| N4QNT |
Rating:  |
2015-07-19 | |
| Latest Firmware 7-15-15...Good Stuff |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| The latest firmware update is fantastic!! Adding menu-124 to enable a waterfall display to the spectrum scope and menu-185 to add the waterfall to the audio signal spectrum display for TX & RX.. It's like downloading a new radio. |
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| VE3NJG |
Rating: |
2015-06-28 | |
| Best buy out there |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have been around the block with rigs a lot believe me. Not too much this ham has not owned or at least tried out for a month from friends. The receiver in the FTDX 3000 is a huge jump from anything they have ever made before. If you think you my want a new rig the advancement in this receiver is well worth the investment. Until this rig came out the differences for most users was not really worth an upgrade from anything made in the past 15 years. This rig is the game changer in receiver performance. I do not care about the scopes and auto tuners and other marketing frills and flashy gimmicks from any manufacturer. Listen up, I do not care about much else in a rig other than a great receiver, great audio on both TX and RX , and the important features we all use.. If you have a good resonant antenna for each band and mode you actually use , this is one purchase you can justify. This rig is the example of a whole new generation of radios that blow away anything from the past. It has a killer receiver with filtering that performs so well without creating any bad side affects like many did in the past. The menu allows you to custom taylor everything for your own preferences much better than the others. By far it is the most flexible new radio out there hands down. If you cannot make it do all you ever wanted in a receiver the fault does not lie in the radio design. The TX has a lot of balls too. Yaesu caught the competition completely off guard with this rig. Ignore any reviews that nit pick the cosmetics or layout nonsense. This radio is for the real deal amateurs that want a fantastic quiet receiver with the latest in design technology at a fair price point value. Yes it is that good.
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| KG1K |
Rating: |
2015-06-05 | |
| Great Transceiver |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
A little more than 6 months since I started using this transceiver frequency, mostly CW and some SSB. It's selectivity is excellent, and excellent to isolate wanted signals even if it is very weak. Complains? I have to turn the knob many turns to change the output power, and I prefer more friction on VFO-B/Clarifier dial. Other than these, definitely this is one of the best I ever owned.
When I read past reviews, it reminded me my situation. Am using ladder wire feed line all the way into the shack, and connected to FTDX300 via BT1500A antenna tuner. I only run 100W but experienced the loss of function of the transceiver completely, and power off-on was the only way to get it back. There must be very high RF potentials around the transceiver. I inserted 2-3 PFI cores on FTDX3000 in/out cables, changed the grounding points, and now I don't have the problem any more. I have been a ham for more than 50 years, and RFI (to the transceiver or transmitter) has been a quite common problem especially when I used wire antennas. I cannot comment if this transceiver is good or bad from this problem because I don't know how other transceivers are immune to RFI. I certainly move my antenna tuner away from FTDX3000 and use coax cable into the shack when I run KW in the future. |
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| AF5WI |
Rating: |
2015-06-03 | |
| Be Warned |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| After 2 months of operation my 3000 smoked. It had a dead receiver and no transmitter. To make a long story short, after 7 weeks I received it back from Yaesu Service, after they replaced 3 chip caps and an IC on the main board near the CW key jack. I had to ask several times what they thought had caused these parts to fail, so I could know if I needed to change my ways or perhaps discover a reliability issue. They finally said it 'might' have been caused by RF. I didn't have a choke or toroid on the CW straight key cable. If you don't either, please learn from me and while your at it, put chokes on EVERY cable that even comes near the FTDX 3000! |
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| K7DF |
Rating: |
2015-05-25 | |
| Excellent radio |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I upgraded from a FT-920 to the FTDX3000 and it is everything one could want and then some.
The receiver is excellent during contests, you can really get rid of that strong signal right next to the signal you really want to hear.
It has been able to receive signals my 920 could not hear.
