27 Jul 2020

New radio?

About a year ago I bought a Yaesu FT991A.  At the right price I may, at a later date, trade this in for an ICOM IC-705. I am a QRP man and only use the FT991A at low power.

With simple antennas, the FT991A has worked some impressive DX on the VHF bands especially.

Often with new rigs there are teething troubles that are fixed with firmware or hardware improvements. I am in no hurry. Certainly my advice is avoid early models if buying new.

I like the features and coverage of the IC-705 and the fact it has no fan and can run at 5W off the attached battery which can be charged via the USB lead. It has D-STAR, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS. I wish it had 4m and an internal auto-ATU.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/new

1 comment:

Dick said...

Your 991A has some good reviews and pleased owners, such as yourself. I was interested in a five or ten-watt QRP transceiver. But, I do not do portable, SOTA, and other outdoor operating. The pancake-flat format of of the current line-up of QRP transceivers is, I think, directed to the great outdoors operators. I don't like it. So, I managed to come up with a couple of old TS-120V/130V Kenwoods. Far from perfect and with tech issues, but suit my at-home CW type of operating. If Ken/YAE/IC produced a ten-watt radio with a classic table-top design, I would be first in line. 72/73