solidly built. Always get good audio reports. Learnt a few tricks from the video. 73.

You missed the center scroll that Icom & Yaesu does not have. Also the Sliderule SWL screen is incredible well done. 👍 One adjustment I wished it had was the ability to tune at the 0.1kHz level. My Icom & Yaesu do.

I loved mine, but the 990s I had off you was a step up..slightly. 890s is a fantastic bit of kit.

Good summary, the build quality and feel of the TS-890s is exceptional. Y

I have one. Best rig I've had. Just beware the auto tuners are eating themselves due to faulty caps. There is a TSB on it, and you have to ship the radio to them (expensive) AFTER it goes out, not before. I have a LDG external tuner on mine to save me from future headaches.

Great video. Learned a lot and now able to use many features I was not aware of.

With the speed of today's technology older rigs without SDR are becoming yesterday's obsolete high end. My 990 has a great receiver but the FTDX 101 and the FTDX 10 are just as pleasant to listen too. The same with the IC 7600 compared to the IC 7610. The SDR is just perfect. My TS 990 is still my main but not for the receive or transmit. It's just a buitiful rig . And the FTDX 10 is becoming a perfect entry into the modern SDR architecture. Kenwood needs to breakout with a SDR line. 73,s

Bravo! clear and well-spoken Grazie!

I had one and it was the best rig I've ever used. I sold it to a friend who wanted it really badly and kind of regret it now.

I’m going to have one of these… 😵‍💫 Lot of money yes, but better to get what you want than wishing you had 🤔 whatever your choice is. Thanks for the demo… can see you like this Kenwood because you had your arm around it all the time… 😊 Best wishes to everyone.73 💙

Excellent review as usual…I’ve had the 990 and really liked it.. but it was getting old so I changed it.. unfortunately the 890 was out of my price range… for DX guys, it has no second VFO.. but great kit. Encode and decide is excellent as mentioned..

Many radios limit the IF bandwidth which of course is usually desirable; however, this hamstrings (pardon the pun) digital modes like FT8. My favorite '890S feature is the 15kHz roofing filter -- you get a bigger waterfall (you can see more stations)!

excellent review. Brian VE3gue

Beautiful radio

I’ve had an IC 7610 for 4 years. I wish I had gone with a Kenwood

Hi,good interesting video, well explained, it seems all the flagship models, in day to day operation,there's properly not much in it regarding tx/rx perceived performance, if so I think it boils down to the aesthetics,or how it looks, and not of course forgetting the price, maybe after operating one I might think differently, but I am very happy with the Icom 7610, well that's my 2 cert worth, 73s from Rotterdam 🙏

I run one with an Elecraft 500Watt AMP and Tuner. I personally do not think there is anything better for this bracket of radio.

I would hope it would be quality at that price

I just got my TS-890s a few months ago, upgraded from Yaesu FT-991A(keeping it for the UHF/VHF) I wanted a real full size base station with buttons and not menu driven. I paired this with a Heil PR-10 microphone (why doesn't Kenwood include one for the price) and I use the standard eq settings for TX/RX and adjusted mic gain and ACL, nothing but great reports of how clean and clear my audio is. I was looking at this and the Yaesu 101, I am glade I chose the TS-890s. I had the extra filter installed, I like how High Cut and Low Cut helps reduce interference from other station that is close. Now just looking for a screen protector.

I want one

Noted your comment about the acceleration facility of the main tuning control. I have a 7300 (supplied by you) which has that and one feature I would hate to lose is not acceleration, but the ability (on Mhz) to move across the whole of the display area in just over half a turn of the dial. Can the 890 be configured to do that with the main tuning control or do you have to use a separate control for that purpose please?

I love my 990 (from you guys) in fact the only thing the 890 does better is that you can have the "analogue" signal meter alongside the waterfall option - the 990 doesn't allow this! Build quality is superb as you say Mark. Thanks for the good video.

It has TS-890 on the front and not the TS-890S, why the S?

I thought Kenwood was getting out of the Ham Radio business.

I have this radio and it's fantastic. Been a long time Kenwood radio fan. However I'm not so impressed that they have nothing new to offer at Hamvention this year...pretty poor show. The 990 is discontinued and has been around since 2013 so anyone looking for a top spec, dual VFO radio is out of luck when looking at Kenwood for this, then you have the shack in the box TS2000 which was a great starter radio for those wanting something that does everything...that's been discontinued after a very long run(18 years) and there's no replacement for that. Then you have mobile 2/70 digital....nothing for that. Seems to me as if Kenwood are winding down their amateur radio efforts bit by bit. I was really hoping we'd see a flagship SDR based HF radio announced this week from them to compete with the Likes of Yaesu and Icom and others.

Thanks !! PA3CRL