[Yaesu] FT-107M

[nick]

> Date: Sun, 1 Nov 1998 09:20:42 -0500
> From: "Caitlyn M. Martin"
> Subject: [Yaesu] FT-107M specific questions
>
> Hi,
>
> First, I'd like to thank everyone who responded.  The consensus seems to be
> that this rig is a good performer.  Only one ham thought it was deaf, but he
> had his for all of six hours, which makes me think it was a problem with his
> rig, since everyone else liked theirs.  Most everyone agrees that the marine
> rig color scheme hurt sales.  Most seem to think it's ugly.  I'm not exactly
> concerned with that, as much as I like my stuff to be pretty.
>
> The big concern was that if the counter IC in the display goes out, it is
> not readily replaceable, making repairs difficult, but not impossible.  The
> thing is, if I take this rig, I am getting it very cheaply, so I may be
> willing to take that risk.  How common a problem is this?
>
> The rig I am looking at is a later model with the WARC bands.  It appears to
> be very clean, and comes with an SP-107P.  It's an estate sale rig, and the
> person who has it now is not knowledgeable at all, and cannot tell me much
> other than that it was recently checked in the shop and works properly.
>
> OK, I see that there was a matching power supply (FP-107E).  Why?  The rig
> seems to have an internal supply.  Was this an optional add-on, like on an
> IC-751?  Is the external supply heavier duty?  When and why would I want
> it???
>
> What was the DMS option?  What did it do?
>
> Will I want to look for the other matching accessories (VFO, tuner,
> transverter)?  How good was the transverter?  Was it modular, as on the
> FTV-707?  What bands were available, and could it hold multiple bands, like
> the FTV-901?
>
> What is this rig really worth?  I can get this one for $300.
>
> My budget it tight right now, and I am committed to buying a TenTec Argo,
> but... if this is really a steal, I don't want to let it pass, and will work
> out the money parts.
>
> I am really open to more opinions and answers.
>
> Thanks,
> Caity
> hamgrrl KU4QD
>
Caity,
I had my FT-107M for 9 years.  It saw a whole lot of use and even some
abuse.  In my
opinion, it was the best rig in its day.  Took a licking and kept on
ticking.  Accidently
transmitted into a short once, no antenna another time.  Also had it
mobile on several occasions.
I had the external supply.  The salesman convinced me that there was
enough heat generated by
the finals that an internal supply would be too much.  I don't really
know about that but even
with hours of full power CW the fan only needed to come on a few times
in years of use.
I wouldn't put a brick on the key though.
I had the non-warc unit and added 30m and 12m.  When we got 17m I got a
new rig as there
was no room for the band.  Also there is no general coverage RX.  The
knob goes about 550KHz
and stops.  I eventually bought the DMS.  It had 10 tuneable memory
locations and my particular
unit extended the freq coverage to 700KHz on each band setting.  The rig
is a good buy at $300.
The only problems I had in 9 years was: 1) the meter light burned out.
It is not fun to replace.
                             2) the WIDTH control needed alignment.  At
zero setting, it started to generate
a S2 carrier that covered up some very weak signals.  This was an easy
fix.  With the exception of
the meter light, it is an easy rig to work on. I also bought the
extender card so that I could work on
the plug in boards ($32 at the time).
The matching supply contained a speaker which had good quality.  Also
the ant tuner was nice and robust.
Never got the converters, the FT-726R came out and I got it instead.
Now if you want to compare this to the ARGO, go for the 107M - a
no-brainer.
73, Nick KU2A/1



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