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Reviews For: Yaesu FT-2900R

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

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FT-2900R
Reviews: 88MSRP: $$$??? SHOP - AROUND
Description:
The Yaesu FT-2900R is quiet and powerful. This ruggedly- built 2 meter transceivers boasts 75 watts of output. Yet no fan is required thanks to Yaesu's die cast chassis/heat-sink design. The ergonomics are unsurpassed for safe mobile operation. Four power levels are available: 75, 25, 10 and 5 watts. And weather channels are built in with Severe Weather Alert capability. The FT-2900R is MIL-STD 810 tough. You get extended receive from 136-174 MHz.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.rigpix.com/yaesu/ft2900r.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
13884.4
NV2A Rating: 2015-12-01
okay Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I rated this radio Janary 2013 shortly after purchasing 3 of them. 2 of them died almost immediately and the 3 one is fine.

The one that works has not been turned off in over 2 years in my shop monitoring a DX club repeater. The 3d one was purchased about 2 months after the other two and from a different dealer. They may have corrected a problem in manufacturing? I am still crossing my fingers as I love the punchy audio out.
N7GWT Rating: 2015-09-06
Works well for APRS digi Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Our club has deployed 3 ft-2900s as APRS digi-peaters and the have each now been on the air for 3 years each without a single problem. We run each at full power due to the vast distances between I-Gates here in Nevada, and have never had an issue with the transceivers. Receiver sensitivity is very good, and two of or digi's pass data direct to other digi's more than 180 miles distant. We're very pleased with the performance of the FT-2900 in our circumstance.
KM6CQ Rating: 2015-09-04
Gets hot and shuts down. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The radio is under built for the power it puts out. It will get hot and shut down. But then again the manual states, that if it is in direct sunlight it can over heat on high power, and it does. Other than that the radio works adequately.

Dan
N7XLR Rating: 2015-08-13
nice radio, hard to program Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
About 2 days after buying a Yaesu FT-60R HT, I bought one of these. The HT will be used as a mobile and portable, this will be my base station. I think it works great. It easily hit local repeaters on 5 watts, and I got great reports on the sound quality. I also didn't like the huge bulky power cable, but this thing does put out 75 watts if you are so inclined. The only real problem I had was the programming. First of all, it is possible to program way more stuff than anyone could possibly need. Second, it is easy to make a mistake with the tiny buttons when you are in a hurry, and it doesn't give you time to think about what you are doing before it cuts off. I went back the next day and got the programming software. Expensive, but now it has been successfully programmed with a ton of stuff I will never need.

I wish someone would make a simple radio where you could just look in the repeater directory (yes, I have a paper copy), use the VFO to set the frequency, key in the offset, and the repeater access code if necessary. You then try low power, and if you don't hit it, keep raising the power until you do.

I plan on doing a lot of traveling, and will need to be able to look up and tune the radio to local repeaters
KA8ZYZ Rating: 2015-07-24
FT-2900R works great! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just received a FT-2900R from R&L Electronics. I hooked it up to my power supply and Diamond verticle. And with absolutely no surprise or fanfare, it functioned flawlessly. Got great responses on transmit audio.
But I expected no less with a Yaesu. I have been running a FT-2800M for 8 years now, along with my FT-60R and FT-250 HT's with no problems whatsoever.
And to top it off, I got it for $134.95 shipped free! Just my two cents, But with all the equipment I have purchased over the past 30 years, the Yaesu has never failed to perform very well. I have paid more for other brands, but I never had better equipment in my opinion.
DONMTEXAS Rating: 2015-07-20
A good radio Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
After 4 months with this radio I can say that I like the 75 watts. I have worked repeaters 70 miles away with ease. I use a Larsen nmo 150 c in the center of the top of me Crown Victoria.

This radio is a brick. The heat sink looks like a George Foreman Grill. I fitted mine with a 140 mm low speed fan. No fan noise. No heating up. I can check in to any 2 meter net in this corner of my state with ease.

Minuses:

The selector knob moves way too easily. I have had q's o's interrupted just because my wife moved her knee.

The mic keys too easily. This can cause unwanted transmitting.

A couple of better springs would get this radio a 5 from me. Overall the electronics perform flawlessly.
N6AIR Rating: 2015-07-18
Right Choice Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I needed a 2 meter mobile so I read all of the reviews on the Yaesu, Kenwood and Icom.

I was drawn to the Yaesu because of the 75 watts and the fact that there was a dial for squelch. I also liked reading that it was simple enough to program without software.

I was put off by the reports that it was bulky and heavy and that a fan over the heatsink was probably required.

Despite those negatives, I bought the Yaesu.

I'm pleasantly surprised to find out that it isn't bulky and heavy and that with my pattern of usage, I won't need to add a fan.

It isn't a perfect radio. There are several little things I wish it had, or wish it didn't have. For example, there is no onscreen indication of what your squelch level is and when squelch is turned up all the way, moderately weak stations can still break through. Maybe there is something in the manual to modify the squelch. I don't know. The manual, by the way, is flawed but not critically so.

The screen is huge, the scanning feature works well, and the fact that the speaker is on the bottom isn't a problem.

To summarize, I'm happy with my purchase. I like the 75 watts because I work mostly simplex and I like that it has four different power settings, one of them as low as 5 watts. It has dial squelch and to me that is important. And I'm also very pleased to see that heat isn't an issue.

Though it has some flaws, they're minor. Of the big three, I think this one is clearly the best.

KG7SUB Rating: 2015-07-11
Great radio for the price Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This is a great little 2m radio for the price. Make sure you shop around before purchasing, as I have found it as low as $139 when HRO has a sale. I use this as a mobile radio that I'm also set up to take inside as a base station. It puts out 75 watts which is very nice on long drives or when trying to reach a far away repeater.

I have never had any reliability problems and after putting in a few repeaters I can program anything into this radio very quickly, which I like. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone as long as they know what it can and can't do.
W2OZ Rating: 2015-06-03
Best of the bunch! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Best of the bunch Y-K-I-A , but for as long as 2m FM has been around, not perfect . Great price under $160 , great power from 5 to 75W , great features PL and DCS tone capability,Dual watch receiver plus Home channel and WX with 1 button ! Fairly simple to program uses 1 key for menu entry and the big knob for selections . Rig gets best ratings , the manual is a fair job but has problems . Only things negative about the rig : 1 The power cord is UGLY, big boxy fuses,and 2 separate wires ready to get tangled in everything , gets a poor ! 2 Some kind of finger guard creates annoying access to the SO-239 Connection , very poor in that area . Great sturdy knobs both Volume and Squelch sturdy no wobbling like others , fantastic VFO knob large and positive detents and resistant to bumping over . No place on the rig for the MIC hanger that is provided . The manual is typically over complicated , the rig is much simpler than the text to operate ! Some errors like the Power choices, manual says L1,l2,M, Hi . Rig displays L1,l2,l3,Hi . Also the page numbers do not agree between the E-Manual and the Printed Manual , so if you are steering someone from an E-manual keep in mind the page numbers are different !
KC5CQD Rating: 2015-05-09
Built Like A Tank! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
When the postman handed the package to me, I almost dropped it because I wasn't expecting the weight. This thing is a bruiser and very easy to program. Save yourself some money and don't order the programing software. I had it hooked up and programmed for several repeaters and simplex frequencies in about thirty minutes. Not sure about any heating issues. I ran it at 30 watts (plenty of power for a base setup) for a couple of QSOs and didn't notice any heat. Maybe at 75 watts it gets pretty warm but I would expect that. Hence the huge heat sink! Rugged radio and easy to operate. If two meters is all you want or need, then this is the radio to buy.