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Reviews For: Yaesu FT-290R

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

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FT-290R
Reviews: 21MSRP:
Description:
The original Yaesu 2 meter all mode portable
Product is not in production
More Info:
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00214.7
VK3YE Rating: 2000-05-18
The ultimate 2m portable! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The Yaesu FT-290R is a great rig. It's fairly
compact, but gives all mode coverage of 2 metres.

Its main strength is a good front-end. Unlike other 2m rigs, which are often overloaded by
kilowatt pager transmitters on 148 MHz, the
FT-290R has a strong front-end that minimises
unwanted signals.

The general concept of the rig - a set that can
be used in-car, pedestrian mobile, portable or
at home is good. It is also good for driving
transverters. Many people use FT-290Rs for
driving microwave transverters. I have not done
this, but used the FT-290R with a homebrew
transverter that provided transmit and receive
between 3.5 and 7.5 MHz. Overall CW/SSB performance of this system was excellent.

I have used the 290 key down on FM for 30 min
at a time. It has also been used on packet radio.
Contacts with it have been made through the RS-10
satellite. 250 km contacts with its 2.5w on SSB
have been routine.

Main shortcomings are the non-standard 7-pin mic
plug (this is fixed in the 290R II) and rear
panel power connection - centre is negative!
Also being around 20 years old, the memories do
not save the mode or repeater offset.

For the ham wishing to explore many facets of
amateur radio, and not just FM and repeaters,
the FT-290 is a great choice.