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write your own review of the Yaesu FT-920.
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VK2FSTU
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 5, 2011 19:50
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My first Home base and very happy.
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I've been on the lookout since gaining my Foundation license 4 months ago, and found this on VK Ham for a great price.
When received it looked like it was brand new, came in the original box all packed with plastic sleeves and bubble wrap. Set it up and read the manual, on I went and after initial twiddling, a nice clear signal and great conversation with my first long distance Australian call to VK7 at King Island Light House for a few days, the call went through and was great.
Love it, and sure I'll get many years of good use from this very nice rig.
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N5VEG
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Rating: 5/5
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May 12, 2011 10:40
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Super Radio
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I recently acquired a used FT 920 in excellent, as new condition from a YL ham in Florida.
I also operate a Icom 718 and a Yaesu 857D. Well, in a nutshell, the 920 outperforms the other two with respects to reception. They all transmit well but the 920 has this uncanny receive segment that makes listening to the radio an absolute pleasure. VERY quiet receiver! This radio has many well placed ergonomic knobs and switches so there are no daily menus to confuse or hinder operation. Most of the 73 memory items are set and forget.
I particularly like the DSP. It it much better than the ones in my two other radios.
In summary, If you can get one in good condition, grab it up. I think it is one of the best used radio bargains around.
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ZL1LK
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Rating: 5/5
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May 7, 2011 02:19
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WOW!
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I got this FT920 second hand in mint condition off the net. After using a friend’s 920, I liked it so much so I bought one. I sold my FT990 after buying the FT920.
The 990 had a quiet receiver after the pin diode conversion, although I feel the 920 has a far better front end.
Things I like about the 920: Outstanding, if not the best DSP I have ever used (and I thought my TS480 was good) Also the noise reduction is outstanding. All the controls and buttons you will ever need are on the front panel once the menus are setup. The internal antenna tuner is very good, maybe a little slow tuning but once it has tuned, it will remember those setting and never loose them. The twin VFO’s are very easy to use for split operation. The AGC fast/slow are just right. The front end is so quiet.
Things I don’t like about the 920: It just doesn’t quite feel like a 990’s solid feel. Also I don’t like bar-graph S-meters. The original hand microphone seems to quiet and therefore you need a higher mic gain setting (I’m using a different mic… 100% improvement) Apart from that, there isn’t anything else I can think of… It’s a great rig.
When I bought this rig, It had the FM board and the 500Hz CW filter fitted. In the AM filter position, there is a strange Yaesu board fitted which took me a while to find out that it’s a pass-through board to allow AM to TX. So I guess for the age of this rig, I have missed out on locating the original AM filter.
If you ever get the chance to own a 920… go for it! You will NOT be disappointed.
73 de ZL1LK Roy
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WU0R
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Rating: 5/5
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May 3, 2011 05:57
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Still Going Strong
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Will toss in some past experience with this radio. I found the 920 to be on par with the "contester" grade radios at a much reduced price. Sure, in a crowded contest, it will suffer, as will many of the $X,XXX.00 dollar units. This radio at the price they are at now, is a great bargain. For instance, comparing the 920 to the ICOM 7600, the Blocking Dynamic Range is far better on the 920 then the 7600. One woudl think as we progress in technology, the performance would either peak or continue to excel, not step backwards.
For a casual DXer and CW guy, this radio is a great radio. For the 6 meter op, it is a stellar performer. For ease in use, ergonomics, it is great.
I still think that DSP is way over rated and even though this radio doesn't have true IF DSP, you would be hard pressed to really notice it when you use it.
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WA7NDD
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 19, 2011 08:53
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12 years still Great
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Gave a review on the FT920 about 6 years ago and have had the radio for about 12 years. I was retiring then, and had the money for a new radio. The 920 was so good I bought a SteppIR 3 element beam instead. The radio is still going strong with no issues, but an element fell off the SteppIR because the rubber boot rotted. It has AM, CW filters, FM board, TXCO, and the INRAD cascade SSB filter board. With the High and low Cut DSP, I don’t find I need the SSB filters that much. (Not a contester) I thought I’d start looking for another radio this last month. It seems there are a lot of new Yaesu’s that come back up for sale shortly after purchase. I found a review from 2010 that said if you like the 920 you’ll love the 950. I emailed the ham asking him about his statement. He came back with: The 950 is sold and he kept the 920. I guess that says it all. I did sale my white noise generator the FT897D my ears and health issues could not take that radio any more. Hi Hi It is my personal opinion Yaesu stopped making the 920 because they could not get the 1000’s to move. As I understand the 920 receiver is much quieter than the 1000’s.
