[VHFcontesting] Yaesu FT-2000 on 6 meters

[Paul N1BUG]

I rarely give opinions on things like this but I will jump in here.

I bought a FT-2000 after selling all my above 50 / EME gear a year 
ago. I use it on all bands with emphasis on 6 and 160 meters. (For 
those who may not know, 160 DXing is a lot like VHF... far from 
easy, it takes a good station, good operator and lots of patience! 
Now wonder so many of the serious VHF'ers are also chasing DX on 160!)

Anyway the FT-2000 is a lot of fun to operate but not without its 
shortcomings. It is plagued by IMD when operating on a band full of 
strong signals... especially CW or other narrow modes where spacing 
between signals is less... but the rig's poor IMD performance is 
evident on SSB too. I don't need the low measured IMD numbers of the 
ARRL review or other tests on this rig to know it isn't a star 
performer. IMD is a regular occurrence with this receiver. In 
addition (but related) the actual bandwidth of the roofing filters 
is wider than you may think from the advertising. Since this is a 
contesting list I will add that my contest scores with this rig have 
been lower than they should have been because I lost contacts while 
experiencing receiver IMD.

Some of the DSP functions leave something to be desired. The auto 
notch works well on a single, fairly high pitched tone but seems to 
have problems with lower frequencies. DNR doesn't seem to do much. 
Although firmware updates have helped, the AGC is still annoying. It 
has an extremely fast attack which can lead to a single *very short 
duration* noise impulse ramping up the AGC, and a resulting "audio 
hole" while it recovers. Shortening the AGC decay times (menu 
adjustable) can help reduce the audio recovery issue but it still 
isn't great.

Some FT-2000 owners have expressed dissatisfaction with the speech 
processor. I have no first hand knowledge on that issue since I 
don't use it.

The subreceiver is a definite plus on 6 meters. I use it to monitor 
DX and domestic calling frequencies at the same time, or use the 
subreceiver to monitor TV video below the band while working 
stations in band or just waiting for something to happen.

All in all I do like the FT-2000 but I would work more weak DX 
without the IMD and AGC issues. If performance is the main criteria 
I would look elsewhere. I'm keeping the FT-2000 partly because I 
don't have a choice financially and partly because I really like the 
ergonomics of the rig. If I had it to do over again, I would opt for 
something else (probably a K3).

73,
Paul N1BUG


Tom W2MN wrote:
> I'm considering getting a Yaesu FT-2000.
> 
> Does anyone have any experience with this radio on 6 meters? 
> 
> Anyone have an opinion on what is the best 160-6m radio FOR OPERATION ON 6
> METERS?
> 
> Operation is on mostly SSB and some CW.
> 
> Tom  W2MN
> w2mn at earthlink.net