Anyone here with a FT 2000 D experience?

[PA5COR]

I can get my hands on a Yaesu Ft 2000 D including latest software and 1 year warranty, 2 years old.

Since my main radio now is the Ft 847 with Collins filters ( 2.4 KHz) that will be a rather radical change after 12 years.

I know the reciever is better, the 200 watt on 6 a bonus ( no 6 meter P.A. here, just SB - 1000) but it is always good to hear from people that actually work the beast.

Anything i need to check out? your experiences? yes, i did read the eham.net reviews with a grain of salt....
No contesting here, just the SSB chats, some DX on 160 with the inverted L and all other bands with the several dipole's/verticals.
6 Meter a 5 element beam.

Listening for your idea's and input please.

;)

[N8YX]

IIRC, an area ham (AC6EA) who is also a member of this board has played around with one. I'll talk to Steve tonight on 10M and ask him to post his impressions of the rig.

[PA5COR]

Cheers, appreciated ;)

[Jerry]

Here is my impression, it is not a very good radio.
It's receive sucks and it's transmit is not much better.

You can spend a whole bunch of money trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear or you can buy a really good radio - although almost no other radio in it's price range does HF and 2 meters.

Two highest rated radios right now are the Kenwood TS 480 and 590.
I priced both of them today from AES and the 480 is under $1000.00 and the 590 was under $1500.00

Since the rate of exchange - American money to Japanese money is not good right now, and since the Japan tragedy - their retail price of anything electronic has gone up 33%.

The bottom line is - unless you really need a new radio, now is not the time to buy a new radio.

If all you want is to have a new radio - I would keep my eyes open for a used radio.
They are out there - although some of them are selling - artificially inflated price - for as much as a brand new one with a warranty.

You can pretty much tell which sellers are genuine and which ones are professional sellers on Flea Bay.
The professional sellers - gets their buddies and their sock puppets to bid up the price, and unless some sucker bids on it - it doesn't sell and is re listed a week later for the same price again.

The bottom line is - as the Robot would say on Lost In Space - Warning, Warning, Danger, Danger - don't buy the TS 2000 - it's a piece of crap!

[KG4CGC]

I believe there is an experienced owner of the TS 480 (on the Island) that will tell you that compared to everything else out there, it's as deaf as a doorknob.

[PA5COR]

I was not looking for a TS 2000 but the Yaesu FT 2000 D ;)
2 yearss old, for just over 1/2 the new price here, no need for the Kenwood TS 2000, the Ft 847 with collins filters already does better as that one.

So, looking for a H.F./6 meter rig, the FT 2000 D from Yaesu looks to be a good middle class radio, for 2/70 i have the FT 100 and a FT 847 spare.

Bloody same numbers between brands, who would not be miffed

[K9XR]

I've had my 2000D for about 2 years. It is one of the later models with the PEP updates which make a big difference in the receiver. I have very marginal antennas here because of HOA restrictions so I obviously don't have much of an overload problem with the receiver. I mess around in the contests a bit and I can't find a thing wrong with it.

I do a lot of listening and comparing with my other rigs which are an ICOM PRO III and a Ten Tec Orion. they all seem to be in the same ball park to me. From a user standpoint, the FT-2000 is a little more difficult to get used to as far as the receiver's bells and whistles go, but once you get used to "tweaking" it, it is right up there with the best of them. FWIW the most selective receiver I have ever played with was the FLEX 5000A, but I just couldn't get used to using a mouse for controlling a receiver. I guess you could say I just like KNOBS better.

[NQ6U]

I guess you could say I just like KNOBS

As do we all, my friend.

[K7SGJ]

Especially the chocolate ones in one of the BD threads.

[PA5COR]

Yep, we DO love to twirl knobs do we ;)
Except for the inverted L and OCF my antennna's are ballpark stuff, no contests here, so it looks i don't need the AC0C filter.
I DO know how the IPO and attenuater work ;)
Europe is always quite busy though, large signals and all that...
Thanks for the input
http://www.webklik.nl/user_files/2011_02/216531/FT2000-200_FRONTss.jpg

;)

[KJ3N]

I can get my hands on a Yaesu Ft 2000 D including latest software and 1 year warranty, 2 years old.

