Has your Yaesu ever failed and need repair?

[AudioShockwav]

This is a follow up of sort`s on Tims poll about Icom Radio`s
My 897-D has a problem with the RX, and It is going to have to go back to Yaesu for repairs.
This will be NON warranty work, as the radio warranty has expired.
I will post here how the process goes, and the result.
Today is Day one:
I have sent an e mail to Yaesu inquiring about repair work to my Radio.

1. Of all of the Yaesu equipment you have owned, what percentage of the equipment has had to be repaired for problems that were not end-user related?

2. If you had Yaesu equipment repaired, how quick was the turn-around?

3. If you had Yaesu equipment repaired, did it deter you from buying Yaesu again?

4. If you have to pick just one, what is your equipment brand of preference?

 

[SilverFox]

Let me be the first to break the ice on this one. In the last 35 years, I've owned only one Yaesu. I bought a FT-840 new in 1996 and it works like it did when it first came out of the box. It never was more that an average performer, but it has been utterly reliable. My 23 year old Icom IC-735 has been in for service once. I won't talk about the slew of Kenwood and Icom VHF mobiles I've been through: 2 of which I yet have, and both work fine. I've never sent a VHF mobile in for repair except for a crystal controlled Midland 2-meter mobile way back in the dark ages.

Out of all the ham rigs I've ever owned, including at least more that a few CBs, I would say that I had the poorest performance, and by far the most unreliable service from a complete set of Drake Twins; R4C/T4XC/SP4/AC4, etc. filters, processors, you name it. I bought the setup brand new in '78 and something about it stayed out of calibration, or weak, or noisy, or drifting, or something all of the time. Bad production run or whatever. I fought those troubles for a number of years until my first Japanese radio in 1988. I never looked back at the Drakes after that.

If I was in the market for a new radio, Yaesu would certainly be in the running. Sorry about getting slightly off-topic: I didn't mean to give a history lesson.

 

[kd-5-bgt]

I have had one Yeasu ...the ft 1500 2 meter radio...during that time it was a work horse,I ended up trading it for another 2 meter rig

But during that time it worked without any trouble at all...good solid radio

 

[AudioShockwav]

Thanks for the reply s.
Yaesu answered my E Mail the same day (Friday) and today (Monday) the radio will be shipped UPS to the repair center.
I will keep you guys updated as to when it arrives, how long it takes to repair, etc.

73
Jeff

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

I had problems with the only Yaesu product I have owned, my FT-857, one of the first ones.It suffered from the well documented problem with oscillations in the HF/6m PA section. In my case it appeared much later than most and was several years beyond the warranty period. I was going to have it repaired but I was offered a decent price for it from a local that is heavily into VHF/UHF/SHF and has a couple of them as IF's for his transverters. He didn't care about HF operation so I decided that since he was offering me a decent price and I could take the repair costs and put into another radio I went ahead and bought another newer FT-857D model.

 

[Moleculo]

My VX-8 had a wierd problem where it would shut off if you held it just right. They fixed it.

And of course, most people know about the strange bugs that I found with the FTM-350 when it first came out which resulted in a brief recall of the radio. It's been solid ever since. I've owned quite a few other Yaesu radios and none have ever failed.

 

[AudioShockwav]

I have other Yaesu gear,
VX5r no problems from new
FT2400, no problems from new
897-D RX issue, RX down after several years , in for repair.
Several FT 101`s replaced several caps in them over the years, and driver`s/ finals. These radio`s were all bought used.
This is my first time dealing with the Yaesu factory repair service.

73
Jeff

 

[Highlander_821]

FT-847 since 2001, no problems. Awesome rig.

 

[Shockwave]

I had problems with the only Yaesu product I have owned, my FT-857, one of the first ones.It suffered from the well documented problem with oscillations in the HF/6m PA section. In my case it appeared much later than most and was several years beyond the warranty period. I was going to have it repaired but I was offered a decent price for it from a local that is heavily into VHF/UHF/SHF and has a couple of them as IF's for his transverters. He didn't care about HF operation so I decided that since he was offering me a decent price and I could take the repair costs and put into another radio I went ahead and bought another newer FT-857D model.

The FT-857 problem is one that I suffered from also. This is nothing less then complete irresponsibility on Yeasu's part. They know very well they sold thousands of defective FT-857 radios that are in severe violation of FCC specifications when used on 6 meters. Do they offer a recall? No! Do they post a service bulletin for their technically minded customers? No. Do they offer a discount on the repair required to fix their manufacturing defects? No. They hide in denial and offer no information about this issue but they will be happy to charge an arm and a leg to go back into the radio and get it right the second time.

I'd also like to ask Yeasu what high school electronics class they had design the PL encoder on the VX-7R? This is the worst PL encoder I've ever seen. It appears it's output is a square wave because it's impossible to filter out on the receive end regardless of how low you set it's level. I realize they are submersible but didn't anyone at the factory notice the first ones also sounded like you were talking under water all the time?

