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| Reviews Summary for Yaesu FT-450 |
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Reviews: 207
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Average rating: 4.6/5
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MSRP: $aprox 999.00 new
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Description: The FT-450 is a rugged, innovative multi-band, multimode portable transceiver for the amateur radio HF & 6M bands. Providing coverage of the 160-10 meter bands plus the 6 m, the FT-450 includes operation on the SSB, CW, AM, FM, and Digital modes, yielding the most comprehensive performance package available for field operation.
Designed for use from an external DC power source, the FT-450 provides 100 watts of power output from a 13.8-Volt external power supply, 160 - 6 meter coverage
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Product is in production.
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More info: http://foxtango.org/FT-450/Yaesu_FT-450.htm
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KA0ZLG
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 22, 2012 10:53
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2ND REVIEW
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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This is my 2nd Review. ft450 D /w AT. I have had the radio 3+ years. it has been used in 3 field days running any ware from 15-20+ hr. either phone or CW. either mode is worked great. The DSP filtering is great, nice large display. Compact, great as a home base radio, Never used it mobile, I have the 857 for that. good audio, Audio is a bit tinny when the DSP but that is the DSP. The VFO knob is a bit small, the buttons are large enough for those that have fat fingers. The programmable buttons are great. I have one setup that lets you program so it will transmit only 10 watts into an external auto-tuner. you can also program voice or CW outgoing messages. Great for contest-- Saves on the voice)
I use an external speaker, mounted in the ceiling right above the operating location, and the sound is good, I have not used it in any of the digital modes, so I can't comment on them. I have used HRD, to control it just to do it. but have not used any of the other features like the digital.
If you get the radio on sale or a good used price Go for it...
SO YES I give this a 4.9 no BIG complaints
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K9TWO
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 17, 2011 10:15
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Great Rig
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I bought the FT-450 AT for my Wife just before She got Her Tech license. It's the best rig I have ever bought for the money. No it's not better than my IC-7600 or my FT-950. However I love this little radio. I can't think of any negatives. Actually it has a couple features my 7600 does not have, like the contour which can actually notch out a SSB signal. Try that with a standard notch filter. The DSP noise reduction actually works better than my 7600 or my Jupiter.
The 7600 audio gets real tin can sounding when the NR is turned on and there is a kind of strange delay when someone speaks. The FT-450 does not do that.
I have had no problems working any of the modes.
It's a keeper for sure.
73 Don K9TWO
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G6UWK
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 6, 2011 01:19
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Digimodes
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I don't understand the review about being poor on digimode, I have my 450 connected via Radioareana cables to an old Athlon PC running XP and use MCW, PSK,Thor,MFSK,RTTY and others all using HRD+DM780 no problem. It took me a while to get MCW to transmit but that was me not setting up keying correctly. You do not need a controller or anything just plug and play. The Yahoo user group has lots of knowledgeable people who help if needed.
But honestly it is not hard to get right and if you can get someone to monitor your signal when getting drive levels correct it makes things a lot easier and this would be the case with any setup.
HRD/DM780 is excellent you can fine tune the MCW bandwidth and lots of other features.
I have been unable to get FLDIGI/Ubuntu to work but that may be due to me not having interface unit, I don't know.
It cost me £25 for the cables and a couple of hours fine tuning things and reading manuals/asking group members questions and I can say well worth effort.
As I have said previously the FT-450 is not the be all and end all of radios but it is like a "Black 5/Class 47" a good mixed traffic locomotive that can do a remarkable job when required especially for the price.
Jon
G6UWK
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AA5JG
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 2, 2011 08:31
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Great for digital modes
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I don't know what problems the earlier reviewer had, but this radio is one of the best I have ever seen for getting on PSK and the other "wideband digital modes." The ACC jack in the back has a digital VOX circuit. No real interface is needed. A $20 cord from Ebay plugs into the ACC jack, and into the 2 jacks on your soundcard. You turn on the digital VOX circuit, put the rig in digital mode, and go at it. No PTT switching requiring a serial port or USB jack is needed.
The only drawback to the original FT450 is the inability to use the narrow CW filters while in digital modes. This isn't good for RTTY contesting, but works fine for PSK. They fixed this in the D model, although they don't advertise that. I don't know why, that is the biggest improvement the D model has.
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N6PG
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Rating: 4/5
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Nov 1, 2011 21:37
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great radio for the price
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I'm using mine on all sorts of digital modes. .
I find the radio a real joy. I like the DSP being on the IF stage and I find the receive audio to be fantastic. It doesn't have as many selections at the FT-950, but for the price... it's an amazing radio. The footprint is small on the table and it's easy to operate. Enjoy!
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K3ROJ
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Rating: 2/5
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Nov 1, 2011 12:34
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Digital Modes Poor
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I do not own an FT450 but have attempted to help some hams that did buy one. It is almost impossible to use PSK31 with this transceiver and requires a lot of experimenting to get it to work with half hazard connections required.. It really isn't worth trying to get on digital modes. You would think Yaesu would have researched this before putting it on the market.
