Why the change in Antenna jack?

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Murphy625

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I own a Yaesu Ft60r and am considering purchasing a used Yaesu Ft65r.

Then I noticed that the Ft60 has a female SMA antenna jack while the Ft65 has a male SMA jack?

Why would a company design two nearly identical radios (functionally speaking) and put two different antenna jacks on them?

Is there something I don't understand about this stuff or did Yaesu have a stupid moment?
 

jaspence

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Antenna connector

The FT-60R is an older design, while the newer 65 follows the trend for newer Chinese radios. If you use an adapter, it can cause extra stress on the radio end due to the increase in length.
 

K7MH

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Maybe less expensive but I think it is a design thing. tt was a fuss when they changed from BNC to SMA a few years ago too. It is smaller so takes up less area inside the radio and can accommodate a smaller more streamlined antenna than a BNC connector can. Maybe less leverage against the plastic case of the radio than a BNC if handled incorrectly or dropped.

With the two different SMA connectors it may be that it is more common to use one than the other on the radio itself in more recent designs and that accommodates a larger variety of after market antennas that people want to use. Maybe the change was to go with the flow?

Maybe they like the male SMA on the radio as it is more flush mounted so less leverage against the radio if mishandled. Less likely to break the connector on the radio.
 
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ko6jw_2

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The FT-65 is made in China to Yaesu's specs. This could explain the antenna jack. If you don't like the jack, you could spend a few bucks more and get an FT-70 with digital capability. Or get an FT-60 while they are still available. I think the male SMA may be more mechanically sound. Every major antenna manufacturer is making models for both types of connectors. BNC's were always a poor choice mechanically. TNC never caught on, but was more robust than either BNC or SMA. Some old Motorolas used TNC's.
 

k6cpo

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When you look at it, the "reverse SMA" design as first encountered on the Chinese radios is actually a better design. On the FT-60R if the antenna takes a blow, it could snap off the connector flush with the radio, necessitating a major disassembly of the radio to replace, whereas the connector on the FT-65 would shear off at the base of the antenna and all that would have to be done is unscrew the threaded portion of the connector from the radio.
 

Project25_MASTR

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When you look at it, the "reverse SMA" design as first encountered on the Chinese radios is actually a better design. On the FT-60R if the antenna takes a blow, it could snap off the connector flush with the radio, necessitating a major disassembly of the radio to replace, whereas the connector on the FT-65 would shear off at the base of the antenna and all that would have to be done is unscrew the threaded portion of the connector from the radio.



Motorola, MA/COM, Kenwood, Simoco, Tait and others have been using SMA male (on the radio side) on their radios for two decades now. Vertex was really the last wide spread commercial hold out.

My guess, when Motorola fully absorbed the Vertex product at the first of the year, it really limited the large orders for SMA female chassis mounts causing the prices to increase.


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AK9R

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And, whether it's a male or female connector on the radio, most of the supplied antennas require that the center pin rotate relative to the female socket when installing or uninstalling the antenna (or adapter). This is a no-no. The center pin and its socket should remain motionless relative to each other. Otherwise, the plating could be rubbed off thus changing the RF characteristics of the connector.

The commercial radio manufacturers know that, in their market, users don't install and uninstall the antenna frequently. The radio gets handed to a user as a tool and the user usually doesn't go running off to connect the radio to a crappy mag-mount antenna. Hams, of course, don't understand the problem and just keep wearing away at their SMA connectors.
 

SCPD

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My opinion:
Yaesu is trying to cut corners and see if the public will buy a rebadged Baofeng aka a Chinese radio, why?
What other kind of radio has a backwards SMA connector?
And the lowest version Yaesu, ft-4Vr does it not have built in FM radio 65-108 MHz and flashlight? ;)
 

AK9R

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Yaesu is trying to cut corners and see if the public will buy a rebadged Baofeng aka a Chinese radio, why?
I cannot speak to the Yaesu FT-65 which the OP is comparing to, but I own and have tested a Yaesu FT-4XR.

The FT-4XR is not a re-badged Baofeng. It does not program like a Baofeng and it does not have the transmitter spurious emissions that a Baofeng UV-5R, UV-5X3, or BF-8HP have.

It's noteworthy that the Anytone AT-3208UV, also a "cheap Chinese radio", doesn't have the spurious emissions that the Baofengs I've tested have.

My assumption is that two factors may be at work: 1. Yaesu's engineers and designers were influenced by the knowledge they gained while Yaesu was owned by Motorola Solutions. As has been noted above, the recent trend in commercial radios is to have a male SMA in the body of the radio. 2. Yaesu's engineers and production planners were influenced by the preponderance of male SMA PCB-mount connectors on radios made in China. My assumption is that Yaesu is sub-contracting the production of the FT-65 and FT-4X to a Chinese manufacturer (not just re-badging an existing Chinese radio). The Chinese radio industry appears to have thousands of male SMA PCB-mount connectors in the pipeline and it might have cost Yaesu a few pennies more to specify a female SMA connector.
 
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kayn1n32008

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When you look at it, the "reverse SMA" design as first encountered on the Chinese radios is actually a better design.


It’s not a ‘reverse SMA’. Reverse SMA is used for 802.11 stuff where the centre pin is reversed in the connector.

What you call reverse SMA is pretty much normal on LMR gear outside of Vertex and Icom gear.

