My first HF rig was an FT101EE (still have it in a box somewhere around here). Anyway, I bought it in "like new" condition from a local guy in 1976 who bought it to use on 11 meters. The rigs didn't actually come with 11 meters, they came with 10 meters using a band switch for 10A, 10B, 10C and 10D. One could swap out one of the crystals for a 10 meter segment and make it into an 11 meter band selection.
Mine is an FT-101EX and actually has 11 m on the band selector. I have photo but am not smart enough to be able to embed it in this text box...
Prior to a specific production date (mid 1970’s, but not sure of the exact date) all versions of the FT101 had a position marked “11”. After that production date the 10A, 10B, 10C, and 10D labels were shifted counterclockwise one position, and an “AUX” position was added to the band switch in the old 10D position.
All models also included a “JJY/WWV” position that tuned the 10000 to 10500 range.
On all rigs the 11, AUX, and JJY/WWV positions were receive only, no transmitter operation.
The original FT-101 model did not include a switch position for 160 meters (instead it had both an “11” and an “AUX”
, but from the B model on 160 was included.
This means that all models and all production runs had the same number of switch positions, but not necessarily the same specific band selection positions on the switch.
So, the switch positions worked out as:
FT-101 (Mk I) – 80, 40, 20, 15, 11 (RX only), 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D, JJY/WWV (RX only), AUX
FT-101 (Mk2) FT-101 B/E/EE/EX (early) – 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 11 (RX only), 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D, JJY/WWV (RX only)
FT-101 B/E/EE/EX (late) and FT-101F/FE/FX – 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D, AUX (RX only), JJY/WWV (RX only)
By the way, fewer letters is better in the 101E or F series. The EE was a lower cost version of the E model without a speech processor installed (but could be installed if purchased separately). The EX was an even lower cost version of the EE model without a DC converter, no 10B, 10C, 10D, or 160 meters crystals installed, and no microphone.
Both the EE and EX could be brought up to “E” specs if so desired.
I wasn't totally clear about the 11 meter operation of the FT-101EE in my post above.
The CB shops in my area were selling them with the 11 meter crystal pre-installed. There were other rigs that could be modified for 11 meters (Drake Twins, for example), but the rig "of choice" for 11 meter ops seemed to be the Yaesu FT-101EE in my part of the country.
For newer hams, it should be noted that the 11 meter band was an authorized HAM band in the USA until sometime in the late 1950's at which time Citizens Band was created in that spectrum. It REMAINED a ham band in many parts of the world for many, many years after that which is why many rigs, like the FT-101EE, had provisions for 11 meter operation for use in areas where there was still a legal amateur allocation.
The FT-101 never had the ability to transmit on 11 meters out of the box (from Yaesu). 11 meters was a US only ham allocations, and on a secondary basis at that. US hams did not gain 11 meters until 1947, when they were given access on a shared basis as compensation for giving up the top 300 kHz of 10 meters and the top 50 kHz of 20 meters. The band was actually authorized in 1946 but restrictions and military usage of the bands imposed during WW II continued after the war and were removed in phases, the last phase was in 1947 and included activating 11 meters. In September 1958 11 meters was removed from US hams and turned into Class D Citizens band. So hams only had 11 meters for 11 years, and US hams were the only ones who had it officially, although in some nations with less rigorous enforcement and regulation 11 meter ham operation was a fact, if not authorized. 11 meter ham operation died when US hams no longer had the band.
There were a couple of ways to put the 101 series on 11 meters, one of them simple and one not so easy.
The not so easy way was to rewire some of the control and switch positions to allow TX in the AUX and (if so marked) 11 meter positions. I have seen relatively few 101’s so modified, and some are just simply butchered.
The easy, and far most common, way was to simply remove one or more of the 10 meter crystals and replace them with crystals that allowed operation in the 11 meter band. It was very common for hams who also used 11 meters to leave 2 positions with 10 in them and 2 positions with 11 in them, but I have also seen a lot of rigs with all of the 10 M crystals removed and repopulated with 11 M and surrounding area crystals, say giving the complete range from 26000 to 28000. For optimal 11 M operation you also had to align the transmitter for the shifted band, but a lot of people did not bother with that.
T!