The FT-60 was first introduced in Dayton in 2004, and became an instant hit for Yaesu. The circuitry and durability of the innards, not so much. Yaesu had a great design with the case for the FT-60. I noted similar aging and "weakening" of their radios' circuits to that of my own radio. My mother and step-father (both SK) were both hams and each had an FT-60R. No, I did not seek repair as it just did not seem worth it.
It eventually stopped transmitting altogether. On that particular radio, the circuitry seemed to provide less receive audio and xmit power over time. This was not due to old batteries as I had new batteries but still this occurrence persisted. As time passed, I noted what for lack of a better term, I will call "weakening" of the circuitry of this radio.Īs it aged, I noted the backlights for display and keypad grew dimmer with time. Yes, I have seen helpful remedies on here such as using the belt clip or a rubber band as a strain relief but honestly, this should not be necessary.Īs I noted earlier, this radio did well for about a year or two of occasional, light use. Most dual speaker/mic plugs I have encountered stayed in the radio well and were useful. Trying to use an external speaker/mic is a no-go due to the poorly designed single plug for the speaker/mic, which allows sor frequent pulling out of the plug from the radio with little or no effort necessary. General on-air performance was decent with xmit and receive.
I was intrigued by the tough aluminum case that the radio had. The problem is that they do not age well. * - OK, so it's not "bulletproof." But MANY audiences have seen me literally toss one across the room during a presentation - to show off its ruggedness.
Honest to gawd, in almost sixteen years of use, I have NEVER accidentally activated WIRES and keyed the mic. I am amused at the stories of "accidental" activation of the WIRES feature. It is a great HT for anyone desiring solid performance on the 2M and 440 ham bands. I use this rig for all my ham satellite demos and presentations.
#Yaesu ft 65r g4hfq full#
as well as a unique battery setup: You can populate the optional FBA-25 AA case with either NiMH cells or alkalines, and have full TX power available (if you really need it). strongest belt clip of any ham HT chassis on the market easy to manually program (one-page cheat sheet at ) 1,000 memories - 6-character alphanumerics They were a great bargain then - and remain so today. I have owned several FT-60R radios since the moment they were available in 2004. I do use an after market antenna, largely because the stock antenna tends to "poke" me in the ribs, and using a slim line antenna doesn't. Can't really say I notice much difference between the stock antenna and after market antennas. Can program some "hot keys" to most used menu items.
#Yaesu ft 65r g4hfq Pc#
No problem with lock up using PC programming. Will say that the sensitivity does not seem as good as the VX-150, thus the 4 out of 5 rating. Have not had any display wash outs, even during the past winter on those few cold days we had, although the display does occasionally have some off colours, but doesn't interfere with the readability of the display. I knew the size and weight before I bought it so knew how it fit the hand and how much it weighed - no complaints at all in that department. I have had this radio for over six months, and do not have many complaints. Since this radio has performed so well over 16 years and still works as good as day one I have upgraded my initial 4/5 good, to 5/5 Great rating. And I now have 3 in total that are used for Public Service events and cross band. The only thing I wish was improved was a little louder audio. This is the only radio I trust to work each and every time. Still gets into repeaters even when battery power drops to 7.0 Volts. Receiving is still good even on AM and transmit power tested is till 5 and 4 watts with fully charged battery. I always use Yaesu mics as they do stay plugged in, AME mics do tend to pull out but I blame them not Yaesu. Markings have worn off some buttons but after this amout of time I know functions of these buttons. This radio is stilll in use today, on for at least 12 hours each and every day.