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Reviews For: Yaesu FT-200 (Henry Tempo One)

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

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FT-200 (Henry Tempo One)
Reviews: 16MSRP: 399.00
Description:
HF Transceiver
Product is not in production
More Info: http://foxtango.org/foxtango%20FT250%20Information%20Page.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00164.1
W8KQE Rating: 2013-07-22
Decent, affordable rig for it's time! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Back in the 70's, my best high school friend Mark and I both got our General Class Ham tickets concurrently (at the Houston Street FCC field office in NYC!), and as 'broke teens' we needed a good 'budget' rig that covered all bands, with at least CW and SSB. The 'Tempo One' fit the bill nicely, so he got his first affordable rig (Tempo One) before I did. This rig became our 'window to the world', as I spent countless hours and days at my friend's house working DX 'barefoot' with just dipoles strung up between chimneys and tree branches! We were utterly enthralled! I remember he used this workhorse of a rig for years without any issues or problems, and I even got to hear it a few years later while in Greece (when he was running it into a TA-33 Junior), where I got permission to operate as WB2KQE/SV3 in my dad's city of Patras, where he grew up before emigrating to the United States. I ran an FT-101EX 'barefoot', converted for 220 VAC, with a few dipoles, and I used to regularly talk to Mark in New Jersey on 15 and 20m from Greece for the month that I was there! The Tempo One sounded great! It may not have been the best rig available at the time, but it was affordable, worked well, and enabled many Hams on a budget to get on the air and have fun!
PA0RCL Rating: 2013-07-22
Good olde rig Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Bought the European version, the Sommerkamp FT-250 from a fellow ham for 150 bucks. OK, this is not the best rig ever, but what can one expect from a rig that costed some 400 dollars when it came out in the late sixties, the early years of ham SSB.

Mine is still in good shape. Its 6JS6A finals have been replaced by 6KD6'ers. I can get 180 Watts out on 80 if I want (which I don't). On SSB its receiver hears anything my other Yeasu, the FT-950, hears.

Nice old basic rig to play with and use occasionally. Great to keep the coffee mug warm, too.
K9MHZ Rating: 2013-07-05
Junk Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The Tempo One was offered for sale by Henry Radio primarily during the 1970s. It had 4 positions for the 10 meter band, only one of which included a crystal to operate on a 500 KHz segment of the band. The other three were intentionally left open for CBers to drop in their "funny crystals", and the rig was then easily tuned to operate anywhere on the 11 meter band. Tempo One radios flew off of the shelves at local CB shops, and funny crystals were sold right along with each new radio.

This is not an impressive radio. The AM and CW modes are so bad that they're almost unusable. The sweep tube finals generated a lot of heat, and no cooling fans were included in the design. It just sat there and cooked. Two critical silver mica caps between the driver and final amplifier stages were undersized, and when they pop, your final amp tubes go into full, uncontrolled conduction and fry. The tuning dial, of course mechanical from that era, is very sloppy and the backlash varied quite a bit from one radio to the next, depending upon the built quality of the individual rig. The power supply wiring was a joke, and the wire sizing was minuscule given the currents involved. The power transformer ON/OFF switching was placed on the "backside" or "exit side" of the AC input, which was bizarre and downright dangerous under certain failure conditions.

But it is what it is/was.....a purpose-built radio for that CB enthusiast, or at best the Novice to General class transitioning amateur. It was never top-end gear, and it's lightly built inside (definitely NOT "rugged" as someone earlier described it). If you're bent on getting one, look around for a clean one. DEFINITELY replace C40 and C55, and also the power supply AC cord with a modern 3-pronged cord, and change the ON/OFF switched line to the new hot (black) side as it enters the power supply/radio. Also make sure you have a sufficient earth ground attached, as the power supply has a fair amount of bypassing to chassis ground with ceramic caps, and you'll know it immediately if you happen to get between the chassis and some other grounded metal in your shack.

In summary, just avoid this radio. If you want some nostalgia and have some maintenance savvy of old-school rigs and want to dig into a rig with a soldering iron, then knock yourself out. But, if you're new to the hobby and looking for a starter rig....AVOID. Find a modern solid state rig from one of the big 3.
WA7SQD Rating: 2013-03-21
My first rig and still working Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought one (FT-200) when I was stationed in Japan with the USAF in 1970 - 72. Used inverted V's and talked all over the world. I added the external VFO and a Rotron fan to cool off the finals that can get hot enough to cook on! Nothing fancy like todays rigs but like most have said, it just keeps plugging away and is a lot of fun to use. I was KA7SQ in Japan
26JLH Rating: 2013-03-21
good radio for a fun day out Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
good radio for peasure,i got mine mint condition off a ham in england.
works well changed some caps and fitted new valves
people say it sounds good how i love those tubes.
i also found a vfo from a internet shop tonight
so i will wait for it.
got one last year and it was fried,this one looks new inside not a bit of rust no busted slugs trimmers not touched.
tnx jeff .. m0prf .. england uk ..
KB1VXP Rating: 2011-11-05
Henry Tempo One review Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Picked up a Tempo One on Ebay. Nice shape, learned how to tune radio and she works very well. Radio put out 120 watts PEP and am getting very good signal reports using an end fed antenna resonant for 20 meters with a MFJ tuner. Overall very happy with rig. Picked up spare finals, driver and a few other tubes on Ebay. Paid $200 for transceiver and power supply/speaker.
ZL1AJH Rating: 2011-06-05
great old set Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I was given this FT-200 some months back as I'm a valve fan. not going, had been in the back cupboard for 10 years . broken wire in the mike jack replaced some caps and 4 valves one was the wrong type . and it's rocking , use it every day goes very well get very good reports on it . have made a digital readout for it so I'm always bang on frequency. great set! my favorite ,
KC6PGA Rating: 2010-07-10
old Time Owned: more than 12 months.
It was a great rig for it's time and the receiver had a great sound. If you have one I suggest giving it to a new ham for free.
K9FON Rating: 2009-12-28
Blast from the past! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had one of these old rigs once, and it was always a lot of fun to play with. The receiver is as sensitive as my Kenwood ts 830s and the VFO is solid after about a 1/2 hour warm up. Its just a fun old rig to play with and its easy to work on.
KB1GMX Rating: 2009-10-18
old but serviceable Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have two I picked up the older silver front that has a 7360 and a later black face that has a factory solid state replacement for the 7360.

Both work but the older silver on is currently in use as it has been modded to take a pair of 6146s
as finals. The results is a decent radio that I use mostly for 75m and 40m SSB. I also had to deal with that pesky 100pf cap that fails though I did it before it before it could cause damage. Currently I've modded that unit for 17m in place of the 15M (crystal,few caps and tuning) and removed 10M from it as I have other radios for 15 and 10M.

It's an easy radio to fix, modify and generally works as well as can be asked for a single conversion trx with a 2.4khz filter. SSB is good, CW and AM not a good radio for that between low power, wrong filter and relay trx.

If you want a glow in the dark radio thats fairly simple and easy to work on this works if had cheaply. Both have very stable VFOs.

The mod for 6146s was limited to changing out the sockets and wiring in the new ones. If you leave the screen voltage at 160 the power will be low
(50-55W) but unbreakable at 210V it's a respectable 100W.

Its a fun box and I enjoy it.