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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
WD0AAY Rating: 2001-04-19
8 months, 0 QSO's Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I can't get past the memory loss problem. Yaesu evidently won't stand by their product. I won't buy another Yaesu product for this reason. Add $60.00 or so to the purchase price to account for postage, telephone calls and the starter diagnostic I let the tech talk me into having done on my new car. The radio looks nice and probably has good features but I can't get it to stay in a usable condition for over 12 hours. I'm going to try placing a large capacitor in line to keep voltage to it at all times, however it loses memory equally in the car and on the bench with a power supply, so that effort will probably be in vain. This is very disturbing because I've purchased three new and two used Yaseu radios in the past and had excellent luck with products and service/technical assistance.
KC7MMI Rating: 2001-04-19
Problems Are Starting To Pop Up Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I'm writing another review for this radio because I have run into some problems with it. To begin with, this radio, when modified for wide TX, cannot be cloned with another un-modified radio.

I lost my memories in the radio when I turned the power supply on. This only happened once but now there's the possibility of it happening again.

The biggest problem: the radio doesn't always decode DCS. I have no idea why, but sometimes it just does not decode DCS. I make sure that everything is set the way it should be but nothing helps.

I've got the radio sitting in the living room all packed up for a shipment to Cerritos CA. Hopefully I can have a fully functional radio on turnaround. I will update if anything else pops up.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by KC7MMI on 2001-03-19

I bought this radio for three reasons: power output (60 watts), price, and it's commercial heritage. For almost $200 this specific radio is excellent! I suppose there were some bugs in the earlier versions. Fortunately, I waited a while and got a later version that didn't have the reported problems.

A couple people have mentioned the lack of a physical squelch control. Remember, this is a radio based off of Vertex's commercial line. Commercial radios don't have squelch knobs, the level is usually set by software.

Now, I have to agree that it would be nice if the four buttons on the front panel were backlit, it's not a big deal though. This just gives a night-time driver reason to exercise his memory muscles.

I have only received positive reports with this radio. In fact, I was able to talk through a repeater up in Payson, 75 miles north of me. The person I talked to said I was the best sounding station he had heard from the valley.

The front-mount speaker is nice but unfortunately it distorts a little when the volume is up all the way. The front-end of the radio is excellent. I have not heard one squawk of intermod even when it's on the good antenna. I can't say the same for the Icom IC-207. That brings me to another thing, I don't like it when radios actually attenuate signals. Thankfully, the FT-2600 does not do that.

There is one thing I have noticed about the radio that is strange: when the RF squelch is turned on (S-3, S-5, S-7, S-9, or S-Full) the Radio displays the level of the background noise on the S-Meter. This might be for indication purposes or it might be a bug, I don't know. It does not interfere with operation of the radio, however.

In conclusion, this radio is excellent for the money and I am planning on buying another one for experimental purposes. I would recommend this radio to both the beginning amateur and the experienced.
KC5IZC Rating: 2001-04-15
FT2600 GOOD RADIO BUT WITH PROBLEMS Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I HAVE MY FT2600 FOR OVER A YEAR NOW AND HAS EXCELLANT PERFORMANCE BUT FOR ONE THING. THE MEMORY ON THE RADIO FAILS WHEN AFTER A WHILE OF TURN THE RADIO ON OR STARTING YOUR VEHICLE THE MEMORY SOMEHOW RESETS IT'S SELF. IT IS A PAIN TO REPROGRAM EACH TIME THIS HAPPENS. MY UNDERSTANDING THERE IS NO LITHIUM BATTERY IN THE RADIO FOR MEMORY BACK UP. YAESU HAS TO CORRECT THIS PROBLEM RIGHT AWAY SO THERE IS NO BAD TASTE IN THEIR MOUTH. OTHER THAN THAT IS IS A PRETTY GOOD RADIO.

JAMIE, KC5IZC-LOUISIANA
VE1TCB Rating: 2001-03-31
FT 2600M Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This was my second Yaesu. Loved my first Yaesu FT 2500M. Not so sure on this one Jury is still out.
I lost all memory once so far. It happened at start up I think. This never happened with the 2500. For simplicity of use I would perfer 2500, back light etc.
I would prefer to have my old 2500 back. Newer does not mean, in some cases, better.
EI7FFB Rating: 2001-03-23
Ok at price Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought this radio for my work vehicle as it was on special(equiv. of $199 instead of $389).It seems to work OK,although no one has said I have a great signal(unlike the FT90).It has zapped the memory once already,it had broadband tx out of the box(not good -sorry ISS HI!)and it seemed to be giving low power for a while although this MAY(not convinced!)have been a dud patch lead.RX audio is ok from built in speaker and runs hot enough to cook some burgers for lunch,what more can you ask for!Still cheaper than most handhelds and gives more horsepower,it ok at the price,but would have been very disappointed if I paid anymore.Will keep a close watch on it !
KAM Rating: 2001-03-22
Great radio with many features. Have had excellent time with it Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This radio includes just about everything you could want in a mobile radio. It's very small, mounts under your dash/steering column/etc without getting in the way of anything. It allows for DCSS and CTS tones, allows you to program in repeater shifts, and has an alphanumeric display. You can set the radio to start in memory only mode, that way you're don't have to worry about switching between VFO/Memory/Home constantly, and set up different memory groups for different cities/areas you travel. When you get to a new location, simply switch the memory group and you're good to go. I'd reccomend it to anyone.
2E1GSN Rating: 2001-02-19
great Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This radio has worked fine for months i have no problems to report.Audio report comments are exemplary, memory ergonomics are easy to use.
This is a top class piece of kit i use it mobile,look at the spec if you like it you wont
be disappointed.My 4th mobile & the best.
WA9OIG Rating: 2001-02-19
Great Radio! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have not had any problems with the 2600. I have not ran it mobile very much but I have started my vehicles with the 2600 turned on. NO MEMORY LOSS! I mostly run the FT-2600M as a base station. I live 4 blocks from Police, Fire and Sheriff transmitters and have NO intermode. I can't say that for some of the other rigs I have used. I would get another if I needed another 2m radio.
KB9YJH Rating: 2001-02-19
I love this radio Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I bought this rig last november, I was a little leery reading the reviews, but many people liked it, and I hadn't heard of the memory problems in a long time. I was not disappointed. It does get a tad hot when using it consistently on 60W, but it doesn't overheat. I have not had any problems with random numbers, etc.. I have also had many comments on how wonderful sounding of a radio it is. I am very happy, and I have to wonder if those who have problems with the ones they just bought, if they are buying new or used rigs, because I haven't personally talked to someone who has a bad one, but I don't know anyone who has an old one.
KT4GN Rating: 2001-02-18
Do Not Purchase Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This rig needs some attention. Random numbers display while transmitting. Display is hard to read. radio runs very hot on 60 wts.Phone jack type mic connector works loose. I must say that other hams comment of the quality sounding audio.Please remake the 2500M, I purchased a 2500m 6 years ago,and never any problems at all