Every function I use on this radio has its own knob or button. No touchscreen, no scope, no hunting through menus to switch the noise blanker. In 2026 that makes the Kenwood TS-590SG look old next to newer rigs, and it is also the reason it stays on my desk.
Behind the panel sits a hybrid down-conversion superhet with 500 Hz and 2.7 kHz roofing filters, 100 W on 160 through 6 m, and a built-in tuner. Kenwood no longer makes it. If you want one now you are shopping used, and that changes the buying advice more than any spec.
A front panel you can run without looking
The tuning knob is heavy and smooth. The LCD is large and clear, and almost everything is one press away. A newly licensed ham can sit down at it and be on the air without opening the manual, which I can't say for most current HF radios.
I have spent time on the touchscreen-and-menu rigs, the FT-991, the FTDX10 and the FT-710, and I keep reaching past them for this one. The PF keys take whatever function you want closer to hand. Older eyes manage it well, and so do some visually impaired operators, especially with the VGS-1 voice guide fitted.
What you give up is the picture. There is no spectrum scope and no waterfall. I'll come back to how I got one anyway.
The receiver is the reason to buy it
On a crowded band the 590SG stays calm. Close-in rejection is strong and the CW and SSB filtering is tight. With the 500 Hz roofing filter in line I can copy a weak station sitting right beside a loud one, the kind of thing that matters with big-power neighbours or in a CW contest. I have taken the CW passband down to 50 Hz and it is still usable.
The audio is warm and natural. I can listen to it for a long session without the ear fatigue some SDR rigs give me. Next to an IC-7600, IC-756 Pro, FT-2000, FTdx3000 or the old TS-870 it holds its place. A newer radio like the FTdx10, FTdx101D or K4 is a little more sensitive. Not by much.
If you know the original TS-590S, the SG is where Kenwood fixed the complaints. The ALC overshoot that used to spike amplifiers is gone. AGC behaves better, low-band weak-signal work improved, and receive audio is quieter and less harsh. The older radio is perhaps 99% as good on receive, but with an amplifier on the bench I'd only want the SG.
Noise reduction is the soft spot
The DSP noise reduction is the weak part of an otherwise excellent receiver. Push NR1 above about 4 and it starts to sound watery. On some signals anything past 2 turns into fish-tank audio. Icom's NR is gentler, and I keep NR1 low or off.
The noise floor is another thing some operators notice more than others. There is a background hiss that a few find tiring, even with the volume right down, and the fixes involve internal adjustments or a resistor change I would not hand to a new owner. On headphones it doesn't bother me much, but I won't pretend it isn't there.
NB2 is the opposite story. It is excellent on pulse noise, and an electric fence that wrecks the band simply goes away. Audio output is rated at 1.5 W into 8 ohms and the small internal speaker has little punch, so an external speaker or good headphones is the first audio change I'd make.
Transmit audio, and the tuner argument
It runs 100 W on SSB, CW, FSK and FM, and 25 W on AM. Transmit audio reports have been consistently good with the stock hand mic, and better again with a desk mic once I spent some time on the EQ. Menu 36 holds the TX EQ on the SG. The USER curve can be built in ARCP-590G and saved in the radio, which is far easier than doing it from the front panel. Go easy on the compressor.
The built-in tuner is where operators disagree, so here are both sides. On an antenna that is close to resonant it is fast and quiet, and I've seen it outdo the tuner in an FTDX3000 and external LDG units.
The other camp has a real case. Its reach is about 3:1 SWR. It won't tune an off-resonance wire, it can fail to find a match on 6 m with some antennas, and it is weaker than the tuners in the old TS-850 and TS-2000. Tuner settings are not stored in memory channels either. If your antenna is a random wire, budget for an external tuner.
One USB cable and a laptop
The built-in USB port carries both CAT and audio. Digital modes need one cable and nothing else: no interface box, no loop of audio leads. Logging programs and N1MM connect cleanly, and there is a second RS-232 port for CAT if you need two programs talking to it. Kenwood's own manual shows it holding 100 W continuously for over two hours, so long digital sessions don't worry me.
ARCP-590G control software is free. It is ugly, but it responds quickly, and it's how I set the EQ, manage memories and run the radio from another room. Fully remote operation works fine too.
