| ZL1LK |
Rating:  |
2011-05-07 | |
| WOW! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I got this FT920 second hand in mint condition off the net. After using a friend’s 920, I liked it so much so I bought one. I sold my FT990 after buying the FT920.
The 990 had a quiet receiver after the pin diode conversion, although I feel the 920 has a far better front end.
Things I like about the 920: Outstanding, if not the best DSP I have ever used (and I thought my TS480 was good) Also the noise reduction is outstanding. All the controls and buttons you will ever need are on the front panel once the menus are setup. The internal antenna tuner is very good, maybe a little slow tuning but once it has tuned, it will remember those setting and never loose them. The twin VFO’s are very easy to use for split operation. The AGC fast/slow are just right. The front end is so quiet.
Things I don’t like about the 920: It just doesn’t quite feel like a 990’s solid feel. Also I don’t like bar-graph S-meters. The original hand microphone seems to quiet and therefore you need a higher mic gain setting (I’m using a different mic… 100% improvement) Apart from that, there isn’t anything else I can think of… It’s a great rig.
When I bought this rig, It had the FM board and the 500Hz CW filter fitted. In the AM filter position, there is a strange Yaesu board fitted which took me a while to find out that it’s a pass-through board to allow AM to TX. So I guess for the age of this rig, I have missed out on locating the original AM filter.
If you ever get the chance to own a 920… go for it! You will NOT be disappointed.
73 de ZL1LK Roy
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| WA7NDD |
Rating: |
2011-02-19 | |
| 12 years still Great |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Gave a review on the FT920 about 6 years ago and have had the radio for about 12 years. I was retiring then, and had the money for a new radio. The 920 was so good I bought a SteppIR 3 element beam instead. The radio is still going strong with no issues, but an element fell off the SteppIR because the rubber boot rotted. It has AM, CW filters, FM board, TXCO, and the INRAD cascade SSB filter board. With the High and low Cut DSP, I don’t find I need the SSB filters that much. (Not a contester) I thought I’d start looking for another radio this last month. It seems there are a lot of new Yaesu’s that come back up for sale shortly after purchase. I found a review from 2010 that said if you like the 920 you’ll love the 950. I emailed the ham asking him about his statement. He came back with: The 950 is sold and he kept the 920. I guess that says it all. I did sale my white noise generator the FT897D my ears and health issues could not take that radio any more. Hi Hi It is my personal opinion Yaesu stopped making the 920 because they could not get the 1000’s to move. As I understand the 920 receiver is much quieter than the 1000’s.
Jim, WA7NDD
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Earlier 4-star review posted by WA7NDD on 2005-03-11
I have had my FT-920 for two years now. I was going to buy a big expensive radio when I retired this summer just to pamper myself. Hi Hi. After buying the 920, adding the INRAD SSB filter board, 2.1kc filter along with 2.4kc OME filter, adding the INRAD 400hz filter to the cw side, the 920 will be my retirement radio. I bought a tower and three element SteppIR with my radio money instead. I'll put it up this month. I have added the TCXO-7 before you can't get one anymore, and will add the INRAD CW board and change the 2.1 to the 1.8 filter on the SSB side.
You can buy a 1000MPFIELD for around $1800, but it takes another $1000 in accessories, many of which were already on the 920, and there is no 6 meters.
I gave the radio a "4" becasue sometime the AGC pumping of a close, strong signal bothers me, even if you can't here the signal in the speaker.
My personal opinion, is that Yaesu stopped making this radio for one reason, they could not get there more expensive radios sold in the volumes they wanted with FT-920 on the market.
Jim, WA7NDD
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| M3IUC |
Rating: |
2010-09-20 | |
| great tranciever |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| ive had this radio now for over 4 years bought secondhand never let me down good audio reports with my hand mike and md-100 easy to use idot proof, good rx evan from internal speaker although i use a extention speaker. i paid £750 for my radio and they are still selling for that toady, if you find one buy buy buy you wont be disapointed. |
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| KE5WCE |
Rating: |
2010-08-23 | |
| Great Radio |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I bought the Yaesu FT-920 from Gray/KA4ZPF what a great radio this is it looks like brand new and works perfect I have no bad reports with this rig and very smooth to operate. Gray bought it new from HRO in 2002 and it came with all the options. if you get a chance to find a good one then grab it you will love it!!!
