706 or FT100?

[74IN]

Which is better?

The 100(D) seems to have greater RX coverage. More mic controls also.

I like the 706(MKIIG), but would like to hear from some Yaesu owners.

Not crazy about the blue, but performance is important, appearance is not.

 

[novakor]

74IN i have played with both and have owned an ft100D for 4 years now and feel that yaesu ft-100D has much better RX. It also has superior NB and DSP. TCXO stability crystal is standard along with 500hz CW filter.TX audio is excellent,you won't be dissapointed. The blue display is easy on the eyes and can be adjusted with dimmer from 1 through 30 i believe. Speech processor also kick a** along with (once again) the NB.
As you may know it's menu driven,and i found it so easy to learn compaired to Icom's 706MKIIG and Yaesu FT-857 which i also own (857).The rig is a little bit smaller than 706 and seems to be very rugged. Hand mic is also very small. About the only thing i dont like is the pig tail connectors for HF/6 and vhf/uhf.
I would also recommend staying away from ft-100 non D model as they seem to have a wide varity of problems. Having played with 706,857 and 100d my experience is based on actual use,i would not hesitate to buy another ft100d. Watch the fur fly on this one. Good luck.

73,CDX-288

 

[CDX-007]

Which is better?

The 100(D) seems to have greater RX coverage. More mic controls also.

I like the 706(MKIIG), but would like to hear from some Yaesu owners.

Not crazy about the blue, but performance is important, appearance is not.

OK, I haven't read any of the other replies because Stu (Novakor) told me about this strand and thought I might have something to offer as I had both rigs, side by side on the desk for almost 10 weeks.

The FT-100D is a better rig, period.

It's receiver has been tested by independent laboratories and found to have better selectivity and regardless of the specs I believe it also has better sensitivity.

The 'G' was my dream rig about 4 years ago but I didn't have the scratch to throw at it so I opted for an affordable interim rig. (I wanted to be able to eavesdrop on my local ham buddies on 2m SSB & 6m SSB and listen to them talk about me when they thought I couldn't go there and hear the nasty things they were saying!

You see, they knew I was jonesin' for a 'G' and I kept them in the dark about having bought an FT-100 (NON-'D') locally for only $400, new-in-box!

I expected to have a 'G' any day so I didn't have too hard a time keeping the FT-100 under wraps, on the repeater I kept the illusion alive, I kept saying, "I can't wait to get that 'G', - I almost have enough for it, I sure wish I had one to go to on 6m & 2m...", while all along I was biting my tongue due to wanting to let the cat out of the bag that I was hearing every word they said!! Fun stuff!

I finally found a 'G', and a buyer for my FT-100, sold the 100 and drove to So Cal to pick up the 'G'.
TWENTY MINUTES after I hooked up the 'G' I was missing my FT-100! - The menu system, the up/down hand mic frequency rate selectivity, the options, the receiver, etc...
- I was seriously bummed! - Not just because I liked the FT-100 better & had sold it, but because the 'G' wasn't the rig I had expected it to be, and to top it off, for the 1st time since the mid '70s I was experiencing front end overload on 11m while trying to listen in on truckers around me.

Shortly after getting the 'G' I sold a house and had some play money so I ordered a new FT-100D, ('2L...' serial number, meaning it was made in Oct. '02) and was back in the race!

For 10 weeks I had the two rigs side by side on my desk to A/B test them and I kept a list of the preferences and complaints I had with each rig in comparison to the other and at the end of 10 weeks I had a list of 36 things I preferred about the FT-100D, and 7 things I preferred about the 'G' - most of which on the 'G' weren't performance oriented, more like 'the VFO knob on the 'G' has a better finger cup' and 'I like the green display color better on the 'G''.

At the end of the 10 weeks I put the 'G on ePay and bought another FT-100D. I've never even missed the 'G'.

It's somewhet hard to find a remote mounting kit for the FT-100D but every so often I see them pop up on ePay.

I wish I still had that list so I could scan it in here but I loaned it to a friend who died and it disappeared. The FT-100D is a much more user friendly rig, the NB actually works -0 unlike my 'G', and you can access most all of the internal adjustments from the 'F-MENU' such as IF, S-meter, carrier offset, etc... but on the ICOM most of those require removing the cover and getting the tools out.

The best Yaesu for mobile use with a detachable face is the FT-900 of which I have one, but it is only a 10-160 plus general coverage, abd includes a built-in antenna tuner. The face is quite a bit bigger at 9" wide, but ut's the best mobile I've used for HF which offers the detachable face option, and isn't a far cry from the ICOM IC-751A in performance. A rig fully deserving of it's exceptionally high eham.com rating.



