Yaesu FT-101E ?

[2RT307]

I have an old Yaesu FT-101E that I have had for a while now. I subscribe to the FoxTango website, and have looked all over at the history of these rigs. The thing that I can't figure out is why my "E" model has 11 meters. It isn't modified (or appear to be), and 11 meters is labeled on the rig. Here's an old pic:



What I'm confused about is that I thought the old original 101's had 11 meters because it was still legal in Japan, and they released the rigs before the law changed. Any idea why this rig is this way with it being a later model?

73,
Brett

 

[w9cll]

"E" model = Europe and you are right no mod for 11 meters.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

"E" model = Europe and you are right no mod for 11 meters.

Wrong. "E" was for later models of the FT-101 with bugs worked out and it had the new RF speech processor. The "EE" was the economy model without the speech processor and the "EX" was extreme economy without speech processor, 160m crystal, DC options or microphone. The 11m band was a legal amateur radio band prior to it being taken by the FCC and made into the present CB band. In the early days of CB it was not uncommon for a US CBer to accidentally make contact with a ham on 11m almost anywhere in the world.

The model numbers are all outlined on the Fox tango main page.

 

[2RT307]

Wrong. "E" was for later models of the FT-101 with bugs worked out and it had the new RF speech processor. The "EE" was the economy model without the speech processor and the "EX" was extreme economy without speech processor, 160m crystal, DC options or microphone. The 11m band was a legal amateur radio band prior to it being taken by the FCC and made into the present CB band. In the early days of CB it was not uncommon for a US CBer to accidentally make contact with a ham on 11m almost anywhere in the world.

The model numbers are all outlined on the Fox tango main page.

Good info, Captain Kilowatt. But I have seen other "E" models that did not have 11 meters. You'll see posts on FoxTango where guys are griping because their 101E WAS converted via 10 meters crystal slots and there are no markings on the front panel for 11 meters. That is why I am puzzled.

73,
Brett

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Some models included the 11 meter band, others had it marked AUX and would only receive on 11M. This depended on the year manufactured. After 11m was taken and made a CB band they no longer included the ability from the factory to transmit on 11m and it was not labeled on the bandswitch.

 

[222DBFL]

Nice looking ol boat anchor, as my local pal that has one would say. Very clean radio and sound good on both AM and SSB if used properly. They can drift a little, but that is a nice one. If the inside is clean as the Outside!! Almost bought one. Ended up with the Icom 746 instead. My locals one doesn't have the 11m band switch either, has 11m on one of the other bands. He also has the matching amp whatever they are, can't remember off the top of my head, too early. But it's a talking radio once it's warmed up. Anyway. Nice looking radio!! Have a good one.

 

[2RT307]

Nice looking ol boat anchor, as my local pal that has one would say. Very clean radio and sound good on both AM and SSB if used properly. They can drift a little, but that is a nice one. If the inside is clean as the Outside!! Almost bought one. Ended up with the Icom 746 instead. My locals one doesn't have the 11m band switch either, has 11m on one of the other bands. He also has the matching amp whatever they are, can't remember off the top of my head, too early. But it's a talking radio once it's warmed up. Anyway. Nice looking radio!! Have a good one.

I have the FL-2100B as well. The rig sounds surprisingly good on ssb with a D104 or Turner Plus 3. I do not have the wide AM filter, so receive can be harsh with a strong signal, but transmit is fine. Thanks for the compliment on the rig.

73,
Brett

 

[2RT307]

Some models included the 11 meter band, others had it marked AUX and would only receive on 11M. This depended on the year manufactured. After 11m was taken and made a CB band they no longer included the ability from the factory to transmit on 11m and it was not labeled on the bandswitch.

That is good to know, and makes sense. I did not find that info in any of the things I read, but I did not search FT's forum for a similar question. Thanks!

73,
Brett

 

[BBB]

Your FT-101E was modified for 11 meters if it transmits on 11 meters.

One FT-101EE I have has been properly modded with an AM filter in the CW filter slot and had a sticker on the VFO knob stating that, so It was obvious.

The other FT101E I have does not have an AM filter, but transmits on 11 meters also. Some wiring and crystal revisions were done to make it work, but they are not obvious.

More than likely someone replaced some crystals in the 10 meter slots in yours and did some fancy wiring to get it to transmit on 11 meters. Enjoy it unless the conversion rendered some of your 10 meters inoperable.

