Posted: 3/24/2015 1:57:38 PM EDT
|
Anyone have any experience with this radio? Just picked one up for 100 dollars from a local older HAM who is selling off a bunch of gear. It's a compact dual band unit and from what I can gather has a tendency to overheat if operated on high power fairly quickly due to it's small fan and tight case. Current plan for it is to mount it to the motorcycle to replace the HT I've been running on there for more oomph when mobile.
If anyone has any experiences with this radio good or bad let me know. There's a lack of any real reviews out there on the webz. http://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&ProdCatID=106&encProdID=A33277E814051C47EA2E097E9F9C0977&DivisionID=65&isArchived=1 eham has various reviews but there's no in between reivews. Either people have had them for years and love them or they got them out of the box and they shortly died and they hate them. The average rating there is 3.5/5.0 http://www.radioaficion.com/HamNews/reviews/yaesu-vertex/9429-ft-90r-reviewed-by-aa1gw.html |
|
I don't know anything about the radio.
However, be very cautious with those eHam reviews. Just like AR15.com there are people who are just malcontents that don't have a good word to say about anything. There are obviously a lot of people posting reviews that obviously don't know what they are doing or talking about. There is some good information to be had there, but like anything else, you have to seperate the wheat from the chaff. |
|
I have had that radio in my truck since they first came out with them. Never had any problems with it. Usually run it at 10 watts but have often run it for FM contesting at high power with no problems. It is the radio I use for FM anytime I go roving in a contest. |
|
Nice little radios. A bit dated - no computer interface, and with a small display and few buttons they are a chore to program. But you won't find a smaller full-power mobile rig anywhere. Parts are nearly impossible to find - mine died, and I got a surprising amount of money on eBay for what was left. Working ones tend to go for a decent amount of money, but I rarely see people sell them. |
| I've had one for about 6 months and haven't had any issues with it. The heat sink is pretty small so like everyone has mentioned I try to keep it on medium or low power. The manual says it will do wideband RX but mine will only do 2m and 70cm, not sure if I'm missing something or what? |
|
Quoted:
Nice little radios. A bit dated - no computer interface, and with a small display and few buttons they are a chore to program. But you won't find a smaller full-power mobile rig anywhere. Parts are nearly impossible to find - mine died, and I got a surprising amount of money on eBay for what was left. Working ones tend to go for a decent amount of money, but I rarely see people sell them. It is computer programmable. |
|
I have an FT-90R. I have it in the truck right now. I run it at Med-High power just off of the cigarette lighter plug and it doesn't get hot at all. I like it a lot.
I'd kill for a remote mounting kit (it has a removable faceplate) but they are rarer than hen's teeth... |