I'd like to know how this is possible. The normal warranty in the States is 1 year on this radio. How can anyone offer a warranty on a 2 year old radio?

[PA5COR]

Normal E.U warranty is 2 years mandatory.
After that if the appliance breaks down before the economical end of life the maker/seller has to pay the percentage of the repair.

Say a television set of good brand the judge here hands the view that it should last 8 - 10 years.
If after the warranty runs out the television breaks down in year 5 the seller has to pay 50% of the repair, because it should last 10 years without problems.
This goes for the more expensive appliances like washing machines, dryers etc.
Bloody EU rules ;)

This Ft 2000D is offered through a dealer that sells it again, and he gives 1 year full warranty, not Yaesu.
It's a wellknown good shop here in the Netherlands, only dealing in good 2nd hand stuff he sold before new to his clients, so he knows how they treated the transceiver.
If he gives one full year warranty, he must be sure it is 100% good.
Price he asks is € 1875, new it will be € 2800, so it's 1000 euro's off the new price, or 1440 dollars. ( Euro - Dollar € 1.- = $ 1.44 exchange)
Includes box and all it came in, PSU etc. latest software on it as well.

Hope my jibberish makes some sense...

[Jerry]

Hey guys = I'm sorry that I got the Kenwood and the Yaesu mixed up, but I will still interject my two cents.

If a person lives in a bad situation and does not have antenna's that are resonant on the frequency they desire to listen and talk on, then yes - the radio will be dead as a door knob on non resonant frequencies.

At the same time, a real radio operator wouldn't think of operating his / her radio on the wrong band - even with the right radio, because the antenna will be less efficient.

At the same time - a seller guaranteeing a radio where they say that they knew the owner and how the owner took care of it and operated it, hockey pucks!
All it takes to ruin a perfectly good radio is to hook it up wrong one time - poof - you just made a red hot smoking pile of dog crap out of a perfectly good radio.

Some radios are more forgiving then others.
I would venture to say that the most forgiving radios are the hybrid solid state - with tubes from the early 80's.
That is why they are always good beginner radios.

At the same time - there is probably some contest grade radios out there, that has one button that does 3 or 4 things, that isn't worth a crap unless it is set up properly and unless you use the right antenna, where one false move and it goes poof - because you should know better.

When I was at field days, the greatest fear of the host was that someone would come along, want to use their radio on his antenna, unplug the antenna from his radio and use their radio and then leave and not plug the antenna back into his radio.
He said he replaced the finals in one radio every year for 7 years straight because of that very issue.
When I went to use the GOTA station, they tried to make it as bullet proof as possible.
They set it up on the 10 meters with a dipole antenna and a 100 watt amplifier that didn't work. The 10 meters radio - A Radio Shack special - was junk and was probably the worst possible radio for what they wanted to do - but was the best radio for their purpose because if it got ruined, they were not out anything.

[K7SGJ]

Hey guys = I'm sorry that I got the Kenwood and the Yaesu mixed up, but I will still interject my two cents.
<snip>
At the same time, a real radio operator wouldn't think of operating his / her radio on the wrong band - even with the right radio, because the antenna will be less efficient.<snip>
.

That's a pretty broad brush you're using there. Are you saying that operators that have to use compromise antenns are not real radio operators? One of my antennas is a very long, longwire. It isn't particularly resonant on all of the bands I operate on, but with the antenna tuner, and a little creative tuning, it works well for me. As well as a log periodic? No, but I'm not filthy rich. I'm not even clean rich. The point is that ham operators have been getting on the air for many decades using only what they have. I guess I for one am a little tired of hearing what a real ham is or isn't. It was one of the major reasons I jumped ship from the zed and parked my dingy here. Mahlo nui loa

[PA5COR]

The inverted L i'm using is 77 feet high, and 70 feet wire to a tree, non resonant on 160, on purpose.
Because it is fed at the feedpointwith a autotuner ( MFJ 998), and works like a dandy on 160/80/40/20 that way.
I don't think the US or Canadian stations noticed on 160 the L was non resonant ;)
We all do what we have or can get away with, and antennawise or looking in the log i think it does fine till now with the FT 847, a non stellar performer on H.F.
Even limited with that i work the world with relative ease.
I better not tell that to my inverted L then ;)

[KJ3N]

Hey guys = I'm sorry that I got the Kenwood and the Yaesu mixed up, but I will still interject my two cents.

