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Reviews For: Yaesu FT-8100R

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

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FT-8100R
Reviews: 88MSRP: 699.00
Description:
Dual Band 2 meter/440 Remote capable 1200/9600 data interface
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.yaesu.com/ft8100.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00883.1
N3TVV Rating: 2007-10-16
Definitly room for improvement Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've owned this radio for about 2 years,never
had any problems with it then,Thermal Failure
hit.After doing some Googling,I found this
website

http://www.sarl.ca/ares/ares_reference/radio_manuals/ft-8100_crossband_repeater/ft-8100_mods/mods.htm

-------->(Do these at your own risk !)<--------

Neither G8SBF or N3TVV are responsible for any
damage caused to your radio by doing these
modifications.

After doing the modification that( G8SBF )had
posted,the radio seems to perform well now.

I have also,hard wired the fan right to the
power leads coming into the radio.This causes
the fan to go on when the power source to the
radio is turned on.Since it is a shack radio,
it's practical to do,although it's not
suggestible for mobile or portable installations.

My only other grudge with this radio is the
all of the intermod this thing picks up.Some
days I swear it picks up every pager in Fn 20.

Now the good news

I find the radio real easy to use and program.
The crossband repeat feature has come in handy
many times,while working in the back yard.I run
1/2 watt on 440 and 10 watts from the base on 2
meters,let the 8100 and the Comet GP 9 vertical
do all the work..

My suggestion,unless you don't mind repairing
radios,get an FT 8800 or 8900 ..

N3TVV
N5NPO Rating: 2006-05-07
Lots of Features! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had one of these for over two years and loved it. The only problem I ever had with mine was the pc board in the control head with the controls mounted to it did not have enough good solder on its inter-board plug-in connector and this cause it to loose volume on occasion. I finally figured out that this was the problem and fixed it. Other than that, it was a great rig. Armed with that knowledge, I would not hesitate to own another one.
73
DANNYRINGO Rating: 2006-03-21
piece of junk Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I made the mistake of buying this at a hamfest and just after getting my ham license....This radio supposedly had all of the "problems" fixed, or so the owner claimed! It works when it wants too and thats being polite! I pulled the radio apart and looked at all the things that supposedly were repaired and resoldered them, but it is still garbage!
I've NEVER had any problems with any of my rigs when I was into CB radio, even after we pumped them up! But, as for these supposed great radios that they make; I think they would make great boat anchors and they bring new meaning to the term "MUD DUCK RADIOS"!
Since then, I have lost my faith in beleiving that Yaesu, Icom and Alinco were considered top of the line radios....I'd take a Uniden, or Galaxy anyday knowing that I will not have a problem with them for years......I'm not impressed for the amount of money that has to be spent in this hobby only to hope that your not playing "Craps" in Vagas on your next radio purchase be it new, or used!
N2LJ Rating: 2006-03-01
Good performance! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had my 8100 for about 8 years now. It spent a lot of time in one car with the separation kit and the radio body located under the back seat. When I got rid of that car in 2003, it sat on a shelf until about 18 months ago. SOmeplace in that time (at least I didn't notice it before) it developed a problem with the UHF side volume and squelch. Neither were controllable. Found a fix on the 'net, and after two tries more than a year apart, it's finally fixed.

Originally tried to mount the rig with the remote head in the new car.

http://homepage.mac.com/ljwest/PhotoAlbum17.html

But that didn't work well, as there seemed to be something wrong with the remote cable assembly. At odd times when I would transmit, the display would go crazy. The radio otherwise worked, but had to be power cycled to fix the display.

Oh, and don't leave the display in a hot car...

Now it moves between two cars, and seems to be doing well. No problmes with the rig, but the antennas are another story...

N2LJ
KB0UQX Rating: 2005-12-22
Terrible/Great Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased two FT- 8100R's when they were first released. They both quickly developed the volume/squelch control problem which Yaesu repaired.

One had the "VIA's" (feed thru's) problem on the 2m board which was also repaired N/C by Yaesu by soldering in a jumper wire. About 6 months ago this same 8100 started having more "VIA" problems on the 2 meter board (intermittent transmit/receive) so I again phoned Yaesu. They said to return it for repair. About 2 weeks later, I phoned Yaesu and they said they weren't repairing the 8100's anymore so they were sending it back to me. Why didn't they tell me that BEFORE I sent it to them? Two weeks later still no radio. To make a long story short, they sent it to the wrong address (old address in another state). It was left on the doorstep of a vacant house. This was their mistake, I gave them my current address. Everyone I contacted, even Burghardt, refused to even look at it so I sold it on eBay.

