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| Reviews Summary for Yaesu FT-450 |
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Reviews: 146
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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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More info: http://foxtango.org/FT-450/Yaesu_FT-450.htm
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KF5AHV
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Rating: 3/5
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Oct 4, 2009 09:20
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Good rig if it's not a problem child!
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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when the radio works well its a great little rig. the problem i and others are having is the radio will lose receive in midstream and either power itself off and back on again or just sit there dead until you manually cycle it off and on yourself. when this 1st started happening i scoured all the reviews here on eham and other sites and could barely find anything on this problem. i later joined the Ft450 yahoo mailing list to find there are indeed others having this trouble and it is not a welcomed topic of discussion on that users group. i was sad to find that some of them were more of a cheer leading squad than they were being useful. another issue users are having is the radio will sometimes not power up at all after not being in use. one user said yaesu fixed his with no trouble, another said it was a big hassle and almost cost $350, and others denied that it was even really happening. this did happen with my unit also but luckily i live close enough to a yaesu repair center to be able to speak personally and get things taken care of. the percentage of the radios that are doing this is unknown because nobody seems to be talking about it when it happens to theirs, they are getting booted from the mailing list, or they are hearing more than one reason why it has happened and are not putting two an two together. it appears that the radio dying midstream and the failing to power on is two separate issues because while the power up was fixed it still goes dead. i have other rigs of various models/brands including yaesu that all interchange into the same setup and this is the only one having trouble. a nice ssb rig when working well but the relays are kinda noisy and clunky on cw unless you wear headphones. this would be a great buy used if a unit is known to be trouble free. it's a nice low level el cheapo rig and is not bad at all over all.
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KC5DEB
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 25, 2009 07:09
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If you're considering it, buy it
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Not too long ago I upgraded to general, and wanted a good HF radio for around $500-600. I had been flip-flopping between the IC-718 and the FT-450 until I found a very good used FT-450 for a good price. I am far more than satisfied with the FT-450. I can't say it's better than the IC-718 since I never played with one. But, with the auto tuner and 6M, it does have a bit of an edge IMO over the IC-718. The audio is very nice, it hears very well, and has a very light footprint on my desk.
The only cons I can think of are some of the options that are buried within the menu. It doesn't bother me that much since I run it along side HRD, and I can change them in a flash. But, if you're running the radio solo, trying to change the TX power isn't just the turn of a knob. It's not horrible, but, not mind numbing easy/convenient. Speaking of knobs, the one con that I had heard from many was the size of the main tuning knob. It really isn't as bad as I was expecting, and so far, hasn't been an issue. I would rather have the large display and a smaller knob, than a large knob taking up a lot of real estate on the radio.
All in all, it's a great radio for a greenhorn HF guy like myself.
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KLEMM
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 9, 2009 12:45
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Great for the buck!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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At first I brought an icom 7200 home but soon brought it back. Not because it was a bad radio but because the FT-450 out of the box was a better buy. First of all the 450 allready has a built in tunner and has FM FOR 6 AND 10 METERS. I also have had a FT-857 with an Atas120 which the 450 also is able to tune. I figgured for the icom7200 to be equel to the 450 for me it would cost another 4 or 5 hundred more.
I think the 450 is by far the best of the lower end HF portable base's out there.
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EI3JK
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 5, 2009 14:35
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Great little rig
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have had this radio now for about 3 months and I have to say that I am very pleased with it.The only gripe that I have is that it should have come with a bail stand and handle.In real terms these things only cost a few bucks and Yaesu should have included them!
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KA3DNR
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 5, 2009 11:29
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Great Radio
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Hello Folks,
I have had my 450 for a year now. I think it works great. There are two things I wish it had: Tighter CW filtering and a much wider ranged auto antenna tuner. Otherwise, I will probably be buried with this little radio.
Marc
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G7IGB
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 18, 2009 11:44
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Great features and value for money
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I bought a Yaesu FT-450 without the built in tuner to replace my old portable HF transceiver an Icom IC-706MK2, which had developed a low RF output power fault. I quickly read through the supplied manual and checked the front panel layout, which is very easy to use with a large main display, good sized buttons and well spaced knobs. The main VFO knob was smaller than expected, but this isn’t a problem for me and I can’t see what all the fuss is about regarding its size. I had never used IF DSP before and the idea of multiple bandwidths with IF noise reduction was all new to me, though the inferior AF DSP was something that I’d previously used on other transceivers. The large multi-function display also makes it easy to configure the various DSP settings and clearly shows you what’s going on. The display can be difficult to see from a wide angle, but raising the front of the transceiver is a simple but effective way of improving the readout.