Adding the scope Kenwood left out
The DRV connector on the back gives you a receive output for an SDR. Feed it to an SDRplay RSP1A or an Airspy HF+, run SDR Console, HDSDR or SDRuno on the PC, and sync tuning through OmniRig or CAT. Click a signal on the waterfall and the radio follows. You lose about 3 dB of signal on the shared port, which I've never noticed on the air.
My view is that a big PC waterfall beats the small built-in scopes on radios in the IC-7300 class. Not everyone agrees. If you want one box with the waterfall built in and no computer on the desk, this radio will frustrate you, and that's a perfectly good reason to buy something else.
The separate RX antenna input is the other rear-panel feature I lean on. A Beverage or a receive loop for 160/80 m goes straight in there.
What goes wrong as it ages
The frequency reference is the radio's real weakness. The stock oscillator can arrive off frequency or drift after a few years. On 6 m digital modes that drift causes real trouble. The SO-3 TCXO fixes it: about $120 for the part, plus fitting and alignment, and after that it stays put. Kenwood should have made it standard.
Check the serial number. Units from B57 onward, built from about mid-2015, left the factory with the cooling fan reversed, so it pulls PA heat into the radio. Turning the fan around takes about 10 minutes, or Kenwood service can do it.
Beyond that it is built like a tank. Past the four-year mark it still works as a day-to-day HF rig, in heavy use as well as casual evenings.
On an older radio I test the tuner on every band I use and listen for any receive fading before trusting it. The bigger long-term worry is parts. Service outside the US can be hard to get, and spares for aging units are scarce.
Buying one used now
New stock is close to gone. The last new listings sat around $1,850 and were out of stock or no longer available. When it was current it sold new for about $1,300-1,350, and used ones went for about $1,100 back in 2015. I can't vouch for a fair used price today. Prices have climbed, and some asking prices look marked up.
On a used unit I would check the serial number for the fan issue, whether the SO-3 is fitted, frequency accuracy against a known carrier, and the tuner on each band you use. Ask whether the VGS-1 is included. That voice guide and recorder is out of production and hard to find, and used listings for it attract scams, so never send money for one on trust. Its playback level on the constant-record message is low, for what it's worth.
A used TS-590S costs less and is nearly as good on receive. I'd still pay the difference for the SG's ALC and AGC fixes.
| Radio | Street price | Why you'd pick it |
|---|---|---|
| Kenwood TS-590SG | Used only; last new listings near $1,850 | Real knobs, quiet superhet receiver, one-cable USB digital |
| Icom IC-7300 | Same price class | Built-in scope, touchscreen, gentler noise reduction |
| Kenwood TS-590S | Cheaper used | Nearly the same receiver if you don't drive an amplifier |
| Yaesu FT-710 / FTDX10 | Current models | Newer SDR-style design with a scope, if touchscreens and menus suit you |
| Kenwood TS-890S | More than the SG | Bigger Kenwood superhet, though the SG holds its own beside it |
| Elecraft K3/K4 | About twice the SG | High-end receive, but the SG is close at about half the price |
How I set it up
- Check the serial number. On B57 and later, reverse the cooling fan.
- Compare the dial against a known carrier. If it is off or drifting, fit the SO-3 TCXO and align it.
- Install ARCP-590G, build a USER TX EQ curve (Menu 36 on the SG) and save it in the radio.
- Keep NR1 around 2 to 4 at most, and use NB2 for pulse noise. Add an external speaker or headphones.
- For QRP, note the power setting bottoms out at 5 W. The CAR (carrier) control takes the level lower.
- Feed an SDR from the DRV output, sync it with OmniRig or CAT, and put a Beverage or loop on the RX antenna jack for 160/80 m.
Who should buy it
- Operators who want real knobs and buttons instead of a touchscreen
- CW and SSB contesters and crowded-band DXers on a budget
- Anyone running digital modes who wants one USB cable to the PC
- Remote operators and anyone happy to run an SDR panadapter beside the radio
- Visually impaired operators, if a VGS-1 comes with it
Skip it if you want a scope or waterfall built into the radio, if you rely on the internal tuner to match an off-resonance wire, or if you want a rig you can still buy new with full support at a fair price.
Bottom line
The TS-590SG pairs a superb superhet receiver with a front panel you can run by feel, and it is still one of my favourite HF radios for CW and crowded bands. It has no scope, the stock reference drifts, and you can only buy it used now. Find one with the TCXO fitted at a sane price, add an SDR for the waterfall, and I'd take it over most of the touchscreen rigs that replaced it.
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