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Reviews For: Yaesu FT-8900R

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

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FT-8900R
Reviews: 171MSRP: 469.95
Description:
10M, 6M, 2M & 440Mhz Quad Band Radio with Dual Band Receive.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.yaesu.com/amateur/pdf/brochures/ft_8900r.pdf
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
221714.2
NC2F Rating: 2003-05-02
Excellent Transceiver !! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Having moved my FT-8100 from the shack to mobile, I needed a replacement transceiver for the shack. Despite having great success with Yaesu products over the years, I wanted to give other radios consideration. I did consider and even tried several offerings from both iCom and Kenwood.

When all was said and done, the FT-8900R was not only the best value of the bunch, it was the best performer on 2M/70cm. Performance including audio quality, intermod rejection, features, ease of use (being already accustomed to Yaesu radios), but most of all - the value for the dollar Yaesu provides. The bonus of the 6 and 10 meter bands is just the icing on the cake.

In the shack, I using the 2M/70cm bands through a roof mounted Diamond X-200A base antenna with awesome results. Receive is superier to anything I have in here yet and audio reports with the stock Yaesu MH-48 mic have been nothing less than superior. And speaking of the mic, operation and radio control is very handy through the mic operation controls. This is a great mobile operation set-up as well.

I would buy another FT-8900R in a second over any the other offerings for VHF/UHF base mobile transceivers out there.
VK3YIL Rating: 2003-04-06
Best Yaesu I've had. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Well it's about one month old now in Aussie land. The menu system is taking some getting used to after the FT8100R but I'm getting there. Fitted straight in where the '8100 was but a bummer it uses a different remote cable. Still I prefer the '8900 cable to the '8100. I have it coupled to a Diamond 6-2-70 Mobile TriBander.
LOVE the 4 band ability. Perfect for WICEN (Aussie equivalent to ARES)
LOVE the 6 pre-defined configurations.
HATE in my vehicle installation, the location of the Mic socket, due to limited space either side of the control head. The '8100 has the Mic socket on the fronet and this was far mor convenient.
LOVE the clear display.
LOVE the intermod rejection.
HATE all those loverly general memories being in one bank. Would have been better in say 6 banks that could be associate with each of the pr-defined configurations.
MIXED about the button options allong the front of the dispay. Feel the '8200R style where they were relevant to the selected 'Main' band was better and allowed more functions to be readily accessable.
WISH Tx the UHF Band could be opened up to 480Mhz.
WISH the Volume/Squelch controls were on top rather than the Freq controls.
LOVE the AlpahNumeric labeling however it is tedious to enter.
DYING to get some programming software so I can set it up completely. In particular the Alphanumeric labelling of channels.
LOVE to be able to afford another for the shack but.

Regards,
Ian
KF4WXM Rating: 2003-03-27
What a bargain. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have to say that I really like this radio. It has more bands and more features than I need or will use. Because it is so reasonably priced compared to dual band radios with the same features buying it instead of a dual bander was a no brainer. I have only used it on 440 and 2 meter and have recieved really positive reports. After a week or so I figured out all of the menu stuff and the radio became quite easy to use, even on the roll. I only have a couple of complaints.
First, Everything that I read talks about how resistant this radio is to intermod. My radio is not as resistant to intermod as others seen to be. I use a Larsen glass mount antenna, that I am very happy with, but I find it hard to believe that it recieves so good that it overwhelms the radio. The old Icom that this radio replaced almost never had a problem with intermod, while my 8900 picks it up 3 or four times a day. I have the squelch on the setup menu set to block anything less than an S2 but I still get it. On the flip side this radio seems to be very sensitive as I can recieve far away repeaters that I have never heard before.
Second, my recieve doesnt sound that great. It is plenty loud but it becomes distorted with certain pitches in peoples voices regardless of the volume as if the speaker just cant respond to certain frequencies. I expected that I would mount a remote speaker eventually anyway, and the poor sounding speaker may step up my instalation.
Even with its short comings I would certainly buy another if I had to do it again. In fact I may buy another anyway to use as a base station. I certainly recomend this radio to anyone looking for a good multi-band FM radio.
WB0BBC Rating: 2003-03-24
Very Favorable Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I'm enjoying the radio after 3 weeks of use. The manual is not as useful as I would like. The biggest issue is that I haven't located software to program the radio. With so many memories and features, it is very time consuming to program it manually.
Audio reports are good, intermod rejection is good and the display is very readable. Some of the buttons are a bit small to navigate.
I'm hoping to learn to operate the radio very well before attempting to make the radio my primary mobile rig. There's just too much in it for general mobile use unless you want to park the car before making any adjustments. The mic controls many functions, but this is not a simple rig in comparison to my Yaesu FT-90R.

Anyone finding programming software for the FT-8900R please send me an email or post your findings here.