 

[Hurricane145]

Some of the answers are kinda confusing. The 11 meter amateur band was reassigned to the new Citizen band in 1959 in the US by the FCC and amateurs had to vacate it. As I recall it was not an internationally allocated band, more like 220 is, and amateurs did not have primary use of it. It was shared with other services, medical etc. It was not a hugely popular band for hams.

The FT-101E series (from about 1975) had 11 meters on the band switch and all that had to be done to enable it to transmit there was cut a wire that was easy to find and access.

What I'm confused about is that I thought the old original 101's had 11 meters because it was still legal in Japan, and they released the rigs before the law changed. Any idea why this rig is this way with it being a later model?

It had nothing to do with that. It was just a feature to be able to receive (and transmit) on CB. Probably a move to capitalize on the growing popularity of CB in the US which was at the time, off the charts! The 101 series whether intentional or not, (probably was) targeted both the amateur community and the CB community very well. I worked in a shop at the time and sold as many 101E series rigs to CBer's as did to hams. Sales were very good.
The earliest FT-101 started showing up on CB right away.

Old boatanchors like the Heathkit DX-100 and Johnson Viking or Ranger were popular on CB from the get-go. They were old enough to have 11 meters on the bandswitch and were designed for AM use.
Other rigs were also popular later on when CB enthusiasts found they could put the right crystal in a 10 meter slot and use the transceiver (or separates) on CB. For example, Drake, Collins, etc.

Swan jumped in too with the 1011 series in the mid seventies but had to rebrand them as Siltronix due to pressure. It was targeting the CB crowd more specifically. Everyone wanted a piece of the pie.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Some of the answers are kinda confusing. The 11 meter amateur band was reassigned to the new Citizen band in 1959 and amateurs had to vacate it. The FT-101E series (from about 1975) had 11 meters on the band switch and all that had to be done to enable it to transmit there was cut a wire that was easy to find and access.

It had nothing to do with that. It was just a feature to be able to receive (and transmit) on CB. Probably a move to capitalize on the growing popularity of CB in the US which was at the time, off the charts! The 101 series whether intentional or not, (probably was) targeted both the amateur community and the CB community very well. I worked in a shop at the time and sold as many 101E series rigs to CBer's as did to hams. Sales were very good.

Swan jumped in too with the 1011 series but had to rebrand them as Siltronix due to pressure. Everyone wanted a piece of the pie.

You do realize that the USA is not the rest of the world don't you? The 11m position was retained because 11m remained an amateur band in many countries long after the reassignment of it to CBers. I do agree somewhat about the Swan/Siltronix equipment however.

 

[Hurricane145]

You do realize that the USA is not the rest of the world don't you? The 11m position was retained because 11m remained an amateur band in many countries long after the reassignment of it to CBers. I do agree somewhat about the Swan/Siltronix equipment however.

I would have to check but again I do not believe that 11 meters when it was a ham band was internationally allocated, it was more like our 220 band.
Japanese rigs such as the Tempo One (FT-200) were manufactured during some of the same years as the FT-101 series and did not have factory provisions for 11 meters like the 101 series. Nor did early Trio/Kenwood transceivers or separates.

I will see what I can find about CB history in Japan though as I am not familiar with it.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Australia had an 11m amateur band until the mid to late 70's as did South Africa to name just two. There were many accidental CB to ham contacts in the early days of the American CB 11m band when US operators would stumble across a foreign ham or vise versa.

 

[jdobbs2001]

Thats good news, you can use it on 11 meter since the equipment is grandfathered in prior to change.

 

[Hurricane145]

Australia had an 11m amateur band until the mid to late 70's as did South Africa to name just two. There were many accidental CB to ham contacts in the early days of the American CB 11m band when US operators would stumble across a foreign ham or vise versa.

I did see some info about that. I saw that a couple countries had different CB channels than we did and that a couple US channels like 1, 2, 3 were still within their amateur bands at least early on. Some countries started having CB in the later 70's and early 80's probably due to it being so popular here in the US at the time. Maybe it was already being bootlegged anyway.

I read that 11 meters when a ham band was supposed to be a land mobile service band as allocated by the ITU. So it would more closely be used for what it was supposed to be as a citizen band rather than amateur use. It was also heavily used as an RF dumping ground for ISM (industrial, scientific and medical) equipment.

I remember diathermy that trashed several of the 23 CB channels at times. I lived about a mile north of a small hospital at the time.

Did the Russian woodpecker trash CB back in the early 80's? I wasn't on CB after about 1971. It sure wiped out 20 meters a lot here on the west coast!! I didn't spend much time on 10 meters so don't know how bad it was other than on 20 and 15.