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Reviews For: Yaesu FT-60R

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

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FT-60R
Reviews: 324MSRP: TBA
Description:
A dual-bander io the same case format as the VX150!
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&ProdCatID=111&encProdID=PUtPQg4MnJI%3D&DivisionID=65&isArchived=0
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
43.83244.6
K5REZ Rating: 2014-04-24
Solid Workhorse Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I ordered my 2nd from an online vendor today.

Solid radio. The first radio I bought a couple of years ago and this latest will be in my office just to monitor the local repeaters and frequencies. Buy the radio from a local/US vendor and don't look back.

Ebay offers a lot of microphones/speakers and accessories for this radio. Look at the reviews and decide for yourself what makes sense. Why spend $60 on a 2m/440 that doesn't work?
KE4LAO Rating: 2014-03-16
Buy this HT!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Really can't say enough about the Yaesu FT-60R. I am returning to the hobby after being absent for a few years and quite honestly didn't know where to begin to get info on which of the MANY HTs out there was highly recommended AND was within my budget of $150. I found this site and the MANY reviews of the HT extremely helpful. I've only had the radio for under two weeks but am already up and running and meeting new hams in my area. The instructions were a bit intimidating and there are so many features to the phone. However, do not be discouraged! You can learn the basics pretty easily and the rest comes with patience.

Here are the top five things I found impressive about the Yaesu FT-60R

1. The construction is solid. Pulling it out of the box and feeling the weight and solid construction of the radio gives you confidence that it's not cheaply made. It's stout!

2. It was fairly easy to program a frequency in, set the tones for a repeater, and throw yourself out there to talk to someone. I was amazed how easy it was. I have a "Cheat Sheet" that I am putting together that'll help me to quickly remember how to do this or that.

3. Don't be fooled with any reviews at how "cheap" the included rubber ducky antennae is. Not true! It's working great for me both to hit repeaters and talk simplex.

4. I've used the radio extensively since it arrived in the mail and am pleasantly surprised at how the lithium batteries are holding up. I haven't had to recharge it yet!

5. The memory capacity on this little HT is amazing!

I wish Yaesu would make a decent cover for it; to date there isn't one manufactured for this handheld radio and that's quite amazing considering that it has been a round for a while.

By the way, that's another thing ... the fact that this radio has been around for a while and they are STILL making it with really not too many changes to it's design, etc. says something. It's a money maker for Yaesu and an affordable 2 meter rig that'll keep you busy for a long time if you take care of the radio and treat it with respect.

Great job Yaesu!!

KE4LAO
Birmingham, Alabama
KF6DBZ Rating: 2014-03-07
Excellent radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased the radio about a month ago, I use it everyday and take it everywhere, The reception is great, The rubber duck antenna works great, Nice layout and a large screen.
The only issue I have is I would like to plug in my iphone ear buds for listening but they are not compatable, I don't want to spend $30 for the earbud and lapel mike Yaesu sells but I might have to, does anybody know which or how a earbud will work plugged into the radio?
N1QZ Rating: 2014-01-14
9 years old Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Bottom line is that Yaesu did it right this time. I actually got this radio in a trade about 9 years ago and had not planned to buy one as I had my well like yaesu VX-7. This is one of the made in Japan versions and not made in China like the newer ones and time will tell if that makes a difference.My first reaction to the FT- 60 was that it was simple and very radio like and not so much an over the top attempt at too much stuff in a too little package. What I mean by that is how quickly you discover the simple physical layout of the radio is what is missing with other yaesu HT's .like a real nice belt clip, a light button, a squelch knob and the power on / volume knob. These sound like basic things that you should have and when they are not present on a radio you miss them real quick. When operating in the dark it is absolutely ridiculous to have to enter a menu mode to turn the backlight on and adjust the squelch like with my VX-7. This has a convenient little button right on the side of the radio. Turn it on, turn it off without having to set it up to be always on.
On the actual usage of the radio the battery will last several days of normal use before needing a charge which again should be normal for a radio. I bought a new battery after 6-7 years which is amazing. I do a lot of hiking and hilltoping and always carry a radio with me and without a doubt the FT-60 always gets me the best results even with the original 9 year old stock antenna which is bent but still works. When I hilltop and talk to friends they know when I'm using this radio compared to my other HT's .The keypad layout is nice and simple and has the proper shortcuts on the face of the radio to quickly program in a new repeater when actively out operating. My friend John finally bought one last year and when we got back to the shack he said." Ok, let me see if I can program this thing as easily as you say " and with in minutes he was saying " wow that is easy " .
You can't beat the price of the radio and now that it is coming up on being in production for 10 years I wonder what yaesu has planned. It will get discontinued at some point and I really hope they see from the sales of this radio that it is what people like. I don't want smaller, I just want the damn thing to work !

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Earlier 5-star review posted by N1QZ on 2005-06-11

I am the happy and proud owner of the VX-7 the VX-6 and of course the FT-60. I have also in the past owned a VX-5 and the VX-2. Out of all these Yaesu Ht's that have been out in the past two months to five years i would have to say that the FT-60 is by far the most user friendly of them all. Programming on the fly is a breeze and entering the menu options from any operating mode is a plus. That is an issue that i have had with some HT's in the past. The ability to get into the menus to alter memory settings from either VFO, Memory, or Memory group mode is a plus.......On some radios you have to exit back to memory mode to alter settings, and that sometimes is just a pain in the butt. Also on this rig you can still use the Reverse key in any mode.....i am a big fan of that. On my other HT's......again i have to exit Memory group mode and go back to regular mode just to check the input frequency........?
Now there are many things with the VX-7 that cannot even be compared with FT-60 as it goes with the amazing amount of things it does. If it came down to having to make a choice to have one radio it would be the VX-7 because of the fact that it does so many things in such a small package......... but there are THREE things that this radio has that none of my other HTs do.......and it drives me crazy. They are very simple things that make taking this radio along with me so much more the choice.

