Yaesu FT-2900 vs FT-1900

[csxcp55]

Hi;
I know the basic differences between these two radios. The FT-2900 is 75W with a gigantic heat sink and heavy construction, while the 1900 is 55W and much lighter and smaller.
What about the receiver?
The FT-1900 sensitivity spec is 0.2uV @ 12dB SINAD, while the 2900 is 0.4uV @ 12dB SINAD.
I am really interested in searching out the weak signals (even if I can't work them), so it would appear that the 1900 is the way to go. But how much of a difference is there really between the two receivers?
What may look like a lot on the spec sheet probably doesn't amount to much on the air.
I have also read that the 2900 may be better for rejecting unwanted signals - that would make sense, since a lower sensitivity will generally lead to a better rejection.

Anyone have both radios, and willing to compare with a weak signal? A good signal to listen to is a distant repeater, or for out-of-band, NOAA weather stations from distant city.

Thanks

Frank - KE2KB

 

[KQ4BX]

I can only comment on the FT-8800 I have owned for near ten years. It still looks like new, and has served me well. I'm not so sure what you need 75 watts for, but you might live out in the mid west and be 80 miles from the repeaters. 45 to 50 watts is what most mobiles have for high power, and it is usually 10 watts less on UHF.
The radio I bought today is the TYT TH-9800 It is a rip off of the quad band Yaesu, and looks and works every bit as well. It operates and programs the same way, and comes with everything needed to remote mount the detachable head. If you are not familiar with the radio, it covers 6m,10m,2m,and .70cm It puts out 50 watts on VHF, and a little less on UHF. It would need a quad band antenna, which you can find on Ebay, and Amazon. The radio I got came from Amazon with two day Prime shipping. I bought a 3 year warranty for $12 too.
When you look at sensitivity, you usually consider it in HF radios, not VHF/UHF repeater blasters. Most all of your contacts will be clear and loud. The TYT radio has wide receiver coverage, and can get Air Craft, and has AM is you ever find a use for AM. So you can get all the weather frequencies in most modern radios. The TYT cost around $259.00 on Amazon, it's a bargain.

 

[KQ4BX]

As it turned out, the TTy PH-9800 only has AM support for air craft frequencies, no other. I sent the 9800 back, it did too many quirky things and I didn't want to ever have to toss it in the thrash just because it needed service. The only service youi can get is in China, and guess how much it cost to ship that radio to China.

Things that went wrong with my TYT-PH-9800 are as follows:

1) Could not enter frequencies via the microphone keypad. Made sure I was in the correct band, and in VFO mode, still no go.

2) Turned the Beep off, and kept turning it off. On 6m, each time I left the band and came back to it, the Beep was back. It only stayed off while I stayed in the 6m band.

3) They ship a USB cable and ask you to download the software. The problem is with the cable, it is made with a counterfeit Prolific USB chip, and it is difficult to get to work, and keep working. This is because if Windows update every updates the driver, it will stop working.

4) The driver they supply for the USB cable is identified as being for Windows Vista, so you have to set your Windows 7 or 8 computer into a Vista emulation mode to get the driver to install. I never got it to install, but some people have.

I know that the price is very attractive, but you can talk further and with much higher predictability and clarity by using a dongle to get D-Star on a standard duel band radio, Repeaters on 6 and 10m are very hard to find, and won't be working most of the time. We are coming down off of a cycle, and each year it will get increasing hard to get and 6 and 10m repeaters.

 

[scanmanmi]

I had an old 1802 and bought a new 2900. The reception is as good but the sound quality is poorer. I have to use an equalizer on it. There have been days when I could only talk home simplex with 75 watts.

 

[kordaha]

I had an old 1802 and bought a new 2900. The reception is as good but the sound quality is poorer. I have to use an equalizer on it. There have been days when I could only talk home simplex with 75 watts.

it is the same problem i have bad sound on repeater

 

[Project25_MASTR]

I actually just removed my FT-2900 from my dd a couple of weeks ago. The squelch just about drove me insane. Constantly had to adjust it, I suppose I got too used to my Motorola's and the fact I have yet to adjust the squelch settings beyond default.

I found I rarely had a need to turn the power up more than 35W…even using a 1/4 wave antenna. I actually think I turned it to full power twice…both for working repeaters 60+ miles away over hilly terrain.

If my understanding of µV and dB is correct (it probably isn't so techs please correct me) that .2 µV difference is about a 6 dBm difference in sensitivity. It would put threshold of a FT-2900 around -115 dBm and the threshold of a FT-1900 around -121 dBm.

Another ham showed me how to test receivers on a system analyzer. We compared my FT-2900 to one of my VX-4000s. The VX-4000 had about a 6 dB more sensitive receiver.