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| EI4GMB |
Rating: |
2010-05-22 | |
| On a par with the big guns! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I purchased my FT-920AF transceiver second-hand from a dealer in the U.K for approx.£750.It is now 10 years old and apart from some minor glitches such as a flickering omni-glow display light,I have had no problems whatsoever with it.I was initially confused by the letters AF in the model name but was told by the kind people at Yaesu that this was added to units containing the AM filter and the FM board.The radio is an excellent DX rig and is on a par with the Mark V in receiver performance and great sounding TX audio,yet can be got for half the price.The processor is truly amazing and is better than the MP 1000 and equal to if not better than the Mark V.After programming an appropriate voice contour or equalisation setting into the menu system I would highly recommend using the beautiful sounding MD-100AX8 desk microphone. This gives 'Heil-like'and rich sounding broadcast audio. Indeed,there's very little negative I can say about the FT-920.It was my first rig when starting off and worked like a dream ,equal if not better in performance to big guns like the Pro III or Mark V.The 920 is no longer in production but if you can get one second-hand and in reasonably good condition my advice is to snap it up.You can often find them very reasonably priced.The Yaesu FT-920 is indeed a great performer.For sure, it will not disappoint! |
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| G7MWH |
Rating: |
2010-04-22 | |
| great rig |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| first saw and tried rig at a friends home when they were first released, very impressed, used rig again at a special event station, results were impessive to say the least, bought a second hand one from a dealer 6 months later and must say it is with out doubt one of the best radios i have owned, also own Icoms and Kenwoods but the FT920 is a very superior radio, just wish the manafacturers did not mess about, if it says FM, AM, SSB, CW, DATA on the box or front of the rig then it should do it, it should not come as an optional extra, bit like buying a car then haveing to install an engine and four wheels, my Icom says all this on the box and would you believe it does it !! wake up smell the coffee, if it don't do it don't list it. |
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| K4MPE |
Rating: |
2010-03-29 | |
| Hard to Beat! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| In my 51 yrs as a ham, I always owned American radios (National, Heathkit, Drake, Collins, Ten-Tec, etc) until I purchased this radio in 2000 when I retired. A month after receiving it, I replaced the stock filters with INRAD's SSB and CW switch board setup. Boy! What a change! I must say I've enjoyed using this rig for my DXing and contest work over the years. I've been tempted to update the rig, but just can't retire this excellent radio. Never had the first problem from this radio since it came out of the box. Not sure how much I would gain for my requirements. Works excellent on CW, SSB, PSK and RTTY. Very user friendly. Once you set up the menus, then you forget them. It is not in the same class as the upper end radios, but it does most jobs well. It has all the bells & whistles you need..and more! And if you like knobs vs.menus to do your adjustments, then this is the radio. You don't see many for sale either. With the INRAD filters, it's a great rig. May even try the new INRAD Roofing filter. |
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| N9YK |
Rating: |
2010-03-28 | |
| Excellent |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I purchased my FT-920 used from another ham. I am extremely happy with it. I have had zero problems with this fantastic radio. I get alot of big signel and great audio reports. I would have no problem buying another. Two other local hams in our club have bought FT-920s after seeing mine. Love it. |
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| EC4ALB |
Rating: |
2010-01-31 | |
| SUPERB RADIO |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
Purchased mine from USA ebay, came with all filters except cw.
I use it as a second HF radio, first is FT-2000, i´ve tested the two radios in rx with the same antenna, and have no seen big differences.
The rig has a good receptor and the dsp is fine and easy to use, maybe a bit slow kbps on cat function.
The tunner works well and quickly, solid 100 wts output in all bands.
No issues for the moment and great audio.
73 de EC4ALB |
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| G8XDD |
Rating: |
2009-11-24 | |
| Keeper |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| The FT920 is a great rig, mine came with AM board, I added an FM board which was difficult to obtain, but worth it for use on 6m and 10m fm. I had a rush of blood to the head and swapped the 920 for an Icom 746, good radio but not a 920! so, found someone who wanted to swap their 920 for a 746 and guess what, got mine back again! Its not going anywhere now! Great with supplied hand mike even better with the MD100 |
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