Yeah, don't let the fact that you were wrong ever keep you from running off at the mouth. :roll:


If a person lives in a bad situation and does not have antenna's that are resonant on the frequency they desire to listen and talk on, then yes - the radio will be dead as a door knob on non resonant frequencies.

At the same time, a real radio operator wouldn't think of operating his / her radio on the wrong band - even with the right radio, because the antenna will be less efficient.

See previous comment. :roll:

134 feet of wire up at 60 feet isn't resonant on any ham band, with the possible exception of 12m. Works the world 80m to 10m with 100 watts. I worked HI and South Cook Island on 10m with the 160m antenna back in March during ARRL DX SSB with 100 watts.

Do you EVER get tired of being wrong? :roll:

[PA5COR]

Well, latest update, i bought the Ft 2000 D will pick it up saturday.

As my inverted L proved over and over again 147 feet of alu pole and wire in SSB works worldwide on 160, 80, 40, 20, on 20 and up i have more effective antenna's but the 160 L will still put out a decent signal.
One might try to read the ON4UN Low Band DXíng book....

Thanks for all the input ;)
Looks like i have a steep learning curve ahead setting the transceiver to get the best out of it with the MD-1 mike, and EQplus....
Well, that's part of the fun in our hobby...

[K7SGJ]

Have fun with the new rig. After you become proficient with the operation and all the buttons, knobs, and switches, you will be automatically qualified to fly left seat on an Airbus A380.

[PA5COR]

Thanks Edward, but i'm no fan of flying ;)
Looking forward to the learning curve, and reading the manual, and re reading the maual, and reading...........
Where's my asperine....

[K7SGJ]

If it were me, I'd wait for the movie.

[KC2UGV]

Have fun with the new rig. After you become proficient with the operation and all the buttons, knobs, and switches, you will be automatically qualified to fly left seat on an Airbus A380.

Aint that the damned truth (Left seat)... Lot's a knobs, buttons, switches, lights...

[PA5COR]

I've seen one before, and a Ft 9000, aand i saw as customs officer the cockpit of the 747 etc.
That last one scared me more, at least the Ft 2000 D won't crash down....

[K9XR]

Congratulations, You will love it or at least like it. I sure wish I had an inverted L with a 77' vertical Element. You should have a lot of fun with 200 watts and that antenna.




Well, latest update, i bought the Ft 2000 D will pick it up saturday.

As my inverted L proved over and over again 147 feet of alu pole and wire in SSB works worldwide on 160, 80, 40, 20, on 20 and up i have more effective antenna's but the 160 L will still put out a decent signal.
One might try to read the ON4UN Low Band DXíng book....

Thanks for all the input ;)
Looks like i have a steep learning curve ahead setting the transceiver to get the best out of it with the MD-1 mike, and EQplus....
Well, that's part of the fun in our hobby...

[PA5COR]

With the Heathkit SB-1000 and the new 3 - 500 ZG i can make a lot more as 200 wattts ;)
The Ft 2000 D will do 75 watts in class A, to drive the SB-1000, the amp just needs 45 watts for 600 out i normally run here.
The 200 watt is nice for 6 meters and the 5 elements beam, normally i run barefoot there with 100 watt.
The L does fine, see the pictures in the antenna section, and don't forget the 2100 feet of copper wire as radials that took me several summers to sneak into the ground ;)
Add 17 groundrods 10 feet deep in the young seaclay, and the fact i live in a fresnell zone with very good ground.
Just sometimes i get lucky...;)

[PA5COR]

It's home.
Picked it up this afternoon, had the chance to see it perform to specs with spectrum analyser and the rest of the test gear.
Set it up temporarely for a listening run and a few local qso's and will tomorrow re route the cabling and 12 volt for the autotuner, Cn 801 SWR/PEP Power meter etc.
Wiill add a piccie when that is done....