Kenwood TS-711 Multimode 2 Meter Transceiver

A desktop VHF rig that does CW, SSB, and FM when most of its competition only knew how to do FM.

Overview

Flip the RF PWR knob on a healthy TS-711 and it will wind from two watts up to a full 25, though sources conflict on the maximum output (10W vs 25W). That is a lot of headroom for a radio that most operators only ever used for local FM chatter. The adjustability is the tell. Kenwood built this as a 144MHz all-mode transceiver, not an FM box. The front panel has mode buttons for CW, USB, LSB, and FM, with no AM anywhere in the lineup. Coverage runs the full two-meter band, 144MHz to 148MHz, four megahertz wide. Tuning steps go down to 5 kHz. It is a knob-and-dial, button-pushing radio in the classic sense, and the people who still run them tend to describe them as exactly that.

The TS-711 shares a lot with Kenwood's HF line. Owners of the TS-440 note that the TS-711a is, more or less, the two-meter twin of that radio - similar features, identical styling, introduced at about the same time, and even sharing accessories like the computer interface. The catch is that the TS-711 is the less capable sibling. It's missing many of the connections that give the HF unit its flexibility. What it gains is a built-in power supply. Unlike the HF model, the two-meter version plugs straight into the wall, with rear-panel power connectors for both 120V and 13.8 volt DC.

The family is small. There was a third member alongside the TS-711: the TS-811, a 430MHz UHF unit that collectors now treat as the rare one. Kenwood grouped the two in a single service manual. The TS-711 A/E and TS-811 A/B/E share a title, and according to one source the PCBs themselves are the same. TS-711A, TS-711E, and TS-711A/E all appear in the documentation, though the sources don't spell out what differentiates them.

Key Features

40 Memories with Split Storage

Forty memory locations is the headline number, and each one stores frequency, shift, and tone. The last three memories are the useful ones. They can each hold two separate frequencies to be worked as a split, which is handy for repeater or cross-band work.

RIT and IF Shift

The receiver can be nudged off frequency by up to 9.99 kHz using the RIT control, and the passband itself can be shifted with the IF shift control. Both tools matter far more on SSB and CW than on FM.

Tone Board and 37-Tone Selection

With the optional tone card installed, the unit selects between 37 tones spanning 67 to 250.3 Hz. The tone board was an option back in the eighties, so check for it first on a used example. A radio without it is a different proposition. There's also a DCS feature that lets the radio respond to tone alerts or calls, plus a 600kHz non-adjustable offset for repeater work.

Speech Chip and Morse Mode Beeps

This unit has the optional speech chip, and it announces frequency and mode changes in a pleasant female voice. The owner who documented it calls it "80's high tech" and admits it now seems kind of silly and quaint. Separately, hitting any mode button generates a Morse code beep announcing the new mode.

Scanning and Computer Control

This is one of the earlier units capable of computer control, though it takes an optional adapter board plus a level converter for RS-232C. The optional personal computer interface allows simple BASIC-language programming of major functions. The scanning features come from that early computer control and an eighties-era microprocessor. You can scan segments of the band or the memory locations, and flag a particular memory for an alert any time it shows activity.

Serviceability and Internal Layout

The radio can be serviced and upgraded by a person with nominal skill, which is not a claim every eighties transceiver can make. Pop the cover and the layout is legible: the VS-1 voice card and tone board sit in the upper right, with the power supply and finals to the left.

Historical Context

No production years are documented for the TS-711 in the available sources. The only dating clue is that it was introduced at about the same time as the TS-440, with no year attached to either. The positioning is clear: Kenwood's middle range series, with the TS-711 covering 144MHz and the TS-811 covering 430MHz. The TS-711a is described as more or less the two-meter twin of the TS-440 - similar features, identical styling, shared accessories - but a bit less capable overall, missing many of the connections that give the HF unit its flexibility.

Certain VHF and UHF radios from a few decades ago, built when the bands were still taken seriously, are still sought out. The TS-711, along with its rare UHF brother the TS-811, is one such unit. The main draw is all-mode operation when the majority of two-meter rigs are FM only. Most activity on two meters is FM, which makes it hard for many hams to justify the expense of an all-mode radio. The ones who want CW and SSB on VHF know what they're looking at. To use it to full potential, the conventional setup is a vertical antenna for FM and a horizontal dipole for SSB.

Collectibility & Value

Used examples surface on eBay in the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, and Singapore, along with HifiShark and RigReference. Listing titles are inconsistent about power output. Some describe the radio as "10W," which conflicts with the 25W figure from owner documentation, and the discrepancy is probably a listing error rather than a real variant. No current market prices with figures were captured in the available sources, and no original price is documented either, so asking prices have nothing to be checked against. RigReference collects prices paid by real hams over the years to help estimate the value of a used TS-711E, but no specific value is published in the material reviewed here.

Maintenance notes are thin. A memory backup battery is shared across the TS-440S, TS-940S, TS-711A, and TS-50S, and replacement cells are listed on eBay. A dead backup battery is the obvious first suspect on any of these. Beyond that, no common failure modes are documented for the model specifically. The radio is serviceable by someone with nominal skill, and the service manual - covering circuit descriptions, adjustment procedures, and troubleshooting - is out there.

Owners have run these into a Mirage linear amplifier rated at 160 watts with multi-mode operation including FM, drawing a claimed 20 amps. That's an accessory, not a TS-711 spec.