Ultimately, if you get a Yaesu FT-857D, FT-897D, FT-100D, FT-900SAT or an ICOM IC-706MkIIG you'll have a great little rig. The 100 is the better rig for all-band, but if you're after the best HF try to find an FT-900 plus the remote kits are more available & affordable. Yaesu also offered a Collins filter upgrade for the FT-900 which mine has and it does make a worthwhile improvement in Sound Quality and selectivity.

The 857D / 897D are good rigs, but Yaesu has had numerous problems with the quality control and their just not quite the rig the 100D is, though that little 857D is probably the best rig 'for the money' going right now.

Make sure you get a 'D' series as it is the newer better version of each model and on the FT-100D & FT-897D the TCXO is factory stock.

73

 

[bob85]

i have used all the small hf sets out there they all have good and bad points,
the problem is its hard to decide which is best for you unless you have personal experience with both radios using them for what you want to use them for,

i rate the 100d as having the best tx audio of them all once you ditch the stock mic, its not trying to bamboozel the untrained ear into sounding larger than life on ssb and it does not have horrible pumpy tx audio on fm,

for a small radio the 100d has a decent receiver, good nb, better than the icom or the ft857 especially if you have local pagers on vhf/uhf like i do,
they would have been better if yaesu had fitted a narrow fm filter option for sure,
not only would that have helped the fm rx in crowded conditions it would have made the fm sensitivity specs look better for those that judge a radio purely on what the datasheet says,
the coax tails i dont care for but when hooking to large coax they are a bonus ( less connectors )
the fm frequency stability is poor but other modes are stable for a small set, the display has lots of info but its a tad small and not very easy viewing off axis, the fm broadcast band rx suffers bad overload when connected to a decent antenna,
had yaesu used an orange backlight and a wider viewing angle for the display filter they would have been a fantastic little mobile set,

nothing wrong with the 706mk2g, it has an easier to view off axis dispaly, nice chunky chassis, better remote front cabing reasonable tx audio easy menu ergonomics ( the ergonomics are a personal thing my buddy finds the yaesu much easier to navigate his way round )
piss poor nb and near useless dsp,

i pretty much agree with what the guys above are saying and at the same time surprised that contrary to what most of my local cbers think there are some people out there that can see past the bells and whistles status symbols and detect a decent performing/sounding little radio,
those of us that like the ft probably feel the need to let people know they can be a great little radio because they have had a bad rap over the years from some quarters and those that love the icoms probable feel they should not need to tell you which is best,

imho the ft100d has the better receiver better tx audio better dsp that also works on tx and a nb that actually works when mobile

i still have an absolutely as new ft100d thats been out of the box for no more than a few houres from new,
discounting my qrp icom 703 i dont have any of the other small sets anymore and untill somebody comes out with a newer small set that has good tx audio i am not looking to trade up.

 

[novakor]

74IN.................so gives us an update,what have you decided.

 

[74IN]

I'm having to delay due to an unexpected bill.

Leaning hard towrds the Yaseu.

 

[KingCobra_CDX882]

I know you didnt ask for this
but better then all those (although a bit more money)
is Icom's IC-7000

Do let us know what you chose

 

[airplane1]

I know I love my 7000, easy to operate,filters are all built in and no problems with heat like few are saying. I dont own the other radios talked about here but if they are better than the 7000 they got to be alsome radios. I am looking for a backup radio so I will check out the FT-100D for myself, Maybe I will like it better or not, we will see.

Roger

 

[rfoverlord]

I love my ic-7000, but it does cost a lot more than either of the 2 you mentioned. before the ic-7000 i was leaning towards the yaesu. IMHO you won't be disappointed in the ft-100D, like bob stated you need to get a new mic or this OBP-100D in the MH-36. More info can be found here http://www.w4wb.com/index.htm .

 

[74IN]

Just deciding between the 100D and the 857D.

That and financial recuperation.

 

[airplane1]

Does one need to buy filters for the FT radios? would that and the new mic put you up to the cost of the 7000?

 

[fasteddy]

One thing you might want to keep in mind, the 100D has been out of production for a while and parts will be getting harder and harder to find. I hear the finals are already impossible to locate. It woud be a bummer if something happened to the PA on one. Makes for a pretty exspensive HF reciever. I have no opinion on either rig, but just wanted to alert you on the fact about parts.
73
Ed\KC0PZE