Maybe Its Just Me!

[N1SQB]

I dont get it!
Looking around for a "higher capacity" battery for my Yaesu FT-60, I discovered one thing, there really isnt one. Not a real one anyway. I mean the best I have found is 7.2 V 1800 Ma. While that sounds like WOW!, it really isnt considering that the stock battery is 7.2 1400 Ma. The difference is only .400 Ma. That is NOTHING. What then is the reason to pay the extra money for such little difference? Is this right or am I going nuts? Is there a higher capacity one that I may have missed? I know a lot of you on here have the Ft-60 so maybe someone can shed some light on this or tell me that Im right and there is no higher battery. I just dont get it!

Manny

 

[Grog]

Buy the AA case and use whatever you want from 2000mah Eneloops (my choice for anything now needing AAs) to quality 2700mah AA NimH batteries, although I just don't trust most of those to have true ratings of capacity.


One plus is you are also set to use standard alky AAs if needed, plus if a hi dollar pack gets a bad cell then you are screwed, if you have a AA go bad you are not out as much.

 

[N1SQB]

Thanks Grog!
I may just have to do that. How much run time do you get with the AAs vs. the battery packs on average? I dont know abou others, but I like the powerex 2700 Ma ones myself. They are pretty good. The over the counter Duracell rechargeable 2650Ma ones are not bad either. I use them on my digital camera which is a juice hog. The whole trick is the charger. A "smart charger" like the one from Maha, is great. The fast chargers cook the batteries and shorten their life span. I will look into it!

Manny

 

[Bill_White]

Not too long ago 4.8V, 700 mAh NiCad packs were the norm...
Check out Batteries America..
They offer the FBN-83xh, rated at 7.2V and 2500 mAh, Ni-MH pack for the FT-60.
http://www.batteriesamerica.com/yaesu-vertex.htm
You might have seen them at a hamfest. They were at the Rochester, NY hamfest last year. I had a chance to check out "their brand" of batteries and they looked as good as the Yaesu offerings. The only thing missing was the VS logo on the back of the pack. When I returned to purchase a pack for my VX-6, they were sold out.

 

[N1BHH]

400 Milliamp/Hours is not much. I have the FT60R and have the drop in charger and the FBA25 battery case. When my battery goes completely dead (when the radio continuously signals that it's dead, or while transmitting it dies on me) I put it in the charger and slap on the FBA25 until it dies. I go for about a day and a half, with the radio on most of the time I am awake (and even while asleep) and the radio keeps on working. It sure beats other radios/batteries which just conk out after six hours of very limited usage. I transmit quite a bit at full power and drain the battery thoroughly. I don't know how much more I would get with an 1800 Milliamp/Hour battery.

I did find two more batteries of even higher capacity that may be something to look into: https://01836cd.netsolstores.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=194

 

[N1SQB]

Thanks Guys!
I dont know why this site did not come up when I did a google search. Either way, I'm Getting one. DAMM! 7.2V 2500Ma, thats what Im talking about. There is definitely going to be a difference in performance time now. Much better. Thanks to the both of of you and thanks GROG for the alkaline case suggestion. I will still get it in case I am ever in an area where I dont have access to my charger.

Manny