Dan,
Just a few words on the ft2000, which I purchased from The Ham Station at
the Shelby hamfest.
I was very impressed with the looks of this rig, but hands down it's the
large knobs and controls that make the radio a joy to operate. The exception
is the small knob for the sub vfo squelch. I very much like the large analog
meter easy to read and shows s-units,alc,swr,id,and vdd and po. The display
indicator shows at anytime what filters or controls are in use, also shown
are frequency displays for main and sub vfo's.
I next matched the ft2000 side by side with the ic pro3, both rigs have
excellent audio, but as stated earler the ft2000 with its large nobs is the
easier of the two to use. The rigs are very close when you match the dsp
filtering and noise filters, but then the ft 2000 jumps ahead with its
shift, width contour and vrf controls. What really stands out with the
ft2000 is the two vfos with seperate dails during split operation this lets
you listen to the calling station and those trying to make contact at the
same time, which makes it child play to get on the dx fast. So for the money
features and ease of operation the ft 2000 is the radio I chose.just make
sure to read the manual and good dxing.
Dan--I promised you some initial thoughts on my new Yaesu FT 2000--so here
goes. Realize that having had it for only a little more than a week I have
only had a chance to barely try some of its many features. First let me cut
to the chase and state I really like the
radio. Its a big box with all the knobs etc. easy to grasp and use. The
quality and finish seem first class. The display is easy to read
with big numerals-great for these aging eyes. The graphic representation of
the filter-notch and other settings is easy to read
and understand. And its nice to have a well illuminated good sized Analog
meter. Both the notch filters seem to be effective and I
especially like the coarse and fine adjustments on the manual notch. I have
recieved several comments on the good sounding audio-using a Heil PRO 780
mike. The reciever appears to be very quiet and the noise reduction is
effective. I'm glad Yaesu went to a linear type
instead of the previous pushbuttons. The shift and width seem to work
well--although being an old Icom man I will have to wait to see how
this compares to Dual PBT. I like the built in power supply and the fact that
you can still hook up an external supply if necessary. There is still a
multitude of menu items although to Yaesu credit they are easy to access. And
the adjustment of the Speech Processor seems much too complicated--or maybe
I'm just getting old. All in all Dan I am very impressed with this new Yaesu.
Have'nt had a moments problem and it drives my Hercules II with N8MIS
interface perfectly. I feel its a worthy successor to the M P line. And as
always its a pleasure doing business with The Ham Station. de John WB0SQZ
Dan:
I promised I'd tell you what I thought of the FT2000. I've used this radio
now for 6 wks. It was purchased at the Peoria, IL. Hamfest.
1. the apperrance it's nice to look at when it is turned on
2. The large size keeps the controls spaced out so that I can use them
easily (arthritic fingers)
3. The reciever sensitivity is excellent and the fact that I can turn off
both preamps and lower the noise level is a big plus. The audio is very
good, and the variable width IF is nice. I like all the graphic displays
it makes it very easy to see what is set on and what options are selected.
4, The xmit audio always gets excellent reports with the variable xmit
bandwidth
I can narrow it and get through the qsb and qrm.
Then open it back up for a long rag chewing sesion.The two parametric
mic equalizers allow me to get my audio to sound the way I want it to.
5. The real live meter is easy to use and prefered over the digital versions
now being used.
I have found two things I do not care for
1. When the audio proc. is turned on the second equalizer effects seem to be
added
to the first instead of replacing it ?
2. The sub vfo has to be used within a given range of the main. I do not know
if this
is normal for dual vfo rigs as this is the first one that I have owned,
the manual
confirms this.
I like this rig and would buy it again, I can't wait to see how the DMU2000
adds to
the rigs capability.
Thanks for listening
Dave WB9ROC