Mistakes in design are bound to happen on sophisticated equipment like this. How a company handles their mistakes is how I judge them. For this reason I give Yeasu an F- or lower. I've purchased many new radios from various manufacturers. Yeasu is the only company that sold me two that didn't work right out of the box. I kick myself in the butt for not having noticed these issues during the warranty.

I think we should start a tread on the FT-857 problems to draw attention to Yeasu's manufacturing flaws. Pointing out how they sold thousands of radios that did not meet the specifications they provided to obtain FCC certification. They should be forced into a costly recall to learn the lesson that it's unacceptable to deceive your customers and the FCC.

 

[office888]

I had a factory defective FT270R. Gasket around the screen wasn't installed right, so water leaked in.

They replaced it free of charge of course. Took about 8 days?

 

[K8PG]

Yaesu ever failed

I had my FT990 for 20 yrs-worked flawlessly all that time-And I
used it everyday sometimes for 48 hrs Dxing cw ,rtty and never
failed last yr I went to turn it on -na, zip ,zilch -sent if off to Fla.
came back in great working order-the power supplies board traces
cracked? Guess old age?heat? why who knows,One thing the tech
did that repaired it turned up the rf power to 125 watts,I had to
open the lid again and turn it back down to 100w. This is the 1st
time I ever had a Yaesu fail-Thats why I purchased the FT2k and
the FT5k excellent rigs.Take Care all 73/44s/Dx

Paul K8PG

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

The FT-857 problem is one that I suffered from also. This is nothing less then complete irresponsibility on Yeasu's part. They know very well they sold thousands of defective FT-857 radios that are in severe violation of FCC specifications when used on 6 meters. Do they offer a recall? No! Do they post a service bulletin for their technically minded customers? No. Do they offer a discount on the repair required to fix their manufacturing defects? No. They hide in denial and offer no information about this issue but they will be happy to charge an arm and a leg to go back into the radio and get it right the second time.

I'd also like to ask Yeasu what high school electronics class they had design the PL encoder on the VX-7R? This is the worst PL encoder I've ever seen. It appears it's output is a square wave because it's impossible to filter out on the receive end regardless of how low you set it's level. I realize they are submersible but didn't anyone at the factory notice the first ones also sounded like you were talking under water all the time?

Mistakes in design are bound to happen on sophisticated equipment like this. How a company handles their mistakes is how I judge them. For this reason I give Yeasu an F- or lower. I've purchased many new radios from various manufacturers. Yeasu is the only company that sold me two that didn't work right out of the box. I kick myself in the butt for not having noticed these issues during the warranty.

I think we should start a tread on the FT-857 problems to draw attention to Yeasu's manufacturing flaws. Pointing out how they sold thousands of radios that did not meet the specifications they provided to obtain FCC certification. They should be forced into a costly recall to learn the lesson that it's unacceptable to deceive your customers and the FCC.

While the problem with the FT-857 was quite a bad issue I'm not so sure the radios were sold not meeting FCC specs. It seems not many were sold not working out of the box. The problem manifested itself after some period of time and in my case it actually took a few years and it was one of the first production runs. I bought it about two months after they hit the market. The new FT-857D I bought a little over a year ago is still working fine.

 

[airplane1]

I had two 2800 mobiles fail within a month but HRO took em back and sent a new one in both cases without charging me shipping either way.

AP

 

[Radiotowers]

FT-90 Bad design! Other fair to good.

I should have known better when they brought out the FT-90 and it was such a small compact package. I got it the second week that HRO had them and in the week I owned it I discovered what a poor design Yaesu made. It would get so hot you could not touch the case. After about 15 minutes of less than 50% usage it would wander off frequency into La La land. It didn't take me long to hand it back to HRO for a full refund.

Later I bought two 8100's and they seem to work a lot better than the FT-90. But over the years I've had them they are problematic. There seems to be a known grounding problem internally. The displays would lock up and show all sorts of funny characters. I did some board grounding clean up and it did get better but never fixed it all together. I did not send them to Yaesu. They are used for RX monitoring only. Of the two VX-5 HTs I have one is operational and I use it regularly but the other was dropped off a tower and is now a bag of parts only. I had two VX-150's used for tower work but no longer needed as I don't do that any more. They were very good HT's. No problems.

 

[AudioShockwav]

Quick Re-cap.

1/21/11
I have sent an e mail to Yaesu inquiring about repair work to my Radio.

Same day Yaesu returned E mail and instructed on how/where to ship radio and a contact number if I have any questions.
$35 bench charge, if I decide to have them do the work, they wave the bench charge.
Radio is out of warranty.

1/24/11
Radio shipped Via Fedex to Yaesu.
1/25/11
Phone call from Yaesu to let me know the radio had arrived.
They also reminded me of the $35 Bench charge to troubleshoot the radio and provide a Quote for repair.



1/27/11
Post card arrived from Yaesu to confirm receipt of the radio with Job number and Phone number If I have any questions.


73
Jeff