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Reviews For: Yaesu FT-7100M

Category: Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Base/Mobile (non hand-held)

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FT-7100M
Reviews: 123MSRP: 499
Description:
Dual Band Mobile, V/V, U/U, V/U, Wide Rx, 50W/35W, 262 Memories, 2 Row Alphanumeric Memory Labels,

Product is not in production
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# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
131232.8
WA4TIJ Rating: 2002-03-25
Scanning noise fix Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
My dealer was assured by Yaesu (America) that the stock was purged and all of the fixes installed. My 7100M (1D040695), sporting the blue dot, had the scanning noise and the intermod problem. So, back it goes to Yaesu.

After a five week turnaround, the rig is back with 'AM Repairs' on the work order. The main rcvr chip was replaced with a revision sticker attached, R0541. This did fix the problems.

Other than Vertex not having their act together, this is now a great radio. Easy and cheap to remote and has enough features to make mobile operation easier.

One gripe. Programming software is proprietary. Their choice, of course, but this being a hobby, VS should just publish the codes as they do for the CAT system. If it is so important for the programming software to be a profit center, why does Kenwood supply a program for free?

73,
Robert, WA4TIJ
ND5Y Rating: 2002-03-22
Re: 2nd one sent back to Yaesu. We'll see what happens. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is a follow up to the review I posted on
26 Jan 2002.

I shipped my Ft-7100M to Yaesu on that date and
received it back on 20 Mar 2002. They apparently
replaced 1 part which fixed the motorboat /
helicopter scanning noise and the keypad and
control lockup. The transmit audio still sounds
poor to me but others say it is not that bad.

I asked Yaesu to call or e-mail me when they
shipped the radio back to me and give me the
UPS tracking number. They didn't.

73,
Tom ND5Y


----------------------
Earlier 1-star review posted by ND5Y on 2002-01-26

I bought a FT-7100M last month to replace an old Alinco DR-590T. I received S/N 1E09xxxx. It had red, yellow, and blue dots and had slight helicopter or motorboat scanning noise but no other problems that I could tell. I sent it back to the dealer who was happy to exchange it. I was hoping to get a better one but the second one I got was an earlier serial number 1D04xxxx and had only a blue dot.

The second one was worse than the first one. It had very hot tx audio. The mic gain way too high but the DTMF, CTCSS, DCS tones seemed normal. Sometmes it would lock up and the front panel keys, mic keys, PTT switch and tuning knob
would not respond.

Both radios received a lot better than my old Alinco and intermod was not as bad as some people have reported.

Both radios were over 600 Hz off frequency which tells me that either they don't care about aligning them very carefully at the factory, have poor QC, or are using uncalibrated test equipment.

The dealer hinted that there is a reason they are getting rid of them for $289, you get what you pay for, and some people went through 2 or 3 FT-7100Ms before they got a good one.

It took me about 3 emails and 2 phone calls to get any response from Yaesu customer service or tech support. They sent me a copy of a page from the owner's manual with hand-written corrections for the memory skip scan and program scan limit problem which was written by somebody who could not write a simple sentence in English. There is no excuse for not printing up a correction sheet to ship with the owner's manual, like they did with my FT-50.

I think Yaesu is just a little fish in a big ocean of manufacturers (not just ham radio) that are turning out crap because they refuse to spend the money to do it right or pay enough to attract competent employees who can do things right in the first place.

I guess if I want a really good radio, I will have to buy a $3000 Motorola and pay a dealer $120 every time I want to change frequencies.

end of soapbox
73 de Tom ND5Y

WT4K Rating: 2002-03-18
Avoid this rig. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought the rig while I was on a trip in Cleveland. I had owned an FT90 but wanted to be able to have dual receive again, and the price was right. Installation with the seperation kit was a breeze, but that's where the good stuff ends. The first audio reports I got indicated that the radio sounded like it was off frequency, after trying many different approaches including taking the remote setup out, filters, mike, etc. the radio went back to the store since it was only a few days old. The store I got it from tested several other radios after not being able to get an answer from Yeasu as to why this was happening, and found a similar problem with them, (it was not transmiting off frequency). I have also come to find that there is something to the different colored dots on the boxes, they are supposed to indicate apparent fixes applied. Needless to say I was able to have the radio exchanged (for an Icom IC 2800 which I am very happy with, but that's another review) and I am very appreciative to the folks at AES for how they handled the situation.
ZL2HD Rating: 2002-02-27
Strange things happen.. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This radio is hard to use- 8 buttons, short press means one thing, push and hold something else- often not related to the named function. Lots of features on the Menu, but not really easy to get to.
Worst are the strange things that happen- nothing a power off/on dosn't fix. But no other reports of this? And poor audio reports.....
I found eHam looking for mods for the radio, I wish I had before I purchased- I would (should) not have.
K5SWA Rating: 2002-02-11
So Far So Good! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased this dual-band based on my experience in owning a Yaesu multiple band talkie (VX-5R)(No complaints with the talkie) and the price. I expected the radio to be able to store a vhf-uhf freq in the memory.(as does the VX-5R) It does not. Both transmit and receive freqs in memory must be in same band. My radio from HRO was a blue dot. I have not had any bad audio reports from either the vhf or uhf bands.