I still have my other 8100 and love it but I wonder how long before it develops the dreaded "VIA" problem.

I would give the 8100 I still own a 3 and the one that's gone a -1(if that's possible!). This gives an overall average of 1.
KC5HMC Rating: 2005-11-15
Unreliable Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
It worked great for a year then the VHF side would quit. Repaired it then it worked fine for a year then started to have the same problem. Replaced it with a FT-7800, problem fixed.
NV0U Rating: 2005-07-07
Poorly designed. Easy to fix (so far). Could be great. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I must say I really do like this radio. It is pretty simple to operate and does a great job. But, it is unreliable as all get out. Whoever designed this thing should really be dope slapped in a big way.

I used the rig at home for a number of years and had no problems at all with it. Then, two years ago, I decided to put it in the car. Everything went fine for a the first 10 miles of my trip, then blam! Everything died. No receive audio. No transmit.

Tried it later in the day and it worked perfectly.

Next day, same thing happened.

Well, I changed the radio out with a Kenwood D700 and put the 8100 on the shelf. I dug it out again last night and hooked it up and noticed that there was nothing at all coming out of the speaker, nor was there any transmit at all. Some searching around on Google turned up a fix that works great - making a wire jumper on the top board.

Okay, no big deal there. Easy fix. But the whole thing leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth. How anyone can produce a radio that is this unreliable is beyond me. I could handle it if they did something like buy a batch of bad ICs from someone - but this is Yaesu's fault for designing such a piece of garbage from the start. Like I said, this is a nice radio. But the design completely falls flat.
KA3CJX Rating: 2005-04-27
Hasn't missed a beat Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Almost afraid to write this, but bought mine in 2000 and it hasn't ever missed a beat. Used mostly on a power supply. Have put it on the seat of my car and used it about a dozen times. Once in a backpack on a motorcycle. I hope my luck holds up because I expect it to work well in the future. Sure sorry to hear about the problems others have had because it was an expensive rig.
N6DWB Rating: 2004-12-15
Better used as a boat anchor Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This radio spent more time in the shop than installed in my vechile. Returned three times for warranty issues; low power out, off frequency on TX, control buttons locking up. Went in a fourth time for replacement of volume/squelch pots on LH side for a tune of $125.
W1FEH Rating: 2004-08-30
Fixable, most of the time. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Hi guys,
I was reading your reviews of the infamous rig and have some input that may make you happy(ish). I have had more than one of these since they first came out and had most of the problems that they are known for. It's a good radio when they work and most work fine but like most they have problems all their own.
The warm up and power quit problem is caused by poor PC board construction. There is a simple mod on the net for adding a wire that often fixes the problem.
Another issue is the "VIA's" (feed thru's) on the 2m board. The problem ones are electrically located basically between the PA block and the antenna pigtail. I found them arcing when transmitting. You can put a fine wire through the holes and solder them or just fill the holes real good with solder. My rig was arcing where the little coils are soldered through the board and the radio would quit transmitting. This finally took out the PA, the pin diodes and the mosfet receiver preamp. To prevent smoking these items the trick is a complete detailed resolder of that section of the 2m board. This is not the easiest thing to do as the only way to do it right is to remove the 2m board being careful not to flex it and break any more traces in the eight layers. There are a few feed thru wires that need to be de-soldered before you pull it out. I resoldered all of the components that feed through being sure the solder flowed to the top and touched up everything that looked dangerous. This was done under a magnifying light and requires a steady hand and a good iron with a tiny tip.
The result was good! She can transmit full power till she get's so hot you can fry an egg and does not quit. I now use this rig in my shack to minimize the vibration and temp extremes.
Another issue that I have heard about is the display getting stupid at power up. I found that power spikes (like when the car is started) freaks it out. I set up a latching relay set up so that the power was removed when I turned off the car and did not come on until I pushed a button. I always have my mobile rigs on the key through a relay direct to the battery. I have a tiny switch to by pass the ignition so I can lock the vehicle and use the cross band repeat. By the way if the radio locks up try opening it up and briefly short the memory battery. That resets everything.