| VK2FSTU |
Rating:      |
2016-03-19 | |
| Brilliant Rig |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| Well, finally have a radio that is so good with the audio my poor old ears can now hear what is going on. What a fantastic rig, has everything I need on a radio and more. Excellent in audio, output (all others say I sound great), and what a great internal tuner. |
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| VK3SIR |
Rating:      |
2016-03-02 | |
| Outstanding !! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Living in a high-noise urban environment in a Unit in Metropolitan Melbourne (City Pop. 4M) means a VERY high noise... Compared to the FT-897D workhorse, the sensitivity of the receiver and 2 front-end amplifiers is beyond outstanding!
Just as a suggestion, ensure that the latest firmware is applied to the radio as there are considerable enhancements over the stock firmware.
I have had some outstanding Tx reports from the device on SSB as well - although the MH-36 Microphone that I also had needed the "plastic blocker" between the electret and the outer housing removed in order to gain reasonable reports with this mic.
I find, as many do, the Waterfall a little disappointing; A tap at the IF into a single device as simple as a Softrock in technology would have overcome this issue.... But the way it has been implemented with a sample every so on (and a slight upset to the Rx) is a more than acceptable way of achieving this.
Programming is extremely easy - but made a real snap using the RT Systems FT-991 Programmer. The best US25 I have spent in a while.
Overall... An Excellent Radio from a fantastic heritage. Its just a shame that some on these forums have been dismissing the radio due to a poor experiencer with Finals. I would suggest updates are the key to this experience. |
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| VE3TCV |
Rating:      |
2016-02-22 | |
| Best field day/portable rig out there |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I currently own a Yaesu FTDX-3000 and was looking for a field day/portable rig with the smallest footprint, the FT-991 was it! It was a toss up between the FT-991. Icom 7100 or wait for the new unreleased Icom 7300. I own a Yaesu Quadra amplifier so I preferred the FT-991 to keep the connections simple, the radio also has VHF/UHF and a decent frequency receive range that comes close to most scanners!
The FT-991 is not that small but it is small enough for portable use, it may not be the best choice for backpacking but I can see it being a great fit for field day, lighthouse events and dxpeditions. I installed mine in a Gator GR-4S 15in deep case using the optional mobile mounting bracket. There was plenty of room available for a switching P/S, speaker and power connectors. The whole case weight about 25lbs and could also be brought on board flights as a carry on piece of luggage.
How does the radio work? Well, on SSB the DSP is great, it blows away the FT-857 and FT-897, I also found the DSP was actually too strong even on the lowest level, the latest DSP firmware update seems to have resolved this by weakening it a little. It is still not as nice as the DSP on the FTDX-3000 but it is pretty close, for example on the FTDX-3000 my DSP on level 6 is comparable to the FT-991 DSP level 2 or 3. Most of the time I have the level set to #2 as anything higher starts to create a fishbowl effect.
SSB use it pretty straight forward the microphone EQ is the same as the FTDX-3000 and the processor is just about the same as well, the transmit audio sounds fantastic and is highly customizable to whatever microphone you are using. The internal antenna turner is not a miracle worker but it does tune most antennas up to a 3:1 SWR pretty effectively.
This radio shines with digital modes, the built in USB sound-card means that you no longer require any type of Signalink or Rigblaster devices, you simply connect the radio to your computer with the USB cable. The USB cable provides two com ports, one is for CAT data and the other for PTT functionality. The USB connection also creates a microphone and speaker for digital mode software to operate. I have successfully configured the FT-991 to work with Omnirig, Log4OM, Fldigi, N1MM and JT65-HF-HB9HQX-Edition. If anyone needs assistance in setting up any of these applications please let me know via QRZ email.
VHF/UHF and C4FM use is excellent, RX audio is crystal clear even with the built in speaker. TX audio reports are all excellent. I have only tested Wires-X a couple of times and this seems to work as it should, I presume many more Wires-X repeaters will start to come online shortly.
Interfacing the radio to an amplifier is pretty straightforward, I have mine connected to my Yaesu Quadra using the same interface cables that I was using on my FT-857.
So what are the radio's downfalls? Well there are a few and I will do my best to detail them:
- Touchscreen madness: Almost all of the radios features need to be reached through the touchscreen, I understand this is they it has to be to keep the radio size down a minimum and for the most part this would be fine especially on SSB mode. But when it comes to the digital modes and you like to zoom into a particular signal it is a bit tricky and time consuming to use the shift/width features in the menu. Also, when the radio is in transmit mode you can only adjust the feature that is selected, so for example if you have TX power selected you will not able to feather the MIC gain up/down. Once you get use to this it will not be much of a problem however you should expect a bit of a learning curve.
- Antenna jack: There is only one antenna jack for HF, at first this bothered me somewhat but if you want a smaller radio you need to leave some stuff out. An $80 Alpha Delta antenna switch solved the problem here for me, I even mounted it in my portable case.
