Because of my SOTA activities, I very rarely touch VHF in the clubhouse or home QTH, simply because it can’t compete with activating VHF at a couple of thousand feet ASL. However, last week, out of boredom, I decided to work some VHF at the club for a change.
The club VHF/UHF rig is a Yaesu FT-7800 and quite frankly, I was well impressed with this little bit of kit…
I’m going to borrow the 7800 for an activation and give it a road test on a summit. Nowhere near as light as the Yaesu FT-90, nevertheless, very portable. Sadly, this rig has now been superseded by the 7900, which I’m told is a step backwards…any comments?
About a year ago, I sold my Yaesu FT-950… big mistake! Great rig and IMHO, probably the best HF bang for your buck rig on the market. I see that Yaesu has decided to drop this fine bit of kit, no doubt to replace it with something costing 300 or 400 quid more.
Anyone sold a rig and really regretted it or bought an absolute lemon, which they couldn’t wait to see the back of?
Anyone sold a rig and really regretted it or bought an absolute lemon,
which the couldn’t wait to see the back of?
I sold (almost gave away) my Yaesu FT101ZD in a moment of madness. I still regret it!
Whilst VS6 I was talked into building a rig for SSB by a ham colleague(why? one should have asked)
A couple of hundred hours later I had finished my QRO (25W) rig covering the high HF bands.
I made 2 contacts with it and put it back on the shelf where it remains to this day! (a lemon)
I went back to my Heathkit HW9 which in a moment of madness I let go for a song. I’ve regretted it ever since…
There’s a theme developing here.
I have a tr-751e which I love to bits and would never get rid of. Also my ft-270r which is ultra reliable and true quality in an age where very few things are.
The first lemon for me was the ic-208e which, while mostly good, was badly let down by a nearly impossible to program set of menus and letting any interference straight in. Any masts on a summit would make the damn thing unusable.
The other lemon was the ft-2800m. It wouldn’t do more than 5 watts without the heatsink being untouchable and threatening to set everything around it on fire! Quite scarey when you think it’s supposed to do 65w!!!
The other lemon was the ft-2800m. It wouldn’t do more than 5 watts
without the heatsink being untouchable and threatening to set
everything around it on fire! Quite scarey when you think it’s
supposed to do 65w!!!
Hello Mike,
I had two great little radios, both of which I carried on trips up hills in the past activating WAB squares, in the car and as base radios.
Simple… I foolishly sold my Yaesu FT290 with Mutek front end! Why? Because I was a poor student that couldn’t put it to good use in central London and needed rent/beer money.
The only real “lemon” I can recall having was a modified Philips FM1200 mobile transceiver, with mains PSU, for 70 MHz.
I had nothing but trouble with it. It kept losing its firmware configuration and needing to be re-programmed. It would not run more than 5 watts output without getting red hot. The receiver was fairly deaf. Then the PSU blew up and had to be replaced. Finally, the PA stage burnt out due to me waffling on for more than 5 minutes at a stretch! At that point, I decided to cut my losses and binned the wretched thing. A waste of the admittedly modest sum of 65 quid (I suppose I should have known it’s false economy to buy ex-commercial RT sets). Once bitten …
Both my Wouxun 4m handie (4w) and my Anytone Chinese “mobile” (25w) are far better performers and more reliable.