ONE. It has a light button on the side...
No entering a menu to turn it on !

TWO. It has a squelch knob.......
Again----No menu to enter !

THREE. A Wonderful Large Spring Belt Clip !
I can clip it anywhere.

These seem to be very simple and old school features.........Which they are. But they make this radio so much more the choice and enjoyable when out on the go.

And the last few comparisons between the Ft-60 and the VX-6 & 7.

The 60 definitly has a much more sensative receive, but does not have the coverage the other two do.

You can make up your memory groups to have as many memeory channles in them as you want, and this is great if you are looking to use this radio as a scanner for monitering.

With the Vx-7 you get 9 memory banks where you can put 46 memorys in each.

With the Ft-60 you get 10 memory banks and you can put up to 1000 memorys in each bank.

This works out very well with air band, ham bands, public service, or military frequencies where you may have several hundred memories that you want to put into one large group and then scan as aposed to having to break them down into batches of 46......that doesnt go very far.



I did some tests on the Battery life between the FT60r and the VX-6 with both having brand new batteries With a full charge and monitering all day with moderate transmitting .
these are the results.

VX-6r = 10 to 11 hours

FT-60 = 2 to 3 days !....no kidding

2 bands, 1000 memorys, easy to use, long battery life, and plain old fashioned good design.

Thats the Yaesu FT-60r

Charlie/N1QZ

N0YXE Rating: 2013-12-15
THE BEST HT EVER Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've had a lot of different HT's and brands and I must say that this is the best one for the money and ease to use. It's solid quality, good speaker clarity and sound, easy to use and the manual is understandable. This is a keeper and is outtstanding for the money.
WH7UP Rating: 2013-11-11
Gret HT Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
For me it has been a while since I have gotten back on the air. This is my first radio since having an old Radio Shack HTX-202. I must say it is a great size, weight and looks good. Tech wise it transmits really good with the rubber duck and only a little white noise. That's probably nothing to do with the radio and just my area. I have hit the local repeater without any issues. Its scanning feature is a little slow but works well overall. Programing it is fairly easy and works best if you get the programing cable. Then its just data entry into a spreadsheet and transmit the settings to the radio. Bam your good to go. The limit of 6char tagging is my only complaint. I would like to have a bigger character base to name my freq. but it works. You can switch between the tag name and freq. very easy if you forget what you are on. All of the features compliment a well rounded radio for the beginner and experienced ham. At least that's my opinion. Defiantly a must buy.
K7DRO Rating: 2013-11-11
Fun 1st radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
A Fun solid 1st Radio! I have been having a blast with this Radio. Bought the Rt System Programmer and cable with the RT-60, 10 minutes out of the box, I am on the air, making my 1st QSO.
KC9WQR Rating: 2013-11-04
Great HT Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I Like it so much I have 2. I own 2 other HTs and can't find one I like better. I don't leave home without it and that says a lot. Durability is top notch and battery life is phenominal. Wouldn't trade it for 10 Baofengs. I have a Baofeng uv-5r and while it has it's nitch, it's not my FT-60r. I use my FT-60 more than my FT-270r.

Overall Great radio
KF6VTA Rating: 2013-10-14
A Great performer. Day to day exceptional radio Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I've been using this radio for more than a year and I only have good things to say about it. However nothing is perfect and I will focus on the needs or bad things i found. First the Good:
GREAT INTERMOD REJECTION !! I live in Downtown Miami...Many systems on VHF and specially on UHF. Neither my VX-6r, VX-3R or my VX-5r can handle such amount of noise level and telemetry. The FT-60R stays quiet and I can actually listen to the channels i want without been interrupted by noises or other transmissions because of intermod. So, if you are looking for a INTERMOD FREE RADIO, the FT-60R is a sure winner...Trust me...I know. I tried meny radios here before, and this one was one of the few that actually could handle Intermod well. Radio is well built, strong, loud audio and simple. And it has reception up to 999 Mhz!!!! Great for scanning or talking with those full 5Watts on the air.
The bad is......THEY DON'T MAKE A SOFT CASE FOR IT!!!!!! I like to take care of my radios and a soft case is essential to me. My solution was to use the LC-168 from the ICOM IC-92AD. Case fits perfectly, and the only modification i need to do was to make a couple of more hole for the speaker and one for the mic. Problem solved!! The VHF reception is very sentitive to have birdies and noises my other radios don't have, and it is not a question of transmissions been picked up..It is the oscilators inside the radio creatinh ghost signals in different sections of the VHF band, regardless of my location...always the same spots...O h well , you can't have it all. Overall, great radio. Yes! i will say the same like others...GO BUY ONE!!!! And Yaesu...please, make a soft case for it!!!!!
NA5XX Rating: 2013-07-24
Go buy one Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Great entry radio and for experienced alike. Very durable. Remember the Radio Shack HTX-202. I believe the FT-60 will be remembered like the 202 is. I recommend it without reservation.