| W7COM |
Rating:      |
2003-02-11 | |
| I just bought my second one. |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I just picked up my second FT-2600M from the local ham shop that is closing. At $79 for his demo unit I couldn't say no. This is the first time I've ever bought two of the same radio. I've had the first one riding in my truck for the last year and it has never given me a problem. The controls are wonderful to use when driving. The mic has a great fell and is not too busy to use (Hello Icom!) and has an honest-to-god mic clip on the back (again, Hello Icom.)
The front mount speaker is great for cars but you'll want an external one for a noisy vehicle. The display boasts 8 alpha chars which is really handy with all the memory slots the unit comes with. On touch of a mic button starts it hunting for PL tones, very handy when driving.
It's too bad that Yaesu discontinued this model. They seem to be making room for the FT-2800. If you can find one of these for sale, pick it up, you'll be happy. I like this much better than my IC-2100 because of it's simple operation, extended alpha display, better mic, and 10W more to boost. It also has a nice DB9 connector on back for packet/APRS/IRLP work. |
|
| KG4LHQ |
Rating:     |
2002-12-29 | |
| Decent Radio |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| The 2600M is a great radio but I have only lost memory 2 times which has been about 9 or 10 months apart.... The engineers at Yaesu isn't very smart for having the heat sink on the bottom. The radio does it hot on 60 watts but have never had it to shut off on me. I enjoy my 2600M very much and I use it base/mobile at times.. I do use it for Fire Dept and have been over 100 Miles away from dispatch and have talked to dispatch on it anytime with my Radio Shack 5/8th's wave antenna.. I would recommend this radio but beware about memory problem.... I have now 2 radios both in the other vehicle |
|
| KC9CNN |
Rating:      |
2002-12-19 | |
| All the bells and whistles |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| The FT-2600M is what I consider to be a fantastic rig. It was amazingly simple to program and provides way more memories than a person could ever use. The only problem is that it gets very warm during long QSO's. I am quite happy with the rig considering the price and the amount of power that you get for your buck. Rig is built very solid and will probably last longer externally than internally. Nevertheless, everything that I asked for and more. |
|
| M3SKF |
Rating:      |
2002-11-14 | |
| NICE |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
This radio is well made it will run all day at full power.When i had mine i had no problems at all the memory system never lost programming as reported when used mobile.Yaesu must have sorted it on the near to last run serial no..,receive sensitivity was real good the front end was top notch.These radio,s are still in service (PMR with another model no..)with uk gov.. & are well
respected by the users,GREAT KIT. |
|
| W4KPA |
Rating:     |
2002-11-13 | |
| Great fixed station rig |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've had this radio for about three years, used almost exclusively as a fixed station. I married the radio to an Astron RS-35A and a Hustler G-7 fed with Belden 9913. The result is about as good a single band, fixed station as you could hope for. I've had no interference problems. The radio doesn't seem to run any hotter than other 50-60 watt radios. The receiver is more than adequate, and the reports on my transmitted audio are good.
I've used the radio mobile a few times as a substitute for one that's off to be repaired. It works ok in a vehicle, although it doesn't offer any advantage over the FT-1500 which is smaller and easier to mount. I've had one memory dump from leaving the radio on when I started the engine. My old FT-2400 was sensitive to this too, but this is something you really ought to avoid doing to any mobile radio.
All in all, it's a good radio. I'd give it a five, but its niche in the market is probably better served by it's smaller cousin, the FT-1500, which usually retails for about $20-30 less.
