Steve - you hit upon something with the receiver chip that most disregard out of hand - and what makes the Yaesu better than a Boafeng right from the start - filtering and weak-signal ops.
The direct-conversion (RF > digital > analog audio) chain of the chip itself, is vastly superior than old-school analog receiver chains in the signal-noise floor department. Secondary only to say a high-quality commercial radio. BUT, without a good front end, in an dense rf environment, that advantage goes away. The Yaesu is superior to Baofeng in this regard.
Still, if one isn't overloading the front end, that direct sdr conversion results in a much lower noise floor, and demodulated (decoded in this case) audio has much more quality to it compared to conventional analog chains. Hence, weak-signal ops - at least from an rx standpoint, can be impressive and pleasant to listen to.
The problem for some not familiar with radio ops in general, can get frustrated at being able to hear things "better than they should" - ie getting frustrated with not being able to hit the repeater for example, or just being on the edge in the noise floor on transmit for the most part, when to their ears, it shouldn't seem to be a problem.
I guess what I'm saying is that many are quick to bash the Baoefengs and their direct conversion sdr chip, and deservedly so in an rf-dense area, but some who may be using these radios mostly for listening, and are in weak-signal reception areas, might be just enough to "get over the hump" so to speak to make listening pleasurable, whereas with the standard analog-circuitry receivers, there's not enough decoded audio quality to be useful. The Yaesu should be even better.
Those who do an *honest* evaluation, like not expecting it to survive well next to a hilltop, might be pleasantly surprised.
en.wikipedia.org