Paul, WB0BBC
G4IJE Rating: 2003-03-24
Very good Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My early impressions of the FT-8900R are much the same as other reviewers. To put it simply, the radio works very well! However, I don't like the feel of the knobs and the beep volume seems far too loud. Does anyone know if it can be turned down a bit? I don't want to turn it off complelely. Also, can anyone suggest a suitable matching speaker for base-station use. My very old Kenwood SP-120 - which works well with a variety of radios - seems to give too much bass repsonse when used with the FT-8900R. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
NM1R Rating: 2003-03-24
Flawless performance Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have been operating the FT-8900 for about two months. It replaced the FT-1500M which I found very satisfactory. I made my decision to make the purchase because of a desire to own a multiband rig. It was installed in my Ford Ranger pick-up truck using the separation kit due to the lack of any practical location to mount it. The control head is mounted just below the heating and air conditioning controls while the power unit is mounted to the wall below the rear window. I am using the Comet SB14 tri-band antenna and the combination has worked flawless and is receiving excellent reports from other hams. The cross band repeater function is new to me and will come in handy this summer when I am in the remote woods of northern Maine and many miles from the nearest repeater.
W3FHW Rating: 2003-03-13
Great Radio Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I Bought my first FT8900R in Oct 2002 and loved it so much I bought the second one in Nov 2002. I run one base and one mobile. The reason I considered the FT8900R was it's crossband feature which comes in very handy when doing events where several different HT's and mobile units are used on different bands. The FT8900R crossband feature allows units on different bands to communicate with each other on any two of the 70Cm, 2M, 6M or 10M FM bands. It has a built in duplexer. The dual VFO's allow RX/TX on either side of the radio. Also dual receive/transmit on any of the covered bands. Truly a very versatle radio. Now on sale for $389.95 or less at various Ham Outlets
KC8PCJ Rating: 2003-03-13
GREAT RADIO Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I HAVE HAD MY FT8900 FOR ABOUT 6 MONTH AND LOVE IT. I GOES FROM BASE TO MOBILE JUST ABOUT EVERY DAY AND I ALSO USE IT IN MY ARES FIELD STATION. THE ONLY ISSUE I HAVE IS THAT IF YOU MASK A CHANNEL YOU CANNOT UNMASK IT. I TALKED TO YEASU AND IT IS A FIRM WARE PROBLEM AND IT DOES NOT LOOK LIKE THEY ARE GOING TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT, IT APPEARS TO BE THAT I AM THE ONLY ONE THAT CALLED ABOUT IT. I WANTED TO USE THE MASKING FEATURE SO I COULD LOAD STATEWIDE REPEATERS FOR USE WHEN TRAVELING AROUND THE STATE AND HIDE THEM WHEN NOT IN THOSE AREAS.

ALL IN ALL I WOULD BUY ANOTHER ONE.I DID A LOT OF SHOPPING BEFORE I BOUGHT THIS RIG AND IT HAS NOT LET ME DOWN.
N1SQB Rating: 2003-02-23
Best Radio I've Purchased To Date. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Having had nothing but bad experiences with the Yaesu FT-7100,I was reluctant on purchasing the 8900.I am extremely glad that I took the chance.
I love this radio so much that I dont know where to begin.I will start by saying that this radio has one of the best front ends I have ever seen on any radio. I live in what can be considered an RF nightmare area.I have everything from cell and pager towers to broadcast fm bleed over.I programed about 10 test frequencies to begin with that covered pretty much all the ham/public safety/aircraft/marine bands in the area. Out of 10 frequencies I can only recall maybe 2 that had some light static/interference on it.Thats it..
I will go through the points that are most inportant to me:
SENSITIVITY; Better than 0.2uV.(excellent)
Extremely sensitive on ham bands.(10 meters not tested).Above average on extended receive bands including 800 MHZ.Those of you that monitor civilian aircraft will be EXTREMELY pleased with the sensitivity and selectivity of this radio.
SELECTIVITY; -60db.
This is where yaesu failed with the now deceased
FT-7100.The 8900 has great image rejection while still maintaining good sensitivity.
POWER OUTPUT;50/20/10/5 (35 not 50 on 440mhz.)
I love having multiple choices.Very nice.
MEMORIES;800 +
When you have 4 bands,having this much memory available is a must.I love the ctcss/dcs encode/decode and alpha tag availability.All standard.
DUAL RECEIVE FULL DUPLEX; True dual receive.
I thought the days of true dual receive were gone.
Separate volume/squelch controls for both left right side.Separate signal strength meters as well for either side..
AUDIO;2 WATTS.
I dont think this figure is correct.Even though the manual says its 2 watts in actuality it sounds like double that.Crisp and clear too.TX. audio is respectable from the reports I have received.
PROS;
Everything mentioned above.Size is cool if you are cramped for space.Extended receive up to 985 Mhz.Large ,easy to read bright liquid crystal display(dimable).
Well lighted microphone.Detachable face option is there if you need it.Built in duplexer.
CONS;
A pain in the rear to program if you are doing it without a computer.Extended RX is limited in the right side.
Thats about it. I could go on for hours with this but suffice it to say that I have been in this hobby for nearly 20 years.There are not many radios that I would recomend to both beginners and
seasoned hams without hessitation.This is definitely one of them.If you are thinking about getting one,do it,you will not regret it....
N0VZ Rating: 2003-02-15
Excellent Rig Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I have really been enjoying this rig. I was hesitant to buy one of these after the problems several friends had with their FT-7100s, but I am glad I went ahead and bought one. Price was less than many comparable dual band rigs with the added bonus of 6M FM (paid $369). I haven't really played around with 10M very much because I usually run 10M with my mobile HF rig. Programming is straightforward, no problems. It will be nice to have software eventually to manage the large number of memories.

The radio has been very good at handling intermod, much better than my Kenwood V7A or my Icom 2350. Remote mounting is very easy and simple six conductor cable can be used in place of the expensive Yaesu separation kit. Running a Diamond SGM911 triband antenna which has worked out really well.

The rig does not do ARS on 10M or 6M. I don't really miss not having ARS on 10M or 6M, in my experience the repeater shifts are all over the place for repeaters on these two bands. I think that this makes ARS on these bands pretty worthless, at least in this part of the country.

Overall this has been been a really enjoyable rig, my favorite of the half dozen or so mobile FM rigs I have used extensively.