[Yaesu] FT-920 Production Bugs?

[David Ho (de AF4BH)]

On Fri, 20 Mar 1998, James Cullum wrote:

> 
> I get about 50 - 80 watts out on SSB.  CW and RTTY runs the full
> 100W.  Not sure about FM and AM power out as 1.) FM is optional
> (wasn't this supposed to be an "all mode" rig?) and 2.) I guess
> you need the AM filter or "pass thru" AM board to get AM
> to work so I haven't tried it (wasn't this supposed to be an 
> "all mode" rig?).
> 

Mine doesn't need a "pass thru" AM board.  It seems the to me the factory
took care of it some how.  Optional FM does post an irritation to me as a
consumer, though.

> > >
> > >2. Antenna tuner when tuned, there is less power out than out of the circuit.
> > >
> 
> I loose about 15 watts with the tuner in line on all bands.  Plus it 
> doesn't seem like it tunes very well.  It gives up pretty easy when
> the SWR starts getting high.  The tuner on my FT-890 would try all day
> to get something tuned not just give up like the 920's.  Plus no
> power was lost with the tuner in line.  
> 

I only use the internal tuner when receive and a MFJ962 for TX since it
gives me a wider range of tuning with my Carolina Windows 40.  Moreover, I
only use the internal TX only once or twice because I didn't quite like
that fact that I didn't have an outboard meter to monitor the rig. 

> > >3. The display comes up a bit dim and takes about 5 minutes to full.
> > >
> 
> Never noticed this problem.
>

Answered it in a seperate post and don't think that it's a problem to me.
 
> 
> Other things that I have noticed:
> 
> - When using the back CW key jack the radio needs to be in full
>   break-in for the radio to key.
>

True!  It is still exists in my 7J production run.  I don't know what
Yaesu was thinking when making the rear jack QSK only.  The user guide
doesn't say why or that's the way it should be.  I found it out from the
hard way.

Also, the keyer only supports Mode "B" keying.  Talked with Yeasu a couple
times (I forgot his name, great guy) and he said that Mode "A/B" only
applicable to Curtis Keyer chips.  Yaesu supports the electronic keyer and
doesn't necessary to be compatible to Curtis Keyer chips.  So I learned a
lesson from this:  I use an external keyer instead!  I am honestly pissed
off on this issue.  

When you think of an electronic key, what will you think of?  I'll think
of switchable Mode A and B keying, and Paddle Reverse (reverse dit and dah
for different operator) as the bare minimum.  If the 920 designer doesn't
have these in mind, he/she might as well forget about telling people that
it's a contest machine.  The 920's electronic keyer fails miserably in my
court. 
 
> - Stock SSB filter is poor.  INRAD will hopefully have a replacement soon.

True!  2.4KHz is way too wide!  But the SSB signals are sounding great! 
 Hi hi!  DSP only works at AF lever and after the AGC.  Pumping from
strong signals are hard to avoid, but AGC can be bypass in some worst case
scenario and it seems to help some.  I am looking forward to see the debut
of the INRAD 2.1K and 1..8K SSB filter. 

Had a conversation with INRAD the other day.  A switchable SSB filter is
possible, but not probable in the future.

> - Key clicks in the headphone/speaker when the CW contacts are closed.

True.  But the clicks on my rig isn't too bad for my liking.
 
> - ALC differences/readings on 10M with the tuner in/out of line.

Never checked this one.

> - Lack of manual notch filer.  Not really a production problem just 
>   a design issue.  Kind of hard to use the DSP auto notch filter in CW.

True.  I find that, for some reason, the DSP notch filter sometimes are
not very effective.  Especially when you have the notch filter button
engaged all the time.  The DSP seems to get used to its setting and will
not adapt a new notch scheme.  Disengage and reengage the notch sometimes
might help.

The notch filter seems to be less effective, also, when the tones are
variying in magnitude and frequency.  Not very good with RTTY type of
tones as well, but again, it depends of the stability of the tones.

> - Almost forgot the monitor/NB board trace bleedover problem.  Haven't
>   had the monitor on in so long I forgot about it.

Mine doesn't have the NB bleedover problem.   

> - The manual has countless mistakes in it.

True.  They need to go over it a few more times before printing it out as
a production run.

> I think that some/most of these bugs have been addressed by Yaesu.  So
> you are probably safe to get one of the new ones (YMMV).  The radio has
> been pretty good overall (aside from the bugs).  Having 2 key jacks
> is nice.  The radio works great on FSK RTTY.  The omni-glow display
> is easy to read.  The dual VFO knobs are great for working split.
> The auto-notch is great for SSB.  And the DSP works pretty good at
> helping out the not so great stock filters.
> 

I wired my KAMPlus as AFSK.  The documentation is extremely weak in
digital mode operation.  For example, USB is AFSK, and LSB is FSK.
The 920 manual doesn't seem to have a lot to talk about that at all.

> A great 920 resource is located at http://www.wm7d.net/hamradio/ft920.html.  
> Most of your questions are probably answered on Mark's page. 
> 

I have expressed my first impression of my rig in Mark's page.

Best 73!

de David Ho, AF4BH
Covington, KY  USA
E-Mail: davidho@one.net
URL: http://w3.one.net/~davidho  Always, always under construction



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