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Reviews For: Yaesu FT-730

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

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FT-730
Reviews: 1MSRP:
Description:
70cm FM transceiver
Product is not in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0015
G4OCR Rating: 2003-10-31
Good basic 70cm rig Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Although showing its age a little, the FT-730R remains an excellent basic FM rig for the 70cm band. I was curious about activity in the band in my region, but didn't want to spend a lot. The "730 proved to be a very inexpensive way of getting active on the band.

The radio tunes the band in 25kHz steps, and provides two VFOs and ten programmable memory channels. In addition to repeater shift, there is the facility to split TX and RX between VFO and memory frequencies allowing the radio to be used with repeaters having a non-standard offset. Power out is 10watts, reducible to a watt or so via a front panel button. I have found this quite adequate for the band, and am doubtful whether adding a linear would appreciably increase range. Scanning and memory scanning are also provided, although this is pretty slow as is typical of all Yaesu radios of this era.

The build-quality is good and solid, and the controls all have a positive feel by contrast to modern menu-driven radios.

All in all, apart from CTCSS tones, there is little that the FT-730R lacks in comparison with newer rigs. If you want to get on 70cm without spending much, and can find one of these radios second-hand, then it would be worth considering.