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You can
write your own review of the Yaesu Quadra VL-1000.
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N0AZZ
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 17, 2009 19:47
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Best amp I have ever owned
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have only owned the Quadra for a little over a year but so far see no reason to change it works great with my Yaesu station, I have only owned 5 amps before this one including one legal limit and one other SS amp. I see no reason to go back to legai limit amp for sure this is just a piece of cake to use.
N0AZZ Fred
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W5GI
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Rating: 0/5
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Sep 12, 2009 10:32
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I got a lemon
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I purchased a new Quadra from AES in Orlando. I hooked it up and it worked fine the first evening-my exciter was a FT9000D and I had to adjust the ALC on the quadra for it to work with the 9000. The next day, I noticed that my power output was limited to 700 watts and that the ALC adjustment did not work. I spent time on the phone with yaesu's sevice department and it was determined that the amp had to come in for service. When it came back it initially appeared to work fine until I tried to change the display intensity. All the left hand buttons were stuck, the right buttons worked fine. There's more to the story, suffice it to say that I am very displeased with Yaesu and AES. I am in the process of trying to get my purchase price refunded. And, my FT9000D is for sale.
John W5GI
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AA1OV
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 10, 2009 05:28
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Hefty Price Hefty performance
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Yes it's expensive. Yes the tuner can be finicky. Yes it doesn't easily interface with other radios other than Yaesu. But mine first on my Mark V and now on my FT-950 works great. No I am not a QSK CW op, but for SSB & especially slower CW it does a great job. And it makes the difference on 6 meters too. I am happy with mine. It is a Keeper.
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W6AAV
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 4, 2009 17:25
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Why did I wait so long?
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I've had the Quadra for a month now and I constantly ask myself "why did I wait so long?". The Quadra is hooked up to my FTDX-9000D and tracks right along from band to band. The tuner works fantastic when needed. I looked into this amp years ago and shyed away because of the cost. I came across a really good deal for this amp that was three days old and returned to HRO because it the person who originally bought it could not figure out how to get it to work. His fustration was my gain! I got a smokin deal for this amp that is a 2009 serial number, band new and no problems! Works great, tuners works great, band tracks like it should and easily does 1000 watts! This Quadra is a keeper in my shack!
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N0AZZ
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 28, 2009 10:13
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A Great Amp
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Have owned several amps in the past and none of them matches the quality and ease of use. I have an FT-2000D and an IC-7000 both hooked to this amp with no problems. This is a perfect match for my Yaesu station
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K4ZMV
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Rating: 4/5
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Apr 13, 2009 11:31
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Nice amp, but ........
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have had the Quadra now for about two months. My intention was to run an FT2000D on Input 1 and a K3 on Input 2. Much to my dismay, I discovered that there are too many hurdles to overcome to use Input 2. This has been well documented on this forum.
What I also discovered was that the Quadra is NOT a real QSK amp. With the 'FULL' setting for the 'BK-IN' parameter, the Quadra will only faithfully follow code speeds up to between 18-20 WPM. After that, it dramatically truncates dots. I called Yaesu and talked to technical support and they verified that my Quadra was working correctly. They recommended I use the 'semi' setting for break-in. That corrected the problem. And, really, the semi breakin is pretty fast so no bad problem.
Otherwise, the Quadra is like having a 1 KW transceiver. The tuner will tune up to 4.0:1 and pretty fast. The amp is smooth and the output is an honest 1 KW. It is a little noisy, but I spend most of my time in the cans so I don't really care. It is heavy, so don't plan on putting it on a card table. Overall, a nice solid state amp with a good auto tuner.
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N1JMS
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 3, 2009 19:33
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Nice Looking
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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A little fickle until you get to understand it's idiosyncrasies, however, very strong and reliable once you get it figured out and stabilized. Of course the Yeasu manuals and back-up lack simple detail, as usual. Really a 4.7/5 in my book.
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W9SN
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 24, 2008 10:19
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Great Amp
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I had 2 of these in the past and went the Icom way for a few years. Recently came back to the FT-2000 and wanted an amp that married it. The Quadra is a beautiful piece of equipment. Married to a Yaesu radio, it is like having a kilowatt rig on your desk. I also have the Icom PW1 amplifier on my second station. I am not sure either of these have the advantage over the other. The Icom can set on the floor instead of taking up desktop space is the only thing I can think of. With 50 watts of drive, the Quadra will produce just over 1000 watts out all day long, and seamlessly tracks with any late model Yaesu exciter.
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N7VXD
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 20, 2008 15:30
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Awesome Amplifier!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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This amp by Yaesu is one great piece of equipment. Having owned a PW-1 in the past, I was somewhat skeptical about some of the "bad press" the VL-1000 had gotten, especially about SWR tolerance. Not so. The Quadra has exceeded all my expectations, and operates without a glitch.
Granted, without the Tuner online, the Quadra will shut down at 3/1 SWR. But click on the Tuner, wait about 4or 5 seconds and your at 1/1! So far, I have been able to sucessfully tune SWR's at 3.5/1 with no problem, and I'm sure it would handle 4/1 with ease. Of course, this is a coax only Tuner-Amplifier and balanced lines, ladder lines or long wires are going to need a different set-up. Personally speaking, if you have SWR's over about 2.5/1 on dioples and OCF antennas, you probably need to re-think your antenna and grounding situation anyway. As a Yaesu Tech Representative recently told me, some people see the Quadra's SWR tolerance as a detriment, while others see it as a blessing. I agree 100%. There is also a website out there that shows how to use ICOM exciters for AUTO-TUNE with the Quadra.
Finally, this amp is really built. After opening the cases on both the power supply and the amp itself, I was amazed at the ruggedness and quality of construction. And, no more High Voltage dangers, no more tank circuit arcing, no more cumbersome manual tune-ups, no more grid current worries; the Quadra is smooth as silk.
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VA7OJ
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 4, 2008 23:27
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10th anniversary!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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My Quadra has just passed its 10th anniversary in my station, and is now on its 5th Icom exciter (an IC-7700). It is still serving me flawlessly.
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