[1000mp] possible 1000MP upgrade

[Scott Manthe]

Try an FT-2000 before you decide. And don't take too much stock in what 
you read on eHam.

My FT-2000 is hands down a better radio, in all respects- including 
receiver performance- than my Mark V Field, which had a truck load of 
optional filters. I'm a fairly serious DXer, so this opinion was not 
formed by ragchewing with a bunch of geriatrics over coffee on Wednesday 
mornings- it was formed in pile-ups and trying to pad my band/country 
totals in crowded contest conditions.

The FT-2000 was probably brought to market a bit too soon, but after 
doing the firmware upgrades, reading the manual and putting a little 
thought into how it works, I've gotten beyond most of the problems that 
most of the complainers talk about. My feeling is that further firmware 
upgrades will solve whatever problems are left over.

Most of the eHam whiners haven't even owned their FT-2000 long enough to 
figure out how to use them properly. This is a radio that REQUIRES 
EFFORT to set up. Some of the other negative reviewers belong to a Yahoo 
group dedicated to
finding all of the technical laws of the FT-2000. Most of the discussion 
there revolves around the fact that Yaesu had the audacity to sell a 
$2500 radio that doesn't perform as well as the IC-7800 and FTDX-9000. 
Think about that for a moment. The $2500 FT-2000 doesn't perform as well 
as radios costing four or five times as much. What a crime!!!

The FT-2000 is the replacement for the Mark V series. When held to that 
standard, it performs very well. It's receiver performance is not as 
good as the Orion, Orion 2, the Omni VII, the Elecraft K3, or the 
aforementioned FTDX900/IC-7800. Of course, all ofthose rigs is more 
expensive, including the Omni VII.

73,
Scott, N9AA

Jerry Spring wrote:
> Funny you should mention this as I am experiencing
> some problems with my MP.  I bought it 2 years ago
> from the original owner, who took excellent care of
> it.  I never did the roofing filter mod as I like to
> do AM broadcast band SWLing every now and then.  About
> a year ago it developed the famous cold solder joint
> in the VCO PLL board.  I tried the standard fixes with
> the soldering iron and ended up buying a replacement
> board for $250 from Yaesu.  It worked fine until last
> weekend in the NAQP SSB contest.  While in
> mid-transmission on 40m the output goes to zero.  I
> get zero on CW too, but all other bands work fine.  In
> fact, switching between bands or turning the radio off
> and on sometimes gets it to work on 40m for a few
> minutes and then it has zero output.  There is still
> ALC voltage and the second receiver S-meter registers
> a signal when transmitting SSB, but there is no output
> (on my external Bird and on VFO-A S-meter).  I tried
> transmitting on VFO-B with same results.  The last
> couple of nights I have had no problems transmitting
> on 40m, but I know the problem will show up again,
> when I least want it.  SO... I've been thinking about
> upgrading to something else too.  And since I don't
> have an amp (not for city use around here), I was
> thinking I should get something that can deliver up to
> 200W.  This will cover all of the Low Power contests I
> ever hope to do.  If I stick with Yaesu, then I should
> probably consider a used MK V 200W, or perhaps
> upgrading to the FT-2000D for big money.  The reviews
> on eHam.net of the FT-2000 are all over the place -
> from better than the Icom pro III to worse than a
> piece of junk.  Many of the reviews seem like they
> were well thought out and not just a reaction from
> some dummy.  Our local club bought two FT-2000s, so I
> guess I should go and try them out.  I can see that
> this is not an easy decision as no one knows how long
> to expect the new rigs to last.  Of course, I have no
> idea how long I will last, either!  There is always
> something nice about a new rig, but I don't want one
> if it doesn't improve on what I already got.  Thanks.
>
> Jerry
> VE6CNU
>