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Reviews For: Yaesu FTdx-101D

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

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FTdx-101D
Reviews: 50MSRP: 4000
Description:
The FTdx-101D is utilizing the latest SDR Technology and classified as our High-End HF line, the FTDX series, which amateurs have come to know represents quality, A Few Of The Remarkable Features Of The New FTdx-101D Are: YAESU High-Class HF/ 50MHz 100W Transceiver SDR Technology and Waterfall Display Large Touch Panel precision color display Active Band Monitor enables rapid band changes with LED illumination of the operating band Independent control of the Main and Sub Bands allows effortless operation for the serious contester needing to move quickly between the amateur bands High-Q VC Tuning Front-End Main tuning dial for Main and Sub Band frequency control includes an Outer Dial for clarifier, VC tuning, fine tuning or custom settings Hybrid SDRs (Narrow Band SDR & Direct Sampling SDR) 2kHz RMDR 123dB+ 2kHz BDR 150dB+ 2kHz 3rd IMDR 110dB+ 400MHz HRDDS (High Resolution Direct Digital Synthesizer) 2kHz Phase Noise -150dBc/Hz VC-TUNE (Variable Capacitor Tune) signal peaking 3DSS (3-Dimensional Spectrum Stream) visual display Narrow band SDR & Direct Sampling SDR Emphasizes Basic Performance and Hybrid SDR Functionality Includes Digital Processing Generated Real-Time Spectrum Scope In addition to the Narrow band SDR receiver, that boasts overwhelming Basic Performance, the Hybrid Configuration Digital Processing with Direct Sampling SDR permits inclusion of the superb Real-Time Spectrum Scope. *300Hz and 1.2kHz roofing filters (Optional) PC control software performed remote operation of the transceiver from a remote location via the LAN or the Internet is available.
Product is in production
More Info: http://yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&ProdCatID=102&encProdID=959169DE998192AB87295E90077D740D&DivisionID=65&isArchived=0
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
54.4504.1
AA1QG Rating: 2021-04-10
Fantastic radio on rx, firmware still needs work Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I normally use headphones and the 101 has a comfortable and no hiss audio, as opposed to my icoms.
The noise reduction is suberb, as is the rx filtering and contour function.
Very solid feel of buttons and knobs.

Room for improvement:
- Noise blanker distorts audio even at lowest setting and tweaking settings in the menu does not help
- Tx equalizer settings are confusing. Why not have the actual setting graphically presented on the screen?
- Nervous scope, icom much better
- Not all settings are saved to the SD card
EA3QP Rating: 2021-04-09
Why you are putting in the market an unfinished product? Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I'm a contester coming from K3, IC775, IC765,..... and FTdx101D has one of the most impressive receivers that I heard, beyond laboratory numbers, it's pleasant to listen and it has an impressive dynamics (typical station 1,5khz up/down of your freq in 40m and you can continue listen with no fatigue who is calling you). Rating 5!.

Said that... and this is the reason of my evaluation:

- In summary and it's my perception: The product has been designed without considering who is the buyer.
- As said in previous evaluations the manual is useless.
- The ergonomics... where is the ergonomics?.. (i.e: The clarifier knob is the concentric ring to the main dial... so in the middle of the contest you move the clarifier, maybe you will move your run freq...)
- The software has a lot of room for improvement (ironic)...
- The TX audio from mic follow a different route of recorded message, so the levels and saturation are different....
- You are decoding CW from main receiver and the screen shows the waterfall of second receiver....
- There are a long list of failures that you can find in internet..
- The new firmware (just launched this week after 1 year without updates) has errors and problems in the CAT communications and the people are rolling back to previous version...
- 3D full colored waterfall (sell as a super innovation into the marketing campaign) is useless.

Yaesu, you have a good piece of RX engineering, but please listen to the hamradio comunity... today the software it's a one of the most important part of this kind of product and in this moment is degrading so much your master piece.
VE3BXG Rating: 2021-04-06
FTDX101D vs. FLex 6400M Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I have a Flex 6400M at home and use the Yaesu FTdx101D often at a club station. The Yaesu outscores the Flex on receiver performance in the Sherwood ratings. But as Sherwood notes, a receiver is pretty good once you get above 90dB in the Dynamic Range Narrow Spaced rating. The Yaesu tops the list at 110; the Flex is 100. So I take it as given that there's little to choose between them in terms of receiving quality.

