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Reviews For: Yaesu FT-1000MP Mk V

Category: Transceivers: HF Amateur HF+6M+VHF+UHF models - non QRP <5W

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FT-1000MP Mk V
Reviews: 180MSRP: 3300
Description:
Yaesu FT-1000MP MK5
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.yaesu.com/markv.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001804.4
WB4M Rating: 2004-04-01
A lot for the money Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I bought my Mark V in November of 2003, and it replaced a Yaesu FT-990.
I won't go into all the details of the previous 12 posts, but will say the main features I like about the rig are the dual receive and the 200-watt output.
I operate 99.99 percent digital and I use AFSK into the mic jack. With this rig, I am unable to use my narrow filters this way, with my FT-990 I could switch in 500 or 250hz filters regardless of mode. Memory selection and use was much easier on the 990 also. The Mark V manual could to a little better about explaining things, such as an amp hook up. Yaesu much assume we all use Yaesu solid state amps.
It is a fun rig with lots of features, but for ease of use, I'd just as soon have my old FT-990 back.
ON4SKY Rating: 2004-03-24
Excellent ! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Hi,

A complete review of the Yaesu FT-1000MP Mark-V is published at :
http://www.astrosurf.com/lombry/qsl-yaesu-ft-1000mp-mark-v.htm

For short, the "pluses" of the FT-1000MP Mark-V are:
200W PEP out
75 W Class A for Hi-Fi audio signal
Crystal filters on 3 first IF stages, DSP on the 4th IF
Efficient and powerful filters at all IF stages
Optional Collins mechanical filters
One of the best selectivity, good sensitivity
Excellent 3d-order IMD dynamic range and IP3
Many direct access options
Quick access to memories
Many excellent anti-interference tools
Custom multi-function bar graphs
Many lights and warning everywhere
Double VFO
Pseudo DSP speaker (audio filtered)
Additional filters are easy to install
Connectors for 2 aerials and one receive antenna
Built-in software supported by most loggers
CAT program capabilities
Twin headphone jacks (6 mm and mini-jack) with separate trimmers

The "minuses" of the FT-1000MP Mark-V are:
Cumbersome once completed with PSU and speaker
Outmoded design and color (designed earlier than 1996)
Outmoded fluorescent digital display (instead of LCD)
Menu access and selection/validation to revise
Complex menuing with neither scrolling nor full text capabilities
Too many features must be set via the Menu (no push/scrolling buttons for quick setup)
RIT/SPLIT renamed CLAR/VFO RX-TX
Heat sink too apparent, bad designed
External mains PSU, and not in line with RTX design
Technical problems with the external PSU (not w/Field version)
Noisy PSU fan that runs all the time
Very bad CW click on transmission
Undesired key clicks
No CW tune button (requests the external FH-1 remote control keypad)
Unable to program memory keyer function (requests FH-1 too)
Too complex reset procedures
Built-in CW filters not always match DSP bandwith
No CAT program provided by Yaesu
No bandscope
High price of optional filters ($600 for the all set)
Street price much too high compared to its competitors
Yaesu Servicing much too long in some countries

In listing as much minuses points I have probably highlighted the Mark-V under a new day that might be not necessary in favour of this high-end transceiver. But if it could be a subjective appreciation, as it is shared by many users, it becomes objective.
Note however that this rig is now over 10 years old, yes it's an old transceiver (2004) and all the more that blue pronts are still older, what explain partly these "negatives" points.

Anyway, I would like to conclude with a comment that I address to Standard Vertex, aka Yaesu. Please look a bit more often over the shoulders of your competitors to not be outmoded in the future and take attention to the feedback of hams who have bought your products. Upgrade also of a few steps your quality control and servicing, the ham community will thank you. Last but not least your prices are excessively high, in average 25% higher than your competitors. Unfortunately, the pleasure of using your top of the line model will never be experienced by many ham enthusiasts because cheaper high end transceivers are available on the market, and in their minds the increase of a few steps in performances cannot be justified by such high prices. More than one will probably prefer offer their money to your challengers, whose models are finer, cheaper, more ergonomic and sometimes as powerful or almost.

Thierry, ON4SKY
KG6TED Rating: 2004-03-02
great radio after rework Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I just got ,what I wanted. It took some time and cost to order ten roofing filters 70.455MHz with
much better passband and stopband. I didn't replace the filter- I added the new-one with very low noise/high IP3 amplifier with gain 8dB. The 9
other filters with amplifiers were sent to Poland
and I have signals from there about very succesfull results, like mine. The rework is relatively easy ,the result is proving that the best DSP cannot replace good crystal filter after first mixer , especially when you have a neighbor a quarter of mile working on the same band and you
can listen very weak signals without a problem.
If you are really interested to do something like-I can send more details.For free!!!. 73! Eugene.
PA1HR Rating: 2004-01-18
Still very satisfied Time Owned: more than 12 months.

I use my Mark V for more then two and a half years now and I still am very satisfied.

My other rigs are: FT-1000D, IC-756ProII, IC-7400.

For CW and contests I always use the Mark V. It has an excellent real-RF monitor. The VRF is a very good feature, which I don't see on any other modern rig. The ergonomics of the Mark V are very good, with its rubberized knobs. It is a very solid rig; a real contest machine. The EDSP and IDBT are very nice features.

During the 2-1/2 years I had one problem. With the antenna tuner. A coil was a bit too close to the PCB, which caused some sparks. We mounted the coil more away from the PCB and the problem was gone.

I use Inrad filters in the Mark V.

There are some modifications, like the Inrad IF and the W8JI keyclick and NB modification.

