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Reviews For: Yaesu FT-990

Category: Transceivers: HF Amateur HF+6M+VHF+UHF models - non QRP <5W

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FT-990
Reviews: 141MSRP: 1995 ac 1795 dc
Description:
Yaesu FT-990
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.yaesu.com/yaesu.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
251414.8
HELLO20 Rating: 2003-08-19
Could be better Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had my only Two months and it would drift up the band and come back down I was told it had to do with Trimmer caps I guess Ft990 like all other radios when they get age on them they start to fall apart
KG4PIL Rating: 2003-08-08
Best Reciever I've Ever Owned Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I went to a hamfest looking for a legal limits tuner.I ran into a vendor whom I see at most of the hamfest in this area. He told me that he had a very nice rig he wanted to sell to someone that he knew would take care of it becaused it belonged to a SK friend of his and he knew its history. He told me about the great recieve the rig has and that I wouldn't regret buying it. So I bit. He was right. I can't find anything about the rig that I don't like. It has all but replaced my Icom 746 as my main rig. I still use the 746 for 2 and 6 mtrs but for HF and digital, Its the FT990.
NY2PO Rating: 2003-08-03
Best mid priced rig Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had the 990 for over a year and I am very pleased with it. It is a very good rig for both SSB and CW. It especially has a clean and refined audio signal as per reports from other ops. My rig is the DC model and it exhibits excellent reception characteristics (especially after diode modification performed by Yaesu)when compared to other popular rigs. This rig is one of the best and has many similarities to yaesu's higher end rigs such as the 1000 series. All in all, I would highly recommend the 990 to those who wish for a solidly built rig that will surpass your expectations in our hobby.
KL7KN Rating: 2003-05-30
Really nice Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I picked this rig up used - and for the strangest of reaasons, several "SWL only" sites had pointed out that the RX was worth the purchase.
Of course we checked around & talked to some folks. Off went the bucs to AES, first 'new' radio in some (well, many) years.
When listeniing to the beeb, HCJB, Radio Tokyo, it really is like being tuned to an FM sataion - it is that quiet. The RF speech proc is nice and so is the SCAF style filtering.
Not cheap, but rather, a good investment.
PA3FQH Rating: 2003-05-29
Great rig Time Owned: more than 12 months.
It seems almost impossible to find negative sides of this radio.
I have bought it new in 1992 and it has been my one and only HF rig here ever since. I am not planning to sell it since it does all I want from a general coverage HF radio.
If I have to give some points of critic, it is the FM reception, which sounds a bit rough, probable because of too small filtering. But I'm seldom using this mode anyway.
Another drawback is the lack of a transverter output. If you want to hook a transverter to your FT990 you need to get rid of some power first, since the lowest output is 10 Watts. There are mods going around for lowering the output power, but I'd rather not fiddle with the internals.
Some reports suggested that the receiver IMD could be better, but I never had problems with that.
Great radio!
N1XXU Rating: 2003-05-27
My Dream Rig Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Before I became a Ham, I used to go to my friends house to see his Station . His beautiful Ft 990 proudly displayed in the shack. He bugged me to get my ticket and I did. I always told him that if he ever wanted to part with this beauty let me have first shot at it.Well about 10 yrs later he
decided to sell it and he called me up asking if I still wanted it. I said "Of course" and rushed to him with the money. The radio was in perfect shape and I hurried to put it in the shack.This rig was supposed to be my back up rig to my IC-756 , but I find that I use it MORE. Especially on CW with the stock 500hz filter this thing ROCKS!.I always loved the audio quality on receive as well as transmit. I always get compliments on my SSB audio. If you see this rig on the used market don't hesitate it's a winner.
DF1AS Rating: 2003-04-27
* * * * * Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Used it for more than 8 years.
I missed nothing. A highly reliable rig. The only one which could match my 2x3m dipole on 40m. Also with my 84m long windom, excellent RX and TX on 160, 80, and 40. For its time, just great!
You could "see" the quality inside. Today, Yaesu has missed the train, unfortunately ...
73
KD5TNA Rating: 2003-04-01
Simply Great! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Hard to find but if you do, you'll have a excellent HF rig. Not the latest technology but still a very good unit. Brought used from another ham who owned and took good care of it for 8 years.

Simple to operate, pleasure to use. Very good reciever and great audio. Just can't find anything wrong or that I dislike enough to give less than a 5!

Not my main HF rig but still a Keeper...

73's
VE3GID Rating: 2003-03-27
Excellent Time Owned: more than 12 months.
can't say anything bad.. I have the DC version and very happy with it... although I guess it would be nice to have a DC version that ran on 12v... I must have at least 13V otherwise it stutters...

very very hard to find used..
VE3BD Rating: 2003-03-14
No wonder Yaesu stopped making it. It's a 1000 at lower price! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The previous reviewers have more than adequately described the highpoints of the FT-990 and there isn't really much to add.

However while, like anything else this rig has what could be described as short-comings, those issues are insignificant enough as to not be worthy of note.

The 990 performs very well. It is reliable and user-friendly. In many cases, I've managed to break through pile-ups using the bare-foot 100 watts and a modest G5RV antenna, matched to near perfection of the excellent on-board automatic tuner. There is a great deal of satisfaction to be had from being the station heard over the "big boys" running kilowatt rigs and driving multi-element beams at stratopheric heights! The 990 has never failed me -- and that's out of the box with no mods or tweaking. If it ain't broke, why fix it?

I've had this rig since buying it new in 1991 and I expect to have it for many years yet. As another reviewer noted, "it's a keeper"!

No wonder Yaesu stopped making it. It's an FT-1000 at a lower price!