[Yaesu] Tube rigs

[waltah@earthlink.net]

John asked:
> Can anyone tell me what the last Yaesu all tube type transceiver was?

I *think* I can -- and probably someone else will speak up if I get it 
wrong.   However the answer partly depends on your definition of 'all 
tube.'   Like other manufacturers, Yaesu went solid state first in 
oscillator circuits and some or even all of the following radios may 
have solid state VFOs.   I don't have time this AM to dig out the 
diagrams and be sure what's what.

I will not swear that *any* Yaesu set sold in the U.S. had a vacuum 
tube VFO; the only ones I'm really sure about being all-tube are the 
FL-100B/FR-100B twins which were the very first complex Yaesu 
products but were not AFAIK ever marketed in the U.S.

However allowing for "I think the VFO is solid state" my vote goes to 
the FT-200, marketed in the U.S. by Henry Radio under the name 
"Tempo One".   These are fine nearly-all-tube radios from the end-of-
the-vacuum-tube era, still available for a song, and an excellent bet 
for anyone wanting a vintage rig for occasional use.   The later model 
(recognized by a black face rather than silver) is slightly the better 
choice.   The Tempo One probably shares with the FT-101 the 
honors for killing off the dinosaur U.S. ham manufacturers -- 
Hallicrafters, Hammarlund, National ...

I checked; the late (black face) Tempo One has solid state VFO and 
balanced modulator.   As I recall the earlier version has a 7360 
balanced modulator.

The Yaesu sets sold under their own name -- FTdx 400, 401, 540, 
560, and maybe a couple more intermediate numbers that I forget 
may have overlapped at the end with the Tempo One and since they 
had higher output, possibly even the solid state FT-101 but they're an 
earlier design.   

The big problem with the Yaesu labelled sets of that era is quality 
control.   The ones I've repaired almost uniformly had from-the-factory 
problems, some of them very hard to find.   But they're also excellent 
performers once you get them going.

Walt Hutchens
KJ4KV