| VE3AQT |
Rating:  |
2023-11-17 | |
| Some things don't age or matter if they do |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I figure after nearly a decade of ownership it deserves a review. I don't think I would have bothered if not for buying an FT-857 from an estate.
I knew my FT-100 was old when I bought it but it was clean like new and had all the needed mods and was 100% solid as I knew the seller and his 10 year history with it. For the era, it is a remarkable small AIW xceiver. It obviously lacks modern digital features but for a serious CW/phone type it has all you need. Plus the price was great. I could not buy a single band qrp kit for what I paid for my FT-100. It has proven itself to me many times over. And the display! For the era nothing except perhaps the 706MkIIG, which matched the FT-100 feature for feature, it seemed, had as nice a display. The test of a product is repeat sales. Rig impressed me so much that even after getting an Icom IC-7000 I came back for a second Yaesu helping after a disatrous FT-857 experience. |
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| KI5NBN |
Rating: |
2022-11-04 | |
| A great radio that needs some TLC today |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I acquired the Yaesu FT-100D a couple of weeks ago from a silent key's family donation to my local club.
No one knew the history of this radio or if it still functioned.
I purchased the radio for a very fair price and brought it home for a good "going through" which it needed.
After removing many years of grim out of the radio case and microphone I was pleased to find the circuitry was still very clean.
I plugged the radio into a regulated power supply and noticed there was a parasitic current draw while the radio was off. Enough to throw a spark when at the PS terminal strip.
I open up the radio and noticed that the button cell battery was getting hot. In fact it showed signs of have gotten very hot in the past.
With the age of the radio, I ordered a new type battery. I also noticed that the heat has softened the bottom most, flexible 50 mm 12 pin ribbon cable to where it was no longer making good contact with one of the PC boards connections. I had to have the new FRC sent from an electronics supply house due to the odd-ball pin size and number of conductors. Yaesu did not have this cable or any support for this radio anymore.
I then really went from component to component to verify that all other devices in the radio were " normal"
This is when I found that both cooling fans had sleeve bearings that has seized up. I removed both of them only to find they would just vibrate when power was applied.
This would have allowed the chassis to have gotten very hot and probably damaged the battery.
I found a pair of replacement fans with the same wattage and RPM / CFM and ordered them.
No other damaged parts were noted.
With the parts now replaced the radio is back up to "Snuff" and works like new. I have used this radio for POTA contacts and was able to make contacts from Canada down to Brazil on dipole Hamsticks.
After four hours of constant transmissions,the radio never over heated or missed a beat.
I did however, build a Headphone volume control box as recommended by Yaesu due to the extremely loud output from the amplified speaker jack that can damage hearing even at the lowest volume setting while using headphones.
I really like this radio and would recommend it to anyone wanting a good used mobile / base station rig. A true "Shack-in-the box" |
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| KG9H |
Rating: |
2021-02-02 | |
| Great radio! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Feature packed, great radio for starter or mobile or base. Cannot find too many out there for sale. I recommend this radio. Had many many over the years. I ran this one inside the house and with an ATAS antenna. |
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| GW1HNG |
Rating: |
2020-12-04 | |
| A good rig if you get one that works. |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
Bought my FT-100 along with an FC-20 tuner from a ham who hadn't used it for about 5 years, Got it home and set it up all worked fine for about 3 day's. The battery had failed, not a problem I replaced the battery and once again all was fine.
After about 2 week's of perfect operation it developed a fault with the power switch circuit, the radio would try to power up as soon as the power supply was switched on but would not actually power on properly, this fault was related to the ribbon cable and connector on the display unit, after replacing the ribbons ( I changed them all ) and cleaning the connector everything is working fine and has done so for a few weeks now.
I think this is a great little radio and when used with the brilliant FC-20 tuner it's just great. Don't be put off by the fact that the final's are no longer available as the are devises that will work but the are not drop in replacement's. |
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| N5KBY |
Rating: |
2020-01-04 | |
| Excellent Mobile Workhorse |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I'm reporting that after 20 years, my FT-100 is still working great! I purchased the rig while on expat assignment "down under". It was my only rig for a couple of years and did it all, just fine, mate!
After the last move, now back in the USA, all my ham station stuff went into long term storage for a couple of years. A year ago I got the bug and started the process of the new ham shack at the new and probably last location!
The FT-100 was first out of the box. It worked great except for an occasional high SWR display notice on some bands with no rhyme or reason. Off to the internet for more knowledge. Yaesu politely told me to shove off!
I added a small grounding 'pinch clamp', made from strap K&S brass stock, bonding the rig's original RF transfer cables braided shield to the heatsink chassis backbone per a well written "fix" I found. PROBLEM SOLVED!
From this research process I found a solution I did not know I needed - to address chassis heating when in VHF modes. Add one 50 ohm resistor to the fan control circuit...allowing the fans to run softly at all times in these bands. Heating never builds up and TX heat is quickly removed when the fans come on strong in TX...WONDERFUL. I am grateful for the knowledge and instructions found in the Ham community!
Yes, I have other HF/VHV options, now. However, my hat is off to Yaesu for a great design, in a very small package, that works great and for the long haul. I use it almost every shack session!
I appreciate a well engineered and long lived transceiver and my FT-100 has certainly proven itself.
