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Reviews For: Yaesu FT-203R

Category: Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Hand-held

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FT-203R
Reviews: 5MSRP:
Description:
2 meter handheld
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0053.8
VK3LZ Rating: 2016-08-10
Simple to use Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought this hand held new because I already owned a Yaesu FT-290R with 10 watt amp and I didn't see that I'd use a hand held much so I didn't want to pay too much. As it turned out I ended up using the hand held more than I did the portable. I live in rural Australia and there is exactly 1 repeater within hand held range (and 1 more I can listen to but not open) so the lack of memory channels didn't matter and I loved how simple the radio was to use. In fact I kept this as my only hand held for over a decade until I needed a dual band hand held. It's still sitting on the shelf although the battery pack won't charge now. Modern hand held radios almost need a computer to program the channels and I miss the simplicity of the old FT-203R.
VE7ETS Rating: 2008-04-22
Happy memories Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This was my first amateur radio purchase just prior to passing my basic exam at age 18.

Had initial problems with the +/- 600Khz switch on the rear panel. My radio only did simplex out of the box. A shot of liquid switch cleaner solved the problem nicely.

This was basically Yaesu's feature-by-feature copy of Icom's more popular IC-2A. Super easy to use. It has very high quality transmitted audio - more fidelity than any handheld I've used since. I don't recall the receiver being overly sensitive. though.

Mine continues to work, although the batteries have long ago expired. It's amusing to compare it to the new Yaesu handhelds. The latest generation is half the cost and 100-X the features, but the '203 was well engineered for its day.
NE0P Rating: 2006-01-27
FT103 review Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I had the FT103 for awhile, which was the 222mhz version of the FT203. Used it for VHF contesting to give me another band to operate on. Pretty straightforward operation, and seemed to be Yaesu's answer to the Icom 2AT. The squelch didn't work on the one I had, so you heard white noise all of the time. Don't know if that was a common problem or not. Finding PL tone encoders and other accessories would probably be pretty difficult today.
WA6OWH Rating: 2005-04-14
Old but good easy to use Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Wow a radio for 2 meters that you do not have to open the book to use... It has labeled controls... one knob for each simple control. Batteries can be rebuilt if you are handy with a soldering iron... order them from Batteries America... 1000 ma. The speaker mike and drop in charger works great. Had mine on for continuous for over 5 years... finally the receiver died.
K0UC Rating: 2003-12-26
good radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Great radio for it's day. No memories, but easy to change freqs. with the thumbwheels. No out of band coverage. S-Meter is good feature. Great audio TX and RX. Batteries might be difficult to find these days, but I'm sure they are out there. If the price is right it's a fine rig for beginner that wants a very basic radio.
I've had mine since new in 1985 and have had no problems.