| N0GPS |
Rating:  |
2001-08-27 | |
| Yaesu Has MY Money!!! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I read the review in QST August issue about the Yaesu FT-7100M dual band radio. In the article they mentioned that the intermod problem was addressed and the radios that were on the dealers shelfs were all sent back and that they had been reworked... I bought my radio from The local Candystore Here in San Diego. Upon getting home I tried the radio and it worked but a problem I noticed was that it has this irritating popping noise while in scan mode. There was a sub-band present while this noise was occuring. I then sent Yaesu an e-mail regarding this problem and asked if indeed my radio had been reworked I gave them the serial number of my radio and I got a fast response from Yaesu. They said send it back to them and they will fix it and pay the return shipping, isn't that wonderful!! Now my brand new radio is going to cost me more money for Yaesu's
lack of quality control.
WAKE UP YAESU AND GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER, |
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| SM3LEI |
Rating:  |
2001-08-10 | |
| Nice |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| I have brought the FT-7100 back with me from Dayton to Sweden. The general impression is that this is a nice work horse. I have not had any big problem just some minor handling things that was solved by reading the manual. All other functions to get started was easy and the remote mount kit was execlent compared with other Yaesu kits I used. The intermod problem seems to be ok on my radio since I have not had any big problem. I have used it in areas in Stockholm where other radios are normaly block out with no problem. My rigg has yellow and blue dot is there any out ther who knows what the dot,s mean? |
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| K8XJ |
Rating: |
2001-07-27 | |
| Nice design / Serious issues |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Yaesu FT-7100M s/n 1E080296 (Yellow dot, Red dot)
I had high hopes for this radio, at this price point. Its features, compact size, and remote-mounting were important. Its user interface design is like other menu-driven radios. A careful read of the operating manual is important.
But the radio has some serious technical concerns:
1) The receiver hears very well. But that sensitivity comes at the cost of serious intermodulation distortion. I live in a high-intermod area but this radio is clearly more susceptible than others (ICOM 706 MKII, & Alinco DJ580 handheld). Many times the intermod was stronger than the desired signal.
2) Transmitted audio reports run from "lack of fidelity" to "tinny" to "poor". No one said anything good about the transmitted audio.
3) An annoying popping noise is heard on the main band while scanning on the sub band.
Other minor faults or difficulties:
1) The LOCK function doesn't lock the main tuning knob, or microphone keypad keys. I'd like to see a LOCK button on the front panel do this: 1st push: lock all buttons. 2nd push: lock ptt, 3rd push: lock all buttons and ptt. Same functionality via a mic button too. Trade the MHZ button for a LOCK button, and then add pushbutton function ON the main control knob to do the MHZ function.
2) Memory channel scan lockout function [pyramid] indicator does not appear on the screen, but the memory channel lockout function appears to work. This feature is also too hard to get to thru the menus.
3) The manual does not say how to clear a memory location.
I did not hear any alternator whine, transmit or receive. The radio was connected directly to the battery in the vehicle's trunk. Most of the power cord was wrapped in a 2-inch coil.
I used a magnetic-mount dual band antenna sitting on the trunk deck.
Unfortunately, I felt that collectively, these issues were serious enough to return the radio to the local ham gear dealer. If it's not appropriate to name them, they're the only one in the Columbus, Ohio area. They were gracious enough to accept it. For that excellent service, I will certainly return and see what the offerings are in a few months.
I have owned other Yaesu products and have always enjoyed them. If Yaesu could fix these issues, I'd buy the radio again. It's designed quite nicely in many respects. We'll have a look again in a year.
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| NB3O |
Rating: |
2001-07-13 | |
| On the Bench |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
The following deficiencies were noted and tested on the FT-7100M:
Intermodulation distortion on the non-Yellow dot model is 10dB in excess of typical VHF/UHF tranceiver performance using the Alinco DR-610 and Yaesu FT-8100R for comparison. This is due to excess gain in the VHF LNA. Yaesu either chose sensitivity over selectivity in their initial design or did not perform a proper gain budget analysis. The Yellow Dot rework reduces the LNA gain which restores the IMD performance. They should have added a user selectable attenuator (like on the DR-610).
Popping (helicopter) noise is heard on the main band when active while scanning on the sub-band (or vice-versa). Yaesu says there is no current fix at this time.
This rig is not a full duplex rig like the Alinco DR-610. You cannot monitor the sub-band while transmitting because the receive audio on the sub-band is muted while transmitting. You cannot cross-band repeat either (stated in the literature).
On mine, poor solder quality on the control head printed circuit board created intermittent problems that locked up the rig and sometimes resulted in the transmitter being keyed by itself (real embarrassing).
Yaesu knows of the complaints mentioned here with this rig. The FT-7100M is a real disappointment compared to their other offerings. I would recommend another choice until they resolve these basic problems. |
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| KG4MYC |
Rating: |
2001-07-11 | |
| Intermod problem acknowledged |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
In view of my last beaming review of the ft7100, I
felt I should elaborate on what some operating time has revealed. There is definitely a serious intermod problem with the initial offering of this radio. Mine is on the way to Yaesu as I type this, and when I spoke to customer service, they told me to send it back and they'd make the necessary changes, no questions asked, so I can only assume that they have acknowledged the problem. My dealer had not recieved an official "press release" regarding the problem, but from what I can gather, the yellow dot on the box label indicates the updated version. I still maintain this is an excellent radio, with clean and wide Rx. I've continued to get great signal reports from fairly distant stations, so I'll
be glad when I can try out the "new & improved"
version. |
|
| KB8FA |
Rating: |
2001-06-18 | |
| Excellent |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I want to thank KF4WXL for his comments and very useful information about the color dots by the bar code label. Luckily, mine has two dots; one is YELLOW, and the other is a very dark BLUE in color. Anyone know anything about what the BLUE dot represents.
