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Reviews For: Yaesu FT-2600M

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

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FT-2600M
Reviews: 102MSRP: 170
Description:
HEAVY-DUTY VHF FM TRANSCEIVER
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.yaesu.com/ft2600m.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001024
NS1R Rating: 2000-09-03
Commerical Radio at Amateur Price Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After my Icom IC-2100 stopped working on Transmit I decided to try the Yaesu FT-2600. The FT-1500 was too small and I was not convinced of its reliability even though the price was $159 at several dealers. The Ft-2600 cost $200 (no coupon)
The radios it the same as the Commercial Vertex version but at Ham prices. IT is kind of tricky to program as you have TWO electronic Squelch circuits. One is Audio and the other is RF. You use both simultaniously. There is no mechanical squelch knob. There is a button on the mic that overides the squelch which is helpfull when a repeater a weak to break the squelch. I have only used the radio for a few days and even looked inside.This quality of construction puts many other radios to shame. The front firing speaker is nice but can't compare to my 4 inch remote speaker in my car. The features incluude encode/decode ctcss and DCS , and the ATS . The only thing they could add is a SWR METER Circuit!
K2ROK Rating: 2000-07-28
Okay, but could be better Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
After the first rig lost memories almost everytime I powered up (Yaesu said it must have been my power supply) the second one (on the same supply, no less) had no such problems. Why can't the ads in the magazines show the true color of displays -- it's hardly amber, but more of a whitish yellow -- if you will. Not an issue, just a point of what you see is not always what you get. Sensible menu system seems to be easy to master in a few hours of operation and practice. Nice large heatsink, but not colored to match rest of case...kinda odd. The Icom 2100H does a much better job at matching paint. To the layman, the 2600 looks like someone forgot to finish the rig with black paint as the unpainted portion stands out easily. The power is nice and audio out okay...slightly rolled off and the s-meter on receive seemed to be slightly unreliable. Mic is super sensitive to the touch -- you will easily transmit with hardly any force! (not a great thing as I found out). The front firing speaker adds some uneeded width to the rig for tight mobile operations, but it sounds okay to me, in fact audio is loud and does not distort...but a little more crisp would be nice.
Overall, for the price...I'd go with a 2100H from Icom first, then to this rig.
VE3TWM Rating: 2000-07-07
Disappointing Rig Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The first time I saw the ad for this rig I knew I wanted one. The commercial styling, alpha display and ample memory channels appealed greatly.
Soon after I purchased one, I began to experience strange, intermittent power issues. The radio would lock up to the point where even turning the rig's power switch off would not kill the power (I had to disconnect the power cable from the 15A supply). On other occasions, the frequency display would be replaced with random numbers. I ended up sending the unit back to Yaesu for what essentially was a bug fix. Adding to the frustration was an email exchange I had with a Yaesu technician who insisted the problems were due to my using a 15A cigarette lighter socket for power.
The radio has been fine since the bug fix but there remain some unsettling issues. The radio gets VERY hot after half an hour of casual chatting at 25 watts. The microphone connector doesn't seem "mil-spec" and is not nearly as solid as the traditional 8-pin connector. As previously noticed the microphone PTT switch has a hair trigger which is very annoying. The FT-2600 also falls short in the anti-intermod department, being more susceptible than previous Icom and Kenwood units I have owned. I find this surprising since Yaesu plays this feature up prominently in their ads.
I cannot recommend this rig.
KG4HLY Rating: 2000-05-03
Just what I wanted. Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I bought this radio from HRO in atlanta and I am very happy with it. I have had the power up problem once and it has not repeated it yet. I plan to buy the software to ease my nerves with that. In my opinion, Yaesu, all around, just makes better radios. Kenwood seems to get the product out in the shelf with out thinking about functionality, not to mention the knobs and buttons are cheap and flimsy. Icom says they have a MIL-SPEC 2 meter rig and then put a squishy style LCD on the rig. Not to mention parts that one can loose easily (that button cover for the mic)!?! Looks like they only do what the minimum requires. The FT-2600 is rugged and well laid out. With just enough features. I am a button and knob fan but the lack of these compared to the FT-2500 lends more to its durability. Robustness similar to a Motorola. I would buy two! ( If I had any money) BTW what is with this FT-1500? It looks nice but no ARTS?!? Tisk tisk tisk...
