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Reviews For: Yaesu FRG-9600

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FRG-9600
Reviews: 19MSRP: 529.00
Description:
Yaesu FRG-9600 V/UHF General Coverage (Wideband) Receiver 60 to 905 MHz (modifiable) Gapless Coverage.
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00193
G4IPZ Rating: 2008-01-13
A total pile of rubbish Time Owned: more than 12 months.
When I was offered this some years back I thought I was getting a deal. I was - a deal of old trash. The scanning features are abysmal. In my case it wont retain anything in it's memory and every so often the tune dial decides that which ever direction I turn it in it will only go up in frequency. I live quite close to biggin hill airport and the 9600 suffers terribly from cross mod from the over flying aircraft on AM.
I wouldn't say it's deaf but it's definitely hard of hearing.
It really is a pile of pooh and only suitable as a shack door stop and is probably the biggest load of tat that yaesu ever produced
SWL-I3-2551 Rating: 2006-12-21
old project but onest Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Buy it used about 10 years ago n still was imho a onest receiver, work weak signal, not very selective, but i have istalled video module, fc965, fc1300, kuranushi console and least but not last with pc can give it little new options and life before buy new receiver... any novice or anyone want a receiver to start to listen i can say buy this but not more 120 € or$ on ebay, maybe with fc965 ( downconverter from 0,5 to 60 MHz) or fc1300 (too very rare upconverter from 900 to 1300mhz) or video option istalled... remeber anyone disappoint this is was a scanner not a receiver, build over 20 ears ago (the cat iterface was for appleII o texas instruments pc) so the project was thinked before dont blame this the aor at same time was a waste!
KB0MEP Rating: 2005-04-17
Good general reciever Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The other review mentioning the awkward scanning function of this radio is correct. It isn't very effective as a "scanner" compared to many newer radios. If a scanner is what you need, look elsewhere.

However, the radio does AM,FM,FM wide & SSB and works very well as a single channel reciever it does have a VFO. I've used it both to monitor milair VHF,Amateur sideband,TV audio, 800mhz conventional freqs with a variety of antennas and it's worked quite well. The audio is good IMHO and selectivity/sensitivity with my unit has been pretty good.

Freq range on a unmodified unit is 60-950Mhz but there is a mod availible to drop the lower end to 40mhz I believe. Mods.dk has the info.

There are interfaces availible that will imcrease the usefulness of this radio with computer control. Scanstar,Scancat & others make software that will control the radio.

For the day, this was a really sophisticated and unique unit. There are better choices these days but they will cost you a lot more than the $250-$300 this radio typically sells for on ebay etc..

If you have a need for a decent Desktop reciever that covers VHF-950mhz "all mode" then you won't be dissapointed if you find a well cared for example.

Cheers!
Brian KB0MEP
VK1ZIP Rating: 2004-12-30
Looks nice but... Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Nice looking unit but this is one the worst receivers I have ever used. Technically its the pits. I wont go into whats worng with it, that will take all day. There are NO redeeming features I can mention about this unit. I did not like it at all and I cannot recommend it to anyone, not even a beginner. Sorry Mr Yaesu but this is not one of your best efforts. I had my 9600 for 2 weeks then it had to go.
G1HBE Rating: 2004-01-08
Oh dear... Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I'm afraid I have to agree with the last two reviewers. I owned one of these as a 'standby' to listen to a few favourite channels while doing more serious tuning on my IC-R7000. What a pile! The scanning features are so slow and clunky, they really are not worth the trouble, and selectivity was poor - closely spaced PMR channels constantly interfered with each other. Shame, but there we are. Another scanner sold cheaply at the next rally!
WB2NGX Rating: 2003-03-24
FRG-9600 Needs Help Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have owned the FRG-9600 for a few short weeks.
I just can't figure out the scanning set up of this unit. It has 100 memory channels all of which I can fill with frequencies to listen to but when it scans and stops on a memory channel the display digits start to blink from left to right and then it resumes scanning cutting off the conversation. I just don't get it. This renders it virtually useless as a scanner. The other thing is you can only scan 10 channel blocks at a time and not the full 100 channel bank. I would apprieciate any input anyone may have or if there are any mods to cure this problem. What were they thinking of when they designed this unit?

TNX....... Joe WB2NGX
SIERRAHOTEL Rating: 2002-08-03
Could have been a contender Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I did some work for someone, and ended up making a trade, the work and a handheld scanner for the 9600. It was in new condition, and I thought he was crazy for letting the 9600 go so cheaply. It didn't take long to see I had been the crazy one for taking it!

It wasn't much more sensitive than a regular scanner, and the scan speed was pitiful, like 6 channels a sec, something like that. There were lockups occuring once in a while, and I found out that was apparently a normal thing. The audio was pretty decent, but not spectacular. The firmware oddities were very annoying. I went to Universal, and side by side with the display unit they had at the time, it worked exactly the same as it did. It kind of gathered dust on my shelf and then a friend bought an Icom R7000, and brought it over. The 9600 went on sale the next day. I got a decent amount of money for the FRG-9600, and bought a 7000 that I still have today. If the firmware hadnt have been so "crippling", and the price would have been more reasonable, the 9600 wouldn't be a bad receiver. Anyone giving the 9600 a 5 star rating must never have used an Icom R-7000 or 7100, either of whitch is ten times the radio the 9600 is, even with the oddball scanning scheme it uses!

Another dissapointing Yaesu product that could have been so much better with just a few changes!
K2KOH Rating: 2002-02-23
Great Receiver! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Blows away my BC780. Too bad the FRG9600 can't be used as a trunking scanner. Selectivity is fantastic, audio quality is commercial grade. I love this radio. Bought it second hand on ebay, and have enjoyed it ever since!
KB0GNC Rating: 2002-01-10
You can't beat this receiver Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought my Yaesu FRG-9600 new in 1989 and even though that is a long time ago, this radio still shines. Living near an AFB gives me the advantage of being able to listen to UHF military frequencies. When I put this radio next to a brand new Uniden/Bearcat BC780XLT on the same frequency, the Yaesu wins hands down and has no trouble at all pulling weak signals from the local F-16 pilots practicing their maneuvers nearby. Sometimes the 780 doesn't even break open the squelch. I can also pick up four different NOAA weather sites (one 110 nautical miles away) with the Yaesu. The 780 can't touch the sensitivity at all. All in all the Yaesu in my case has worked flawlessly and I don't have a negative thing to say about it. When you consider all the features the 9600 has you would be hard pressed to find the flexibility it offers vs. other wide range receivers of this quality. This radio was truly the epitome of gapless receivers of it's time.