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Reviews For: Yaesu FT-991A

Category: Transceivers: HF Amateur HF+6M+VHF+UHF models - non QRP <5W

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FT-991A
Reviews: 31MSRP: $1850
Description:
Updated version of the FT-991
Real-Time Spectrum Scope
Color Waterfall
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/4991.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
15314.5
W4SJC Rating: 2023-01-06
Worth the Experience Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is a rig I can grow into. I can make it QRP if I want to or operate at 100W on HF! I look forward to many good years out of this rig. Easy to set up and the real learning begins when we operate! I've gotten many compliments about audio signals as well.
OZ6HQ Rating: 2022-07-26
Nice Tranceiver Time Owned: more than 12 months.
We are 2 hams in DK that have a problem. EQ is working fine with PTT on mike MD-100. But when working VOX EQ is not working. Please send me email if You know how to fix it. OZ6HQ@OZ6HQ.DK
EI7II Rating: 2022-06-16
Yeasu FT991A? DELIGHTED with it. Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
All the good things have already been said about this radio so won't repeat them here. Just a simple question to answer for me? Would I buy this radio again ? ANSWER? In a Heartbeat. If I had the money I would buy a second one. For what it costs...this transceiver excels! Been a Ham for 30+ years and many radios passed thru my hands. Not this one... It will stay with me until my key goes silent.
Albert. EI7II.
KT8DX Rating: 2022-06-15
Excellent - no complaints Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Radio meets or exceeds all expectations. Not really hard to set up and operate as other reviewers have mentioned. Love the audio and have had a lot of fun with the radio.
KB9FMV Rating: 2022-04-04
BEST ALL AROUND RIG IN A LONG TIME Time Owned: more than 12 months.
i CAN TRULY SPEAK FROM EXPERIENCE THAT IS AN OUTSTANDING RIG! I HAVE OWNED THE FAMOUS KENWOOD TS 2000 SINCE 2002 AND MUST SAY I USED ALL FUNCTIONS OF THE 2000 INCLUDING OSCAR AND OTHER MOON BOUNCE FUNCTIONS BUT AS FAR AS HF THE 2000 WAS LESS THEN DESIREABLE! NOW GETTING TO THE 991 ITS BY FAR A GREAT HF RIG AND VHF/UHF A REAL KEEPER! THE HF PORTION IS REALL WHTS IMPRESSIVE! AFTER SOME TIME OF TAILORING THE RECEIVE AND TRANSMIT WOW THE REPORTS ARE OUTSTANDING! I ALSO LISTENED TO UTAH SDR TO HEAR MY SELF AND ALL I CAN SAY IS WOW! NOW FOR THE VHF/UHF PORTION LET ME SAY WHAT MORE CAN YOU ASK FOR??? FM AM DIGITAL NARROW GM MODE AND C4FM ALONG WITH WIRES X ! LET ME SAY I BEEN A HAM FOR WELL OVER 30 YEARS AND MUST SAY WIRES X IS MOST FASCINATING ! MOST OLDER HAM DO NOT HAVE ANY CONCEPT OF WHAT WIRES X IS ! THE NEW HAMS ARE PAVING THE WAY FOR DIGITAL WHICH IS THE FUTURE! NOW YOU GET OLD SCHOOL COMMENT LIKE ITS REALLY NOT HAM RADIO I BEG TO DIFFER! THE MARRIAGE OF DIGITAL AND HAM RADIO HAS BEEN ON THE BOOK SINCE SATLLITE WORK ! DUH! IF YOU A NEW HAM TRY WIRES X ALONG WITH 10 METER GM MODE YOU WILL LOVE IT! THIS RIG OFFERS MRE THAN MEETS THEY EYE!
NG4D Rating: 2022-04-04
Glitchy Shack in a Box Radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased this radio for the purpose of SSB VHF/UHF and to use with Fusion. I also used it for HF operation.

First of all, the audio settings were difficult to adjust to get the sound that was wanted. I wasn't satisfied with the outcome, even with a high quality microphone.

Second, there were times that the radio acted glitchy in performance and a reset had to be performed. It was frustrating.

Third, the receive audio on Fusion was disappointing and very unsatisfactory.

Lastly, this radio will key up your HF amplifier when in VHF/UHF mode. Yaesu needs to protect this from happening. Also, the technical support is lousy. The technician will talk down to you when you try to talk to him.

The features of the radio are nice, but the above issues made me sell it and get rid of it in month's time. I would advise staying away from this radio, unless you are considering possible portable work or operating without an amplifier. This radio was a disappointment to me.

Later, I purchased a Icom IC-7300 and 9700. They are spectacular radios and their performance outshines the 991A.
KT8R Rating: 2022-02-14
Not bad at all. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Picked this up today at DX Engineering in Tallmadge.
Only complaint so far is the VFO A, B issue. Very happy with the overall performance of the 991A. It's a shack in the box.
K5MGK Rating: 2022-02-01
Still Love The FT-991A Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had this radio as my main base rig for just over 2 years. I am still learning what this "shack-in-a-box" can do. I have taken it portable (POTA) but have since gotten a smaller Xiegu G90 for portable operation.

