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your input on the Yaesu FT-990

TonyV225

W9WDX Amateur Radio Club Member
Apr 18, 2005
5,824
323
143
Wisconsin
I am seriously lookin at picking one up from a silent key friend of mine that past away I had talked to his mother tonight and she has offered it to me with a few other things. One of my Yaesu FT-840 came from him before he passed away and he is like me as far as taking care of equipment so its all good there. I have never had my hands on one of these but remember hearing that they were one of the best Yaesu made as far as reliability they were better than the FT-1000. Any of you with any experience with this radio your input would be greatly appreciated...Thanks...Tony
 

decent radio imho,
modular construction so its hard to work that goldenscrewdriver by trail and error,
decent tx audio plenty of bandpass filters in the front end, nice REAL s meter,

i dont like the scaf filter but i dont like dsp either unless its kept for CW only,
scrap the robotic dsp voices for an easy life, i will take the full audio clicks pops farts and all then let my brain do the filtering, much more processing power than any dsp i heared so far ;)

my only treal gripe with the 990 is people hyped the rx up to be as good or better than the 1000d,
i expected a fantastic receiver but
found the 990's i have used to be rather lively on rx maybe a little too noisy,
or maybe i just expected something extra special and found it was just better than the average hf set,
less problems with local radio stations busting you in the rear than i have experienced with some lesser hf radios,

overall i like em for general hf use.
 
FT 990

Hello Tony:

I have 3 ,FT990s and also a FT1000D,the 990 is an excellent all around and can be worked on if need to be repaired.The rcvr is the same as the FT 1000Ds get one full of filters if you can or instal the a few Inrad filters-250hz for cw and 1.8 Khz for ssb work ,I only operate cw and these rigs work great! the onboard Tuner is a plus too,make sure it har ROM version 1.3 so it will work gd with a pc if you decide to go that way,Ive never had any problems with the 990s use them every day on 40,30,20 and 17 mtrs.The ft1000d is stricly for 160cw hi hi.I also have the newFT2000 ,the rcv is terrible compared to the 990 and ft1000d,same as the ft9000 contest it also sucks if your into cw and lowpower opr.I like the audio switched cap filter and frq.shifton the yaesues work very well (no ringing)on recv.You wont be sorry if you find one that has bn taken care of !!! good luck read QSTs reiview and CQ mags reviews also the E-hams review have fun Tony-73 /DX/GL

Paul K8PG CW LIVES-CW IS :D
 
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The FT-990 is a TERRIBLE RIG, not worth your time,,,,

Tell ya what I am willing to do because I consider you my friend,,,,,

Get the radio from her and send it to me I will "dispose" of it for you and her.

:LOL: :p :twisted:
 
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TONY! Don`t Do IT!
Everytime Hammer gets his hands on a Yaesu, in the end it just gives him nothing but Pain and HeartAche! Do Yourself and Him a favor and pack it up and send it to me, I will take care of the problem, and you will not even have to think about it again.
Hey, don`t thank me, What are friends for?

73
Jeff
 
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FT 990-One of the Best Yaesu ever Made

Tony:

Like I was saying The FT 990 is a Excellent rig,People that are GOLDENSCREWDRIVERS know NOTHING .Go to e-ham and read all the hundreds of reviews.some folks can operate a rig and others cant,some of the Worlds Top DXers use the FT 990 STILL FOR DXing and contests,That should tellyo a thing or too,They have the $$$$$$$ to get ant radio they want and still use the FT990 Why do you think that????I could give you 10 calls of famousDXers that still use the rig,it is a powerhouse and a keeper if you do not abuse the rig and dont play GOLDENSCREWDRIVER-to adjust a modern xcvr of this quality you need thousands of $$$ to do it right,purchase the ac/dc
model,it has the 500hz cw filter and 2khz ssb filter as factory installed.I have 3 FT 990s all are jewels.Here is the run down of rigs I currently have and use-Heathkit DX100B-SB102 XCVR,
TS520,TS530S,TS820S,TS830S,TS870,TS950SDX,FT101D,FT101EE,FT900,FT890,FT990,FT1000D,FT2000(JUNK)FT(9000con-JUNK)the dsp and filters in these rigs are terrible and "Ring" badley when put into useIve sould bothof these rigs!!I also have the IC7000,IC 756proII and the IC775 along with Johnson Viking and Valiant Xmtrs,and many ather Yaesus and Kenwood rigs in storage.The Best of the Best I would say #1 FT1000D #2IC756Pro II#3 FT990ac/d #4IC7000,But what do I know? Check out the reviews on all the rigs and by no means purchase a rig that a CBer had his hands on!!!!Most know NADA!!! Feel free to E-Mail me at my QRZ ADDS.any time Tony
Good Luck 73/DX

Paul-K8PG O.O. CW LIVES-CW IS-DX IS :D
 
I have a 990 I need repair anyone on here work on these
The difficult part is that you need to have the 3 board service kit to properly work on this model It was rather expensive to buy from Yaesu, close to $400 for 3 extender boards. The other difficulty, is getting parts. I used to work on this model and have the service kit.

What is wrong with it?

SL
 
I AM giving up on my ft-857D. Second display lasted 5 months. I have a new control head but afraid to use it for very long. I plug it into the remote cable set parameters and LOCK it. Then replace the head with the badly tiger striped head. I I want to change anything I swap the remote control head then repeat the process.
I Think Yeaesu should recall the unit and fix it for free. I see many of these on E-bay for sale with unreadable displays.
I have two FT 817's the front of the three look similar. But the two FT817 units have perfect displays without and degradation. And both of the 817's are older than my 857 and have been abused alot more than the FT857.
I would trade all of the stuff for one Kenwood ts480sat. I know I'm dreaming LOL! But never going to buy another Yaesu.
I have an older ts850 that works great in my shop. That is going to last for ever (I hope).

Old Barney KD4IPN
 
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