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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
WD4ISJ Rating: 2003-08-28
Great Rig Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After getting back into the hobby after 20 years, I spent most of my funds getting a HF station on the air but wanted a two meter rig for repeater and mobile work. After reading all the reviews on this site, I chose the Ft-1500M.
I am extremely pleased with the size, build quality, scanning capabilities, and ease in programming this rig. Transferring the rig from truck to the house is made easier by using a cigar plug. In the house, I do use an external speaker which results in excellent audio and have received good reports regarding TX quality. I have had no problems with intermod.
I have always been a Kenwood man, but heartily recommend this inexpensive but full-featured two meter rig. I would certainly make the same purchase again.
K7PIG Rating: 2003-08-12
Wonderful Transceiver Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Have mine for over 1 year. $109 special.
Never has failed.
Easy to program in VFO Mode to Memeory Mode.
The entire case is a heat-sink, yes it does get hot even with a 1.1:1 t-matched yagi.
Use it mobile and fixed.
K7PIG.
SAR007 Rating: 2003-08-12
Compact, powerful, well-built Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
This radio has a solid, well-constructed feel that you notice right out of the box. Its small size fits and clever bracket lets its fit in tight spaces. Controls are simple and well-thought out, and the most common ones are right under your fingers, on the radio or the backlit microphone. The programmable features list is impressive.

130 standard memories are on tap, plus a few special purpose slots. There are four power levels, up to 50 watts. The case doubles as a heat sink - I've heard that it gets hot under extended high-power use.

One quibble: Programming the radio from the front panel was counter-intuitive and time-consuming (an hour plus for 25 memories, using a lot of the channel-by-channel features). Buy the programming software, and don't lose the radio's manual.
KE5V Rating: 2003-05-29
I agree wtih KE8YY Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
The menus are very user friendly (plain english on the display), and it doesn't draw much power during transmit at 50 watts(8 amps compared to 12 for my Icom 2100H) so you can connect it to a power plug. It also has two inline fuses in the hot wire, one near the power source, one near the radio. It also has an interface jack built in. It also has weather channel scanning. Very compact and sits in my center console with velcro, easily removable. The sound is slightly tinny (volume is fine), but that is easily fixed with a mobile speaker. It also gets hot, but that seems more a function of absorbing heat in the car rather than running hot under load. I prefer it over the Icom.
KE8YY Rating: 2003-05-29
Excellent Value Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This radio is probably my favorite of all the VHF radios I've owned. It's tiny, it's rugged, it's simple, and it's cheap. WIth the money you save, you can buy a better antenna- something that will pay off in performance, unlike the bells and whistles found on many more expensive radios. I can't think of any feature I'd need in a 2M radio that's not included in the 1500M.

I bought mine shortly after they came out, and it's been in daily service every since. When it came time to buy a radio to go in a second car, I did a quick scan of the market to see if there were any better deals on newer radios. There weren't, and so I bought another 1500M.
KC9CNB Rating: 2003-05-11
Great Rig! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have had an FT-1500 since October. Does great. Great receive, power output, and it's reliable.
KG8ZH Rating: 2003-05-09
Very nice radio Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I would have given this rig a 5 hands down if it were not for the mic plug. The mic plug on this rig is a smaller 6 wire RJ11 (not an RJ45), and it goes into the side of the rig. This plug configuration cannot tolerate any stretching of the mic cord without causing a short in the mic connection. I have come up with a fix though.

I went to a phone store (Radio Shack don't have them) and bought an 8 inch-6 wire (not a 4 wire) RJ11 to RJ11 jumper, and a double female 6 pin coupler.
I then plugged one end of the jumper into the rig.
I plugged the other end of the jumper into a double female 6 pin coupler. I now plug the mic into the other end of the coupler. Then I velcro'd the coupler next to the rig under my dash (you could also just velcro it to the rig too). I try not to stretch my mic cords too much on any of my rigs, but when I do have to pull a little bit, I am pulling the connector straight back and the jumper acts as a strain relief on the plug in the rig.

I have recommended this to others with FT-1500's who also had problems with their mic connection and everyone is now trouble free and with the jumper/strain relief in place, audio reports are fine. Mic is low impedence so you can get by without shielding.

Some hams might not like all the menu driven features in the rig, but almost all new rigs today are menu driven. The menu's in this rig are layed out in a very logical manner and easy to follow once you get used to it.

Other than that little design glitch, The rig is a 5/5.

Pros:
-The rig is very rugged.
-Compact enough to fit just about anywhere
-Has a menu feature called RF squelch which seems to act like an attenuator and it helps to fight intermod when activated.
-Has 4 power settings which can be programmed into memory. I usually set the power on low 5 or 10 watts for close in repeaters, 25 watts for distant repeaters and 50 watts for simplex frequencies that are programmed into memory.
-has a selective scan feature that will allow you to scan only certain selected memories. This is a handy feature when I am at my cabin. I have the repeaters near my cabin set to selective scan.
-Rig has low current draw when compared to other 50 watt rigs and it can run a long time on a gell cell when taken portable or camping.

Cons:
-As stated above, poor mic plug design.

Recommended: Yes

Chuck KG8ZH
VE3GIH Rating: 2003-05-03
Works fine Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The unit works as advertised. The only problem I've found is that you can either store DTMF strings in memory, or use the keypad. You can't do both without making configuration changes to the set.

Support is lacking. I've emailed them a question and never received a reply.
WA1IRK Rating: 2003-04-16
GREAT Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I own 3 FT-1500M radios and use them primarily for APRS and the fact that they have preset levels on the data port, it make them a plug and play radio.I am using the radio in conjunction with the Tigertronics TM1+ and the Garmin GPS 16 receiver, and the hardest thing was making up the interface connections. Just plug everything together and turn it on and your up and running. I have connected the Kantronics KPC3+ and the samething applies, connect them up and turn them on. I have also tried the 2600,7100, and the 8900 radios and they all perform great. The 4 different power settings is also what sold me on Yaesu.
AB7RS Rating: 2003-04-10
inexpensive but lacking Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Menu driven squelches are terrible. This rig gets desensed so bad it is unusable at my shack (most VHF rigs are). Even around the countryside the squelch is always breaking on random channels and I have both squelches set at 3 which is high enough to ignore a lot of what I do want to here. The display is hard to read at much of an angle and the thing needed a reset because a new memory channel complete with a freq. (a Freq the thing shouldn't even recieve!)popped up every few days.....must have had a VIRUS!
I was trying to replace a couple of FT-2500m's thet worked real well and will probably try the FT-2800.