Yaesu FT60??? Good or not.

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BillQuinn

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Hi. I am about to buy a Yaesu FT 60. Does anyone have one and could tell me if its a good radio or not. Like good audio in noisy environments, nice amount of power, etc. Thanks. Also, how far has anyone hit a repeater on a FT60? thanks again!
 

Grog

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If you need super loud audio, the VX170/177 are louder, but single band only. I would bet the FT60 is on par (Or many a little higher than some) with most ham grade radios.
 

W4KRR

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The FT-60 is basically a dual band VX-150; it looks like a cross between a VX-150 and a VX-170! It does perform on par with the VX-150 and VX-170 series of hand held radios.
 

AK9R

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Hi. I am about to buy a Yaesu FT 60. Does anyone have one and could tell me if its a good radio or not.
I had one for a few years, but sold it last fall and went back to using my FT-50. The FT-60 is a good radio with lots of features, but the FT-50 is an old friend that know inside and out.

A 5-watt handheld is a 5-watt handheld, so there isn't much to say about output power with any of them. The quality of the antenna makes more difference than output power.

The FT-60 does have something like 1000 memories, so it gets real confusing to keep track of how you have it programmed. One nice feature of the memory management is the bank structure. You have 10 banks and any of the 1000 memories can be members of any of the 10 banks. Accessing the banks was not intuitive to me, though.

I highly recommend using a computer to program the radio. The ADMS programs from RT Systems are OK, though there are few others out there. If you have the programming cable for any of the late-model Yaesus that have the single-pin four-conductor speaker-mic connector, it should work on the FT-60.

The clip on the bottom of the radio that holds the battery pack is a little cheesy, in my opinion. It takes strong thumbnails or a quarter to unlock the clip. The battery pack needs to carefully aligned and seated so you can get the clip locked back in place.

There is no carrying case available from Yaesu for the radio, though there are cases for other radios that fit. The standard belt clip is a sturdy pager-style spring clip.

There are a couple of Yahoo groups for the FT-60. The guys in the groups can help you with specific questions.
 

KevinGC

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I've had my FT-60 for a few months now and love it. Would definitely recommend it. During some events I have worked, I have been able to hit repeaters that others standing next to me have been unable to hit with same output power. Always get good audio quality reports.
 

eorange

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I've had mine since late 2004 - it's a solid performer, you won't regret it. I think the audio is really, really loud and clear.

I've hit repeaters up to 30-40 miles away with a Larsen mag-mount antenna, and I also use it for satellite work. It's probably one of the toughest HTs out there.
 

N8IAA

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Had one for almost three years. Excellent radio. Decent audio, great memory, outstanding receive on the out of band portions. Loved the fact that there were 10 banks for scanning. Easy button pushes to get to the memory banks. Adapted a Yaesu VX150 heavy leather case for the radio. The FT60 yahoo group is where I got that idea. Wish I had one again. Sold it earlier this year. Will get one again. Rate it an eight out of ten.
Larry
 

Gbcue

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I got one and it was great! Speaker is really loud and the scan mode is pretty quick.
 

edmondcops

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It's a nice rig. I have one. If there's any negative, it's Yaesu's excessive menu system, but I think that just comes with the territory. Just use it a lot, because if you don't, you'll forget how to.
 

N1SQB

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Best Radio For The money!

Hello All!
I have had my FT-60 for some time now. I had 2 at one time for wifee and me. I sold them. I thought I was doing better by switching to the VX-7R. I sold the 7R and purchased another FT-60. You cant beat the features on this portable for the money. $189.99 average price. You will need software to make things easier and as with all portables, I recommend a desktop quick charger. Sensitivity is very good as is the audio. The stock battery is ok. I opted for the newer 2100 Ma battery from an aftermarket dealer. You will love it!

Manny
 

ki4rvh

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I've had one for almost 2 years now. Its a great little HT. I can hit all the local repeaters with it and one about 25 miles away that I use frequently. An after market duck (which I use) that is larger will help your range. I think mine is a diamond. The audio is good. If your going to use it a lot be sure and get the Speaker Mic. It will make it a lot more comfortable to use. I use mine for a public service scanner as much as I do on the ham bands. It has a wide receive band. It picks up the local 800 MHz stuff well. The menu is a little complicated at first. Once you've played with it for a while its not to bad. Its been dropped a lot and banged around and still works. I think its a good choice. I've never regretted purchasing it.

