‰ NOW 40 WPM ‰ FIGURE 2, THE KEYING WAVEFORM IS EXCELLENT WITH THE DEFAULT RISE TIME. FIGURE 3 SHOWS THAT THE KEYING SIDEBANDS ARE ALSO EXCELLENT, AMONG THE CLEANEST WEVE SEEN. AT 6 MS RISE TIME, THE SPURS AT 1 KHZ AWAY FROM THE CARRIER ARE MORE THAN 70 DB DOWN, AND AT 2 KHZ AWAY THEY ARE MORE THAN 80 DB DOWN. AS THE RISE TIME DECREASES, THE KEYING WAVEFORM CORNERS GET SHARPER, THE SPURS GET PROGRESSIVELY STRONGER, AND YOUR SIGNAL IS MORE LIKELY TO INTERFERE WITH THOSE OPERATING MIC. I ALSO RECEIVED GOOD REPORTS WHEN I ENGAGED THE BUILT IN SPEECH PROCESSOR. THE TRANSMIT MONITOR FUNCTION AND ALC LEVEL METER MADE IT EASY TO EVALUATE THE SETTINGS. THE TRANSMIT AUDIO EQUALIZATION IS SOMEWHAT DIFFERENT THAN IN MANY RADIOS I HAVE USED. RATHER THAN THE FREQUENTLY ENCOUNTERED EQUALIZATION BY FREQUENCY BAND, THE TS 590SG MENU OFFERS SEVEN DIFFERENT COMBINATIONS OF BASS AND HIGH END BOOST OR CUT. I FOUND IT EASY TO GET THE HIGH END BOOST THAT WORKED BEST FOR MY VOICE AND MIC, BUT THOSE WHO WOULD LIKE TO ADJUST BOTH HIGH AND LOW ENDS OF THE VOICE SPECTRUM INDEPENDENTLY WILL HAVE TO DO IT OUTSIDE THE RADIO. I FOUND THAT THE VOICE OPERATED TRANSMIT VOX WORKED VERY WELL. WITHOUT A LOT OF FUSS, I COULD GET SWITCHING ON A FRACTION OF A SYLLABLE, WITHOUT FALSE TRIGGERING FROM THE SPEAKER. IN ADDITION TO EXCELLENT TRANSMIT AUDIO, THE TS 590SG PROVIDES FINE SOUNDING, CRISP AND UNDISTORTED RECEIVE AUDIO WHETHER USING ITS INTERNAL TOP FIRING SPEAKER, HEADPHONES, OR AN EXTERNAL SPEAKER. OTHER VOICE MODES THE TS 590SG SUPPORTS BOTH AM AND FM VOICE OPERATION IN ADDITION TO SSB. ON AM, THE TRANSCEIVER CAN PUT OUT 100 W PEP, WHICH IS AND OTHER INFORMATION ARE ALSO REMEMBERED. FOR EXAMPLE, YOU COULD STORE SETTINGS FOR THE CW, DIGITAL MODE, AND SSB PORTIONS OF EACH BAND. THE SAME KEYPAD CAN BE USED TO ENTER A FREQUENCY MANUALLY, OR YOU CAN TOUCH THE MHZ BUTTON AND THEN USE THE MULTI/CH KNOB TO SHIFT FREQUENCY IN 1 MHZ STEPS. THERE ARE A TOTAL OF 120 MEMORY CHANNELS, FIVE OF WHICH ARE ASSIGNED BY DEFAULT TO THE 60 METER CHANNELS AND 10 OF WHICH ARE INTENDED FOR SCAN LIMITS, BUT CAN BE USED AS SIMPLEX MEMORY CHANNELS AS WELL. THE REGULAR CHANNELS CAN STORE RECEIVE AND TRANSMIT FREQUENCY, MODE, CTCSS TONE FREQUENCY, A NAME, AND THE DESIRED BANDWIDTH A OR B SETTING. IN ADDITION, THE ARCP 590G SCREEN CAN BE USED TO SELECT FREQUENCY OR ENABLE SCANNING FEATURES, INCLUDING A VISUAL SCAN FUNCTION THAT WORKS LIKE A SIMPLE ONE SHOT PANADAPTER. ON THE AIR AT W1ZR I USED THE TS 590SG AS MY MAIN HF AND 6 METER TRANSCEIVER OVER SEVERAL WEEKS AND FOUND IT QUITE COMPETENT. I DID MISS THE SECOND RECEIVER IN MY REGULAR RADIO, BUT OTHERWISE THE SG WOULD MEET ALL OF MY OPERATING REQUIREMENTS AND PREFERENCES. SSB OPERATION VOICE OPERATION USING SSB WORKED QUITE WELL. I TRIED IT WITH SEVERAL MICROPHONES, INCLUDING MY STATION DESK MIC A MIX OF ASTATIC GRIP STAND, ASTATIC 10 D HOUSING, AND HEIL HC 5 DYNAMIC ELEMENT, THE SUPPLIED KENWOOD HAND MIC, AND A HEIL PRO 7 HEADSET. I RECEIVED FINE REPORTS USING EACH ‰ END OF 35 WPM TEXT ‰ QST DE W1AW ƒ