| IZ2EAS |
Rating:     |
2020-11-05 | |
| Great vintage radio |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
The 2 meters (144 MHz) portable all mode vintage transceivers were popular in the 80s; they cost a small fortune and I used to look at them longingly on the ham magazines, thinking that I would never be able to afford them on my teenage budget. The FT290RII was one of them, so when I grow up I bought this radio to fulfill an old dream of mine.
My unit is in pristine conditions, the only problem being a faulty VFO encoder, with some angular sectors being “dead”. This fault – while not invalidating – is quite annoying; since I was able to buy a NOS spare part (P/N Q9000361), I decided to replace the encoder. While this is not a major undertaking, it’s not a job for the faint-hearted; I described the steps I took in a document that can be found on mods.dk.
The only thing I dislike of this radio is the scanning when in SSB; if you are looking for a weak signal you must have the squelch open, and in this condition the radio won't scan. The only way around this is to hold down the "up" or "down" buttons on the microphone. The FT290R (first series), on the contrary, is able to scan without problems.
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| DL1AIW |
Rating:      |
2008-08-27 | |
| The last radio to sell |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I own this radio since 2 years now and recently got a second one. It's unbeatable for mobile use especially due to the fact, that it supplies SSB mode which makes it far superior to recent 2m-rigs of this size.
It is surely not an FT 736 or anything in this category but it is definitely not intended to be, I think.
Using it in my car it works pretty fine on FM with the next repeaters. But as I am an "SSB-lover" it is more important for me, that I can stop travelling at any nice point I like, hoist up my 4El.-Yagi and do some mobile DX under blue sky. The output power is sufficient for mobile work, the receiver also though it might not be the best for contesting at home QTH.
Why do recent manufacurers don't produce a similar rig for use in a car? |
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| N5EAT |
Rating:     |
2007-12-22 | |
| Very Nice Radio |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I have wanted one of these for nearly 20 years. I found a nice one at R&L electronics and took the plunge. The radio has a very nice speaker and voices are very understandable. People complain about the detented tuning dial and the tuning speed function. It's really not that bad. I've just programmed my 10 favorite frequency locations in the memories and I'm pretty close to any desired frequency with the press of a button or two.
The feature that really is exciting is how EASY this radio is to use. It's so refreshing to have
button presses that are logical, and function keys that are few but perfectly thought-out.
If you own one of these little gems, you know how
terrific they are. I look forward to using mine for years to come. |
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| WW3DX |
Rating:      |
2007-03-17 | |
| Love this radio!! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I picked up two of the yaesu FT-290RII's new in the box a few months ago from e-bay and I really love these radios, I have installed the new tone board from PIEXX and loaded them with 3,000 mah NiMH batteries that gives me many hours of portable operation between charges, I get constant "great" audio reports from other operators that have no idea what I'm running.. I have worked mobile stations over 13 miles away on sideband at 2.5 watts from inside my house using the factory rubber duck antenna!! I do not like the "clicks" from the tuning control but the up down buttons on the mike will get you around that.. no, they are not perfect but bang for the buck these things are a blast! I love having a completely self contained all mode radio that I can take anywhere.. I own the 857 and 897 all mode vhf radio's from yaesu also, but I enjoy operating my 290RII just as much.
"73"
WW3DX
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| MW0XMG |
Rating:      |
2007-02-19 | |
| Really impressed !!! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I bought this radio a week ago, I must say I'M very impressed the audio quality is outstanding, the receive is great, for the price, I don't think you can go wrong, paid £80, boxed with all except the power lead, let's face it that's no problem, made one up the same day, some may say to much for a radio around 20 years old, but I'm really pleased, Feb 07, |
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| M0DNP |
Rating:      |
2004-10-08 | |
| yaesu |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I brought my yaesu ft290rII about 8 plus months a go its my first 2mtr ssb radio ....... its Simple to use nice looking for its age i have no problems with it . cheap to buy second hand .
a nice starting radio for ssb...........
73 duane |
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| W8TOL |
Rating:      |
2004-09-23 | |
| yaesu quality! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| excellent rig for 2M sidebander.i got mine used relativelly cheep from a good friend.my only complaint is that display illumination (factory)wont less very long and i had to make some mods to mine.allso the tone boards location is in very stupid place,behind the linier amp.so to change the tone frq.you have to pull the radio appart,so make it hard to use in mobile FM.other than this few bubus,the rig is an excellent performer in all modes,made several couple hundreed miles contacts on USB.thats why i cheated and give it a 5 rating. 73 W8TOL |
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| KO4BB |
Rating:    |
2003-03-10 | |
| Good basic functionality |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I bought mine new just when it was discontinued, a while ago. It has worked perfectly, except for the display backlight which died rapidly. This is not a problem though for the display is quite readable.
I have the built-in 25W amp.
The radio does everything it is supposed to do, but the following should be kept in mind, when comparing to newer radios:
1) the tuning knob is a pain. It belongs on a CB or FM only rig. It has only ~30 detends per revolution, so in SSB it is inadequate if you want to scan the band quickly. You can choose 3 step sizes, but you have to switch among those all the time.
2) the rig does not have a CTCSS encoder built-in, so for FM work, you may have to buy a $30 to $50 board to get to your favorite repeater.
3) there are only 10 memories, and they are not transferable to the VFO. If you use the rig for both FM and SSB, you will turn that knob a lot!
4) there are no optional filters, so for weak signal work, you are stuck with the SSB filter.
5) computer interfacing is a chore. There are no data in/out connectors, you have to use the MIC and SPEAKER connectors.
6) when changing the backlight or the lithium battery, make sure you have plenty of time in front of you. This is not difficult as in "hard", but painstaking.
7) the s-meter is useless. Any signal, no matter how weak, puts it beyond half the scale. It seems like out-of-band signals also move the needle, even though no signal is actually heard.
Bottom line: my FT-817 is everything I wish the FT-290 was, except for the 25W output, and it does a few other bands too :-) The FT-290 can be a good rig for you if you can deal with the limitations, but be aware of those and don't overpay. |
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| OM3CHL |
Rating:    |
2001-03-08 | |
| 5 |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Je to FB zariadenie
Na CW mi klucuje ale vykon do anteny ziadny.
Co mam robit ked nemam dokumentaciu-scheme?
Pse doku + scheme
GB vy 73 Joe
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| K3AN |
Rating:    |
2000-04-26 | |
| A Mixed Bag |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| Its light weight, small size and low power consumption make it very suitable for portable/mountaintopping operation, which is how I used it. But my use was mainly during VHF contests with a small Yagi, and it has two problems in that environment. First, its strong signal performance is inadequate; I couldn't operate within 15 or 20 kHz of any of the loud home stations. Second, the click-stop tuning knob plus the choices of tuning rates made searching the band a pain. You search using the fast rate, then hit the rate button TWICE to get a rate suitable for zeroing the station in. Already worked him? Hit the rate button once more to tune fast again. Having to repeat the above with every station you hear gets old very quickly. Finally, its 25 Watt FM signal clobbered the TV when using it at home, whereas an old TR-7950 at 45 Watts to the same antenna didn't disturb the TV at all. |
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