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| W5ZYX |
Rating: |
2019-05-20 | |
| An OK performer on VHF/UHF SSB |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I've had my FT-100, which I purchased used, for over a year and utilize it exclusively for SSB on the VHF and UHF bands. It puts out a clean signal and I continue to get good comments on the audio. Many reviewers have trashed the FT-100 because of its tendency to overheat and fail, especially during long transmissions on 2 meter FM. I don't use the rig on FM but have never had an excess heat problem in the SSB mode on 2. It has a good noise blanker and, used at 5 watts output to drive a 2 meter Mirage amp at 100 watts PEP, meets my needs. |
|
| OH8EFI |
Rating: |
2017-12-23 | |
| Good, but not great overtime |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I got this rig second hand, I have no idea when this was fist purchased. But it has seen its best days but it does tell that it is a ok for basic operations, but with many many flaws. I have used it in many peditions and it is the only rig I own now - sadly.
Everyone knows the issue with fan not blowing in RX V/UHF (Fixable by a mod), bit annoying.
My biggest hate goes on the stepped selection knob. Gosh it jumps back and forth like it had its own life!
I get weird shorts when transmitting in 17-10m bands. It hasn't been checked out yet, I have just avoided these bands.
Kinda okay, since I have no other rigs. But when my budget grows, I WILL change this rig away. Not great but not the worst. |
|
| KG5UN |
Rating: |
2014-08-05 | |
| Not pefect but not junk! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
By now we have all read many reviews and should be quite familiar with the shortcomings of this rig. However hopefully we have read about the mods and fixes available as well.
The FT-100 is a feature rich and very capable radio for Hf and VHF/UHF. When it has the nods and updates done to it, it becomes the radio that it should have been when it left the Yaesu factory. It has a great receiver, awesome noise blanker and very pleasant transmitted audio. What else could you ask for? |
|
| KB2SEO |
Rating:  |
2012-10-03 | |
| Buy this rig for your Mother in law- If you hate her |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Note- this was my review a while back- Since then, I tried everything I could to fix it, can't get finals, can't get the HF to work, ATAS Antenna was found to be full of water (among other things claimed by yaesu), I finally traded the rig off for a REAL HF radio. Yaesu should be SOOOO ashamed of themselves to have screwed over so many good faithful Hams- NEVER AGAIN WILL I PURCHASE A YAESU PRODUCT- EVER! I never had troubles like this from Icom, Kenwood or anything else I have. If you see one on EBAY or elsewhere- I can almost PROMISE YOU- It will have issues, If not yet- IT WILL! almost every person but one had junked or dumped their FT-100 as of 2012- the one who did not? We put it in his coffin when he SK'd- No sense in selling something a fellow ham will get screwed with, his XYL did not need someone giving her QRM after just losing her husband, right?..to think the guys at HRO tried to steer me towards the Icom 706 MkIIg..HRO tried Everything to get Yaesu to do the right thing....
>>>>>>>Original review Jun 13, 2007 05:57<<<<<<<<
Purchased the FT100 just as the 100d was hitting the market from HRO in Atlanta, With a good sale of 100's, I figured it was worth it, I could afford an "atas 100" (which would be a great rain guage- Mine filled with water in 2 months)
kept getting told by yaesu that it was grounding, But the Hi SWR meter would come on- Even with a SWR of 1.2-1 and a TUNER running, 2 -440 went soft, could not get more than 5-7 watts out of 440- NOTHING I tried to use antenna wise would work.
I called Yeasu once again, explained that I blew over 1800 bucks (Seperation kit, filters, got all the options, ATAS-100 Went for my LUNGS!) for the ultimate mobile setup and instead, it's falling apart (I later learned that ALL the early rigs had too much Flux used, the solder job was shoddy and quality control was nil)- the radio works into a dummy load- just not any antenna. this time- Now 8 Months later they switched the story to They want all sales slips sent BEFORE a RMA would be issued. I explained that I still had the one for the deposit for the rig- and HRO would be willing to vouch that I indeed purchased the rig- the rest was paid cash, the invoice was lost.
(10/12- to this day, they never returned my letters or calls asking for a escalation to the executives to make good on it either...DRM)
Here it is-6 years later- I won't sell the rig as I would just dump a problem on someone else. I am hoping that enough disgruntled owners read this, Perhaps we can band together to make the tech dept. make good on this radio- 1200 bucks is a lot for a LEMON.
AVOID THIS RIG...IN FACT, AVOID ANYTHING THEY SELL- ICOM AND KENWOOD's CUSTOMER SERVICE ARE FAR SUPERIOR! |
|
| N3IG |
Rating: |
2012-03-30 | |
| Nice Radio |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I bought mine used from a friend for a good price to use as a back up. This radio was well used, so much that he replaced the control head with a used one and I had to replace the front feet, mic ptt switch and cradle on the front that holds the control head. The parts I replaced were all still supported by yaesu and cost was under $20 shipped.
I have owned two Icoms with AF Dsp (706MkiiG and 718) and the Dsp in this radio blows them away, gets rid of much more noise before starting to distort audio. This is not the "D" model so I bought the 500Hz cw filter and it is just a joy to listen to cw with. This radio with a AT-200 pro tuner make a very good compact station, not a IC-7000 but still very good.
The reason for the "4" is although mine has not given any problems since refurbished the finals they used are getting very scarce which equals expensive if they were to go out and yaesu has made no attempt at coming up with a alternative replacement. |
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