Assembling "Service Jigs" for the Kenwood TS-480 and TS-2000 radios

Service Jigs

So, Kenwood, requires a few special parts which they refer to, collectively as the "service jig" to do alignment on their TS-480 and TS-2000 radios. As of the date of this blog, both radios are still being actively marketed by Kenwood.  Unfortunately, their service jig parts are mostly discontinued.  In many cases, they don't even offer replacement options.

I found a few parts online, and was able to build others from components I secured from Digi-key. I will list them below for posterity.  If some other poor bastard tries to find them, and googles around, perhaps this blog post will be of some use.

Jig parts

TS-480

Part	Status	Replacement Part	Purchase Link
(3) 37cm Coax Cable E37-0620-05	Discontinued	Used coax E37-0878-05 from the Kenwood TS-2000 service jig (below).  It's 56mm, but has the same connectors on the end.	E37-0878-05 Note: Order 3 of them.
15cm Flat Ribbon Cable E37-1129-08	Discontinued	Found a cable on Digi-key.  I ordered a much longer 20cm cable, just to make working a little easier.	WM10546-ND
Data Terminal Short Plug W05-0611-00	Discontinued	I purchased a 6 pin DIN plug from Digi-Key, and soldered  pins 3 and 6 together as described on page 57 of the TS-480 service manual.	CP-2060-ND

TS-2000

Part	Status	Replacement Part	Purchase Link
(1) Lead Wire with minipin plug E37-0878-05	Available	Shockingly, this one is still available from Kenwood, bless their hearts.	E37-0878-05
17cm Flat Ribbon Cable E37-0572-05	Replaced	Replaced with another cable, but at least it was available from Kenwood.	E37-0591-15

I hope my suffering has been of benefit to someone in the future.