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Reviews For: Yaesu FT-757GXII

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

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FT-757GXII
Reviews: 36MSRP: 1495.00
Description:
FT-757GXII HF Mobile/Base Radio
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.qsl.net/sm7vhs/radio/yaesu/ft757gxii/line.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00364.5
KA7OEI Rating: 2006-05-06
A decent older rig Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Having picked this radio up at a swapmeet for only $80, I didn't feel too bad about spending another $40 or so to fix it (most of that cost being for a service manual): Whoever'd had it previously had shorted the predriver's heatsink to the chassis, opening a choke and disabling the transmitter (something very easy to do, actually...) as well as "un-aligned" it as much as humanly possible by having seemingly randomly tweaked every adjustment in the radio.

Now that's its working, it's a pretty good all-around HF rig: It has a decent receiver and fairly good TX audio (according to others.)

Nit Picking:

Like other Yaesu rigs of that era, it uses "frequency pulling" in its synthesizer - which causes the 10 Hz tuning steps to be different sizes - possibly even with one or two being "backwards" as well as a slight perceived "jumping" every 100 Hz caused by this: This effect can be minimized (but not eliminated) by very careful alignment.

Its a reasonably good CW rig, having an adequate (but not stellar) CW filter included from the factory, as well as a built-in keyer.

Since I repaired it, I haven't had any additional problems, but I'm well-aware that there are certain parts that, if they fail, cannot be obtained except by obtaining them from a junked radio - but that's true of even some *much* newer rigs!

In the meantime, it's a nice "casual HF" rig...
PASTFINDER2 Rating: 2005-02-17
Good shortwave Rx Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought mine from Ebay and it seems to work alright but 1 problem. The audio on the ssb recieve blanks out occasionally. by the looks of it it is still recieving signals but I can't hear anything in SSB or any of the other modes except AM. Any Ideas on a fix? Haven't tried out the transmit yet for obvious reasons
WB1BPV Rating: 2004-06-25
Not a bad radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Bought this years ago(when I was living at home) after trading in a Kenwood TS-520s and about $300.It was the latest and greatest at the time.I made many cw contacts worldwide as well as SSB.It puts out about 125 watts, although I rarely go over 100.I use an R7 vertical up about 30 feet and a G5RV up about 15 feet.Sensitive front end.Voice Processor doesn't work too well, but always felt that was for those who needed an ego boost, not a voice boost(hihi).Only drawback is that on 10 meters, the frequency changes on its own.I called Yaesu.They suggested using a torroid.Didn't help.O well, just can't operate on 10.Anyone else have that problem and a solution, please email me at WB1BPV@yahoo.com.Almost forgot, I also used it mobile with a hamstick a few times, and it is a winner.Noise blanker works great!!If you find one used, go for it!!
KC4GMY Rating: 2003-12-27
Pretty good transceiver... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Only problem I had in 10 years was the tuning encoder and meter lamp went out. I ordered the parts from Yaesu for around $30.00 and replaced them myself.
VK4JAM Rating: 2003-09-09
A great Radio Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have owned a Yaesu 757 GXII for some ten months. I wanted to get to know the radio before writing this review.

Some background - this is my 1st Yaesu HF radio, prior to this I have used (and still have) a Kenwood TS120V and a TS520S with VFO-520, ATU-200, SP-520 and MC50. The 520S was my main radio for the last 20 + years. Many regard the TS-520S as a classic radio for good reason. Currently there are some 29 e-ham reviews and it scores an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 - not bad for a valve radio 25 years old !

I will rate the 757 against the 520S since that is what I am used to.

Sensitivity - about the same

Selectivity - the 757 is way ahead, with the notch filter and IF Shift it should be !!!

Power Output - the 520 is about 30 Watts ahead of the 757 on most bands, with the 757 pulling up at around 80W on a continuous tone input.

Speech processor - the 757 is good ... but the 520S is better. The average power is much higher with the 520S and the reported audio quality is better. BUT.... I have added a Ten Tec RF Speech Processor to the 757, and I use the Kenwood MC-50 mike with the processor. The radio's are now about the same. The addition of an RF speech processor does make a BIG difference.

Before when conditions got tough during a contest I would switch back to the 520S just to be heard... now I don't need to !!! This is the only weak area I have found with the 757.

Features - the 757GX II wins hands down - there is no contest. All modes across all bands, and a general coverage RX as well - with no additional boards to buy and install. What more could you want.