I use this radio for SSB, SSTV, digimodes and FM, C4FM on VHF/UHF. I still need to learn CW but the radio seems to have plenty of supporting features for that mode too. The mode button allows for mode switching but it'll shift my previous VFO frequency a bit and that's annoying.

The internal ATU works well on my random end fed wires and loaded coil vertical. The DNR really helps me pull out the POTA activators when I am hunting for parks. Also helpful are the IF Notch, DNF, and Contour functions to bring out a signal.

I talk to a couple of local hams on the VHF band in C4FM mode and it's sound is really impressive. Analog FM sounds kind of tinny in my opinion but usable. I do run an APRS modem on my computer and it works wonderfully through my FT-991A.

The main soundcard digimodes work really well with this radio and the interface connection is stable once your windows computer is fully booted. Until then, the radio's transmit indicator will blink red but will not transmit. Be sure to install the USB cable driver prior to connecting to your PC.

I finally got a remote control keypad and use it for voice keyer functions which is easier than using the screen.

The screen is clear and bright. I like the colorful waterfall/spectrum scope but my little G90 has a more accurate waterfall/spectrum scope. The customizable buttons at the bottom of the screen are useful.

I have used a couple of inexpensive desk mics but really the stock mic is adequate. I like the detailed parametric mic equalizer settings.

The included manual is detailed and easy to read except that my manual didn't include some menu option number changes from a recent firmware update that was pre-installed on my radio. The menu structure on the FT-991A are easy to learn. There are only 2 menus and that's enough for me, so I don't have to search and search for a function that I cannot remember what menu it is under. My G90 has a million sub-menus and it's hard to remember which functions are connected to which menus under which buttons.

All-in-all, the FT-991A is a great sounding and well made radio. For me, as a new ham when I bought it, it still has enough features/capabilities to allow me to hold on to it for the longer term. I don't feel the upgrade tick yet. And lastly, the 3 year warranty was a plus!
G8FXC Rating: 2021-12-24
Has pleasantly surprised me! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Several years ago, I went shopping for a new HF rig, spent a couple of hours in a main dealer playing with radios and came away with an IC-7300. I still love that radio and it is my main HF rig, but I recently decided that I wanted all mode VHF/UHF and bought an FT-991A - which had been the main alternative to the 7300 a couple of years earlier.

I had only really intended to use the 991A on 2m and 70cm - and it has not disappointed there. But I have also tried it on the HF bands and it has really surprised me there. Although the architecture is not as modern as the 7300, the presence of the 3kHz roofing filter does improve performance on a crowded band and it compares well with the ICOM - sometimes performing better. Yaesu Noise Reduction has always been impressive and the NR on the 991A can often delete noise that the ICOM NR can only reduce.

On the negative side, the spectrum scope is primitive by today's standards and the ergonomics of the front panel with all the switches crammed round a large central tuning knob is horrible. But I operate my radios within a fully computerised shack and rarely touch the front panel controls. All operation is via the mouse and keyboard. I also have an SDRPlay RSP1A in the overall configuration which gives me a high performance spectrum scope that can fill a wide screen monitor, so the 991A scope is not really an issue for me.

Overall, it is a very decent radio which is now available at a very reasonable price. It is a "shack-in-a-box" and, if I had fully converted to the computerised shack and separate SDR receiver when I first went out shopping for radios, it might well have been the one on my desk for the last four years rather than arriving just a couple of months ago!

Martin (G8FXC)
IK0ZTB Rating: 2021-12-22
A good radio...but not a Yaesu! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Let's start with positive aspects. It is compact, nice to see and it seems robust, built with good materials.
Its display is easily readable and aesthetically good, the waterfall is reactive and effective.
But, there are a lot of negative aspects.
First of all, when I tried for the first time to press the A/B Vfo key, I immediately realized that the frequency changed, but the display still indicated Vfo A and the same for the leds indications that don't change at all.
At the first I thought I was making some mistakes, but when I read surfing on the internet that it was a well-known bug (for several years), then I started thinking it should have been a joke. Impossible something else!
An international company like yaesu can't succeed in solving such a basic firmware bug.
Using this radio I also realized that its Vhf and up front end gets saturated very easily, it was enough another station 8 km far away to put the VHF receiver in crisis.
Moreover, sometimes the output sound of the CW note gets distorted, perhaps a DSP programming problem.
Minor problems are:
On the USB computer's connection, when I switch in digital mode the radio turns in transmit mode, and it is necessary to turn off it to resume the normal working.
The C4FM mode need a decoder to understand the others ham's speeching.
Menus system seems designed by a drunkard.
All in all not a bad radio, but it seems a typical Chinese product, full of bugs that no one matters to fix.
A Chinese radio that costs 1.500 euro!