Yes, a few years later I have come across this...
I have just acquired 4 TK-880H-1, a TK-380 off eBay, and a KPG-46 cable(including free KPG49D software download from BlueMax49ers). In trying to read the 880 radios, three of them so far have said a pw is needed to read. When prompted for the password and you start typing SYSTEM, does that word show up in the password 'field'? When I hold down shift and start typing, the cursor disappears and nothing appears in the box regardless of what I type. As suggested elsewhere, I have not yet tried to boot up the radios while holding down the 'SCN' button.
On another note and as suggested elsewhere by Jones I was able to write a single line to two of the radios. Transmit was verified by a Tidradio HT and a red LED on the second 880. Reception on the 880s shows green LED but no volume(yet). I'll play with volume later. It makes sense that one would be able to write(a plug) to the radio without the password given that I saw in the Kenwood Help section that the pw is only needed for reading the radio's programming(core plug) and is not needed to write to the radio.
Any suggestions on trying to type password characters?
