FT920 owner comments

From WB0VZW

Just thought I would drop you a line to let you know how much we have appreciated reading your diary about your FT-920. I received mine on June the 21st and put it into operation that day. My s/n is 7F020170 and I am not really sure how to tell what number this would have been off the production line but I was assuming #170. Let me know if this is in error?

I ordered mine from Texas Towers since they had the best price and I also got the MD100A8X deskmic and the FM board as well. I was very pleased with the cosmetic appearance of the radio after getting it out of the box and even more impressed after getting it all on the air. Since I had found a few reviews on the rig over in the U.K. one of the first things we checked was the noise blanker and yes my rig had the problem just like yours and the one in the review. I have talked to Yaesu about the mod to fix the ground loop problem and they are sure taking their time trying to decide if they want to fax it too me or not. The guy I talked to was Jerry in Tech Service and he said that a guy in sales was the only one that was authorized to send it out. I explained to Jerry that I am an Avionics Department Manager and worked on Nav/Comms and Autopilot computers for years as well as having been a ham for over 20 years so maybe I need to give them another call? Who know since it was just last week the other guy may have been on vacation?

Well to make a long story short, I definately want to say that I really love my 920. I have had no other problems with mime that I have noticed other than the noise blanker problem. I operate 75, 40, 20 mostly, 10 and 6 meters and the receiver is is very good and even better with the dsp functions. It outperforms my backup rig which is a FT-890AT with the crystal filters for ssb and cw in it. I always thought the 890 did an exceptional job in the receiver department but the 920 is an improvment. I always got good audio reports on the 890 in xmit but when I switch to the 920 and the MD100, everybody seems to no longer want to listen to me on the 890! Imagine that? I admit that we are using the stock handmike on the 890 and I have figured out that we can use the md100 on the 890 if we set the switches on the bottom of the mike to the thru position. I have customized my tx audio with the filtering in the mike and the tx carrier point settings in the menu for the best sound that my voice can muster up and still maintain respectable punch. I have tried the processor on some of the locals and they tell me that with the settings that I have that it sounds really nice with the extra bit of punch they would expect. When I kick in my processor, it takes just a little of the bass out and gives a little crisper audio out and a higher average power out just like it should. I will have to say that we were not impressed with the u51 menu for mic equalization. I listened on the monitor and did not really like any of the settings other that maybe #3.

I noticed in your diary that you had yaesu send you the pass thru board for (am) and I would assume this was for receiving purposes? Mine does a beautilful job of receiving am broadcast and I did not see any dummy board in mine where the am filter goes while I was putting in the fm unit so maybe they have came up with a different fix in my unit. According to the chart on page 37 of my manual, if I am receiving am and do not have the narrow switch selected it passes on thru, how I am not sure or it goes to the 6khz filter if installed and I do not have it. But if I select narrow then it does sound like crap through the 2.4khz filter. So it is getting switched thru somehow?

The only thing that we could not get to work was the tracking feature of vfo a and b being slaved together and the yaesu guy said the manual was in error. You have to hold in the step switch and then press the vfo a to b switch. I noticed in the brochure that they sent recently since I told them I wanted one that they say you can program the agc time constants per mode and from the menu. Not on mime!! They told me that I would have to return the unit for a new eprom. I think we will wait a little closer to the warrant expiration and send it in then and get the updates.

I bought my first new Yaesu rig in 1978, a FT-620B for 6 meters and just got rid of it about a year and a half ago. My first Yaesu hf rig was a FT-101ZD mark 2 that we got in 1981 and traded it and the old 6 meter rig off to get the FT-890AT. All of my yaesu rigs have been new except for the 890 and I knew the owner on this one and it was in mint condition and still is. Before I got the 890, I tried a used Kenwood TS-440SAT and it was plagued with the synthesizer unlock problem on the higher bands, mainly 10 meters and the original owner mainly used it on 40 without any problem but I like 10 and this was something that I was not willing to live with so I told my local dealer that I would pass on this one. I guess what I am really saying is that I have been a Yaesu fan for a long time and probably always will be. In closing I would like to mention that we would have liked to have had a FT-1000MP but the 920 fit our price range a lot better and now I think I like the cosmetic appearance of the 920 even better than the 1000MP but I know that the 1000MP is one hell of a radio on the inside. Use these comments if you like Mark and I look forward to hearing from you, maybe catch you on the air sometime. Take care for now!! Gee I hope I did not forget anything but I am tired of typing at this point. Your home page looks really nice!!!

73 DE Rick WB0VZW

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