There is one improvement that would be advisable for feature rigs of Yaesu and that is the way how to choose the filters. E.g. 2400, 2000, 500 and 250 in any mode (!) would be better then mode dependent NOR, NAR1 and NAR2.

Bottom line: an excellent rig highly recommended for contests and CW.

N9RO Rating: 2004-01-17
The Best Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Using a pair of these in my SO2R station. When not controlling rig by computer, I find the shuttle-jog great for moving around the band. The 200 watts is a big plus.

Not able to do cross-band on the dual receiver is why I give it a four. Sold my 756OPro to purchase my second Mark V.

Appears the FT1000 series continues to be the standard other rigs are measured by.
2E1RDX Rating: 2004-01-05
outstanding qrm fighter Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Love it this radio is the best qrm fighter,
the VRF, and IDBT, make all the difference then add the notch, and you can fight the worst QRM !!! one awsum receiver and excellent reports on my transmit audi wouldn't swap it for anything ???? (Well maybe a Ten Tec Orion) !!!
73 Ian 2E1RDX
NI1N Rating: 2003-12-11
Great transceiver Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I haven't had it very long yet, but so far this is just an amazing transceiver. It is obvious that Yaesu went all-out to create a product that meets nearly every demand of HF DXers and contesters. QRM? Whats that? :)

I'm not a big contester, but I operate casually in most of them. In this year's CQ WW CW contest, my first with the FT-1000MP Mk V, I ended up with 540 multipliers. That was with no contacts on 160m (no antenna there), nothing but simple vertical antennas (I don't own a beam or a tower), and despite my callsign I no longer live in 1-land (I'm in south-west VA). It was all done by "search and pounce", and many of the multipliers were obtained through some very large pile-ups that were not operating split. With no front-to-back or front-to-side on the antennas, it was the filtering and selectivity on this rig that made that possible.

For regular DXing, operating the split pile-ups with this rig is a dream. The dual-receivers are great for the pile-ups... I listen to the DX station on the main VFO in one ear, while listening to where the other callers in the pile-up are in the other ear. I transmit from that VFO as well. Thus, locating the frequency I want to call from is quick, simple, and frequent adjustments can be made without losing focus on whats going on. And, it all couldn't be easier... literally just the press of a button or two and I'm in the battle position :) Perhaps Yaesu is not alone with some of these features, but compared to the old Kenwood I upgraded from it is just amazing. In less than one night of using it, it became something I just couldn't live without!

I was a bit apprehensive about buying this rig at first. I read the reviews here. It sounded like it performed well when it worked but had some serious reliability issues. I weighed things out between the Mk V, the Icom 756-ProII, and the TS-870S. The 756 seemed nice, although geared more toward rag chewers. I wasn't crazy about having fewer front-panel controls and more things in some menu system. The TS-870S seemed solid and reliable. My previous rig was a TS-530SP, which my father bought in 1984 and I've been using ever since. So, I feel comfortable with the reliability of Kenwood. But, the 870 just seemed like too old of a design. It lacked many features found in other rigs of its price class. Several people told me that I would love the FT-1000MP Mk V and that newer serial numbers should be a lot more reliable. So, I figured I would give it a try. So far, so good. If not, I'll be back to adjust my rating.

After a month of using it, the only thing I've found so far that I wished they made easier was the toggling of the amp relay. There's a switch on the back panel that requires the use of a small screwdriver (inserted inside the back panel) to toggle. The purpose is to turn on or off the relay inside the unit used for kicking in an external amp. If you don't need it, its nice to have it off so you don't have to hear it clicking. But, sometimes I want it on and sometimes I want it off. If I'm using QSK mode without the amp, I don't want to hear the click-click-click of the relay. But, other times I want it on. Toggling it is too much trouble to go back and forth frequently.

Thats really the only thing I'm a little disappointed about, although it is not enough to prevent me from rating this product a 5. I'm quite happy I made the decision to go with this one. Money well spent.
CT2IMD Rating: 2003-12-08
it's king of All HF Radios Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
it's king of All HF Radios.

Comentarios they will not be necessary.

Everything already was said on the FT-1000MP Mark V

73,

CT2IMD
K1ZR Rating: 2003-11-12
Competition Grade Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I used the Mark V for the first time in the 2003 CQWW DX Phone contest. For the entire 48 hour period the radio was rock solid....no problems what-so-ever. Outstanding receiver in the worst RX conditions...most flexible radio I have used to date in a contest. I've used several 781’s; 756II's, 765's, FT1000D's and I must say that the Mark V is by far the most versatile radio I have ever used..especially in a contest.

Hopefully I won't experience the problems others have reported in this forum.

For $2200 +/- a few, the Mark V is a bargain.
W2JLB Rating: 2003-11-09
Still Problems Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I took delivery of my Mark V May 8, 2003. On May 13, 2003 the FP-29 power supply died. I sent that off. On May 27, 2003 the power supply was returned in working condition. On may 29, 2003 the radio then exhibited erratic SWR and would not stay tuned. The automatic tuner had died. Sent the rig off for repair. On July 3, 2003 the radio was back and seemed to be work just fine. On July 10, 2003 the replacement FP-29 power supply died. Sent that off. This time it took over 90 days to received the power supply back. I received the repaired FP-29 on October 28, 2003. On November 5, 2003 I had a repeat of the problem with the radio tuner. This time I could smell it when the tuner burned out. On November 8, 2003 I shipped the radio back to Yeasu for repair. We'll see what surprises await me when it's returned. During this entire period of time my backup radio a Kenwood 450-S has been working flawlessly on the same antenna, patch cable and antenna cable. Also this time a couple of days before the tuner died again the radio actually powered itself down (for about 15 seconds) while trying to tune. Both with the internal and external tuner. I won't get editorial here the facts stand for themselves.