| M3SKF |
Rating:  |
2016-06-08 | |
| TOP GUN |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| A real nice radio for many reasons,compare the spec and price to any other and its alot of radio for the money.The receiver is top notch with the superb dsp features doing a great job at digging out weak signals from the the noise.T x audio gets great comments from all stations,the quality and engineering of the radio is to a good standard.Well worth the current price,cash back and options. |
|
| NN9Q |
Rating: |
2016-06-07 | |
| UNDER RATED RADIO |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I HAVE USED THE FT-1200 FOR OVER THREE MONTHS, WITH PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO THE RECEIVER. I SEE THAT THERE ARE A SET OF CRITICAL REVIEWS IN THIS SECTION, BUT I BELIEVE THE CRITICAL REPORTS FALL INTO TWO GROUPS – THE FIRST ARE THOSE THAT USED HARDWARE FLAWED EQUIPMENT (SOME OF THE EARLY 1200s HAD QUALITY CONTROL ROBLEMS; SINCE CURED.), AND THE SECOND ARE FROM USERS THAT HAVE NOT MASTERED HOW TO RUN THIS RADIO. I TESTED THE RADIO IN REAL TIME ON AN ANTENNA SWITCH AGAINST A PRO III, AND A SOUPED UP ICOM 740 – A TOP CONTEST RADIO. THE 1200 WALKED OVER THE PRO III AND MATCHED THE 740 ON SELECTIVITY, NOISE CONTROL – PULLING STATIONS OUT OF THE MUD – AND OVERALL EASE OF USE. I DON’T BELIEVE THIS RADIO IS A GOOD RADO FOR THE PRICE; I FEEL IT IS AN EXCELLENT RADIO AT ANY PRICE.
IT TOOK ME A MONTH TO FULLY FIGURE OUT HOW TO USE THE RADIO's CAPABILITY, BUT AFTER A BIT OF WORK THE RADIO SHINED. IF YOU GET ONE AND LEARN TO USE IT YOU MAY HAVE MADE THE BEST DEAL OF YOUR HAM RADIO LIFE. |
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| AC8YJ |
Rating: |
2016-05-23 | |
| Very pleased |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| Nice radio, I can get on the nets almost always when others cannot due to poor band conditions, the built-in filters really come through when band conditions are tough.As for DX, it really shines, I only run 100 watts, I just be patient and almost always get my contact. Not much else to ask for IMHO |
|
| WQ2H |
Rating: |
2016-04-12 | |
| Great radio ! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| No problems whatsoever on all bands - easy to program with the software, and works great with the SCU-17 for digital and CAT. If you're going to be using random or long wires get a tuner. I recommend the LDG YT-1200 - it's an awesome box. The built in tuner in the 1200 is average, but all the other benefits more than make up for that. I've left it on for extended periods for over-night / weekend digital practice with no problems. Good luck! 73, |
|
| KJ4EOZ |
Rating: |
2016-04-09 | |
| Good Rig |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have owned this Rig for over a year now .
I tapped the IF so I have a full pan . Rig has been great ! With all the accessories in it and the IF tap done having the pan I can't see buying the FTdx3000 . The IF tap / Pan ran me about $70 .
Same the money and buy the FTdx1200 . The EQ is the FTdx1200 is the same in the FT3000 andFT5000 and FT991 . can't tell if your TX on the FTdx1200 orFT5000 .