One thing I did not know is that it has a built in soundcard interface for digital modes. A ham told me about it during a PSK31 QSO. I was able to connect the radio directly to my computer at a much faster baud rate.
I did upgrade the firmware so that I can now use the carrier knob for power control.
I fully recommend this radio. |
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| EI5JS |
Rating: |
2015-05-18 | |
| Top notch performance but.. |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
The performance of this rig is well documented. In short, RX and TX performance is up there with the very best. Receive audio is breathtaking. The user has full control to tailor the RX audio. The TX audio can be tailored to suit your mic and voice using the built in parametric equaliser and selectable TX BPF bandwidths.
The display is well designed and the menu system is well thought out and quite intuitive.
To buy this transceiver and complain about the bandscope is like buying a house and then complaining about the size of the windows. Its not a P3 or IC-7600 quality scope but Its not trying to be. Accept it for what it is and use it with the auto (freeze) function and you'll find its actually quite useful. I'd certainly miss it if I didn't have it now.
The auto ATU is fine. It's relatively fast and quiet. It will match anything up to 3:1 SWR and lets face it, if your antenna/feeder is showing worse than 3:1 SWR you should probably be trying to sort your antenna rather than blaming the rig.
The bells and whistles are WAY too many to mention. The rig has everything you'll ever need in a HF transceiver.
All the above should get the rig a 5 rating, easily, the performance is that good, but...
Firmware updating is painful, and that's if you can do it at all. If you own a Mac you're out of luck. If you run Linux you're out of luck. If you run Windows XP you MAY be in luck, no guarantees. In fact Yaesu list Windows 7, 8 and Vista as the required OS and only mention XP wrt the japanese market. No, I don't get that either. You need to have Microsoft.net framework 3.5 installed. You also need to download the USB virtual com port driver. Then you need to download the transfer software called fsw018. Try finding that with the DX3000 files on Yaesu.com.. It's not there. If somehow you've managed to clear the above hurdles, you then need to download and update the Main, TFT, FFT and DSP firmware seperately!! Its a shambles... We deserve better than that.
Here's an idea. How about a single file that you download onto your Mac,Linux box or Windows PC. You drag it onto a USB memory stick. Plug it into your rig, press the 'update' button and job done. How hard can that be??
Sure, the text on the front panel buttons is small (2mm) I just wear my reading glasses to operate, no big deal. And why did they colour the text grey on a black button? Wouldn't white be far easier to read?
There are other small grumbles. The notch control moves in 10hz clicks. You have to wind the bejaysus out of it to get it to move anywhere. The VFO B tuning knob is horrible. It feels cheap and plasticy. There is a lack of backlit buttons. You need to operate in a very bright room just to see what you are doing.
But you know, even with the issues, the rig still represents an excellent investment and I intend keeping mine for a very long time. |
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| KI0GU |
Rating: |
2015-04-29 | |
| No buyers remorse! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I am a casual contester and DX'er. I have used this radio on CW, SSB, RTTY, PSK31, SSTV and JT65. This is by far my favorite radio! Below is a list of my pros/cons. Compared to my last radio, the 950, the roofing filters really work! I love being able to use this during crowded or contest conditions. The bandscope was a nice addition to have, but this is NOT the reason I purchased this radio. I like to seperate the bandscope from the radio, having the external IF makes this very nice! I am of the opinion that having an external monitor for this is much more useful than building it into the radio display.
Previous HF Radios since 1994:
Heathkit SB201/SB301
Kenwood TS-520s
Kenwood TS-430s
Icom 706
Yaesu FT-767GX
Yaesu FT-1000D
Yaesu FT-847
Yaesu FT-100D
Icom IC-7000
Yaesu FT-950
Pros:
* Very Quiet receiver
* USB Interface for Rig Control and built in soundcard
* Familiar Yaesu interface and controls
* 3 Ant inputs
* External IF out for panadapter/bandscope
Cons:
* Slow tuner (I didn't purchase the radio for this however)
* Windows required for USB
* Band button in an awkward place
* TX using internal RTTY/PSK31 awkward - needs ability to attach external keyboard to USB port on radio Yaesu.
