I was holding back just in case Yaesu announced a real replacement to the FT817 at Dayton. Neither Yaesu nor ICOM made any great announcements of new products of interest to QRPers like me sadly.
At the moment I am warming to the FT991A. The IC7300 is probably the better radio, and is SDR based, but I gather the fan is always on and some can be noisy. Yes there is a mod, but I am in danger of invalidating any warranty. The rig would be used at 10W most of the time, so a fan that comes on only when the PA is warm would be good. At the moment, there is a 3 year warranty with Yaesu and cash back on some models. Having had many Yaesu rigs over the years, I am pretty happy with this supplier. Knowing me, this rig would have to last for years!
If anyone has any strong opinions against the FT991A I'd like to hear them. As my voice is not too good these days, FT8 and WSPR would probably be the main modes used.
Specific questions about the FT991A. If the answer is in the manual, I cannot find it! Does the fan come on only when the radio is hot? If I run mainly QRP will I hear the fan?
5 comments:
Hi Roger,
I personally think the Yaesu FT-991A would be a better choice. It's very hard to compare a 991A to the 7300 as your are fully aware one is a shack in the box the other is HF/6M/4M.
Both radio are easily connected to the PC without the need for a external sound card for datamodes and the CAT control works well. Also with the 991A you will have 2M and 70cms onboard to try modes like WSPR and FT8. It also has a voice keyer, ideal for the contests!
I too wish Yaesu or Icom would release a 10watt SDR transceiver the size of a 817 but you and I know this really won't happen especially when people are buying the larger sets.
73
Thanks for your input - much appreciated.
Personally I'm more an Icom fan. I own a FT-817 but it will be the only Yaesu ever in my shack. It just what kind of feeling you have with a certain brand. I really don't know the FT-991A but it seems it has UHF/VHF which you don't have on the Icom. Regarding the voicekeyer, the IC-7300 has it as well both SSB as CW. The Icom has unfortunately a noisy fan, I agree, I got one (borrowed) in the shack now and when TX is on the fan is really annoying. The only thing I can see as a big advantage of the IC-7300 might be the bandwidth, which is a little wider, might be important for digimodes if you care? The price is almost the same, and the specs?? It is not really important if the receiver is a bit more or less sensitive especially not in digimode, it is what you want to have in a radio. I think the FT-991A is a perfect choice for you. 73, Bas
My IC7300 is silent andthe fan is not normally on, its sits on RX for hours and no noise
73 Fred
G4BWP
Hi Roger, you should do some research into the FT991A. It has very poor phase noise performance, I wouldn’t want one as a neighbour especially on VHF.
73 Tim M0AFJ
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