Kenwood TS-2000 delayed transmission

So I have my TS-2000 in house, finally! The rig looks super and it feels quite comfortable using it too
. Tried it in a few QSO’s on HF and VHF and after some tweaking the sound is superb! As a lot of other people mention, the VHF could use a mast mounted preamp to get sensitivity like a normal VHF-only rig. Will look into that, but that’s not the main dish for me

.

As I’m into digital modes, especially PSK and Winmor, I had to connect it to my computer via an interface. I didn’t want a “cowboy” solution, and as audio transformers are hard to get and quite expensive, I went for a ready made box – the TigerTronics Signalink USB
. It all hooks up nicely to the TS-2000 and the process is foolproof. When everything was connected and set up, I tried some PSK31 to see if I could have some quick contacts, but things started to look ugly.. When the Signalink is keying the radio, it fades the modulated signal (fading in) and takes about three-four seconds before I have a stable output
. At first I thought that the Signalink might be the cause for this, so I checked all connectors and the jumper settings according to the schematic that was provided
. Everything looked good. Next up was resetting the radio to see if something was set wrong, then I checked all settings again, but still giving me the same result.

Ok, further investigation was needed, so I opened the Signalink and had it connected while open so I could take out the jumper links while transmitting. I set DM780 to send a PSK31 carrier and took out the audio jumper to the radio. While the radio was transmitting, I put the jumper on to the pin to see if the audio would “fade in” at that point – and it didn’t. Ok, so it might be the PTT, so I tried the other option and lifted the PTT from it’s socket and put the audio jumper back in. Voila! When keying the radio, the audio would slowly fade in. Bugger, this sounds like a radio issue 🙁

After some tedious searching around the net, I stumbled upon this bulletin from Kenwood: http://www.zr5sdb.co.za/things/Radios/TS-2000/TECHNICAL%20UPDATE-032.pdf

Hmm, ok – I need to get those parts then, but why would I need to change the SRAM* flash? It’s not a problem soldering it (these components are gigantic compared to what I work with on a daily basis), but sourcing them is another league.
* Apparantly this is a flash IC, not SRAM as Kenwood states in the service manual.

While looking around I also found a probable workaround; setting the control to the sub-band while operating the ACC2-jack. I have to try this when I get home..