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Author Topic: Icom 7300 or Yeasu FT 991A?  (Read 896 times)

AD6AD

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Icom 7300 or Yeasu FT 991A?
« on: March 03, 2021, 06:02:47 PM »

Icom 7300 or Yeasu FT 991A? Which is better?

I don't need UHF.

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K0UA

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Re: Icom 7300 or Yeasu FT 991A?
« Reply #1 on: March 03, 2021, 06:17:53 PM »

Icom 7300 or Yeasu FT 991A? Which is better?

I don't need UHF.

Well, if you don't need the 2 meter and 70 cm, then the Icom has a better display and and is easier to operate by far and it is cheaper. It is a full SDR radio that Icom provides regular updates to add features. It is also likely the most popular radio ever marketed.
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73  James K0UA

K1KIM

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Re: Icom 7300 or Yeasu FT 991A?
« Reply #2 on: March 03, 2021, 06:24:01 PM »

The only reason I am looking at a used 991A in addition to my 7300 is for the 2 meter and 70cm.
 2 meter FM can be fun.

I do believe the 7300 is easier to operate and doesn't have 150 menu choices to wade through all in numerical order.

If you don't care about the VHF/UHF I would choose the Icom as James suggested.
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AF5CC

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Re: Icom 7300 or Yeasu FT 991A?
« Reply #3 on: March 03, 2021, 06:50:29 PM »

The only reason I am looking at a used 991A in addition to my 7300 is for the 2 meter and 70cm.
 2 meter FM can be fun.


2 meter SSB can be even more fun!

73 John AF5CC
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K1KIM

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Re: Icom 7300 or Yeasu FT 991A?
« Reply #4 on: March 03, 2021, 07:17:38 PM »

The only reason I am looking at a used 991A in addition to my 7300 is for the 2 meter and 70cm.
 2 meter FM can be fun.


2 meter SSB can be even more fun!

73 John AF5CC

So true. I forgot to add that mode as well
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W9WQA

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Re: Icom 7300 or Yeasu FT 991A?
« Reply #5 on: March 03, 2021, 08:56:00 PM »

i have an 7300, had a 991a and returned it.  display was awful.
im ready to gie 1500 for a 991a with a 7300 display/functions
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G8FXC

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Re: Icom 7300 or Yeasu FT 991A?
« Reply #6 on: March 04, 2021, 01:39:17 AM »

I have both - the 7300 for HF and the 991A primarily for VHF/UHF. Ergonomically, the IC7300 is by far the nicer radio - an excellent screen and controls that are well thought out and well placed. The 991A suffers from the usual Yaesu disease - a horrible front panel design that looks "exciting" in the publicity shots but soon proves to be a pain to operate! That said, both my radios form part of an integrated, computer controlled shack and I never touch any of the front panel controls, so I really don't care too much about the layout....

In terms of performance, I think things are less clear. On paper, at least, the 7300 has the more modern architecture with direct sampling SDR - all signal processing is digital from the pre-amps backwards. The ICOM filtering with its twin passband tuning is certainly very good - you can shape it almost any way you want and it is very sharp. The wide-open front-end can be a problem in the presence of strong adjacent channel signals and the 7300 can overload relatively easily. I live in an environment where any signal over S9+20 is very rare and this does not cause me any problems, but it certainly is a problem for some users.

The 991A is a more traditional superhet with a 3kHz roofing filter early on in the chain and that provides a lot of protection from strong adjacent channel signals. It digitises the signal at a 24kHz IF and applies DSP at that point. This is actually a very similar architecture to that of the FTDX10 that everyone is raving about... In the 991A, they call it "IF DSP" and in the FTDX10 it is "Hybrid SDR" - but it is unclear to me just what the difference is. Yaesu have always understood noise reduction better than ICOM and this applies to the 991A vs. 7300 debate. The DNR on the 7300 is good and will reduce hiss and general background noise a lot, but the DNR on the 991A will often remove it completely - at the expense of introducing artefacts of its own to the received signal. These are the sounds that some refer to as "dripping" or "trickling" - they are usually low level compared with the received audio and I can live with them if they help me get another DX QSO in the log, but they seem to annoy some people quite a lot!

One possibly significant downside of the 991A is its narrow maximum receive bandwidth. That is determined by the 3kHz roofing filter and nothing short of a replacement filter is going to change that. It's a fine choice for telephony, but most of the world has gone FT-8 these days and the FT-8 channel seems to get wider every month. 3kHz is really too narrow these days - even the 3.6kHz maximum of the 7300 is looking a bit narrow. If you put a 991A on the standard FT-8 frequency and never retune it, you will miss signals that are sitting up above the 3kHz mark - you will not even be aware that they are there. The FTDX10 has added a 12kHz roofing filter which should address this...