|
|
| K1ACK |
Rating:      |
2002-11-12 | |
| Overall good |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I got this cheap on ebay because the guy screwed up the mod. After replacing a few
components that dealt with the mic, it has been working fine. It is used inside on an Astron 35m thats never turned off, so no memory dumps, but have not tried it mobile. I love the
alpha display and scan rate, no intermod here. It does run hot, so I dont have anything
on top of it, its used for receive mostly anyway. I made an adapter for programming from an
old phone cord (4 cond is fine, but it has to have all 4 wires) and a 1/8" stereoinline headphone jack from RS, and just use the FT-50 cable without the 4 conductor adapter (or the Icom opc-478---which I find works with more radios than the FT-50 cable). That way just get the software from rt systems www.rtsars.com for $20. The radio is a little wide (prolly 1" wider than the Icom 2100H---another nice radio) to accommodate ther front speaker, but its nice having it up front, and for the house its no big deal anyway. Overall happy with it, but I got it cheap, and would be a little apprehensive in buying any yaesu right out of the gate with all the problems they have been having lately. Have an FT-90--ok, FT-100-ok-800mhz deaf/useless, VX-1R-joke-could have been cool,
2 FT50's-GREAT, VX-5r-nice, but I always end up taking the FT-50 out the door, FT-8000r--love
the orange display and real dual bandedness, FT-3000M--cool radio for the $199 closeout
Anyway, it sounds like the new 2600's are ok? |
|
| KD5TAT |
Rating:      |
2002-11-12 | |
| Great radio for the money! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I am new to the hobby of Ham radio. This is my first 2 meter rig. I did do alot of comparison shopping: power, memories, cost. I payed $159.00
from HRO. And I am already considering purchasing a second one for base/QTH operations. Buy one today! |
|
| K1ROD |
Rating:      |
2002-10-31 | |
| Solid |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've had this radio for a couple of years now and it is built like a brick [well...you can fill in the blank] It puts out a solid 60 watts, has more memories than most would ever need, is easily programmable by computer, great audio, and built to mil-spec. Currently HRO is selling them for $169. Who could ask for more? I went out and bought another one for the house. I also had an ICOM 2000H which although not a bad radio, did not stand up to punishment like my FT-2600M does.
----------------------
Earlier 2-star review posted by K1ROD on 2000-01-11
The Yaesu FT-2600 is a well built radio. Unfortunately, I too have the problem of the radio losing all of it's memories. I am not even using the radio mobile but rather in the shack with a regulated power supply. Per Yaesu as well as common sense, I turn the power supply on before the radio and turn the radio off before the power supply but to no avail. It has dumped all of it's memories several times. Re-programming it it a bit cumbersome as well. It looks like the radio is built to last a long time but Yaesu needs to get the bugs out of it. |
|
| KG4UUJ |
Rating:      |
2002-09-27 | |
| First Impressions |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
This radio came highly recommended to me by a local ham. I purchased it about 2 weeks ago from R & L Electronics. As soon as I opened the box I new I had made the right choice. The chasis is built rock solid. I wired it up (used a cigarette lighter adapter from radio shack) and attached my feedline. One button brings up the menu and the dial cycles it. The radio comes with lots of options and I had to use the book the first couple of times to get through the menu. I thought that the receiver worked very well and I got great signal reports from the other side on repeater and simplex. I don't know if having 60 watts is any better than 50, but it sure feels nice. My favorite feature of the whole radio is the mic. You can run the whole system thru the mic. I love it. If you are looking for a new 2 meter rig take time to look at the 2600.
73
Mike - KG4UUJ |
|
| KB7QDI |
Rating:      |
2002-09-17 | |
| Second best mobile radio I've ever had |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I didn't buy the FT-2600M for power reasons. I bought it because of the limited space I had in my car, and thought that, with the front speaker, I could mount it in the middle 'hump' and not have to get another speaker. And it worked out perfectly.
The speaker quality is very good, and I have gotten several compliments on my audio out. I have used it twice at the 60 watts setting, and will admit that it did get very warm on the one long QSO, but I expected that since it is working the hardest at this setting. My usual settings of 10 and 25 watts gets it warm, but never hot.
If I were to make one complaint, it would be the way I have to change the power setting. Pressing a button for one second, than pressing it again to change to one of the four available settings seems to be a bit lengthy. Especially when you consider the four available 'priority' buttons on the mic that would have made it perfect to use instead.
Overall, I think it's an excellent radio, and recommend it to anyone thinking about getting one. |
|