73

Chris
 
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jmp883

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I bought my FT-60 back in 2005, just before I got licensed. It's a great radio that I have no complaints with at all. I do agree with the posting that the menu system is a bit excessive but once you get the radio set up the way you want it you'll probably not use the menu system again unless you reset the radio. I also agree that you do need to use the radio regularly. I hadn't used mine in over a month and had to check the manual again just to refresh my memory. All in all it's a rugged radio and a good choice whether it's your first radio or you just want to add to your collection.

There are 4 items you should get for your FT-60: the speaker/mic, a better whip antenna, programming software, and the desktop charger. The speaker/mic just makes using the radio so much easier. I carry my FT-60 in an FDNY-style radio strap, clipping the mic to the mic holder on the front of the strap. When clipped to the radio strap the speaker/mic lies between my chest and shoulder..I can hear just fine and only need to key the mic and speak. The supplied rubber duck antenna is ok but I bought a Maldol AS-30 antenna and noticed an improvement in both RX and TX. It's non-telescopic, just over 12" long, and VERY flexible. I use the ADMS-1J software that I bought from Universal Radio for programming the radio, though I'm sure there are other versions available. While the radio can be easily programmed manually I find it a lot easier, and quicker, to just type the data into the program and then download it into the radio. The desktop charger is a no-brainer vs. the wall-wart charger. I don't even use the wall-wart when I travel, I just tote the desktop charger with me.

I'll stop rambling now....good luck with whatever you get :D !
 

widgeon13

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Quick question on FT-60 scanning

I have had my FT-60 for some time but just recently have had a problem with the scanning capability. It always stops scanning when I release the scan button, stumped as to how to get it to scan continuously when the sql is set properly. Any help would be appreciated.
 

Gbcue

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I have had my FT-60 for some time but just recently have had a problem with the scanning capability. It always stops scanning when I release the scan button, stumped as to how to get it to scan continuously when the sql is set properly. Any help would be appreciated.

There's no "sacn" button on the FT-60.
 

stevolene

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yes the scan is accomplished by holding the up or down button for a few seconds, theres also a way to scan for PL tones , but I havent tried that yet, I recently bought a 2100 mah after market battery, Im hoping for good results, Id rank this HT a 4.5 out of 5.............I really liked my T90 better, but those are way more pricey, and 6 meters on an HT is generally a waste
 

pvl

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Respectfully how well audio performs in noisy envirinments, and at what distance it can key a repeater are relative items, as they are with any transceiver. the furthest I have keyed a repeater using the standard portable antenna has to be an anomaly, so I will not mention it. Programming it it not really initiative, just for the basic needs. Mine is 2 years old, but never used or treated rough. Last week I discovered while it will bring up repeater it lost transmit audio. I'm very disappointed, I can't feel I got my moneys worth.
N0LKK
 
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i got my ft-60r last year i had a tec open the radio for full use.i'm a volunteer fireman and i use mine for the department i belong to and works great this way if i need to move to vhf on skywarn i can use the same radio.i went to a hamfest last year got a speaker mic for my radio cost $1 cool deal.good luck if you buy one i'm sure your be very happy.
 

SCPD

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I have had a FT 60 for 6 years and its been at Great General Purpose dual band HT. It uses commercial accessories and covers VHF, UHF on TX and RX. Its also covers Aircraft ,Military and 800MHZ Receive.
With the little modification it will do 420-470 and 144-174 no problem. Using a Diamond SCR-77CA antenna The unit will run cool on all VHF and UHF frequencies as the SWR will be low across the bands as compared to the stock antennas.

The ONLY negative is that this radio is not the best radiator of RF. Its output to me is the equivalent of a 2 watt Motorola Radio. If I take a 5 watt Motorola HT1000 on VHF or 4 watt HT600 on UHF. the motorolas are stronger into the repeaters than the FT-60 using the stock or 15 inch SCR-77A antennas.. Also the 15 inch scr-77ca antenna does not do as much on VHF as it does on UHF. Its like a 1/2 scale increase of signal strength on UHF suing the big antenna.... If I need a good all purpose radio HAM, Govt VHF, 800 scanner Aircraft Scanner and can take only 1 radio then its by far the FT-60! For a ham radio I like it because its was built like Vertexs commercial VX series radios and is as durable... The freq on mine was -40hz at 150 mhz and -130 at VHF as of 5/7 on my General Dynamics service monitor so it does not drift.

BOTTOM LINE: For less than 200 .. GO For it!
 
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