Any way, after reading all the comments about intermod,receiver sensitivity and scanning noise problems, I was very concerned about the radio I got at Dayton. What was bothering me was that I was not having any of the problems memtioned in the various reveiws. So far, my only problems have been the result of ME not reading the instruction manuel closely enough.
I chose this radio because of its simplicity, and all of the options that came with it. After buying an ICOM 32A HT last year, I am not in any mood to read more programing instructions. My favorite VHF radio,untill I got my hands on the FT-7100M has been my Kenwood TR-7950. That comment ought to date me pretty well.
After just returning from a trip to VERMONT, all I can say is that I'm VERY SATISFIED with this radio. On the techinical side, I have absolutely no complaints or "wishes" for any improvements. On the "I wish" side of the coin, I sure wish that simple and very basic instructions could be put on a small card that could be attached to the radio for quick reference.
Asking the XYL to read the instructions to me from the manual in the middle of traffic on the 401 highway,in Toronto, Canada, is not a pleasent experience. Lets just say it will test one's marriage, let alone driving skills!
Sorry Yaesu, but at my age, I need help until the redundency affect takes hold.
John Piggott KB8FA |
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| KB5TMD |
Rating: |
2001-06-17 | |
| Nice radio that needs a little work. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I bought my FT-7100 at Dayton last month from AES. I have a 2001 Nissan Sentra so I needed a radio that could be remotely mounted with a small control head. The FT-7100 seemed to be the best radio fitting that description.
The radio has alot of nice features, but I have been getting reports that my transmit audio is not as good as it should be. I imagine that I will be sending the rig back to Yaesu before the warranty is up. I mounted the radio in the trunk. I like the way that the microphone plugs into the control head.
I have not been hearing too much intermod on it. It does have some, but compared to the Icom IC-2700H that I used to have it's not too bad.
I like the control layout just fine. The radio is easy to program too. I would advise anyone looking to buy a dual-band mobile to stay away from the FT-7100 for now and wait for Yaesu to work the bugs out of it. The Alinco DR-610T and the Kenwood TM-V7A are both better choices.
73,
Todd-KB5TMD |
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| WB7DPF |
Rating: |
2001-06-17 | |
| Buy something other than the FT-7100M |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
In general, the radio was adequately designed. The weak point is a MAJOR intermod sensitivity. I have the box with the yellow and red dots (apparently indicating rework), but pagers and other rf sources blast through the front end. Because of this, you will spend most of the time with the squelch closed nearly all the way or continuously suffer various noises breaking through the squelch. I am now considering the addition of RF filters to the receiver to reduce the out of band energy (so much for the out of band receiver capability :-(.
I have installed the radio using the remote cable with the radio in the back of a Jetta. The radio suffers from alternator whine. No suppresion was used on the remoting cables and I will be experimenting with chokes to try to reduce this as well.
Compared to similar radios from the other companies, this is also has the most expensive street price. Learn from my mistake. Unless you live in the middle of nowhere, buy an ICOM or KENWOOD radio. I have owned both of these in the past and have never had such a poor receiver as in the Yeasu.
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|
| PE3CHI |
Rating: |
2001-06-11 | |
| Needs some mods |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I think it's a nice, not too expensive radio.
Not so good:
- I also think it makes to much sound when scanning on one band and listning to the other band.
- The sound out of the speaker is not very crispy, and almost sounds like it's off frequency, especialy when listning to the Airband (AM).
- If using this radio in the Netherlands I had some problems using repeaters. The ARS is not compatible with our bandplan. So if you change the repeater shift, and add the repeater shift function to a key on the handmic, you will have to press this every time you turn the VFO dial.
So I tried to program some bandlimit memories, and also put in the repeater shift and CTCSS tone required. But turning the VFO disables shif direction and CTCSS again. The best workaround is creating memory channels for all repeaters.
- It should be supplied with the separation kit included.
Good:
- I like it's extended RX and TX functions very much, which was enabled by default. I did not have to make any mod.
- It's menu is after reading the manual easy to work with.
- It has 4 powerlevels. (5W, 10W, 20W, and 50/35W)
Regards,
Marco
PE3CHI
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|
| N6VTX |
Rating: |
2001-06-07 | |
| Good Radio, I like the display...But the radio has TWO problems |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
First problem is intermod, The 2 meter APRS ( 144.39 mHz ) signals from my Icom 207 (mounted in the same car) get into the receiver on the 440 mHz band.
Second, I have found a problem with the firmware of the FT 7100. If you use the menu command 15 called "LOCK", the radio locks the buttons, but NOT the "main tuning dial" knob. Because of this, you can accidently hit the knob and change a memory channel with out even knowing it. I tried the menu command "LOCK" on three FT 7100 and each one has the same problem. Is there a fix for this ? If these problems were fixed, I would buy another one.
I |
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