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Reviews For: Yaesu FT-90r

Category: Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Base/Mobile (non hand-held)

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FT-90r
Reviews: 138MSRP: 399.96
Description:
Micro 2m/440 transciever
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.yaesu.com/ft90r.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001383.5
KA3SEI Rating: 2008-05-30
Cool Rig! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I only give this a 4 because I really don't care for the display. Other than that, I think it's a great radio. And regarding the overheating issues - How often do most people really NEED to use 50 watts? If you live in a metro area like me, 25 watts is usually more than enough to get a clear transmission into a local repeater - even mobile. When I go into a low spot, I bump up the power temporarily. Considering the size and versatility of this radio, I don't see how you can go wrong with it.
VK3VMS Rating: 2008-03-19
Awesome little beast! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I love my little FT-90 :-)
They do still service them here Down Under - I noticed that someone else on here said that they wouldn't ervice them anymore. I just got mine back last month from Vertex Standard, after I buggered up a mod that I found on mods.dk, (the one that is supposed to improve the audio). Now she is working like new!
I have never had the overheating problems that other people have mentioned on here, either. I tend to agree with others on here too, if you can find a good one 2nd hand - BUY IT!!
KD8EZU Rating: 2008-02-21
Read the reviews Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I guess I'm one of the few persons who actually read the reviews on this rig ( thanks EHAM ) and then used that information to make my newly acquired FT-90R work well. High heat seems to be the most common complaint. I addeded a CPU fan from off of a computer CPU and mounted it so the the output would blow into the existing fan hole and also on the external cooling fins. I supply power to this via the 12 volt power cable and have a small switch in line in case I want to turn off the fan. No heat problems WHATSOEVER at ANY power level with this arrangement working in concert with the internal fan. Note also that I have mine mounted on a pedestal mount and not trapped in a non-ventalated dashboard hole. The unit is so small that I used an old Garmin iQue 3600 GPS mount as a pedestal for between the front seats . You can probably make a mount for this tiny transceiver out of anything.
Mounting with Velcro will also work BTW for an "on-the-dash" or "under-the-dash" installation.

DO NOT BLOCK THE COOLING FAN HOWEVER!......DUH!!

What's important here is That to not put the unit in a hole where it cannot get fresh air. OK , Ok so you should not have to do this . All I'm trying to say is that, instead of giving up on an otherwise great and VERY small rig, try to add a secondary cooling fan and allow for ventilation. We're hams after all..., part engineer , part mechanic....ALL PROBLEM SOLVER.

Once you get the rig to not overheat most , if not all, other problems are non-issues. The problem with the squelch is to change the spacing from 5HZ to 10Khz or more. This solution was freely available ( as was the use of a 2nd fan ) if one reads all the posts. As with all mobile's I've used I use a 1/8 adapter to plug into the speaker/headphone rear jack and take the audio into the car's audio system. You can use one of the more popular IPOD type adapters , or be "OLD SCHOOL" like me and use the cassette tape adapter that has the 1/8 male plug on one end and a dummy cassette that goes into a car's cassette deck. You will then have great audio that will be as loud ad you can want/stand it.

In closing, I suggest a 2nd cooling fan, PROPER ventilated mounting, and no 5KHZ spacing. In return your FT-90R will work very well.

Sure..., other rigs don't require you to do all of this, but they're not as small as the FT-90R either.It's worth the effort
WA4DQS Rating: 2008-02-10
bought 2, both blew Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Yaesu discontinued and disowned this little terror, and won't even service them anymore. I can't blame them. I bought two when they were new 8 years ago, one went belly up within the warranty period, was fixed, and it still works (we rarely use it, though). These things get hot fast. Keep the power low.

The other finally blew last week after collecting dust for four years. Both "blows" were loss of TX on the 440 side. I replaced it with the FT-7800.

If you live in a cold climate, and/or are especially careful on keeping it well cooled (use the separation kit and maybe stuff it in an AC duct, I'm serious) it may last. Both radios failed in a time frame that was proportional with how well they were ventilated.

Yaesu makes some fine radios, but the FT-90 ain't one of those. It has some novelty value, as the size is quite tiny. I will eventually fix the second unit and maybe find a low-demand use for it.
KB7XU Rating: 2008-02-04
Had really good service from it. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've owned this radio for over six years and I've always had good service from it. I used to live in Phoenix, AZ and I ran this at all power levels and never had any heat-related issues with it. I used it mobile for short QSOs, lots of autopatches using the autodialer, NOAA weather frequency listening, and lots of on-the-road monitoring of the cops before they went digital. I've been quite happy with it.

I do plan to replace this with a FT-7800R because frankly, I'm just tired of looking at this FT-90R and I simply want a new toy to play with.
AC6VV Rating: 2007-10-05
50 Watts in a Go-Bag Transceiver Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I originally bought this one to put in the wife's minivan due to space limitations. Well -- It never got installed there. Instead it is now my "Grab-and-Go" mobile transceiver. I packed it inside my suitcase along with a Comet CS-270 mag mount antenna (stainless steel bent with no damage) for a flight to Oklahoma where I rented a Penske GMC truck to transport my mom's household goods cross-country. The cigarette lighter style power outlet supplies up to 20 amps - no problem. The FT-90R worked flawlessly for the two-day drive.
KD7TSO Rating: 2007-02-27
Not bad radio Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Bought this off a friend few months ago used, he ran it for 2 years mobile with no problems. I been running it as a base station and it's an impressive little rig. I been running it since with out any problems. Easy to use and great size just make sure when mounted it's got good ventilation to dissipate heat.
N1TI Rating: 2007-01-26
Great packaging - poor radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had three of these gems and all three exhibited some kind of problem. Poor heat dissipation led to the PLL unlocking on two of them. The third one would stop scanning, even if the squelch didn't break. I loved the small size and thought the momentary scanner lockout design was the best in any radio I've seen. I wish they would have carried that design over into the FT-7800. If you can keep them cool, they will probably work well for you.
ZL1OGX Rating: 2007-01-18
Still good after all those years Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Having owned this rig since new I have never regreted purchasing it. I bought it in 1999 when they first came out, have never had a days problem with it.

Just recently had the extended tx mod done to it so I could use all of the 2Mtr band here in ZL land, did a processor reset and it even works on the PRS frequencies here.

If you can find one you will not regret it.
N4MJG Rating: 2006-11-23
Still Kicking ! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
still never a problem as of yet was using for packet at home now using in my truck i was using vx5r my girlfriend have the ht now so i had put ft-90r in truck,some guys still having problem.

but not me it never have problem with heat either,would like to have anouther one for home.


73
Jackie
KG4ORX
Website http://webpages.charter.net/kg4orx/