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Earlier 5-star review posted by KJ4EOZ on 2015-07-30
Best radio I have ever owned . Yaesu has a winner here . Great RX & TX . filters are great . EQ works great if you take the time to set them up right . never need processor and only run the mic at 30% The PR781 works very well with the 1200 . |
|
| K4PDM |
Rating: |
2016-03-07 | |
| Excellent |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Excellent rig in its price range. There are no "sub-menus," every menu adjustment is in one menu. In order to adjust noise reduction, all one must do is press and hold the DNR button and that menu item will come up. I leave the DNR on 3 for SSB and 10 for CW and seldom need to change it; roofing filer on 3kHz for CW and 6kHz for SSB and only change it in extreme contest conditions. Read the QST review for numbers and you will see the 1200 has one of the better receivers in its price range. No complaints. |
|
| FORMER_KL7EU |
Rating: |
2016-03-06 | |
| Disappointing |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| I've been licensed since 1969 and have owned a lot of different rigs, but this one is very disappointing. After reading about all the features I bought one a year ago, but now I wish I hadn't. The TX is good, with great sounding audio. However...the RX reminds me of radios I've used 30 years ago: VERY poor adjacent signal rejection. If you like to work contests this rig is NOT the one for you...you will be battling constant "bleedover" from signals near the one you are one, and the roofing filters don't seem to help much. Also, it's frustrating that the threshold control for the DNR is buried in a sub-menu, and this adjustment is one I use constantly. It SHOULD have been a knob on the front panel. That said, the DNR works well when adjusted properly. I do like the size of the rig; knobs and controls are not so "miniaturized" that one requires reading glasses to work with it. (except for the clock readout...it is so small and tiny you WILL need reading glasses for that) Overall: TX=great. RX=poor performance. My recommendation: DON'T buy this rig...there are better ones on the market for about the same price! (pick one that's high on this list: http://www.sherweng.com/table.html) |
|
| WA5JIM |
Rating: |
2016-03-03 | |
| For the price.. it,s nice.. |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| Great little rig. lacks a second reciever. Given the price its understandable. The receiver is nice. I had compleated a mod and when i powered the rig up it smoked. sent he rig to Yeasu with a note on what mod i had performed. Well they said it wasn't my mod but a lose component. they repaired with no charge. And its working as it should. For the price its a great rig. 73,s |
|
| K3DGR |
Rating: |
2016-02-28 | |
| Great Performance & Quality! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| Been using this FTdx1200 for the past 6 months and its fantastic after setting and fine tuning the menu settings to my liking. I'm only a CW op (QRQ) for the past 45 years and have had this rig up to almost 50 wpm with no sweat with full QSK! - silky smooth!. Little trick is to back off the RF gain and use the IF narrow crystal filter and BW controls. Reading the manual to understand the settings took me almost a week!..I added the audio FFT option board so have both scopes installed. I programmed the memories including SWL bands via the RT systems programming software and loaded all the memories in 3 min!!..Sold my Elecraft gear for this compact up-to-date CW QRQ rig (limited shack space!)..It's a super value for the money!! I highly recommend it. Please, READ the MANUAL and fine tune the menu settings to your liking. 73's Dave,aa3ej CFO#1014 |
|
| K7BIT |
Rating: |
2016-01-31 | |
| Nice |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Cheers fellow hams, not bad little rig took awhile to master all soft controls, reprogramming filters, and sorting out how to run with Heathkit SSB-221, SA-2060A and Hygain tower. But after the tweaking, works very well on all bands, have contacts in south Africa, China, south America, all over US, Canada, Mexico, frequently eastern Europe. SC-17 after a lot of research ending up working perfectly once correct documentation was available. looking for information on programming the FFT-1 board. Its ho hum, but useful. Cant beat the price. Still like it after a year, had FT-900, TS-2000X and K-3 with all the goodies, sold them all after getting this radio. Auto tuner works great with linear if you understand how to setup for the band. SA2060 used on the amp gives very flat match across the whole band. Good setup, especially if your on a budget.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by K7BIT on 2013-09-21
TS-2000X finally died (bad HF finals), Spent lot of time at HRO in Portland trying to figure out replacement. FTDX1200, 3000, FT857, IC-7000 were among the candidates. I still have FT-900, K3/100+, IC-880H. Did side by side testing, FXDX1200 is very easy to use, superb display, adding the FFT-1 board ( that should be standard equipment), compared to K3, both excellent radios however for the $ FXDX1200 really delivers. Like filters, menuing was well done, really nice physical and mechanical construction, very logic layout with great ergonomics, They need to release a mod to disable the band scope mute, but other than that, exceptional for the money radio. Compared to 14 year old TS-2000X only VHF/UHF and 1200Mhz are missing, the IC-880H however handles V/UHF and is a really solid radio for this. Will never miss 1200Mhz, in 14 years never heard a signal. The best part was HRO September sale, $1599. What a Deal! |
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