With that technical issue out of the way, my comments focus on user friendliness (very important to me). On this criterion the Flex wins hands down.

A big difference between the two radios for ease of operation is the screen. The Flex screen is larger and much more functional. Unlike the Yaesu screen, the Flex screen is a fully functional touch screen, operating much like one you would have on your tablet, laptop or cell phone. For example, you can choose a frequency by tapping the screen; you can shrink or expand the visible spectrum with your fingers; you can adjust the vertical dynamic range scale with your fingers. You CANNOT do any of these things with the Yaesu screen.

Flex has also been very clever in its mix of knob-controls and menu controls. The screen menus are easy to access, navigate and use, and there's also a lot you can adjust using the (mercifully limited) number of knobs and dials. The Yaesu interface, on the other hand, looks like it was designed by someone with a knob and button fetish. It's an impenetrable wilderness of confusion.

As for the Yaesu screen menus, they are unnecessarily complicated and difficult to navigate.

Simply put, you can figure out all you need to know to operate the Flex in about 10 minutes. You can spend days figuring out the Yaesu.

Here's one simple example. Using RIT or XIT (mysteriously called the "clarifier" on the Yaesu) is accomplished with one touch of a front-panel button on the Flex. And the RIT/XIT increment is easy to read on the screen. On the Yaesu, doing the same thing requires you to press two buttons and then use a separate tuning dial. And the screen does a poor job of showing the RIT/XIT increment.

The Yaesu is clearly a rig born of an engineering, techno-geek mindset. The Flex is a user-first machine. I strongly prefer the latter.


G4GVB Rating: 2021-03-26
After 2 weeks using it Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My overall first impression of the FTDX101d is not good.
The manual is useless, it either states the obvious, or just doesn't have the information in enough detail to be of any use or simply doesn't have the information at all.
The RX, I agree with previous comments its excellent, more so if CW is your thing.
The TX. The audio is poor, the audio reports out of the box were bad, its lacks punch, it's wooly and theres too much base, a lot of guys have changed the stock mic. The Power Output meter shows an RMS output not a PEP. All other Yaesu rigs I've owned in the last 45 years have shown PEP. What use is RMS? As the meter is digital what would it take to give a software switch for either to be displayed? The CS button. Like a lot of people I have mine set to power output. In order to check my power I need to push the CS button, but no information shows on screen until I move the outer ring. Why is the info not displayed when the CS button is pressed.
Is the FTDX101d worth the money, in my opinion? No. Would I recommend it? No. Do I wish I hadn't brought it? Yes.
KZ5A Rating: 2021-03-18
Mostly a great radio. Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The RX's in this radio are just fabulous, definitely a major upgrade from my previous loaded K3. The NR and NB are the best I've ever experienced. The ability to pull intelligible signals out of the noise is amazing.

I'm also very pleased with the control layout, the balance of buttons to touch screen controls, rational menu layouts, and the high quality appearance of the radio.

The fly in the ointment on this radio is the mic audio and it's adjustment scheme. It is difficult to find settings that produce robust SSB audio with generating splatter. I haven't found good settings yet myself but have been assured that it is possible. Low average output but very clean audio is what I settled on for the time being.

Outside of the mic adjustment weirdness I would rate this radio 5++. Hopefully Yaesu will make some adjustments to the mic setup in a future firmware update.

