Hi.

Yes I can, because I have owned both radios.  The Kenwood TS680S was a 
Kenwood TS140S that had the option for VOX removed, a preamp added, and 
coverage on 6 meters at 10 watts.  The Kenwood TS690S was a Kenwood TS450S 
with extended receive to 60 MHz, and 6 meters added at 50 watts of power.

The TS680S required purchase of the VOX4 accessory VOX unit if you wanted 
to run VOX operation.  It had no voice option and no auto tuner option.

The TS690S uses a VS2 voice synthesizer, and can take an AT450 auto tuner 
which provides auto tuner operation on 80 through 10 meters.  Ignoring the 
fact that the auto tuner doesn't cover 160 meters or 6 meters, it is a 
fabulous tuner--one of the best internal auto tuners I've ever worked 
with.  On the bands that it covers, it actually outperforms the LDG 
AT200Pro auto tuner, and the AT200Pro is not a bad tuner.

Unless it was marketed elsewhere in the world, and just not marketed here, 
I do not ever recall a radio that was a TS440S plus 6 meters.  However, 
there was a radio that was a cosmetic match for the TS440S.  That would 
have been the Kenwood TS670S, which covered 40, 15, 12, 10, and 6 meters at 
10 watts, and had general coverage receive with the addition of a general 
coverage receive module.  The TS670S also had a speech option.  It used the 
Kenwood VS1 voice synthesizer.  I wonder if you are thinking of this radio 
instead of the TS680S.

The TS670S wasn't as popular as the newer 6 meter radios, but it was a 
pretty decent radio.  I had a friend who was blind, and has now passed 
away, who had one of these radios and if someone has a chance to pick up 
one of these radios, it is absolutely worth picking up.  The voice boards 
can still be readily gotten from the PIEXX company, and I think it took the 
same tone board as the TS711A and the TS811A.  If this is the case (it 
would be the TU5 board), it is also available from the PIEXX Company.

Incidentally, the TS670S was introduced at the same time as the TS440S, the 
TS711A, and the TS811A, and if you had deep enough pockets to pick up the 
four of them, they looked pretty sharp sitting side by side.

73, de Lou K2LKK



At 07:55 AM 6/11/2006 -0400, you wrote:
>Hi everyone,
>I've been watching this thread with some puzzlement. I must  be falling
>victim to the same age issues you guys are mentioning because I am pretty
>certain that the TS680 was the 6-meter included version of the TS440 and the
>TS690 was the 6-meter included version of the TS450.
>
>Can somebody straighten me out? What was the 6-meter included version of the
>TS440?
>
>73
>
>
>Ron Miller
>N6MSA
>Clearwater Florida
>SKYPE: arjay1
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>On Behalf Of Louis Kim Kline
>Sent: Saturday, June 10, 2006 6:53 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Kenwood TS 680
>
>Hi.
>
>Yeah, me too!  I'd like to find out how to get young, again <grin> !
>
>73, de Lou K2LKK
>
>
>
>At 04:27 PM 6/10/2006 +0100, you wrote:
> >Sorry Lou
> >
> >My mistake, getting the ts-680 and ts-690 mixed up.  Must be getting
> >old.
> >
> >
> >On 9 Jun 2006 at 22:18, Louis Kim Kline wrote:
> >
> > > Hi Keith.
> > >
> > > You are thinking of the TS690S, which is a great radio for blind
> > > operators.  Unfortunately, the TS680S was a Kenwood TS140S with 6
> > > meters added on.  It used a double conversion receiver with first IF
> > > at 40.455MHz and a 2nd IF at 455 KHz.  The receiver didn't have the
> > > best strong signal characteristics in the world, but at the time I
> > > was 37 miles outside the city, so it didn't matter that much to me.
> > > I did notice a tendency to
> > pick
> > > up  an image off the 1st IF that would bring FM broadcast
> > > interference
> > into
> > > the upper frequencies.  This wasn't a real serious problem in rural
> > > areas, but could get to be a problem in urban areas.  I would think,
> > > however,
> > that
> > > a decent low pass filter would knock that down quite a bit.
> > >
> > > The TS680S had 31 memories, and the last 10 memories were tunable
> > > memories where you could program a lower limit and an upper limit
> > > and the radio would just tune the memory between the two limits.
> > > This was great for setting limits just inside your band privileges
> > > so that you never had to worry about being out of band.  The TS690S
> > > does this as well, except the the TS690S has 100 memories.
> > >
> > > The TS680 is not good from two standpoints--it has no provision for
> > > a
> > voice
> > > synthesizer, and it does not have any provision for direct frequency
> > > entry.  There is no provision for controlling an auto tuner from the
> > > TS680 either, although you could run most of the popular auto tuners
> > > in a stand alone mode where you initiate tuning from the auto tuner
> > > rather than from the radio, and you take the care to make sure that
> > > you cut the power back before you initiate tuning the antenna.
> > >
> > > One thing I will say about the TS680 is that it had a built in
> > > preamp that made it extremely sensitive on 10 meters and 6 meters.
> > > If I still had usable vision and lived a few miles out of the city,
> > > I wouldn't
> > hesitate to
> > > buy another one, but as a blind person, I wouldn't be interested.
> > >
> > > 73, de Lou K2LKK
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > At 11:35 PM 6/9/2006 +0100, you wrote:
> > > >Hi Andy,
> > > >
> > > > From what I can remember, this is a ts-450 with 6 metres included.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >On 9 Jun 2006 at 16:23, andy m0ceg wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Hello All,  Does anyone know any thing about this Kenwood rig
> > > > > the
> > > > TS680,  I
> > > > > believe it has six meters on this rig not quite sure.
> > > > > Regards
> > > > > Andrew Shipp
> > > > >
> > > > > Located Northamptonshire  UK
> > > > >
> > > > > Home phone...+44,0,1604 517007
> > > > > Mobile Orange network 07891809892
> > > > >
> > > > > Contact me on
> > > > >
> > > > > Msn andyshipp54
> > > > >
> > > > > Skype andyshipp55,
> > > > >
> > > > >  or email [log in to unmask]
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > __________ NOD32 1.1589 (20060609) Information __________
> > > > >
> > > > > This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
> > > > > http://www.eset.com
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >Keith
> > > >
> > > >- - - -
> > > >
> > > >Keith Barrett
> > > >email <[log in to unmask]>
> > > >Website www.barrettpianos.co.uk
> > > >Amateur radio callsign gw4nby
> > > >Corntown, South Wales
> > >
> > > Louis Kim Kline
> > > A.R.S. K2LKK
> > > Home e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
> > > Work e-mail:  [log in to unmask] Work Telephone:  (585)
> > > 697-5753
> > >
> > >
> > > __________ NOD32 1.1591 (20060610) Information __________
> > >
> > > This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
> > > http://www.eset.com
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >Keith
> >
> >- - - -
> >
> >Keith Barrett
> >email <[log in to unmask]>
> >Website www.barrettpianos.co.uk
> >Amateur radio callsign gw4nby
> >Corntown, South Wales
>
>Louis Kim Kline
>A.R.S. K2LKK
>Home e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
>Work e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
>Work Telephone:  (585) 697-5753

Louis Kim Kline
A.R.S. K2LKK
Home e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
Work e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
Work Telephone:  (585) 697-5753