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Reviews For: Yaesu FT-1500M

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

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FT-1500M
Reviews: 185MSRP: 229
Description:
This is the new Yaesu FT-1500M Mono-band 2 Meter mobile radio. 50 watts out, MH-48 mic, CTCSS encode + decode, DTMF encode + decode, 130 memories, 1200-9300 Packet ready (connector on back), Backlit display, and most other bells and whistles you would come to expect from Yaesu (including SmartSearch, Clock Shift, ect.).
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.yaesu.com/ft1500m.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001854.6
KC9BJM Rating: 2002-04-02
I'm in love!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
What can I say about this radio, other than AWESOME! It's rugged, compact, and includes everything but the kitchen sink! The learning curve is a bit steep, but once you get the hang of it, it's a snap. I really like the fact that the "ABCD" DTMF buttons on the mic mimic the top panel buttons, allowing you to change any of the radio features right from the mic.

They are coming down in price...don't hesitate to get one ASAP. I am now a Yaesu fan!
LX3PR Rating: 2002-03-11
Nice radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
PRO:
Small size.
Interesting price.

CONTRA:

Programmation is quite complicated.
Speaker distorts even at medium sound levels.
LCD cannot be read from below.
Microphone connector has a loose contact: sometimes the microphone keys do not work. I fixed this problem with a piece of paper in the microphone jack in order to make the connection stiffer.
I wonder why Yaesu and others use these silly microphone connectors. A screwable type would solve many problems.
KB9YEM Rating: 2002-01-29
Great Value Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Very pleased with quality for the dollar. I am running the FT-1500 in my wife's JEEP because I didn't want to spend much money and had few mounting options. For $139.99 I am very satisfied with performance and build quality of this radio. My primary mobile is a dual band Kenwood TM-G707A which I still prefer, but the Yaesu outperforms in at least one area, scan speed. Programming could be easier, speaker could be better, screen viewing angles could be improved. I highly recommend to anyone that needs small, low cost 2M mobile.
N9LBW Rating: 2002-01-06
A lot of radio for the price Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I own two of these mobile radios and they work very well. Excellent power and good quiet receive. Only problem is built in speaker, need to use external speaker for pleasant sounding audio.
N0PFS Rating: 2002-01-05
Wish I bought a Kenwood Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had this radio for over a year, and wish I had bought a 261. The built in packet plug is a great idea, but overall it isn't a great mobile rig. This is my second Yaesu 2m rig, and the second one I am unhappy with. They wasted space putting a speaker inside the case, it is nearly useless, but provides excellent audio with an external speaker, plenty of power. You must always play with the squelch and in places with high intermod, really crank up the "rf squelch". Intermod messes this radio up terribly, which is the reason I am so unhappy with it. I get a problem in a certain area on 146.52 recieving an FM station, which doesn't happen on ANY other radio or scanner I have ever used. I haven't had a big problem with the dispay, and mounted it so I look up towards the display, but it is definitely better from above, straight on. I also have questions about the tone encoding on the radio. In certain areas I can get into a tone access repeater better with an ht and a rubber duck than this radio on any power up to 50w using a 5/8 wave antenna (about 15 miles from the repeater). I had this problem with a previous Yeasu also, never a problem with a Kenwood and the same antenna.
I think this would be a good radio for a limited space or limited use home station, with little back ground noise, and not driving into areas where intermod is a problem. This way the small tinny speaker isn't a problem and the squelch would be set and forget
I like the menu setup, but wish the power setting was "universal" instead of being in channel memory, but I set them all to 25 watts, and turn it up to 50 if (rarely ever) needed.
VE3CRX Rating: 2002-01-02
Great radio - display hard to read from some angles Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Had the beast for a week now - still trying to figure out how to mount in a 2002 Honda Civic.

Only problem is the display. It was obviously intended to be viewed slightly from above; when view from straight ahead, as it is in my temporary Civic mounting, the contrast, both night and day is poor making it very hard to read.

VK6XAA Rating: 2001-12-28
Excellent Performance! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had my new FT1500M for only a few weeks and i`m very pleased with it`s performance and features. I was looking at Kenwood and Icom radios also and decided on the Yaesu after reading so many good reviews online.

It`s sensitivity on Rx is Excellent and Tx also is getting good reports. Out of band Rx from 137 to 174 works well very well indeed too!

I have found that you can also access a hidden service menu by holding D/MR and LOW while powering on your FT1500M! From what i can tell there are adjustments for FM Deviation, Tx and Rx Frequency and TX Power levels and other various functions. I would be careful before adjusting any of these settings! Maybe someone can shed some detail on this Menu?

All in all a great Radio for Mobile or Base use with little to complain about. I would buy this radio again without hesitation!

Regards
Andrew
KB1GYQ Rating: 2001-12-21
very nice (especially when on sale) Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I picked up one of these for just over $100 retail, to fill in for a defective ADI AR-147. The 1500 is built like a tank, runs fine when cold, relatively easy to use (I don't like menu's much).

As with anything, there is room for improvement: dual VFO's, not storing the power with the memory channel settings, make it easer to update a memory, DCS, etc... all features in their VX-150.

But I'm not complaining, I wish I had gotten a few more... Great price/performance ratio!
VR2NG Rating: 2001-12-06
Good Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Good price, came with DTMF mic but no cooling fan.
KF7QZ Rating: 2001-11-20
Great Rig - Love it Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Got mine though HRO with shipping free. Taking the rig out of the box the size and the ruggedness amazed me. I would wish Yaesu would use a different mounting though. But it was easy enough to get it mounted on top of my dash with Industrial velcro. The smallness of the rig made it easy. Audio out is astounding and no tinniness detected. Dial is easy to read from the drivers postion. The blue back lighting really helps in that (wish the mike had blue).

Audio reports locally are superb. Nobody reported any of what I read about, maybe Yaesu fixed it. The menu is easy to use and the mike can be reprogrammed so the buttons do what you want them to.

YAESU you might add the A/C Band though would be a nice feature.

Overall would I buy it again - YES
Would I recommend it - YES YES

This rig is more than worth the price, easy to use and sure is nice to have.