KE4ZHN Rating: 2021-03-05
Great Radio Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I've had my 101D since last summer. I am very pleased with it's performance so far. The receiver(s) are excellent. Getting the transmitter to sound good is not that difficult, although I did experiment with mine a lot till I got it just right for my voice. The 3 band parametric EQ works great but you may find yourself tinkering with it just for fun. The display is bright and clear, easy on the eyes. The menu system is easy to navigate, much nicer than the other Yaesu rigs with the numbered menu system. Not a perfect radio but still a good solid performer.
N4TL Rating: 2021-02-23
Best radio I have owned Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought this radio because I wanted one that would work with other hams in the area that run high power. The radio is great. The other hams can be running full power and Yaesu does not have a problem. The only issue I had was that the manual does not describe 60 meter operation. You have to be in memory mode and select one of the 5-xx memories. For FT8 turn off CAT control in the WSJT software by selecting none for the RIG in the Settings, Radio, CAT control. Leave the radio in memory 5-03. After doing that FT8 works on 60 meters. I like the radio so much that I bought a MP version in January of 2021. Now I have to sell the D.
N4KS Rating: 2021-01-28
Overall good radio for its price point Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I am primarily a CW enthusiast, therefore my review reflects that. I have owned several other SDRs and I find the FTdx101D has the most pleasing receive audio. The controls and menu are easy to navigate. Microphone settings are tricky to set up. Myself and other users have come up with the following wish list:

1. CW tune indicator - remove jitter
2. CW ZIN/Auto Spot - needs improvement
3. The ability to deactivate the amp key relay when it is not needed (would allow for quieter CW operation when running barefoot)
4. RX audio level fluctuates (more noticeable in CW mode)
5. CLAR - provide selectable steps (1, 5, 10 kHz) to allow for more turns of the ring dial
6. Provide provision to turn the MIC bias voltage on/off as needed
7. Band scope averaging
8. Increase power adjusting rate. It takes way too many turns of the multi knob (or MPVD ring if CS is set to power) to go from low to high and vice versa. Ideally it would be logarithmic.
9. Make the long press of the Zin/Spot button toggle the side tone on, and if on, a short press to toggle it off. Right now, you need to keep holding it to hear the side tone, so it takes two hands to zero beat a cw sig, one to hold the button and the other to tune.
10. Add a numeric indication of filter Width that sticks on the display. Right now it pops up when you adjust it, but goes away after a second or so.
11. Increase the time pop-ups stay displayed: Power popup when changing power, monitor level popup after holding the monitor button, changing meter function, setting keyer speed, width and shift changes, APF width, etc....anything where holding a button or touching the screen pops up a setting. For me, they go away too fast.
12. Increase the size of the font for the frequency displayed along the bottom of the spectrum display.
13. Do the above, or make them user settable.
14. Sell filters that owners can install.
15. Use more reliable ribbon cable connections
16. Include power light on MP speaker/power supply
17. Include EXT.AMP.TUNING POWER like the ftdx3000 (It is very helpful with any type of power amplifier or external antenna tuner)
18. Store TX 'power per band' setting, so no need to change RF power setting on different bands with the same amplifier, or different amps.
19. Ability to alter the AGC slope characteristics - the RX close in performance of the 101 is excellent, however the pile-up handling performance i.e. the 'within the passband' performance need improvement, especially on CW.
20. Improve CW side tone sign wave
W8NIC Rating: 2020-12-07
Radio is Great if you know how to use it. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've only owned this for a few weeks but have spent 50+ hours playing with it. owners manual a little tough to understand for the average Joe. RX on this rig is one of the best I have ever experienced and I've had many radios in the past.
I've heard people say what a terrible radio this is because of this and that. Come to find out they simply don't know how to use it. Complaining about settings here, dnr this, apf that, cw this, sdr that and so forth.
Folks, if you can't handle technology then I suggest you stay away from this radio. Get yourself an icom ic-718 or an alinco dx-sr8t, these are simple radios and will be right down your alley. Don't bad mouth a fine piece of radio equipment because you don't understand it.
Check Sherwood's opinion.
EA8KW Rating: 2020-08-06
Just WOW! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have used many radios: K3, Icom 7851, Yaesu FTDX5000, FTDX3000, Icom 7300, Icom 7610, ... and I have to say FTDX101D is just a step ahead.

The receiver is just EXCELLENT. I'm a contester and I'm used to work with totally crowded bands and must say this radio has the best receiver I've ever used by far. Its dynamic range is just magical. Period.

I think the hybrid concept Yaesu has put on the table with this model is maybe the best solution nowadays for having a great receiver (with real physical filters) and nice spectrum scope.

The DSP functions are also very good and Yaesu is constantly improving them by new firmware releases.

Now I'm looking ahead and thinking about buying a second one in order to use them at my SO2R contest station.

Well done Yaesu!.