Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes

Reviews For: Yaesu FT-450

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

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : Yaesu FT-450
Reviews: 219MSRP: aprox 999.00 new
Description:
The FT-450 is a rugged, innovative multi-band, multimode portable transceiver for the amateur radio HF & 6M bands. Providing coverage of the 160-10 meter bands plus the 6 m, the FT-450 includes operation on the SSB, CW, AM, FM, and Digital modes, yielding the most comprehensive performance package available for field operation.


Designed for use from an external DC power source, the FT-450 provides 100 watts of power output from a 13.8-Volt external power supply, 160 - 6 meter coverage
Product is in production
More Info: http://foxtango.org/FT-450/Yaesu_FT-450.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
152194.6
M5RJL Rating: 2009-11-21
Good value for money transceiver. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought version with in-built antenna tuner. Couldn't fault build quality. Tuner works as specified, and works with antenna's designed to have SWR< 3 over required frequency range. Menu straightforward. Receiver performance OK. RX audio good. TX reports good. DSP filtering OK. Noise blanker successfully removed S9 click from nearby electric fence. Only small negative point for me, is the look of the display. Would prefer black on orange, perhaps like Icom IC703 rather than the 'clinical' white on black LCD. Good value for money transceiver.
AA8PP Rating: 2009-11-06
Nice rig Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Purchased my FT-450AT on the 28th of October and am very happy with it overall. The only thing keeping it from a 5 rating is the built in tuner. I previosly owned both the FT-890AT and the TS-480SAT running into my Van Gorden G5RV. Both of the rigs tuned the majority of bands with no problem. Unfortunately the new Yaesu falls short in comparison. I purchased a manual tuner and now can utilize the bands again. Guess I was spoiled by the tuners in the other two!
AA1OV Rating: 2009-10-25
Good rig for the $$ Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought my FT-450 used from another ham. He found it too complicated. I found the rig to be a dynamite rig for the money. It operated fine in any mode I asked it to go to, the DSP did a good job on minimal antennas that I had to use. I had no issues with the rig at all. I added a pair of FT-100 feet to it, and used an LDG tuner to augment the limited range of the internal tuner when needed. All in all while not a full featured contest rig, it is no slouch on the air. Makes a great 1st rig or backup rig, or RV rig.
BASILIEN8NQU Rating: 2009-10-24
Upset with Yaesu,Great radio when it works. Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Well I got a call 2 days ago and from Yaesu and I got the bad news.The control unit failed.Well it's in the hand of the tech now.I got the final cost and when it's all said and done with shipping both ways it's going to cost around $330.00 to $350.00.I asked if I will still be able to change the color on the display and I was told NO.( Can of you members tell me if this is true???????)Well I choose to buy used so I can do that and now I will not.I used the for about 3 months and I do like it but I think I should get it back with the option of the change color.No,I am not happy.I have heard to many hams having problems with the Control Unit on earlier models.The number of failures is upwards of 100 radios,mine is one of them,7G05xxxx.Why can they put our radios back the way we bought them?????I have e-mailed Japan and you guess it,NO Reply.Thanks for reading my post.Thanks Bill N8NQU.73.........

n8nqu@yahoo.com


WD0FIA Rating: 2009-10-22
Nice radio! Great price! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought a Yaesu FT-450 without the built in tuner to replace my FT-857D, that I had moved to my second car. I read through the supplied manual and checked the front panel layout, which is easy to use with. The main VFO knob is smaller than normal, but it isn’t a problem for me, as I use Free450 and HRD to manage memories and run the rig. The large multi-function display also makes it easy to configure the various DSP settings and clearly shows you what’s going on. The display is huge compared to most rigs, and easy to read.

Receiver sensitivity and selectivity are excellent on the HF bands and the 80m noise floor is quite low. On the air reports have been excellent so far with the MD-100AX microphone. I’m really looking forward to testing it out with some of the many digital modes which are available today and bought the Signalink USB to try on this radio.