It does seem to get slightly more inter mod whistles and tones than do any of my other radios.

I did not purchase the remote mount. I used four strips of velcro when I determined that the faceplace would just fit into the existing pocket of my dash in my 4-runner truck. A trip to Radio Shack for a six cable flat phone line and a packet of conectors+crimping tool took care of the connection between the faceplate and the rest of the rig under the seat. (Total Cost-under $20)

I have not had any of the other problems that I have read about so far. I have, however, kept a close watch for any that might develop. If they do, rest assured that the rig will be returned to Yaesu.

In the meantime it has been so far so good. I am mostly disappointed that it will not store separate vhf/uhf freqs for SAT work on UO14 or AO27 in memory for split operations. It can be done by quickly swaping with the band button. Why that way you ask? It seems that when the uhf freq is in the lower receiver, it does not receive the SAT weak signal as well(if at all) as the top receiver. I do not notice this problem with local uhf repeaters. With strong repeaters, the lower receiver works as advertised. Overall, I am willing to give this radio a 3+ after all that I have read. Mine at least is so far working ok.
K4THX Rating: 2002-02-02
Great radio until you plug it in Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I got this radio from HRO and they guaranteed me that all the updates have been done. When it arrived it only had the blue dot.
I like the feel, the ease of operation, the beauty of the radio, up until you transmit.
Then all your friends turn off their radios while screaming in pain. I didn't believe it was that bad until I was on the listing end of another radio. It had a muffled sound and every time a word started with a "S" It splattered the bandwidth. It was terrible, and yes, hard to listed to.
I shipped it back within the same day.

Run away, Run away fast! Hide.
KE4RWS Rating: 2002-01-31
Go Elswhere . . . Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I was able to pick up one of these radios on the used market for $250. It was only 3 months old and appeared new when I received it. It had been purchased by an individual who had taken perfect care of it, so it was like-new when it came into my care. My 7100M had all three colored dots, indicating the various current fixes had been done.

I used the radio strictly as a base station, and was used primarily for packet operation and some voice. In the beginning the 7100M operated very well. After a few days use I noticed the scan noise problem. This was realized when one side of the radio was scanning, and the other side was receiving a signal. The "helicopter" noise seemed to go away if there wasn't any received signal on the opposing band. Another problem soon became apparent after two or three days. It seems the display would appear to lock up. That is to say, various indicators in the display would come on and never go off. Since the radio was used primarily for packet, it was left on 24/7 and would transmit a beacon every 30 minutes. Nearly every morning when I would check the radio the display would be locked up, however, the radio would still operate normally despite the locked up display. After turning the radio off, then back on it would return to normal until the next time (which was usually a matter of a few hours).

I have read many reports of sever intermodulation in this model. However, I experience very little in the application I used my 7100M in. I live in a suburban area not populated by many towers, so it would stand to reason this shouldn't be a problem anyway. Since I didn't use the radio mobile I couldn't get a real idea of just how severe this problem may have been.

Audio reports on both VHF & UHF were very good. I spoke to many people during the time I owned the 7100M and everyone noted the audio was clean and clear. I did not have the "hot" audio issue others have reported. The receive audio was good given the size of the internal speaker. I always use a commercial Motorola external speaker with mobile radios. When used with this speaker the receive audio was loud and clear.

The 7100M was easy to use and easy to program. I did not purchase the programming software, as my main intention was to buy the radio used so I could "try" it out and compare it to other Yaesu dual band mobiles of the past. While the FT-7100M incorporates some fine features such as CTCSS encode/decode, DCS encode/decode, large channel capacity, large frequency coverage, good clear display (when it worked properly), I believe the radio is too fragile when it came to voltage input and other related factors which caused the display to "freak" out. Additionally, I was surprised to see Yaesu replace their dual band mobile lineup with a model that did not have cross band repeat operation. This is a feature used by many, and one would think such a highly used feature would certainly be within the 7100M. This appears to be yet another cost-saving scheme Yaesu came up with to make their newest dual band "flagship" (and I use the term loosely) as cheap as possible. Originally the 7100M sold for around $429. Sometime later Yaesu dropped the price to around $289. This is a most curious move on their part since they've never done this before. One can only assume that Yaesu either suddenly decided to "have a heart" and provide inexpensive equipment to amateurs, or, the radio was such a piece of junk they HAD to drop the price in order to move them out. I've already decided on the matter, but I'll let you choose for yourselves.