Receiver sensitivity and selectivity are excellent on the HF bands and the 80m noise floor is quite low at S3, with the 10 KHz roofing filter and IF DSP very useful in pulling signals out of the noise. On the air reports have been excellent so far with the microphone gain and equalisation settings providing a good response from the supplied MH-67 hand mike. The FT-450 is designed with PC operation in mind and comes with a built in RS-232 serial port, it also works well with Ham Radio Deluxe and suffers no noise or breakthrough when used right beside my laptop. I’m really looking forward to testing it out with some of the many digital modes which are available to the modern radio amateur. The menu system is probably the most user friendly that I’ve found on a modern compact transceiver and using the basic functions is straightforward. In fact, it’s difficult to find fault with anything on the FT-450 and the quality of construction make it an ideal choice for portable operation.
You can pick up a second hand FT-450 for around £350 in the UK and the FT-450AT (built in tuner) model for £400 to £450, so well worth considering if you’re on a budget or require a backup HF/6m transceiver. I’m certainly very pleased with mine and I think the price represents excellent value for money, as the latest technology and DSP features would usually only be found on high end HF transceivers currently costing over £1000.
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K9TWO
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 8, 2009 16:27
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Great Rig
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Bought one for my Wife. She hopes to get her Tech next month. Anyway, I tried this little rig and find I can't keep my hands off it. I have been a ham since 1959 and have never been more impressed with a rig. No it's not a contester rig, but it hears anything my FT-920 with a $200 roofing filter hears and my $1800 Jupiter hears.
The audio is great, on par with my other rigs.
The DSP is better then ALL my other rigs. I really hate to admit that based on cost.
Sure it does not have a million DSP width settings like my Jupiter. Sure it's not a CW dream machine but it's a super rig. The only issue I have is the size of the main tune knob which I already knew the size so I won't do something stupid like giving it a zero review for something I already knew. I simply turn the knob with my finger on the outside perimiter of the knob. Not a big problem for me.
The other night I was listening to a net on 7171 on my Jupiter and there was a hetrodyne I could NOT notch out with the auto notch. I turned on my FT-920 and could NOT notch it out with it either. Other hams were also having the same problem. I went in the other room where my wife's new FT-450 sits, fired it up, notched it out with it's manual notch easily. That's when I decided to never buy another rig that does not have a manual notch. Again, a super little rig.
73 K9TWO
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KA2WYG
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 18, 2009 07:23
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Great Rig
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have owned my 450 for about a month now. I am new to HF work and don’t have a lot of experience with other rigs but I’ll tell you about what I like about this one. First off it’s small and doesn’t take up a lot of room on my desk. The display is well lit and easy to read, in fact I have the brightness turned way down it seems to be easier on the eyes. The receiver seems to be very sensitive and I can hear everything that is “at or above” the noise. The transmitter does an excellent job putting out 100 watts, I’ve worked Europe, Asia and South America on a simple dipole. The main tuning dial is a bit small (about the size of a silver dollar) and I have fat fingers but it wouldn’t be a reason for me to look for another rig. I plan to use this rig for a couple of years and then use it as a backup rig when I buy my future FT-2000. By the way, the price isn’t too bad either, paid only $699 through Gigaparts.com
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N8TCZ
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 17, 2009 16:25
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You can't beat it for the price.
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I've only used the transceiver for a couple months on 6 meters. The receiver works great, copy signals that don't even show up on the "S" meter. I get excellent audio/signal reports from the transmitter. One note about the small tuning knob. I use the DSP/SEL knob for fast tuning since it tunes in 2.5KHZ increments per click(it's adjustable) and just use the main tuning knob to get within the other 1-1.5KHZ if necessary. On 6 meters I can change from 50.125 to 50.180 in one turn of the DSP/SEL knob and be waiting for anyone's QSY before they get there. I've only used for SSB so far and I can see there are features on this radio that I will never use.
Marv
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KC2ULJ
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Rating: 4/5
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Jul 12, 2009 10:19
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Great portable Rig
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I have had this radio for a few months now and i am really enjoying it. I opted for the non AT because i planned on using it portable with long wire. It has performed well off a deep cycle battery and an old mfj manual tuner on a few camping trips. I am actually using it more as my primary rig at home because of the filtering, it is a joy to listen to. I would have given it a five but it was a pain to get it tx on 60 mtrs. Great radio for the money. 73s kc2ulj
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