Jim, WA7NDD
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M3IUC
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 20, 2010 09:29
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great tranciever
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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ive had this radio now for over 4 years bought secondhand never let me down good audio reports with my hand mike and md-100 easy to use idot proof, good rx evan from internal speaker although i use a extention speaker. i paid £750 for my radio and they are still selling for that toady, if you find one buy buy buy you wont be disapointed.
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KE5WCE
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 23, 2010 19:00
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Great Radio
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I bought the Yaesu FT-920 from Gray/KA4ZPF what a great radio this is it looks like brand new and works perfect I have no bad reports with this rig and very smooth to operate. Gray bought it new from HRO in 2002 and it came with all the options. if you get a chance to find a good one then grab it you will love it!!!
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EI4GMB
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Rating: 5/5
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May 22, 2010 10:15
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On a par with the big guns!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I purchased my FT-920AF transceiver second-hand from a dealer in the U.K for approx.£750.It is now 10 years old and apart from some minor glitches such as a flickering omni-glow display light,I have had no problems whatsoever with it.I was initially confused by the letters AF in the model name but was told by the kind people at Yaesu that this was added to units containing the AM filter and the FM board.The radio is an excellent DX rig and is on a par with the Mark V in receiver performance and great sounding TX audio,yet can be got for half the price.The processor is truly amazing and is better than the MP 1000 and equal to if not better than the Mark V.After programming an appropriate voice contour or equalisation setting into the menu system I would highly recommend using the beautiful sounding MD-100AX8 desk microphone. This gives 'Heil-like'and rich sounding broadcast audio. Indeed,there's very little negative I can say about the FT-920.It was my first rig when starting off and worked like a dream ,equal if not better in performance to big guns like the Pro III or Mark V.The 920 is no longer in production but if you can get one second-hand and in reasonably good condition my advice is to snap it up.You can often find them very reasonably priced.The Yaesu FT-920 is indeed a great performer.For sure, it will not disappoint!
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G7MWH
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 22, 2010 01:49
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great rig
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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first saw and tried rig at a friends home when they were first released, very impressed, used rig again at a special event station, results were impessive to say the least, bought a second hand one from a dealer 6 months later and must say it is with out doubt one of the best radios i have owned, also own Icoms and Kenwoods but the FT920 is a very superior radio, just wish the manafacturers did not mess about, if it says FM, AM, SSB, CW, DATA on the box or front of the rig then it should do it, it should not come as an optional extra, bit like buying a car then haveing to install an engine and four wheels, my Icom says all this on the box and would you believe it does it !! wake up smell the coffee, if it don't do it don't list it.
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K4MPE
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 29, 2010 22:15
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Hard to Beat!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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In my 51 yrs as a ham, I always owned American radios (National, Heathkit, Drake, Collins, Ten-Tec, etc) until I purchased this radio in 2000 when I retired. A month after receiving it, I replaced the stock filters with INRAD's SSB and CW switch board setup. Boy! What a change! I must say I've enjoyed using this rig for my DXing and contest work over the years. I've been tempted to update the rig, but just can't retire this excellent radio. Never had the first problem from this radio since it came out of the box. Not sure how much I would gain for my requirements. Works excellent on CW, SSB, PSK and RTTY. Very user friendly. Once you set up the menus, then you forget them. It is not in the same class as the upper end radios, but it does most jobs well. It has all the bells & whistles you need..and more! And if you like knobs vs.menus to do your adjustments, then this is the radio. You don't see many for sale either. With the INRAD filters, it's a great rig. May even try the new INRAD Roofing filter.
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