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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
PE1RLN Rating: 2010-12-19
Good radio, worthless design Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This radio is a pain to operate. The labels of the buttons are impossible to read, even in bright light. The volume- and channelselectknobs are very small. And worst of all: the buttons aren't lit so in darkness you have to guess...

This radio has great reception, the four bands are really nice. I used the crossband repeater to use surplus equipment on regular VHF and UHF frequencies.

I give this radio only 3 out of 5 because of the really stupid design of the frontpanel. That's why I sold it, will never buy it again.

Yaesu, when do you learn from your brother Kenwood? They know how to design a radio without the need of a universal degree to understand the manual.
KE5IKC Rating: 2010-12-14
At one year... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
After one year I am very happy with mine. Of course I added an external speaker the day after I installed it. You might as well buy an external speaker with the rig or you won't be hearing it mobile. I programmed my daily freq's into the main memory bank and use the other master mem setups for traveling. I just have one button to push if I go west, one for north and one for east.(can't go south without a boat). That still leaves another button for rescue setup.

I haven't had any problems with non-lighted controls. Everything I do while driving I can do without looking, mostly from the mic. Certainly beats the pants off the Kenwood TM-V7A it replaced. With 10meter getting hotter every day I don't know why I'd even consider any other Xband rig(except maybe a TS-2000).

I'd also add a plug for the Opek Quadband antenna. With this $69, trunklip-mounted jewel I can hit 10m repeaters(when open) all over the country and key 2m repeaters at 100 miles. It does need to be tuned but only once in the year I've had it. I also plug this into my 706 sometimes. I can tune 20/40 meters usably with a slinky taped to the whip and hung from a tree.
VE3PLO Rating: 2010-07-24
Unfinished Product Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had mine for two months now, i switched from a 7800R only for the reason of X-repeat.
X-repeat works fine.


1. I usually use the same repeater in the city, talking to the same stations throughout the day. As soon as i put the radio and plugged it in(same power cord that powered my 7800 and same mount for the antenna etc) everyone asked me what happened and why i sound the way i sound. Apparently i DID sound better with 7800.

2. Speaker on the receive is bad, it is not as lound as my 7800r, and once turned up past half-point, it just distorts everything.

3. The Display is darker on one side and brighter at the other, it is not really a major issue, but....look closely at yours, and you will see it. Now, it will be annoying :P

4. THE MAJOR PROBLEM WITH THE 8900! All knobs are flimsy! it just sucks and they feel loose. Anyone who has had other yaesu radios can compare that. It just feels cheap, cheap... cheap!!!!
So much money and such flimsy/chinese quality product??????

5. Band switching confusing!!!

*********************************************
6. No lighted keypad!!! WTH???!!! try driving at night and try changing from Low power to High power, or playing with "other" side of the radio!!!!!! What were you thinking Yaesu!?!@
it is a mobile radio!
*********************************************

If i knew of other radios that do cross repeat, definitely i wouldn't have purchased my 8900r.

I did not use it on 10 or 6 meters, and hopefully the radio will make up on these bands for all these issues i have mentioned .
K4DAN Rating: 2010-06-25
junk Time Owned: N.A.
Radio was purchased new from gigaparts hunstville al.I spent several hours on the phone with yeasu tech, to make sure all settings etc were correct. the problem only was on 2 meters all else performed ok mics were swaped frommy other truck whitch is an ft2800r,same prob.. swaped radios in trucks no change , sent comeplete package as shipped new, mic power cord etc back so there would be nogray areas... I know some times no matter how good a product or a manufacture is stuff happens.... I own an automotive repair shop and we deal with electrical components everyday, we also do warranty work for the local gm dealers new and used. Sometimes you just get a BAD PART, they dont tell us send it in and well check it again, they replace it and we go about our business, and i am not talking about a 500.00 radio i am talking 5000.00 engines and 3000.00 transmissions or 1500.00 pcms {powertrain control modules} I have a ft101ex that I also bought new in late 75 or early 76 benn a long time, and it still works as new.... that is why I went be and bought the 8900 was from the good service of the 101
I am glad others have had good service form there radios, and hope they last a long time, I own radios fromall the big 3 and have not had any other problems... k-wood ts2000,ts830 th2ht? icom 271a 718 v8000 2820 ft2800 ft8900 ft101
It is not the fact the the product had problem, anyone can have problems, it is the service afer the sale.... or lack of..... if the manufacturer wanted to send the radio to an independent repair shop fine by me, but I already paid for it once I dont feel it proper to keep spending money on a product that is under warranty!!!!!!
73s and good luck
see on the air
dan
VR2XMQ Rating: 2010-06-07
Good Radio. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought this rig mainly for use on 29MHz FM so I view the other bands as a bonus since I already have radios on the other bands.

