[Yaesu] FT-920 Bugs? (long)

[Bob Scott]

> Since I hadn't seen any bad reports about the new FT-920,
> I jumped in and ordered one.  All and all it seems like a 
> great rig.  The DSP functions work great.  The high/low
> cut knobs on the front panel are very convenient and work
> great for getting rid of QRM from above or below.

Me too. It does do very well.

> Anyhow, the main problem I am having is with the Noise Blanker.
> Turning the Noise Blanker (NB) on brings in a great deal of 
> hiss/fuzz in the headphones or speaker.  Also, signals on the

This is very apparent in my 920. AND, it seems to be worse on
10-20 meters, than it is on 40-160 meters.

> Here are some other observations I have made:
> 
> 1.) Monitor gain seems to be low.  I need to crank the monitor gain
> pretty high to hear my voice very loud.  AF gain and sidetone
levels
> appear to be okay.  I am, however, using PRO-SET headphones so I am
> not sure if I am running into the low audio problem that some
people
> had when using PRO-SET's on the original 1000mp's.  I would think
all
> of the audio would be low and not just the monitor.

I do not have this problem. I leave the monitor gain at 12 o'clock
whether
I am using the speaker or the homebrew Radio shack headphones.

> 2.) The cooling fan comes on during every transmittion.  PTT or CW
> key down will turn the fan on.  Fan turns off with the release of
the
> PTT or key release.  Not sure if this is normal or not.  Seems kind
> of silly to have the fan turning on and off with every character
> during CW QSK, etc.

Mine does too. I have heard of a few others that does this as well. I
don't
mind it as my fan is very quiet.


> 3.) Power out on SSB never peaks at 100W on the front panels meter.
> It generally hits about 75 watts with peaks around 90.  I guess
> maybe I am not quite use to the bar graph meter???  Tried dummy
> load with same results.  Using the peak hold feature of the meter.
> With ALC and compression cranked it may hit right below 100W 
> occasionally.  Same results with hand mike or HC-4 PRO-SET.

Same results with a dummy load and a Yaesu YS-60 (Which was
calibrated 
against a Bird). I cannot get more that about 87 watts peak.
 
> 4.) Power out key down CW is less with the antenna tuner in line.
> Using a Diawa watt meter (need to try it with a Bird), into a
> dummy load or my antenna the power out is 110W (no tuner) and
> 90W with the tuner in line.  These readings were on 20M, but
> all other bands showed similar degradation with the tuner 
> (tuned up) in line.

I just tried this (I am fortunate to have resonant antennas on
10-160).
Guess what? Mine drops between 5 and 10 watts depending on the band!
 
> 5.) When the dash paddle is closed there is a key click in the
> headphones.  For example, without transmitting and the sidetone off
> closing the dash paddle creates a click (sort of static sounding)
> in the headphones or speaker.  I tried a small bypass cap from the
> paddle contact to ground, but it didn't get rid of the click.  I am
> using a Bencher paddle.

Sorry, I don't hear anything....Hmmm
 
Lets hope that they come clean and repair all these bugs. I
immediately found 
the lower power output, as it wouldn't drive my AL-80 to full output
(Which requires 
100 watts). I hope I don't regret selling my 990!  
Bob

********************************************************
Name: Bob Scott
Address: bscott@pla-net.net
Web site: http://www.pla-net.net/~bscott/index.html
Amateur radio call: KF9YH
Member: Society of Midwest Contesters
Member: National Registry of E.M.T.'s (Paramedic)
Opinions expressed here are solely those of the author
*********************************************************


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