In the end I sold my 7100M after about three weeks of testing it. I bought it on Ebay for $250 delivered, and sold it for $250 plus shipping. I've owned every Yaesu dual band mobile they've made since 1994. I believe the FT-7100M incorporates some of the best, yet some of the worst work Yaesu is capable of. When you consider all your getting for $289 it seems like a great deal. However, the problem is getting it to work reliably in order to get $289 worth of use out of the radio. If you get one that works reasonably well then consider yourself lucky. As for me, I've switched to another brand completely as far as dual band mobiles go. I think Yaesu makes some awesome stuff, but I also think they've fallen off the wagon when it comes to building good dual band mobile radio's (2 meter/70 cm specifically).

I would recommend going elswhere for now . . . .
KC2IVY Rating: 2002-01-31
Got Stuck Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just became a ham in Dec. 2001. I figured for the price I would pick up this radio for starters. I feel I made a bad choice. For the first few weeks (Late Dec-Mid Jan) it worked ok, recently I'm getting reports of sounding "5khz off" on VHF. Also, I hear the helicopter while scanning and I get all the lock up problems. I'd rather deal with the intermod than all of the other problems. And to top it off mine came with all the dots on the box (yellow,red,blue) does the "dot" sytstem mean they fixed the problems or added them? If this is supposed to mean "fixed" then I'll go to Kenwood or Icom and let others know of this problem with Yaesu. I'm calling the dealer in the morning and emailing Yaesu as soon as I finish this review. I'll update when hearing back from both. I understand the price is low, and I've read "you get what you pay for", still money is money, it's $200+ dollars i could have added to get a GOOD radio...that works.

Very Dissapointed,
73
KC2IVY
KC1CO Rating: 2002-01-23
What about Transmit?! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought the 7100M in January/2002, without first checking the reviews here at eHam ...my radio arrived with yellow, red, and blue dots on the package, indicating significant rework by Yaesu.

The receiver works well (in Vermont) where the chances of intermod are minimal. Extended receive works very well on both VHF and UHF...we don't have much 800MHz activity around here, so I couldn't test that. Intermod rejection is much better than experienced with a recently-owned Bearcat 895XLT scanner. I would rate AM aircraft reception quality as OK, but not superior. Receive audio quality has been generally good...I use the rig at home with a Samlex 1212 switching power supply.

On the transmit-side I have received NUMEROUS unsolicited 'bad' audio reports from each new contact I make around the area. I have owned quite a variety of radios in the past 20-years, and this is the first one that has prompted such a similar reaction from such a diverse group of amateurs. I will be contacting Yaesu about this, as transmit audio has a LOT to do with enjoying the amateur radio experience!

I 'discovered' a problem, as one of the earlier reviewers in this column did, also, concerning a procedure to lock out memory channels during scan. The manual neglects to mention holding the V/M button down for 1/2 sec PRIOR to holding the TONE button down to lock out a given memory channel. This was quickly remedied via email to Yaesu, and I received a courteous reponse from Yaesu the next business day.

The 7100M is not the "perfect" radio, but handles double-duty of scanning and hamming in a very compact, easy to program package. Once the transmit audio issue is resolved, I will be a happy camper. Until then, I'll be doing a lot of listening!
KB3GUN Rating: 2002-01-15
Update Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Got my radio back from Yaesu on Friday, Jan.11th. I sent it in on Nov.9th (see review dated 11/09/01). 60 days later and output power is fine, but, now I have no audio output. I can hit the repeater, but no one can hear me. It will work after a memory reset and a CPU reset (in that order), but 5 minutes later, it's dead again.

This is my last Yaesu!

----------------------
Earlier 1-star review posted by KB3GUN on 2001-11-09

OK. I was one of those that read the reviews but bought it anyway. I have the red & yellow dot. The rig worked great for the first month, but 2 days ago my transmit power dropped to nothing. I can't hit the repeater that's located 1/2 a mile from my home, but it receives fine.
Intermod is bad when I'm in the city but it's OK at home (rural).

I'd have to vote "thumbs down" until more work is done on this model.