I have been doing a bit of thinking 
about the often reported low rf output on ssb on the kenwood ts480.
I found a fix, but it requires going in to the 
service menus.  I am not sure what it all means, 
but appearently theese new radios have menu 
adjustments for all kinds of hidden stuff.
It requires a service manual which I can't find, at least for free.
Here is the fix I found out about.  It is for the 
HX model, but I assume if you devide the numbers by two, it will work.

my new TS-480 did only give 140 W on SSB but fine on FM and CW
with easy change on service menu it give now full 
200W on SSB and I find out it can
easy do 300W on 80 but it can kill the output transistors,,,
This is how to :
Insert the adjustment plug PART #W05-0611-00 into 
the DATA jack on the main unit.
( shorting terminals 3 and 6 should do the same 
thing ). While turning the radio
on, hold down the [MIC] key and the [NR] key. 
Then remove the adjustment plug from
the DATA jack when the MENU No#. appears.
go to menu 24
write down the number you have , I change that 
number to 198 , you can try to change
it up and down and save menu and try SSB , how much it will do.
I higher the output until I got 200W out on SSB 
(around 220W on service menu) radio
can go all the way to 300 W on 80 meter but that 
will kill the output transistor
soon.
To save your new setting, go to MENU # 76 and 
press the up or down arrow button.
To EXIT the service menu, press the [MTR] key.
so good news is that kenwood have lots of power 
but bad news is that somthing is
wrong on some of the kenwoods so there can not go to full power on SSB
© Copyright mods.dk 1996 - 2005