The menu system is probably the most user friendly that I’ve found on a transceiver and using the basic functions is straight forward. In fact, it’s difficult to find fault with anything on the FT-450. The quality of construction makes it an ideal choice for portable operation.

I bought mine from GigaParts for only $639, and I feel I got the rig for a fair price. If you are on a budget or require a backup HF/6m transceiver. I’m very pleased with mine and I think the price represents excellent value for money, as the latest technology and DSP features would usually only be found on high end HF transceivers currently costing over $1000.
KF5AHV Rating: 2009-10-04
Good rig if it's not a problem child! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
when the radio works well its a great little rig. the problem i and others are having is the radio will lose receive in midstream and either power itself off and back on again or just sit there dead until you manually cycle it off and on yourself. when this 1st started happening i scoured all the reviews here on eham and other sites and could barely find anything on this problem. i later joined the Ft450 yahoo mailing list to find there are indeed others having this trouble and it is not a welcomed topic of discussion on that users group. i was sad to find that some of them were more of a cheer leading squad than they were being useful. another issue users are having is the radio will sometimes not power up at all after not being in use. one user said yaesu fixed his with no trouble, another said it was a big hassle and almost cost $350, and others denied that it was even really happening. this did happen with my unit also but luckily i live close enough to a yaesu repair center to be able to speak personally and get things taken care of. the percentage of the radios that are doing this is unknown because nobody seems to be talking about it when it happens to theirs, they are getting booted from the mailing list, or they are hearing more than one reason why it has happened and are not putting two an two together. it appears that the radio dying midstream and the failing to power on is two separate issues because while the power up was fixed it still goes dead. i have other rigs of various models/brands including yaesu that all interchange into the same setup and this is the only one having trouble. a nice ssb rig when working well but the relays are kinda noisy and clunky on cw unless you wear headphones. this would be a great buy used if a unit is known to be trouble free. it's a nice low level el cheapo rig and is not bad at all over all.
KLEMM Rating: 2009-09-09
Great for the buck! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
At first I brought an icom 7200 home but soon brought it back. Not because it was a bad radio but because the FT-450 out of the box was a better buy. First of all the 450 allready has a built in tunner and has FM FOR 6 AND 10 METERS. I also have had a FT-857 with an Atas120 which the 450 also is able to tune. I figgured for the icom7200 to be equel to the 450 for me it would cost another 4 or 5 hundred more.
I think the 450 is by far the best of the lower end HF portable base's out there.
EI3JK Rating: 2009-09-05
Great little rig Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had this radio now for about 3 months and I have to say that I am very pleased with it.The only gripe that I have is that it should have come with a bail stand and handle.In real terms these things only cost a few bucks and Yaesu should have included them!
KA3DNR Rating: 2009-09-05
Great Radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Hello Folks,

I have had my 450 for a year now. I think it works great. There are two things I wish it had: Tighter CW filtering and a much wider ranged auto antenna tuner. Otherwise, I will probably be buried with this little radio.

Marc
KA2WYG Rating: 2009-07-18
Great Rig Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have owned my 450 for about a month now. I am new to HF work and don’t have a lot of experience with other rigs but I’ll tell you about what I like about this one. First off it’s small and doesn’t take up a lot of room on my desk. The display is well lit and easy to read, in fact I have the brightness turned way down it seems to be easier on the eyes. The receiver seems to be very sensitive and I can hear everything that is “at or above” the noise. The transmitter does an excellent job putting out 100 watts, I’ve worked Europe, Asia and South America on a simple dipole. The main tuning dial is a bit small (about the size of a silver dollar) and I have fat fingers but it wouldn’t be a reason for me to look for another rig. I plan to use this rig for a couple of years and then use it as a backup rig when I buy my future FT-2000. By the way, the price isn’t too bad either, paid only $699 through Gigaparts.com