Five Stars on the FT-2600 YAESU!
73-David KG4HLY
N3SKO Rating: 2000-04-02
Great little radio - but useless at 9600 bps Time Owned: unknown months.
I am an Army MARS operator. We've installed about 30 of these radios, mostly for Army
National Guard use. We haven't had any problems with losing memories - in fact, we have
had only one radio dead out of the box. The programming software is WONDERFUL, as are
the alphanumeric labels. One thing - don't buy this radio for 9600 bps packet service, it has
a really horrible bit error rate. Works well at 1200 bps, though.
WA1PIX Rating: 2000-03-19
Solid and fun, makes for a happy operator! Time Owned: unknown months.
The FT-2600M is a great little 2-meter rig and an excellent value. Purists may criticize it's lack of a squelch knob (set via menu) or input attenuation. Admittedly, it's to be considered more of a "no-frills" rig as opposed to a "bells and whistles" model, but it performs extremely well for the money. It has it's own solid personality that one soon comes to appreciate. It receives and scans the public service high band but does not cover aircraft frequencies.
What do I like best about this little rig? All things being equalized to conform to the modern standards of a mobile 2-meter rig, I would have to characterize it's receive performance and quality audio as the two most outstanding points it has to offer. It seems to excel in the sensitivity department and in it's immunity to intermod problems. Equal to it's receive abilities is the sound of it's front-firing speaker. Once you get used to the quality of the audio on this one, chances are you'll realize the faults in your old rig's sound.
It's got enough memories for a dual-bander, in fact, more than many dual-banders do. Direct frequency entry, CTCSS tone searching and programming can be fully performed using the remote mike. One of the three programmable buttons on the mike is defaulted to fully open up the squelch. This is the rig I want with me in the car to work 2-meters on, whether driving around town or cross country. I would recommend this rig to a newbee as well as an experienced operator because of it's performance and "bang-for-the-buck". The performance you'll get for a rig in it's $200 price class is perhaps it's best feature. I haven't put it down since I got it.
KF6YBL Rating: 2000-02-03
Great Radio Time Owned: unknown months.
This is my first mobile radio, and so far it's great. It took a short time to get used to programming, but after that it's no problem. I give the FT-2600 2 thumbs up!
VE7TLL Rating: 2000-01-03
FT-2600 60w and good ears Time Owned: unknown months.
My new FT2600 is an addition to my 2500 in another vehicle. The new radio seems to receive better than the 2500, especially when monitoring commercial VHF frequencies. I use an external speaker so the small in-radio speaker doesn't bother me. I like the 8 character alphanumeric display. The menus take a bit of practice but after you program the radio the first time you should have the basics mastered. The PTT button on the mike is a bit light. I seem to kerchunk the local 2m rptr accidently more than I would like. 60 watts is a nice boost along with 25/10/5 watt settings. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one.
KB5WAK Rating: 2000-01-02
Good radio except it loses ALL its memories and se Time Owned: unknown months.
I have a new Yaesu FT-2600 FM transceiver that loses ALL its memories and settings sometimes when the radio is on and I start my vehicle. I contacted Yaesu technical support by e-mail, who advised me essentially to just live with it.

However, I'm in and out of my vehicle a lot with my job and with ham radio emergency services, which of course makes this otherwise excellent radio virtually useless. I'm still fervently searching for a solution to this problem - I can't believe it's unsolvable - but otherwise I've found the FT2600 to be a fine radio.
W4MGY Rating: 1999-12-21
Pretty Decent Rig Time Owned: unknown months.
My XYL just got her ticket and we wanted a suitable simple to operate rugged rig for her to use as her first radio in our truck. I have a FT-2500 and quite pleased with it, but before I could buy anther one, the FT-2600 came along to replace it. The front mounted speaker is a bit small, but allows for more flexibility in mounting and locating it for good audibility. We mounted it on the front of the center console between the seats which allows either of us to use the radio. Programming was actually easier than the FT-2500. A good rugged radio with a lot of bang for the buck.