The bottom line? I've had the 7300 for several years now and I'm very comfortable with it - like a well worn pair of shoes. It is still my primary HF rig, but the 991A - which I bought a couple of months ago as a VHF/UHF rig - has pleasantly surprised me. It's a pretty unpleasant radio to use from its front panel and the spectrum scope is poor, but my radios are always operated from the shack PC and I use an SDRPlay SDR receiver as the spectrum scope displaying on a large monitor. In terms of actual RF performance it is pretty good - sometimes better than the 7300. If I had bought it first and learned to use it properly, it is quite possible that I would not also have bought the 7300. If you are not a dedicated computerised shack sort of person, then you really should try to get some hands-on time with a 991A before handing over your money - I would find it a difficult radio to love if I were having to operate it from its front panel.

Martin (G8FXC)
« Last Edit: March 04, 2021, 01:44:04 AM by G8FXC »
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VR2AX

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Re: Icom 7300 or Yeasu FT 991A?
« Reply #7 on: March 04, 2021, 03:07:48 AM »

A few additional comments based on my having owned a 991 original not 'A' version since 2014/2015 and a 7300 since 2016.

1. The 991/A uses separate V/UHF  and HF PA boards with separate power devices whereas the 7300 uses the same PA board for HF and 50/70MHz (if included in the particular model). I smoked the V/UHF PA board on my 991 a year ago, the HF section (and V/U receive, which incidentally is top notch) continued to work despite my delay in getting around to fixing the V/U issue. A possible plus for the 991.

2. I find the receive audio quality on my 991 using the standard internal speaker to be far superior to the 7300. Much quieter, no hiss like on the 7300. I hooked up some external speakers to the 991, namely ICOM SP33, SP38, and found the internal speaker of the 991 more to my liking in each case.
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WC4R

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Re: Icom 7300 or Yeasu FT 991A?
« Reply #8 on: March 04, 2021, 06:07:03 AM »

Not interested in VHF or UHF, go with the 7300. Want a 'shack-in-the-box, go with the 991A. Do not buy a used 991, they had issues with the PA and other items. You will be very happy with either radio as it is a personal thing.
Side mention: If you wish to involve yourself in HF a bit more seriously (and spend a wee bit more), the Yaesu FTdx10D is the winner. The price difference is a worthy value.
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KB8GAE

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Re: Icom 7300 or Yeasu FT 991A?
« Reply #9 on: March 04, 2021, 01:15:05 PM »

The FT 991A also does C4FM (System Fusion) digital radio. Good luck whichever rig you choose.

73 Rich KB8GAE

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AD6AD

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Re: Icom 7300 or Yeasu FT 991A?
« Reply #10 on: March 05, 2021, 06:25:02 AM »

Wow!
Fantastically helpful and informative responses.
Thanks to all!
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VK2NZA

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Re: Icom 7300 or Yeasu FT 991A?
« Reply #11 on: March 12, 2021, 11:22:07 PM »

G8FXC - thanks for a very informative and succinct report on the FT-991A and the IC 7300.
I also was wondering about the FT-991A and your breakdown answered some queries I had.

  thanks Ross.
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K6JH

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Re: Icom 7300 or Yeasu FT 991A?
« Reply #12 on: March 28, 2021, 12:24:44 AM »

If you want a 991A for FM & repeater use on 2m and 70cm, I believe your would be better served by using a dedicated dual band FM rig in addition to an HF radio. Typically one monitors your local repeater while tuning around on HF, it's not a one-at a-time thing.

Of course if you intend to work vhf/uhf SSB go for it.

This coming from an FT-847 owner.
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73
Jim K6JH

W9WQA

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Re: Icom 7300 or Yeasu FT 991A?
« Reply #13 on: March 28, 2021, 06:48:22 AM »

attn icom,yaesu,kenwood,
please,please make a "991a" with a 7300 display.
i have stashed $1500 for the first one...
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G8FXC

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Re: Icom 7300 or Yeasu FT 991A?
« Reply #14 on: March 28, 2021, 10:16:16 AM »

attn icom,yaesu,kenwood,
please,please make a "991a" with a 7300 display.
i have stashed $1500 for the first one...

if it's only the display that is stopping you, then go ahead and buy one now... DX Engineering are offering the 991A at $1130 which would leave plenty out of your $1500 to buy an SDRPlay RSP1A and MFJ T/R switch - the result will be far better than any spectrum scope on offer on any radio costing less than $5000.

Martin (G8FXC)
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