Purchased/Ordered online, during a sale, and included a 30-dollar mail-in rebate, if purchased during a certain period of time.
The shipped package was about 6 Pounds, so it does seem to be of good, heavy or solid, construction.
The instruction manual seemed to not be the easiest that I have come across, but after reading it, and actually doing what they said to do, in order to "get the job done" so to speak, it really wasn't that bad, to understand, or anything like that.
I had re-tuned my Hustler G-7, to about 146 MHz, because I had quit Ham Radio for almost 13 years, and had actually re-tuned it for about 151.820 or 151.880 MHz, using it for the MURS frequencies, once they became available, so I re-tuned it for 146 MHz, using a 3-foot jumper, plus a MFJ-208 Vhf Antenna Analyzer. (Later I re-tuned again, after the heat problem, at the transceiver end, with 50 feet of coaxial feed-line inline. Only had to move the antenna section 1/4 inch to re-tune again.)
I thought that it was great at first, but I have dropped it down to "OK," because of a problem I have with it. (I have now dropped it down to Needs Help.)
When I got into a 10-minute conversation, with my best friend, and when I spoke for about 1 to 2 minutes, then he spoke for 1 to 2 minutes, etc., after about 10 minutes of the conversation the rig beeped at me and stopped transmitting, and I thought that I had "timed out," as I did have the TOT set to 3 Minutes, which I think is the default setting, but when I tried to transmit again, it beeped again at me, and I noticed a message on the screen/display, which I think was, "Heat," and then I checked the TEMP in the menu and it showed about 168 degrees, and was dropping, so using the 55-watt high power setting, to have or hold an on-going conversation seems useless, or not possible, or not practical, to me.
The entire rig's case got very hot to the touch for me and even included the mounting brackets and screws.
I am actually only using it on the 5 and 10-watt power levels, and if I need or want more power, I will turn my 80-watt Mirage B108G amplifier on, as it needs 10 watts of drive.
Yes, I think that the heat sink could have been on the top and back, instead of the bottom and back, but if it had some sort of cooling fan inside, like a PC has, and cooling slots in the case to let the air go out, maybe it would work better, or maybe if it had a cooling fan mounted on the back or bottom, to help dissipate the heat generated while transmitting, maybe that would help.
I had a hard time deciding whether to give it a 4 - Good, or a 3 - OK, as there are things that I like about it also.
By the way, I have been monitoring the memory channels I have set up, scanning, and checking the current TEMP, it shows 91.4F.
The DC Volts shows 14.0 Volts, so I imagine it rounds to that, being it is connected to a Samlex SEC-1223 Switching Power supply.
I like the variable dimmer for the display, and the MCGAIN, or Mike Gain, I guess could be handy for things like Packet Radio, or the Internet connection, etc., and the 4 programmable "P Buttons," like to access the WX right away, and the ability to have the severe WX alerts to "get your attention" to the alerts, if you scan those while scanning, is nice also, and having the choice of wide and narrow deviation could come in handy I suppose, if and when it would be needed.
Anyway, over all, the rig is ok, but it could use better cooling some how, and also the scan rate could have been a little faster, it is OK, if you only have like 20 or 30 repeater frequencies in the memories, plus maybe a couple of favorite simplex frequencies, but once you add public service frequencies, like ambulance, fire, police, etc., and also if you add railroad frequencies, to it, using like say 100 or more memories, then the scan rate is a bit too slow, but it is OK as it is.
If the FT-1900R would have better cooling somehow, it would be a great Vhf transceiver, especially for the low cost of it, as I like the physical size of it, not too large, not too small, and if it could keep the rig cool enough to use in an average conversation, without shutting down, then I would also think that it would be a great rig...
I do not really care for the modular microphone plug though, as I have had problems with another rig, having the lock tab breaking off as the usual problem I have had in the past, like something catching the tab, breaking it off, which keeps the microphone connected to the transceiver, causing the mike to become disconnected, or pulled out, from the transceiver.
Also it isn't that important to me, but if the S/RF meter had S-Unit markings on it, that would be helpful, as the bar graph meter doesn't really seem that useful to me, especially if someone asks me how good their signal is.
I just tell them that they are giving me 5 out of 9 bars...LOL...
Anyway if it would not shut down on me, when I try to have a conversation with someone, when using 55 watts of power, then I would be completely satisfied with it.
(Some of above pasted from previous review with additional comments added.)
Anyway, I have received my 30 dollar rebate check from Yaesu, almost exactly one month after mailing it in.
I have dropped my original Great, then down to OK, and now to Needs Help, as today I tried to have a conversation with someone today, using only 10 watts, and the transceiver over heated and shut down on me, after only about 10 minutes of chatting between him and myself, and it is so embarrassing or irritating, to have the transmitter shut down on me, then he lets me go, stops talking to me, and I hear him talking to me, giving me his 73, after I un-key the mike, unaware the transmitter had even shut down on me because I had the beep turned off.
Using a 4-inch cooling fan, taken from an old PC power supply, blowing against the bottom of the transceiver, just receiving or scanning, drops the temperature about 10 degrees, about 85 degrees with the cooling fan running, and about 95 degrees without the cooling fan.
Without the additional fan blowing against the heat sink, I get about a 3-minute transmission before the transmitter shuts down, using 55 watts or 6 minutes or so when using it at a 50% duty cycle talking to a friend.
With the fan running I get about a 10-miunte conversation, 50% duty cycle, but today, without the fan running, even at 10 watts, I had only two short transmissions while trying to talk to someone, so for me the transceiver is almost unusable, definitely unreliable, certainly could not count on it during emergencies.
Sorry, I really liked the FT-1900R, except for the overheat problem, and I can't even use the 10-watt power level and it still stops transmitting on me.
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