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Reviews For: Yaesu FTdx-400

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

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FTdx-400
Reviews: 4MSRP: 6000 gulden (dutch)
Description:
high power all-mode, all-tube rig
Product is not in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
1544.5
VK5JA Rating: 2024-12-14
One Brilliant Transceiver from days gone by.. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchsaed my YAESU FTdx400 about 9 years ago now, for the sum of $50.00. It had no 6KD6 finals installed, s it was only used by it's previous owner as a receiver.
I'm still yet to go right through it, and find a healthy pair of 6KD6's to get it fully operational.

Nothing beats the simplicity of these all valve rigs..
KC5PGZ Rating: 2013-06-23
A great old tube rig! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Let me start by saying I love tube rigs! I have a nice collection of old Gear, mostly Drakes and Kenwoods. There are pluses and minuses with all of them.

This radio was in storage for over 20 years. I pulled the covers and did a quick inspection, blew out the dust and plugged it in. The tubes got reseated and I tweeked a couple of settings to get the meter to work right. Other than giving it an intense scrubbing and replacing the dial lights, that is it. It works!!

The radio came coupled with an amplified D104 (which I am not a favorite of), but the audio reports I have received are favorable (with some lows and not all highs).

After 30 minutes, the radio stabilizes fairly well, but it does best with a little air flowing across it. Output power is around 200 watts out. The receive audio is nice, but there are no filters or passband controls.

This is a beautiful rig, and is not terribly hard to operate. It definately has a place with in my collection of boat anchors.

I have spent the weekend listening and talking on it, and I anticipate many more to come before I move to my next project. There is not much on the internet about these radios. If you like old technology, grab one of these if you find it!!
N4KZ Rating: 2009-05-11
A real golden oldie Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought an FTdx-400 new in October 1969. As a newly licensed general, it was my first SSB rig and at $600 represented a lot of radio for the money. I bought it from Hoss Trader Ed Moory who sold ham gear mail order from his furniture store in DeWitt, Ark., as I recall. The radio worked well. I got great reports on it and worked the world over the next several years. Never felt I needed an amp since this rig put out more than 350 watts. I later had some troubles with components failing in the VFO but got it repaired.

While I loved the rig, it had some shortcomings: no CW filter or provision for one; no 160 meter coverage; a 5-second carrier-on time limit while tuning because the 6KD6 sweep tube finals weren't all that rugged and no built-in fan to keep those tubes cooler. My dad made an external fan assembly and that worked well. Using a CW audio filter helped greatly. I sold the rig and wish I hadn't -- now. My wife and I saw one of these in a radio museum in West Virginia a couple years back and now she teases me all the time about being so old my first SSB rig is now in a museum. By today's standards, this was a so-so rig but back at the time, using one of these along with a good yagi put me in ham-heaven while chasing DX on the higher bands in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

73, Dave, N4KZ
PA4TIM Rating: 2008-02-29
my favourite Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
This is a very special transceiver, it is from a very dear friend who owned it almost since new. In 1968 a friend of him bought it direct from the factory. This guy had a air-pilot friend who went to the factory to collect it for him and brought it to holland. It is labeled Yaesu in stead of summerkamp and has no serial number. After a year or so my friend bought it from him. He used it for years. Then it moved to a corner off the shack and was forgotten for about 30 years. I'm crazy about big old tubefilled boxes but did not have an all-tuber. On day after I brought him home after a ham-fest (he's blind) he pointed to the table and there stood the FTdx. I took it home and after a good restauration (there was about an inch of dust in it) brought it back to life. This is my favourite transceiver, it is stable as a rock, has a nice ssb filter, lots of power and a very pleasant audio. I'm sadly not the owner of it but are very happy allowed to use it for an undifined time. It has no cooling fan but I mounted one, and this is very advisable. It does 80m and above. There is no internal speaker and you best use an 600 ohm headphone or external speaker.