Value for Money – The Yaesu is great value for money. I was lucky to pick this up for Aust$600 (about US$300). It is in excellent condition. I’ve seen other 757’s for sale around this price and believe that this is a typical price for the radio. For the price it is a great radio.

It's a strange thing - I used to curse having to tune up the TS-520S when wanting to get on air in a hurry. But now I find I will connect and power up the TS-520 ... just for the pleasure to tuning in the radio, and the smell of the valves warming up.

Now I have the best of both. They are both excellent radios. I would give both a 5 out of 5, as they both perform exceptionally well.
WA7H Rating: 2003-02-23
Doesn't Like RF Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I won my Ft 757 GXII at a Hamfest in the late 80s, which is a good price since I only bought $9 in raffle tickets. I have since spent about $1500 in repairs over the years. Everytime I get it repaired I threaten to sell it but then it works so well when I get it back from the repair shop I end up keeping it, DUMB!!! Anyway the problems always stem from RF getting into the rig from one of my other radios. I have used this radio for packet, mobile and now at my apartment in Denver where there are no other HF radios so maybe it will continue to work until I sell it. I have the matching HD power supply which also needed repair and the matching auto tuner and desk microphone. I have talked with people over the years who loved this radio and almost all of them said it was their only radio. People I have talked to that had a 757 and other radios seem to have had the same problems I have struggled with. When it works it works well but when it don’t it does very strange things.
K6RMR Rating: 2003-01-21
It is a good radio but try to Time Owned: N.A.
Hello
I have a Yaesu 757GX2. The radios were made
beteen 1986 to 1989. They are full of parts that
are not available anymore from Yaesu.
My radio works great except the desplay is
blown. Yaesu can not repair it because the
desplay IC is not available any more.
The only way my radio can be repaird is to
find a Junker and hope the desplay board is OK.
Stan K6RMR
KB9PET Rating: 2002-12-23
A very good 1st rig Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased A FT 757GXII about 2years ago as an incentive to get my code down and upgrade.....finally almost there I got it from the original owner and it was in mint condition.I noticed some have complained about noise on recieve I noticed on am mode its noisy but is fairly quiet on ssb and cw .The original owner had all optional ssb cw filters.I did have 2 get a tech to do a alignment otherwise no problems If you are A ham on a budget this will do you fine average price depending on condition is 300-400 US dollars
KT8K Rating: 2002-09-26
good rig, but a couple of quirks Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've used this rig on Field Days and in the ARROW club station (W8PGW) in Ann Arbor Michigan the past few years. It's a good rig. The keyer works great with my Bencher paddle set. The receive is a little hard of hearing but the preamp takes care of that (we use it all the time on 20 thru 10m). On receive, however, the microphone remains connected to the audio amp, and can feed back via the speaker if the mic gain is turned up over a third of the way. I don't know if this indicates something wrong with our rig, or if it is a design flaw, but I have to keep the mic in my lap to avoid feedback when operating SSB. Fortunately for me, I operate mostly CW, but the SSB specialists in the club have to contend with it.
Overall it's a good rig, and if it can be had for $400 or less it's a good deal. I'll check back here and see if anyone has insights on the wierd audio performance.
73s de KT8K, - Tim, ARROW club station manager and trustee for W8PGW
K7NG Rating: 2002-09-26
Decent performer Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought a 757GXII from a fellow ham I worked with when he upgraded to a FT990. I have VERY LITTLE experience with one except in a mobile station - that's where I used mine. The rig I got had the INRAD 2.1 KHz SSB filter and this may have made my perceptions a little different than other's.
I have few complaints other than the small number of memories which made mobile operation a little more complicated (means dangerous) than otherwise might have been, until I developed a few tricks to streamline band changing and things like that. Actually I think the thing that smoothed out mobiling was when I ran the rig into a SGC 230 coupler and a 102" CB steel whip antenna.
I never had any issues with stability even with vibration in a mobile - and in a mobile setup dynamic range is less of a problem than might be seen in a fixed station and big antenna setup. Always got good TX audio reports, as long as I only used a teeny smidgen of speech processor. (Also, the Heil boomset I used might have helped). Receive audio quality I considered to be a little tinny and irritating, but hey, ya get used to it.
I still have the rig, which I intend to keep for a while as backup to my FT-900CAT. Three hard years of use in a mobile setup, several more years' operation by its' previous owner - and it's still ticking. 30 countries, 40 states while mobile, and many of them with darn good reports.