I worked the IARU contest off-and-on through the evening last night, finally throwing in the towel after midnight.
I'll have to admit that I'm a little surprised at how well the old Kenwood TS-430S fared in the contest. I ran the rig hard on both ends, transmit and receive and it did a fine job.
Naturally, there's only so much you can do with an inverted vee and 100 watts. But since all of my contesting has been done with this same handicap, I know what to expect from my station. And despite the “old technology” of the TS-430S, it was more than adequate. I never did get the Vox adjusted to my liking, but then again, I didn't spend a lot of time fooling with it.
On 20 phone, the IF shift was a big help in working stations less than 2 kc apart. Naturally it doesn't compare to the DSP filtering of my IC-756PROIII, but it still performed fine. I suspect with a yagi and an amplifier, the receive performance (and related filtering) would play a role in getting extra points.
If I sound rather enamoured by the TS-430S, I suppose I am. I bought a mint TS-430S many years ago at the Indianapolis Hamfest, and I turned around and solid it for what I had in it to a local guy. It was equipped with the FM board and some filters too. I didn't regret it at the time, but I do now, for what its worth.
I've seen several TS-430S sell for about $300, and that's not a bad price for a quality HF rig. I wondered what the influx of newly upgraded Generals and Extras would do to the equipment market, and I'm not sure it's done much. You can buy a new HF rig — with bells and whistles — for less than $800 (several brands, in fact). Many of the new HF hams I've heard bought new (or newer) rigs rather than buy a golden oldie (as a vintage mid-1980s rig, I guess that makes it “old”, hi hi). Sometimes I think a very basic rig is the best first HF rig. The IC-718 is probably the best value — available from some dealers for less than $600.
I've got to quit liking this TS-430 so much … I actually stopped last night to read a QTH.com ad that listed the 430's mobile mounting bracket. I can only imagine what the XYL would say about sharing her side of the car with a TS-430S … maybe that's something better left unimagined!