| K6MMS |
Rating:      |
2015-04-20 | |
| Big, easy, durable! |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
Love it! Love it! Love it!
Does it do everything that all the big expensive units do? Nope! is it super light and easy to fit in your car? Nope! Does it cover all the bands that everyone seems to want these days? Nope! But this little brick does one thing and it does it very well: it covers the 2 meter band like no other and it stomps all over everything else in the process. The screen is HUGE! I LOVE THAT! The buttons are big and chunky. EXCELLENT! It's huge. It's heavy. It's hard to fit anywhere, but this thing will outlast any other portable rig I have guaranteed. I wish everything was built this robustly. Well done! |
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| VE7REN |
Rating:     |
2015-04-01 | |
| good radio,gets warm |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I was hesitant to get this radio from the heat issues mentioned.. I to find it get warm on low power.. ,75 watts it gets very warm with longer tx time.. I installed a fan on the heatsink of this radio.. soldered the fan wires to the power supply cord.. all seems fine now,other then the constant fan noise.. very large unit compared to most.. HEAVY brute too.. as with most yaesus,its easy for me to program,etc... I like everything about this radio,other then the heat it generates.. it has massive heat sink fins,but they don't dissipate like it should.. maybe a design issue... all in all im happy with it.. my 2300h icom puts out 65 watts with long qso,s and does not get warm like the 2900h... |
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| KF7VXA |
Rating:      |
2014-12-11 | |
| Great Value |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've been 100% happy with the FT-2900R. It is a bit heavy due to the heat sink, but it sure works great and is easy to program.
200 memory channels is plenty and being able to put channels into the different banks makes scanning very easy without having to scan all channels unless you wish to is handy.
They can be had for about $140.00 on sale, and are a great value at that price.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by KF7VXA on 2012-12-08
So far, I have found little not to like about this radio. I got it for $145.00 plus a $25.00 off coupon for a grand total of $120.00 delivered, great deal.
The extra 25 watts can make the difference when needed. I do wish the microphone weighed a little more, but it's light like on my other YAESU'S.
The few little things wrong still get a 5 when you look at the low price and the great features. It is a simple radio, but sometimes simple is nice.
I did epoxy a 4" X 4" fan on the top with an off on switch, it fits right under the mounting bracket and makes a huge difference in the temp that the radio runs. I know they say the fins are enough, but I figured that keeping it cooler may avoid a trip to Yaesu to get a part that got too hot while the radio was mounted in a vehicle. Heat does do bad things over time.
Bottom line, this radio is easy to program, simple to operate and you can run it at lower wattage, but when you need the extra, it's there and waiting. It does make a difference. Maybe not like a 160 watt brick, but for the price, you can't loose.
Be sure to use as short of a run of #10 wire from the battery to the radio. I got .4 volts drop from good connections on my battery to the radio, this one sucks up the amps on 75 Watts.
When my truck is running, I'm still getting 13.7 V at the radio because the truck puts out over 14 volts when running. Just a good reminder. I'd use #8 wire on a longer run. |
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| K4ISR |
Rating:      |
2014-12-07 | |
| Excellent little radio |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I've been debating several different radios for over a month, and with the giga retailer sale price and the Yaesu rebate brought it down to a very reasonable price, meaning even if it didn't work well, I am not out much money. Tested with a simple battery and external antenna and programmed in several repeaters that I struggle with (or no access) with my HT. Immediately I had access to repeaters 15-20 miles away on low power, and they reported better signal reports at low2 (10W). Ran it on low3 (30W) and high (75W) several times and although it got a little warm, never had a problem with overheating. Mic button is a touch sensitive, as even a slight push and it immediately transmits instead of waiting for full button depression. I would definitely recommend to others. |
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| VK3FMJA |
Rating:      |
2014-07-09 | |
| HEAVY DUTY RIG |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I have read alot of reviews on this rig and I was abit hesitant to get one from the beginning. I have finaly decided to get one after reading the pros and cons and now I can honestly put my review. This is my SECOND mobile rig (first one is FT-8900 and I still have it in my other car)and the price is afforadable, I have matched this rig with Dianmond 2m antenna and it works really great. The max power I have used is 10 watts as repeater is not that far from my place. So far this rig provides its purpose and I strongly recommend this rig to every body. Job well done YAESU. |
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| W5BXY |
Rating:     |
2014-06-10 | |
| Good radio for the price |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I read all the reviews (pro’s & con’s) on this radio before buying one. After using it for two weeks I don’t regret my purchase. It’s not perfect but for my use I like it. The mike PTT switch is too sensitive but the key layout is good and the programmable function buttons are convenient. Heating up is not a problem for me rag chewing at medium power but could be at high power and long winded sessions. The menu is easy to use even for a dummy like me once you take time to read the manual which I rarely do until I have a problem which I usually do because I didn’t read it to begin with.
