Post by M0ZIF on Apr 11, 2008 8:59:56 GMT
Having previously owned an FT7800R when I decided I needed a few more bands I opted for the FT8900R being a similar beast to the 7800r except instead of just having the 70cm and 2m bands it also includes the 6m and 10m bands, unfortunately the sacrifice with this is it drops a little bit of the RX frequencies.
Included in the box are the following:
1 FT8900R
1 MH-48 DTFM microphone
1 mounting bracket with screws
1 mike holder
1 power lead
1 manual
Specs:
50 Watts on the 29/50/144 MHz (2, 6,10m) bands.
35 Watts on the 430 MHz (70cm) band.
cross-band repeat
Dual receive, VHF-UHF Full Duplex capability
800 memory channels
Dual frequency watch on both channels
1x Antenna input
1x Speaker output
1x data connector (s type connector)
Operating:
From out of the box the first thing I noted was that the DTFM mike didn't work as I'd expected I had to go through the manual to find the menu to enable it.
from there on in it was very straight forward to operate, however configuring repeater shifts is a bit on the awkward side.
Audio quality is very good, and the rig seems to respond and handle even week signals relatively well. I've had only one complaint about audio clipping but I quite frankly do not believe that claim. Everyone else has commented that the signal is spot on.
I am one of those operators that doesn't use memories so I can't really comment there.
Best Points:
Good Dimmer
Good Audio
Ease of Use
Odd points
For a mobile unit its lower keys which include Power, band, memories and Scan don't have a backlight
Its not got an internal duplexer, if it had it would be easier to work as a base rig.
Software:
Again in the Links | Yaesu section ADMS and G4HFQ provide software.
Overall opinion: A great mobile rig.