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Reviews For: LDG FT-Meter

Category: SWR & Wattmeters & Dummy Loads

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Review Summary For : LDG FT-Meter
Reviews: 49MSRP: 49.00
Description:
Yaesu's popular FT-857 and FT-897 transceivers are wonders of compact efficiency. These do-anything, go-anywhere transceivers were science fiction just a few years ago, but ham's today are using them in shacks, mobiles and on dxpeditions from the back yard to the top of the world.

About the only problem with these radios is that us hams who are old enough to remember when stuff like this really was science fiction are also old enough to wish that the display was just little bit bigger. As we grow in wisdom and experience, we also grow to depend on bifocals; those tiny little screens are just plain hard to read! Add to that a strong desire to see a real live meter needle bouncing on voice peaks, and you find yourself wishing Yaesu had thought all this through when they designed the radio.

Well, in fact they did. A little known feature of these radios, noticed only by compulsive manual readers, is a meter jack on the bottom of the front panel. You have to figure that Yaesu knew they needed a bigger display all along, but just left it as an exercise for the user. Well, help is here! The LDG FT-Meter is a low-cost, plug-and-play solution to all your FT metering needs.

The FT-Meter presents a lush, highly readable 2.5" meter face with calibrated scales for signal strength and discriminator reading on receive, and power output, SWR, modulation, ALC action and supply voltage on transmit. Each function is s electable from the radio's menu. Easily visible from anywhere on your desk or dash, the FT-Meter is illuminated by any external 12 vdc source. The FT-Meter comes fully assembled and ready to go; just plug it into the radio and you're in the picture like never before. Order yours today
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.ldgelectronics.com/FT-Meter_purchase.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00494.6
VK3ZGP Rating: 2021-12-10
FT897D Experience Time Owned: more than 12 months.
When purchased many years ago my meter out of the box worked perfectly as specified without any quality control problems. After many years of connecting and disconnecting the meter from the jack on the FT-897D the meter now fails to connect. The problem is not the meter or cable but the jack or PCB connection of the jack in the FT-897D. I.e. need to have the FT-897D repaired.

Only a minor issue noted. During ATAS-120A antenna tuning with my FT-897D on some combinations of band and antenna tuning the SWR reading is greater than infinity on the FT-Meter. Error is not due to zero set on the meter and no calibration information supplied with the FT-Meter or FT-897D manuals. Not a critical problem as SWR is so high the FT-897D is not going to work into this mismatched load.

I use a variable voltage (12V max) wallwart to dim the internal lamp as required.

My experience of this product is 5 star 'Great!'.
N0TES Rating: 2020-06-01
Good for these old eyes Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Purchased the FTL-Meter for my Yaesu FT-857D. The Meter is always easy to see and gives me Useable real-time information.

The rear-panel plugs work, but are nothing to write home about; they’re just there and usable.

I do like the Back-Lit display and the meter is large enough for these old eye to see!
N6BIZ Rating: 2015-03-06
TERRIFC Time Owned: more than 12 months.
HAD MINE SINCE 2003 ...
NEVER A PROBLEM...
K4FMH Rating: 2015-03-06
Great accessory! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My experience with the LDG FT-Meter for the Yaesu FT-857D has been nothing less than superlative. It gives a much better view of the standard meter readings that would get lost in the very small LCD on the rig itself. Mine was purchased through an LDG reseller (probably Cheapham.com), arrived in great shape, and has operated flawlessly for several years now. It's currently installed in a Gator Case for my portable ops station so it does get a bang or two while being transported.

Angel Perez bashed on MFJ in his review. I have a simiilar meter from MFJ in my shack. It works flawlessly. Not quite as accurate as a Bird but what is? It's certainly accurate enough for operating on the HF bands!

My other LDG products---autotuners---have worked great too. LDG omitted a power cable from the 600 watt model and BOTH LDG and Cheapham sent replacements!
KP4MLF Rating: 2015-03-05
no quality control Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
LDG is owned by MFJ?

How a brand new meter can come DOA because the meter needle is broke and when ask the company they ask you to send it back of course by your own expenses. Never again LDG, no quality control
K7DRO Rating: 2014-11-09
I like this Meter Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The FTL-meter works great out of the box with the Ft-897d. Nice packaging, quick shipping from HRO. I have had no issues with the QC. Added the 9v battery MOD, looks good on my desk.
K3LRH Rating: 2014-09-07
GREAT OLD METER "5" Time Owned: more than 12 months.
.....it seems that the newer releases of this meter are suffering from cheap parts and poor (NO?)QC. My ca.2008 meter has worked flawlessly for six years. Older reviews of this meter seem to support these comments.
N7AHE Rating: 2014-09-07
Very poor quality control Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Similar to KC2NEO I received one of these with the backlight not working. The meter functions worked fine.

Had to pay shipping to return. Received a new one - same problem, no backlight. Would have to pay again to have it fixed/replaced again. Won't do that.

Fixed it myself. It had an open solder joint where the socket connects to the board. To answer KC2NEO's question, it looks like they have little/no QC on these and a high failure rate.

If you need or expect a meter with a backlight, look elsewhere. Wish I had read the reviews before I purchased. Lesson learned. Won't consider LDG meters in the future.
KC2NEO Rating: 2014-07-29
Poor Quality Control Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Before I ordered my FT-Meter I read the reviews here. For most, it worked out of the box. For some, the cables provided didn't mate correctly.

I'm one of the schlubs that got a dud. The cable for 12V to power the light didn't want to seat at all in the jack. Confirmed the power is getting to the plug as it should. A bit of jostling and now it seats all the way but no light.

Don't they test things before they send out?
Apparently not.

Now I get to see how to resolve this dud. Buyer beware.
KE5WGR Rating: 2013-12-09
FTL Meter Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Purchased a FTL-Meter (Large Display) for my Yaesu 897D.

I will break ranks with the masses on this one....

Pro: The Meter side is one of the best I have used and I will continue to use the unit.

Cons: Both the rear-panel plugs (Meter / 12VDC) Do-Not fit well and are of Poor design / Materials. The Meter plug is very difficult to insert and once in, sometimes falls out....

The unit is supposed to have a Back-Lit display and has both an ON-Off switch and has a 12VDC plug for same on the back-panel.

When attempting to plug in the 12 VDC male to the back panel, the plug does-not fit well - very lose and in my case the illumination does not work at all (yes I checked the 12vdc with a meter and 12 vdc is going to the Tip of same..)

Seems almost like a Metric to Inches type situation almost or very poor parts I suppose. QA - Not.

LDG will gladly repair this Materially Defective unit, if I pay for shipping - which will likely cost around
~$ 30. for the round trip...That's poor Customer Service in my view. They should "Make it Right" and look into the Design / QA in my view as well - Hint!

Thus, Not worth the cost to ship as just fixing a poorly crafted unit to get the back-lit display working & will just install something myself perhaps.

If these two (2) issues were not present I would likely give it a 5/5 - but reference above, poor design / low-quality parts and clearly no real QA on the back-panel items noted above will drop to a 4/5 - only because the Meter is indeed good.

Being generous. The opinions are my own.