At the risk of evoking the wrath of anyone who may be trying to sell a 
TS440, here is why I won't sell mine, and especially not to a new ham 
if I were to sell it.

Many of them, especially those in the first run like mine is, do not 
age gracefully.

The key pad has a high failure rate. The only replacement is an after 
market key pad that is pretty pricey, because Kenwood no longer stocks 
that part, or many others for that matter.

The other big problem for older TS440's is the tendency of two of the 
phase locked loop circuits to fail. This will cause the display to 
show only dots, and usually also results in a dead receiver. The fix 
for this problem is a re-alignment if you are lucky, but usually means 
a re-build of one or both of the PLL circuits.

Either way, most of the Kenwood repair shops will try to talk you out 
of spending the $300 minimum it will take to fix that problem.

This aging problem is very unfortunate, because the TS440 would 
otherwise be a stable standard of simplicity, and a wonderful starter 
rig. For that matter, it would be a good rig for anybody, startup or 
otherwise.

The TS440 was released in April of 1986 at Dayton. Mine was bought in 
May of that year.

While my PLL circuits haven't unlocked, the keypad is beginning to 
have that serious bounce where each button writes its number 2 or 3 
times each time you push it. The receiver in mine still works, but the 
rig needs a full alignment because the audio response is different 
between upper and lower sideband. That is a sure sign that several 
circuits have drifted out of tolerance. A full alignment is a project 
of several hours, and not one for the winner of the Golden Screwdriver 
Award.





Mike Duke, K5XU
American Council of Blind Radio Amateurs