* Needs support for Mac/Linux
Summary:
* Of all previous radios I have owned, this one has the quietest receiver period.
* During crowded/contest conditions, pulling out weak stations is not a problem.
* roofing filters work as advertised/expected and the DSP is really nice!
* Out of the box with a Kenwood MC-88 Mic, signal reports on TX were really good. People comment often on how nice my TX audio sounds.
* SWL reception is superb!
Test Drive my radio:
If you wish to hear/operate this radio online, it is available for RX and TX FREE through remotehams. (after qualified license check for TX). Simply visit my QRZ page (http://www.qrz.com/db/ki0gu). The USB interface on this rig made interfacing this radio to remotehams a breeze!
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| G0GDA |
Rating: |
2015-04-21 | |
| Still Excellent |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Following my first review on the 12th Nov 2012 (see page 11) I still have the same admiration for the rig. I have given it extensive use over the 2 1/2 years I have had it and with several software updates it has only become better. The receive side is still brilliant and since a Yaesu update last year put the ssb power adjustment on the processor knob, instead of in the menu, life has become much easier. I am an ssb man as cw is not my forte ( sigh of relief from the key men) The output audio has always been good with the necessesary menu adjustments but following a conversation with Harold N4QT who's audio from his 3k blew me away I was prompted to also purchase a Heil PR-781 mic. This seems a perfect match for the radio and using the 5000 menu settings off the Heil website I receive even better glowing reports than I did before. The general menu settings when initially sorted rarely need changing. I find the contour and the width knobs very useful and the DVS board is a god send when doing competition work. When I bought the radio in 2012 it was just under 2400 gbp and now it can be purchased around 1900 gbp which is a positive steal.
The rig deserves the DX name and is a definate keeper - I run it through a home made Windom dipole and get all over the world. Don't hesitate - there is no present like the time - just get one.
Happy Days
Nigel
G0GDA
Kent U.K. |
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| KQ9J |
Rating: |
2015-04-12 | |
| Everything I hoped it would be! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I have only had the rig for about two weeks, but have had a lot of time to use it and unless it blows up some day I can't see my opinion changing much.
I have only changed a few of the default settings so far. I changed to contour level to a +10 which helps peak the cw tone, which I also upped in frequency a bit to better match my hearing. The DNR is just superb, if need be I can crank the DNR level up to the max without any of the bubbly, underwater sound that many rigs exhibit. The Yaesu DSP implementation is fantastic. I can make my nightly 160 meter net sound like 2 meter FM.
The only change I made to the transmit audio was to flip the little switch on the back of the microphone from "1" to "2". The people I talk to every day say I sound just as good as I did on my old 530SP and FT101E. Quite a compliment.
The MODE switch could be in a better location and the CLARIFIER/VFO-B knob is a little touchy but otherwise it is a dream to operate.
The ability to knock out adjacent QRM is great on SSB and CW, even with just the stock 600 Hz roofing filter.
Plus, it looks real pretty sitting there. The analog style meter is a nice touch for me, too. The other rigs I tried out just did not have the quality feel and sound that this rig does.
There is a lot to like about this rig. I am very happy with my choice. |
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| KF7CG |
Rating: |
2015-03-30 | |
| Excellent Upgrade from FT-950 |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I have only had the radio about 2 weeks now and didn't get to use it for a week.
Receiver improvement is why I switched to the FTdx-3000D, and receiver improvement is what I got.
The receiver is quieter and more selective than the 950.
Since I am a long time Yaesu user, there wasn't too much of a learning curve to the new rig. Antenna tuner seems to have the same range as the 950.
Second contact with the 3000D was with the Congo. Love the digital readout for both VFOs.
KF7CG |
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