Most hams never knew this, because they are too cheap, and never used LMR gear. Then the CCR’s appeared that used the same connector as most LMR companies and they started calling it backwards. Yet to those of us that use/work in the LMR industry they just had normal connectors.


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SCPD

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Backwards

It’s not a ‘reverse SMA’. Reverse SMA is used for 802.11 stuff where the centre pin is reversed in the connector.

What you call reverse SMA is pretty much normal on LMR gear outside of Vertex and Icom gear.

Most hams never knew this, because they are too cheap, and never used LMR gear. Then the CCR’s appeared that used the same connector as most LMR companies and they started calling it backwards. Yet to those of us that use/work in the LMR industry they just had normal connectors.


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You know what I mean.....
A new connector so your current antenna collection doesn't fit! How's that better?
I myself would not buy the new yaesu walkie talkie lineup, but if you want to, go for it.
 

k6cpo

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My opinion:
Yaesu is trying to cut corners and see if the public will buy a rebadged Baofeng aka a Chinese radio, why?
What other kind of radio has a backwards SMA connector?
And the lowest version Yaesu, ft-4Vr does it not have built in FM radio 65-108 MHz and flashlight? ;)


Neither the FT-65 or the FT-4 are "rebadged Baofengs." They are Yaesu radios through and through. The only difference is they have features that are included in the very popular Baofengs. If the only HT choices out there were Baofeng or these two Yaesus, I'd buy the Yaesu first.
 

kayn1n32008

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You know what I mean.....

A new connector so your current antenna collection doesn't fit! How's that better?

I myself would not buy the new yaesu walkie talkie lineup, but if you want to, go for it.



Besides a couple Icoms and a Yaesu, most of my gear is Kenwood LMR so it’s what I call normal.


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wd9ewk

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The FT-4XR is not a re-badged Baofeng. It does not program like a Baofeng and it does not have the transmitter spurious emissions that a Baofeng UV-5R, UV-5X3, or BF-8HP have.

Agreed. Yaesu didn't simply rebadge Baofengs, but the FT-4XR could be characterized as what a Baofeng radio could have been, if the UV-5R types had been made better. The FT-4XR uses the same RDA1849S "transceiver on a chip" that is used by many of the cheap Chinese HTs, along with the RDA5802 chip for the broadcast FM receiver. Internal photos of an FT-4XE (European version of the FT-4XR sold in North America and other places) can be seen at:

https://qrpblog.com/2018/09/yaesu-ft-4x-review-it-is-after-all-a-baofeng/

Some like to point out the older FT-60R is still a superior radio due to its wide-band receiver (not as much to be heard there, with increasing use of digital modes over analog modes). Yaesu's published specifications show the FT-4XR, as well as the slightly larger FT-65R dual-band HT, are very similar to the FT-60R. I have used my FT-4XR to work FM satellites, and its receiver - although not as sensitive as other HTs like my Kenwood TH-D72 or TH-D74 - can do the job.

Chinese factories are capable of making quality products. Apple has its iPhones, iPads, and iPods made in China ("Designed in California, Made in China" is what Apple proclaims on the packaging for those items). My Wouxun KG-UV9D was tested at last year's ARRL Southwestern Division convention in California, and easily met the Part 97 spectral purity requirements, where none of the Baofeng HTs tested out there passed the same test. Yaesu appears to be enforcing quality control for its Chinese production line. I haven't seen any mentions of the FT-4XRs or other new Chinese-made Yaesu HTs having the issues like the Baofengs. The Yaesu HT's aren't as cheap as the Baofengs, but there is something to "you get what you pay for"...

73!
 

khaytsus

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The 4XR and 65R aren't "Baofengs" but they're still pretty cheap low end rigs with poor performance and bad reviews all around. Sadly. the 60R is old as dirt, but it's still the better radio.
 

wd9ewk

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The 4XR and 65R aren't "Baofengs" but they're still pretty cheap low end rigs with poor performance and bad reviews all around. Sadly. the 60R is old as dirt, but it's still the better radio.

Poor performance? Per Yaesu's specifications, both the FT-4XR and FT-65R aren't much different than the FT-60R. From a comparison I put together a little while back...


index.php


Yes, the FT-60R will receive more spectrum outside the ham bands as the newer HTs. But what will you hear there? Not as much as in the past, given...
  1. Almost all TV stations moved to digital broadcasting.
  2. Many non-amateur two-way radio systems have gone digital.
The expanded range blocks coverage of the upper end of the amateur 900 MHz band, where repeater outputs are normally found. It was funny to find that the FT-60R lacks coverage of the 88-108 MHz FM broadcast band. I barely use a couple dozen memory channels in some of my amateur HTs, if I program frequencies used with amateur satellites. Otherwise, I don't program more than a handful of channels like 146.52 or 446.000, and maybe 144.390 for the APRS-capable HTs. I don't get close to using 100 memories, let alone 200 or 1000.

As for bad reviews, the Internet has lots of reviews on web sites, forums, mailing lists, etc. I saw the QST review of the FT-65R (ARRL membership, and a login for the ARRL web site, required for that link) a little over a year ago. Acknowledging the price of the radio, it wasn't a bad review. I haven't seen a QST review for the FT-4XR yet. I even wrote a review of the FT-4XR and FT-65R on another forum.

73.
 
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