- Memories: 100 memory channels may not be enough for this radio, I quickly filled this up as I have HF digital modem frequencies, Air band and repeaters. Many people would like to have some other frequencies such as weather, AM/FM radio, police, fire etc. The Icom 7100 has 500 memory channels, this would have been a perfect amount for this radio as well.
I highly recommend purchasing the FT-991 radio programming software by RT-Systems for this this radio, it is a lifesaver in backing up all of your radio menu settings and memories. It also makes programming the radio a breeze.
Final thoughts:
Would I replace my FTDX-3000 with this radio? No! But it is a worthy radio for it's size and probably the best band for the buck radio available at the moment. It is perfect for portable use, field day, dxpeditions and probably on par if not better than many of the current big metal rigs out there.
Just think about it, all you would need for field day with this radio is a power supply, laptop and a USB cable. An antenna would be nice too. :)
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| WP3TQ |
Rating:      |
2016-02-22 | |
| So Far outstanding shack in the box |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
For my first review I owned the 991 about 2 1/2 weeks an man I got to say for my own first new radio it's awesome. While I havE only tried 10m, 2m, ssb, FM, c4fm, and Am.
Here's what I've done since it arrived
1.where I live can't have an outdoor antenna and I wasn't gonna put it in the mobile.
2 got brave and built my own Antennas, 1/4 wave 2m at 45degree + side down 1.1 swr indoor table top. For 10m 1/2 wave dipole 1:1 mfj balun 1:6 swr tuned nicely with internal tuner to 1 flat about 5 secs flat
3. Talked on local 2m repeater 5watts great audio full quiet on the repeater
4. This is where I almost fell of my chair on 10m dipole strung up in my bedroom 25 watts made a great 5/7 to Puerto Rico from my QTH In NC that was also had 3 contacts to Puerto Rico one after the other not even in my mobile with 10m setup and 100 watts did I get out so fast and easy
Am On dummy load and to sdr and sdrsharp sounds great.
Forgot to mention I did read about all the problems and was doubtful but no Regrets great radio
FIRST THing I did do as soon as i opened the box was the Feb 3 2016 firmware updates. |
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| VO1OE |
Rating:  |
2016-02-18 | |
| bad start from the get go |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
got the radio dec 27th, and was using it for the c4fm 2m/440....in the process of migrating the ft-857 to car and then making the 991 the permanent shack radio I noticed I wasnt making any contacts, and I noticed the modulation wasnt peaking. Further investigation and back and forth from my supplier and yaesu and 5 hours of trouble shooting updating back and forth the final results were:
on 3.4Mhz with power at 100w set and meter on PO...I show 10W
on 7Mhz with power at 100w set and meter on PO...I show 40W
on 14Mhz with power at 100w set and meter on PO...I show 70W
on 18Mhz with power at 100w set and meter on PO...I show 80W
on 21Mhz with power at 100w set and meter on PO...I show 60W
on 24Mhz with power at 100w set and meter on PO...I show 75W
on 28Mhz with power at 100w set and meter on PO...I show 90W
144 & 440 were fine with 50w output...
now I have to spend $100 to ship the brand new radio back and hopefully dont get another lemon..(assuming they will replace rather than fix)....impressed I am not. Kudo's to jeff at radioworld for being quick replying to my asking for help and quick responses in the troubleshooting |
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| W3M0GOC |
Rating:      |
2016-02-18 | |
| Great bang for the buck! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I've had the FT-991 for 3 days now. It's a solid 5 in my book.
Here's why.
My budget was originally around $1000 for a "shack in a box" style radio. Just as the money became available to me, Yaesu removed most of the rebates, putting the price back up to almost $1500. Also, the power transistor issue made me have doubts.
Time for a rethink. So, I bought the Icom IC-7100. This was a mistake for me, for several reasons. D-Star is not prevalent in my area, and even with a high gain yagi I couldn't reliably hit the local D-Star repeater from 30 miles away. D-Star also requires registration, and is quite complex to setup when not used to it, and even more difficult to use when you can't get a reliable repeater connection. Further, when working HF I was hitting the same low power SSB output that others have complained of. As most of my time is spent on HF, this was unacceptable. I spoke to quite a few local hams who told me that this was a known issue, and that the FT-991 output transistor issues had been resolved now. So the radio was returned, and swapped for the FT-991, with an additional $250 added into the mix.
Setup straight out of the box is easy. Almost, plug and play. The screen is clear and well colored. The touchscreen works. The Menus are clear an concise, and the manual actually tells you how to do things. The quick access menus allow you to put your favorite menu items close at hand to suit your preferences.
The receiver is amazing in comparison to the FT-857D, and the TS-2000 that I used to have, and similar to the IC-7100. Audio quality for the money is amazing. Listening to 40m AM hams, the richness of sound is breathtaking. The mic seems to suit my voice, and I get good audio reports, and that's without playing with the audio processing module, or even turning it on.
