Panel Design - Kenwood TS-990S In-Depth Manual

MECHANICAL STRUCTURE 09
The lift‑up mechanism is designed so that the bottom surface of the front base is aligned with the bottom surface of the
extension when it is unfolded, to allow the body to receive its weight at almost a right angle to the direction of gravity.
Consequently, the front base can support the heavy weight of the TS‑990S with sufficient margins and without stress to
the rotary arm.
Product Weight Force
Received Product
Weight Force
Fig. 8 Direction of the Weight Load when the TS‑990S is Lifted

Panel Design

From the TS‑870 and later HF models, we have been designing the front panels not as a design common to the series,
but as model‑specific designs representing each model's features. While we had been keeping the policy to make our
products identifiable as a KENWOOD product from any angle, we gave a digital look to the TS‑870, which was the
world's first amateur‑intended transceiver with IF DSP implementation, and gave an easy‑to‑operate look to the TS‑570
in compliance with its development concept. However, against our intention, there were market demands for a design
that looks like a conventional HF transceiver.
In that context, we started to examine the appearance of the new model from scratch, plotting its basic circuit and DSP
engineering, before the development of the TS‑990S even started. The examination was carried out from the viewpoint
of "how future KENWOOD HF transceivers shall be designed", which is not intended only for a specific transceiver.
Engineers and product designers performed a practical examination. We told the designers the usability from the
viewpoint of HF transceiver users so that they could understand ways of use of the HF transceiver, user preferences and
customs on HF transceiver use, and evaluations for our past transceivers on the market to let them examine not just the
design of the appearance. We repeated a process in which the designers drew sketches based on the usability and we
reviewed the sketches. Eventually, a design competition was held, and the design sketch shown below was selected as
the "Taste of our HF transceiver design".
Fig. 9 Design Sketch
The "design sketch" is not the sketch of the appearance used for our practical design. The allocation of the parts is not
concerned with practical implementation. The design sketch was created based on the HF transceiver usability, major
functions the flagship model must have, and other ideas.
The TS‑590S was developed prior to the TS‑990S and was designed as the designers described in the TS‑590S in‑
depth manual. At that point in time, we could not disclose the "Taste of our HF transceiver design". The TS‑590S was
developed based on the design sketch, as was the TS‑990S.
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