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KJ4KKI
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 10, 2011 00:43
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Fantastic HF Radio
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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This review is for the FT-450AT, but it can just as easily be used for the FT-450D. First off, I agree with what KK5R noted about the antenna tuner. I trimmed a 20m vee to the approximate length. The tuner tuned it in about 3 seconds. It only goes to 3:1, so my measurement wasn't that far off. If it can't tune it, an arrow blinks. As a Yaesu tech noted, it's not supposed to tune a 10:1 as other brands claim. It takes an antenna that is close to resonance and goes from there. It is more of a safeguard in case something goes wrong or I don't notice something, such as accidentally changing bands to one that my antenna isn't cut for, etc. Other than the tuning knob being a bit small and the "before D" model not being backlit, this radio rocks. The location I keep my radio in has a bit of lowered lighting, and I do sometimes wish the buttons were backlit. If your shack is well-lit, this is no problem. For portable use, as long as you're not adjusting stuff a lot, again, no problem. I bought mine slightly used and the previous owner had put a bail on it that holds it up probably 2 inches--definitely a worthwhile investment. I dodn't know about the feet on the 450D. It makes using the knobs so much easier. Some complain about the small VFO knob requiring a lot of turning, however you can not only use one of the knobs to rapidly change the frequency, but you can adjust how much it changes, and whether it's MHz or kHz. Thus, I don't have to constantly turn the VFO to get from say, 14.345 back to 14.230. The display looks great and unlike some of the more portable Yaesu rigs, doesn't require a lot of menus to get to information. You can see everything that is turned on or off, and how much at one glance. I personally would have preferred a different color display like the 857 as white numers on a black background aren't that pretty to me. But, it does look pretty in spite of that. The menu structure is extremely easy to use...extremely... Trust me, I have 3 Yaesu radios. This one is by far the easiest one to navigate around. Plus, for some reason, Yaesu actually wrote a user manual that is easy to use and understand, and in a logical format. Go figure... I've worked all over with a modest vee; a feat I attribute partly to the quality of the radio. Maybe my old ears can't tell the difference, but I don't find the speaker objectionable. However, I do usually use headphones just to pick out so-so stations a bit better. It would be nice if the new D model comes down a lot in price, however if you can pick up a used 450 or 450AT model, grab it. Of the models I was looking at, I think I made by far the best choice by finding this radio for such a great price. I don't plan on lugging my linear power supply around with me, but I do plan to get a smaller power supply with a portable wire antenna and putting them in a satchel to take places with me. I don't see any reason why one couldn't use a 12-15 amp switching supply and reduce the radio power down to acceptable levels. Remember, half the power is only -3dB or 1/2 S-unit. At 25 watts, you could do portable and only lose 1 S-unit. Battery use would also be possible if the amp hours would survive the drain, and by turning the lighting down, lowering the volume a bit, and seeing what you could do about filtering.
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KK5R
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 1, 2011 14:47
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Great Radio for any use/mode
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I got the radio from a ham that got it while his FT-950 went in for repairs. He used it about 20 hours and his 950 was returned so he put the 450 on the shelf where it sat for 10 months. He sold it rather than just look at it. Therefore, I got it for $600 and it was the best radio buy I have ever made. Bought the MD-100 desk mike and it was worth the money since it has scan and built-in speech processing that is used more than the processing in the 450.
I once had a Drake TR-7 and always thought it was the Cadillac of ham radio rigs. Mine was given to my son. It was, until the FT-450, the best radio I had ever owned and I've built Heath HW and SB-101/102/104 and had dozens of other, somewhat more modern radios (Tentec Argosy, Kenwood TS-130S, etc.). I had two TR-7's in line for purchase to replace the one I had, one from PA and another from Canada, when I found the ad for the 450AT I now have.
The radio is a treasure house of capability. If you can imagine it, the 450 can probably do it. You only have to find it in the owner's manual list of menus.
The antenna tuner is OK and is best seen to be a warning device if the SWR is too high on the antenna you're using. If the tuner will tune to it, the antenna can probably be used without the tuner. In effect, the tuner is to protect the radio and not to make a miserable antenna better. However, you do have the option to bypass or go through the tuner on receive. I've tried it both ways but fail to find any advantage either way.
Someone on the 450D review page commented about changing the main tuning knob for one with a crank to "win the race" when moving from one frequency to another. However, as with many other features offered by the 450, there is a better way. All one has to do is find out that the DSP/SEL knob will do this for you. If you turn the knob, each detent will change the freq 5 KHz. If this is not fast enough to race to another frequency, toggle the button by pressing the knob and then the excursion/detent changes to 100 KHz, quite fast enough for anyone. As it toggles, you press it again to return to 5 KHz per detent. Moving the Main Tuning Knob instantly takes frequency control from the fast lane and returns the radio to regular operation.
The DSP feature is something the user has to get used to. The old familiarity thing. Playing with it is amazing, though, when there is a lot of QRM. However, instead of constantly going into the DSP system to adjust the system, each user will find a favorite setting for the majority of use and seldom does it require further "tampering." This relates to each user's hearing and tailoring the received audio to his/her preferences.