15 types of noise reduction....filtering....I could go on.
It puts our a solid 100W, just like it's supposed to. The autotuner is a typical minimal manuafacturer effort, but it tries to get a match.
My QTH antenna setup is not ideal. The IC-7100 struggled to get a signal out. Within 3 hours with the FT-991 at home I had multiple HF QSO's. At the local club site with an 80m loop and the FT-991 I've already worked Europe, Cuba, and French Guiana. I never had a single HF QSO with the IC-7100 at either the club site, or at home.
C4FM, quite simply, works. There are lots of Fusion repeaters here, and no registration required. Simple to use, and reliable.
One small complaint.... No USB cable, and no CAT/Data cable plugs, as per years gone by. For the $5 or $10 it would cost Yaesu to add them into the box it smacks of cost cutting.
I haven't tried the digital modes (PSK31 et al) yet, but I'm told it's simple to setup. So, I'll report on that another time.
Re-reading this review, it sounds like an Icom bashing session, and it isn't meant to be. Trust me, I could have been scathing about the apparent misinformation (being told that the new firmware fixes the low power output issue prior to purchase, and then denying it once I've actually bought the radio).
Yes, Yaesu brought the FT-991 to market too soon. They too had issues. But, they 'owned them', and the issues are now resolved. Now, it's brilliant!!
I just hope that Yaesu have learned their lesson in terms of real world product testing. |
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| PE2CJ |
Rating:      |
2016-02-15 | |
| Great radio (after mods) |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
The FT-991 is a leap forward comparing to the FT-897D. SQL and RG Gain opertion is much easier than at the FT-897(D). The DNR is extremely good!
There was unfortunately some AM audio trouble. I heared more HAM's about this problem. The transmitted AM audio sounded bad. This can be fixed simple. The AM carrier level should be adjusted in the service menu described here: http://www.amateurtele.com/index.php?artikel=168&hlk=en&id=#752
After the adjustment of the AM carrier level, the radio is great! I owned the FT-817, FT-857, FT-897D and FT-450. Now I'm the proud owner of a FT-2000 and the FT-991. I like the built in clock of the FT-991. The display is large enough and very clear. The audio and data over USB is a big plus next to the "standard" RS232 port. The voice keyer is also a nice feature I liked already on the FT-2000. The FT-991 is a well tought design. The three second mute possibility on the power button is one of the clever additions to the design.
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| VK6NGS |
Rating:      |
2016-02-11 | |
| Worth the pain. |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| If anyone should give the 991 a 0/5 it would be me.Im on my 3rd 991 for PA problem's.Out the 3 two whent back for PA repair.So 5 times ive had a 991 blow up.Im not going winge about dont like the menu,cant set the clock ect they are all personal likes and dislikes.My current 991 hasnt missed a beat.I could go on about what i dont like but thats a personal thing and doesnt affect how the radio performs.The menu is the best menu and easiest to use yaesu menu ive used.Touch screen is the best on the market,i have had a ic7100 and find the 991 has a better touch screen.The mic EQ once setup is great.Im allways getting comments on how good my audio sounds.I could keep going on about how good i think it is.One thing i would say is if you dont like high tech radio's menu driven radio's the 991 isnt for you.Read the manual and then read it again.It isnt a hard radio to use,its the people that dont read the manual that make it hard.The early problems and lack of reading the manual have given the 991 bad press.Yaesu releasing the 991 before it was ready for the market was to say the least stupid.Buy a 991 read the manual and enjoy it its a great radio.Cheers Grant VK6NGS |
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| K7AAT |
Rating:      |
2016-02-01 | |
| Outstanding design |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I have owned my FT-991 for almost a month now - purchased from HRO. I was planning on holding off before posting any review, but after reading the past few negative reviews I felt I must provide some response, if only for balance. This radio design is outstanding. The functionality and ease of use is a welcome relief to some past convoluted Yaesu menu systems. I have not operated this radio to the extent I would normally do for a review, yet, but have had several SSB contacts and some VHF work ... and am enjoying the new Yaesu C4FM mode.... it is fantastic. More to follow, but this radio is the cat's meow as far as I am concerned. It will become my primary RV radio too. |
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| M6LDZ |
Rating:      |
2016-01-28 | |
| First one in the UK still going strong |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I may be lucky but my 991 which was in the first delivery to the UK is still going strong.
It gets used very intensively weekly for the UKAC VHF contests on 6/2 and 70cms running 1 qso/ min for a couple of hours.
It has also been used in earnest on HF both barefoot and with the Expert 1.3 with great results.
I know of those that have had PA problems and no doubt as I write this mine will go. But then that is not a problem restricted only to this radio. I have had 2 in my IC7000 which runs so hot you can fry an egg on it.
Despite all the scares printed in recent reviews the 991 has proven to be a great radio for VHF contesting and, for me, remains the best choice for portable use and contesting available at the moment.
TC
2EØLDZ
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