I wanted someting dedicated for 29MHz FM monitoring with all the repeater offsets and CTCSS tones on board. Have the MH-48A6J mic. since I wanted the additional flexibility in use, but the audio is crap from this mic., come on Yaesu you need to do something about this mic. it is such a let down.

It is a nice radio, but out of the box, the audio from the built in speaker is crap and needs an outboard speaker to really do justice.

But for the price you really can't do much better - 4 bands in one radio, only wish the right side did the same coverage as the left, that would be perfect! I would still rate it a 5 for all the features packed into the package. There is a bit of a learning curve on the use of all the features.
KF5FNI Rating: 2010-05-29
Decent radio for tight spaces. Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I drive a 2004 Honda Civic, so I needed something that was compact. I also don't like the idea of working HF while driving through busy city streets so this radio fits my needs perfectly. I got the ysk-8900 extension kit so I could mount the head on the dash & the box under the passenger seat. AM reception can be forced on any band. Noticed when transmitting in AM receive mode on 2m & 6M, other AM receivers can here me clearly (hmmm). SSB is not possible. 10m is not that good, but I think it is the quad band mfj-1438 antenna I have. Other people with the diamond version of this antenna complain of the same problem, eventually I might go with a separate 10m antenna. It does not have illuminated buttons (would be nice to have in the dark), maybe Yaesu will consider this if they ever update the 8900R. The internal speaker could also be improved. Overall I'm satisfied with it & would recommend this radio to anyone that doesn't have the space to mount a large radio.
N1YLJ Rating: 2010-04-30
Great Radio but needs help Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The radio has been a great asset in the month I have had the rig. Used as my base rig, I needed the 6 meters and of course the Yaseu brand is superb. I spent the extra cash, knowing that I should purchased the 8800 and just gotten a 6 meter only rig.

Truth be told, the 8900 is a very slick, compact quad band rig. My only two issues are the lack of extended receive right out of the box around the 480 MHz.

I found the second issue to be very depressing while during a QSO on a semi-local repeater (still need high power to access it due to a dead spot in my area) my 8900 reset itself with no transmit and receive function on VHF 2 meters BUT I still have all systems go on 6, 70 cm and possibly 10 meters.

May have to bite the bullet and have it repaired, I exhausted all of my abilities to rectify the problem by doing resets etc... This will be a pricey repair no doubt.

Great rig just wish it worked right.
M6CJW Rating: 2010-04-08
super Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Hi to all i think that the 8900 is a brillent quad band radio i use mine for homebase use i have not had eny problem with the mic modulation that some people are reporting. i would give the radio 10/10
NV2H Rating: 2010-01-18
Great Mobile Rig! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have had the 8900 for over 6 months now and have to say that it is a great radio and even better installed in a vehicle. I have used the programming software that is made by RT systems and I have to say that was painless and worth the 37 bucks. Once you set up the memory the opportunities the really leverage the dual screen makes it easy to move around and hit your repeaters.
KJ4GXU Rating: 2009-10-13
Good Radio Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I've had my 8900 for several months now and am quite happy with it. It's been reliable and I've never had the audio complaints others have reported. I have not hooked it up to an antenna for 10 and 6 so I don't know how those freqs will work. For 2 meters/440 it's been rock solid. I did play around with cross band repeat a little bit and it was easy to setup and worked very well for the short time.

I'd recommend this rig to anyone asking. I am considering selling mine simply because I do not use the 6/10 meter functions and I might buy a dual bander for less money and put the leftover money into other projects but this decision has nothing to do with quality.