I know the fan works because I have listened for it and heard it. Usually, the fan is not heard and I would not have heard it. Normally, it rarely comes on, anyway, but this depends on the user's operation and the mode used.
The DSP, after placing the radio in the CW mode, tightens up and cleans the majority of CW signals. I use an external speaker running through an MFJ-722 CW/Notch Optimizer that I picked up at a hamfest for $20 and the combination of radio and Optimizer literally buries the QRM...!
There was a complaint by some about the Display Brightness creating a tone on transmitted audio when setting the brightness to other than full brightness or Zero brightness. However, instead of "fixing" the problem (removing the front panel and making better ground connections because the display brightness ground is too close electrically to the mike audio ground), the fix is right in the manual on page 68. Under the Brightness setting is the Contrast setting. Leave the brightness on 4, the brightest, and adjust the Contrast down (the range is 1-24). I use a contrast setting of 5 which accomplishes the same thing and no need to get into the radio. For those who love to venture into a radio and do the fixes, there are pages out there that deal with this but after more than 50 years of diddling with electronics, I have other preferences for adventure. How many hours of operating have I lost working over a printed circuit board? Who knows? I'm now in operating mode (but plan to put a QRP something together in the near future.
I rarely go into the menus on the radio, anymore. Sometimes I adjust the RF Power down to 5 or 10 Watts to check out an antenna but otherwise, I leave it alone. For me, it is optimized. Using the B&W TTFD antenna makes tuneups no more than selecting a frequency in the 80-10 HF bands (including the lower 2KHz on 6M) and the MFJ-948 tuner will massage the use on 160M and 6M even though not designed for these freqs. I did create the 30M frequencies (that only need to be "dialed up" using the DSP/SEL knob V/M button on upper right side of the front panel), along with a few other favorite freqs, even on SW and AM broadcast. Too bad there are no weather freqs on the 450 but I leave that for the FT-2800M.
Yep, this is a Yaesu station, including an old FT-757GXII that I use mobile. I could use the 450 mobile but the 757 is much easier and simpler to use if I want to do much dialing around. In fact, the 757 is almost as sensitive on receive as the 450 but has much less audio signal handling and manipulation capabilities.
I do not see myself getting another radio than the 450. However, I'm not an avid contester or CW fan. Those people are in their own world and may need more horsepower. But for me, the 450 is more than enough, more than I anticipate ever needing.
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PY4UM
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 24, 2011 10:17
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VY FINE ONE
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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VY FINE ONE, GUD RECEPTION AS GUD TRANSMITION IN CW.
73 TOM, PW1T/PY1OW/PY4UM.
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KB1RNX
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 21, 2011 12:32
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GFI
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Without a doubt the very best sub $1000 ever and on par with several costing much more.
What more can I say that others have not said - the radio just plain and simple gets it done.
It is however, too bad that some people rated it lower because of "NITS". No matter what, you just can't please some people. They seem to down grade the radio for these "NITS", tuning wheel too small or wish it came with a bail, or wish it had this that and the other. These "NITS" however do not reflect that the radio is a very good performer and is built as strong as a tank. And if all their nit picking petty "NITS" were addressed it certainly would not be the same price but if fact be quite a bit more.
I am sure there are a few FT-450's that had an issue and needed repair - this is why there is a warranty. Production lines are not always 100% and neither are some of the components that Yaesu buys to build the radios.
I too have a "NIT" (dream wish list you could call it) I wish the audio frequency response was a tad wider, say 200 to 2900 khz instead of the 400 to 2600 khz or have a menu that could select a couple. The narrower 400 to 2600 khz has more talk power than the wider one that has more fidelity. The audio is very good communication quality but not hi fidelity as one would have with a wider frequency response... Not a big deal with me but just a "NIT" and I am certainly not going to go an pay another $500-$600 for a radio that has a wider response... not that important to me just a nice touch.
Anyway - my FT-450 has done everything very well and is real keeper. If this one drowns I would buy another one. I personally know two people that downgraded (so to speak - more expensive radios anyway) to an FT-450 and love them and prefer it to their more expensive radios. That says something in itself.
I had to laugh when I read someones comment of the FT-450 and said it was a good beginners radio - I know a ham that has been licensed for over 50 years that loves his FT-450, and he at one time or other has tried and owned about everything you can imagine. I certainly would not call him a beginner. Another commented that it was not up for contest - I had to laugh at that too... Squeeze the mic 4000 times a day and the FT-450 will be there talking as proud on the last qso as the first. What I have found is that if you can hear them you can work them - what more can you ask for. If that doesn't satisfy you then add an amplifier and go stealth and not only break pike ups but bull your way in.
Anyone reading this and contemplating buying one - don't let the "NITS" and the chronic complainers bother your decision, as others have already said "YOU CAN'T GO WRONG WITH THE FT-450", especially for the price.
Look at it this way - it is a nicely equipped Buick as sturdy as a Caddy without the beeps and whistles for the price of a Chevy.
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