Primary differences, Yaesu 950/2000/5000/9000

[VE3FMC]

Well Rick, what do you think? Do you think 20 years of advancements brought the FT-950 up to the FT-1000?  If it did, which it really should have,  then the 950 must be a hell of a bargain for $1300 US.

Joe

Well Joe I have never operated a FT-1000. However that must be a very good rig when you consider the selling price of them after all these years on the market.

I am happy with my FT-950. I will say this about the FT-9000 when compared to the FT-5000. I talked to a guy in CA one day on 17 M SSB. He was using a FTDX-5000. He had owned a FT-9000 and told me the 5000 was a far superior rig. Remember that the 9000 is older technology when compared to the 5000.

For what you pay for the FT-950 it is a pretty good radio. You can go join the Yahoo FT-950 group and ask all the questions you might have about the rig.

Rick

[W9KDX]

Well, I don't want to add to any conflicts and I certainly don't want to start a war.  But I have both the FT-950, used for about a year, and an FT-DX5000 now for about two weeks, both with the same antenna.  The largest difference I can see so far is that the notch, the shift, the DNR, and the contour all work quite a bit better than with the FT-950.  I never could get the notch or shift to do anything that benefited my signal reception, however the FT-DX5000 controls make a significant difference when I am working on getting rid of signal interference from close stations.  I especially could see the difference this weekend during the DX contest where I had plenty of opportunity to work with adjacent signals.

The DNR with the FT-950 was always a hit or miss deal with the degree of reduction kind or scattered all around.  Sometimes a higher number was quieter and sometimes a lower number.  It made getting noise down a real time burner as I would have to try each number and wait a second to see what was going on.  With the FT-DX5000, the DNR is progressive as the number rise, which is what would be expected.

As for the scope unit with speakers, these speakers are amazing and often work as well as my Koss Pro4AA headphones which is way ahead of anything else I have used.  Also, the scope display is limited, but it is helpful, and it matches what I am used to with the DMU-2000.  For the $80, it should not be skipped.

The receiver specs speak for themselves and the reception is better as expected.  The big differences are with the way the controls work when listening.

[NA0AA]

I may get a chance to A/B an FT-2000 vs 5000 at the same QTH.  Should be interesting.  I've owned the 5000 for a year now, but it's in a different shack, 1000 miles distant.

In my CA QTH where the 2000 is located, the supposed lack of receiver performance is not obvious to me, but the noise level at that location is so high.  Here in CO, it's S-0 to S1 noise so it should be a better test.

I think if it was my money, I'd buy a 950 instead of a 2000 today, but the 5000 is really a great rig - I say that as an operator who loves to have all buttons and knobs for operating controls.  Once you set up a 5000 you practically can pitch the manual, everything is on the front.