The rig is 20 years old and I still have not had to replace the lithium battery which back up the memories! Turn the memory knob SLOWLY and it will behave. I am a casual SSB ham and do not have any extensive experience with any other rig. I got it new for $900 at HRO when it first appeared. Marry it up to an AT-250 and maybe a ClearSpeech DSP speaker to cut the carriers and background white noise on HF and you won't know you're NOT operating something much newer.Įasy to use first (and so far my only) HF/6m rig But today, if you can find a nice example of a 680 and simply want it for SSB voice and CW communications it's a hard radio to beat. I sold mine in 2005, some five years after acquiring my also new IC-706Mk2G at Dayton. I've heard of problems with the rotary selector for the memory channels, but also never experienced these either. They never bothered me nor electrically/mechanically failed me in the 13 years I owned the radio. Some reviewers complain about the slider controls, but usually mine were set and forget. This was NOT the MFJ-1278's fault but definitely a characteristic of the TS-680S's slow switching between transmit and receive. The radio's slowness during exchanges when using these modes would make it lose synchronization and "get lost", killing the QSO after 3 or 4 short "go arounds". This made the 680 transceiver useless for the older digital modes like PACTOR & AMTOR.
The only complaint I had for the 680 was that the T/R turn-around time was pretty close to 100ms. That desk mike had excellent, "Kenwood Quality" transmit audio. The YK-88 500Hz CW filter was a great add-on for operating A1 mode on crowded bands.Īn MC-80 microphone rounded out my Kenwood station. The pair worked seamlessly together, and it was fun to listen to the grinding of the servo motors rotating the variable capacitors when the AT-250 was tuning my VSWR to an absolute minimum. I eventually found a used AT-250 automatic ATU to use with the 680 and bought it, too. I truly liked it, and chose it over the close-sibling TS-140S because I wanted the 10 Watt 6 Meter coverage over the 140's VOX capability, even though the 680 was slightly more expensive. Everything else for HF in the first 22 years I was a ham was purchased used. The TS-680S was the first brand new radio I owned. I powered it with a Motorola linear power supply and fed most of its RF into a Cushcraft R5 vertical. I bought mine new in 1992 at the now defunct AES "associate store", Erickson Communications, in Chicago. Solid transceiver with minor shortcomings