Ohh..the FT-7100M, what a cheeseburger of a rig. "Yaesu did it again" alright. I remember when they came out in early 2001, thought it would be the update to the FT-90 (another neat radio that could have been, had it been done right)- but it turned out to be a huge downgrade.
Everyone I know that bought one either returned it, sold it, or tossed it. I don't know what it is with Yaesu, but they have a history of letting the horse out of the gate before she's ready for the track. And then drop the ball on making it right.
The FT-8100 is no exception. If you get a good one, you got a good one. Seems they are a 50/50 crap shoot- if you get a lemon, it will NEVER work right again. It reminds me of 1982 Chevy Celebrity we had. A total POS. Yet my neighbor still has his to this day, on the original motor, some 223K miles later.
I wouldn't mess with any older Yaesu dual band rig. If it's older than 10 years, they don't offer service on it, and parts are scarce.
Older rigs from Kenwood seem to be the complete opposite. I see a ton of TM-721/731A's and these are well over 20, some approaching 25 years old. They still work. One of the first hams I talked to in 1990 had a then used (2 year old) TM-721A. He STILL has that radio, several cars later, and it STILL works as good as it did in 1988, and he used to be on it everyday as a courier running around Atlanta. This should tell you something about build quality in older VHF/UHF ham radios. Go to a hamfest and see how many WORKING Kenwood and Icom rigs there are versus Yaesu rigs from the same time period.