I like the four power settings and they are very easy to change on front of the rig without having to use a menu as is the squelch control. I have very good reception reports and for my use it works fine.
Long story cut short, I like it, I will buy another one and my score for it is a 4.6 overall. For the price I paid ($149 new) you can’t go wrong.
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| K2ADK |
Rating:   |
2014-05-01 | |
| Sturdy, but that's about it. |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
The 2900R does a fine job of transmitting and receiving, and well it should: it's a transceiver. I don't expect a VHF monobander to be overly complex or to have inscrutable symbols on many buttons; and this is okay in those areas. My use of a VHF rig is fairly standard in that it's installed in my Honda Accord. Normally, I don't drive over broken land, so it's no big deal to me that this thing is nearly indestructible.
What really matters to me is talk time. That is what I do not get from this rig. Because of the mountainous topography where I live and the low population density, 75 watts is standard output power to reach anybody on simplex, or the nearest multilink repeater, which is 55 miles away. However, when in a QSO for longer than 10 minutes at this level, the HEAT indicator comes on the LCD panel and a tone is sent out over the air so that everyone in the QSO knows your rig is overheating. Which is nice, because I don't want to have to explain what a lousy little radio I have: the beep takes care of that. Many reviewers say that the absence of a fan is a big plus for this rig, but for me, it's anything but. I can choose to have short chats because of heat or because of a weak signal. This is not what I expected from Yaesu.
Another annoyance is the memory setup. Let's say you want to set 145.555 + with a PL of 100, but you later find the PL is 127.3. When you go to change it by closely following the manual's directions, all is well until you change channels and return: about 75% of the time, I will find that the change was not written to memory. Essentially, it makes scanning impractical. And, as many have noted in forums on the 2900, the only way to erase a memorized channel is to go nuclear.
It almost seems funny to read that this rig has no fan: I, for one, am no fan, and would gladly sell it if it weren't cheap as dirt right now. |
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| 2E1VAR |
Rating:      |
2014-04-28 | |
| Chunky Monkey |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Bought this radio as I wanted something I could just throw in and out of the car to work mobile as I can't have a permanent set up in there. Nice big chunky controls, big bright display, separate volume and squelch. Great reports on TX audio (mic gain upped to 75), RX is equal to my 8900. You get some serious volume from the internal speaker too, no need to mess with using my car radios line in or an external speaker. I find it easy to use and programme but I am Yaesu through and through so it was familiar to me. Weighs a ton which keeps it planted on my passenger seat ! Yes it gets very hot, dur, it's designed to !!! |
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| KD8SFE |
Rating:   |
2014-01-18 | |
| Disappointed |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| I had an 1802 and loved it so I bought the 2900. I liked the 1802 much better. The audio quality is so poor that about one of every 6 or eight conversations is intelligible (some hams have crummy microphones, you know). I had to add an equalizer. There is some bleed over from an FM station 15 miles away so I can't monitor our local simplex group. Sometimes the channel will advance by one even though the mike is in it's clip. There are repeaters I can hit w/ 75 watts that I can't on 25. That's not to say that I may have been able to with the 50 watts of the 1802. I liked the speaker on top of the 1802 and don't like it on the bottom of the 2900 |
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| KN0JI |
Rating:      |
2013-09-11 | |
| Nice! Strong! Rugged! Portable! Must have! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I don't believe any mobile or HT I have ever owned can beat this little gem. I have had the FT-2900R for a month now, and I took it and my AGM battery with me on weekend TERT (Timpanogos Emergency Response Team) duty during a violent mountain storm (09-07-2013), which resulted in landslides, uprooted trees, and dozens of stranded hikers. I was able to be the relay for many TERT members and Utah County SAR (Search and Rescue) folks when their 5W HTs couldn't reach each other. When acting as NC (Net Controller), everybody I ask tells me I'm full quieting, without exception, no matter where I'm sitting in our valley. I'm so impressed that I'm planning to get two more in the next month or so. |
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