[Yaesu] FT-90 problem

[Ed Yeary]

Exact same problem here on my wife's rig. Hers does it on 146.835 with a
plus offset. It won't hear the repeater even though it's local unless you
open the squelch all the way. It also overheats and the squelch opens on
simplex after about 5 minutes of talking. It does it on repeaters sometimes
but is a lot faster on simplex.  Explain that one! Thank goodness Yaesu
discontinued this radio. What a flop!
Ed Yeary W4TEY
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rick Stoneking" <w2rds at arrl.net>
To: <yaesu at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2004 8:47 AM
Subject: [Yaesu] FT-90 problem


> All,
>
> I recently picked up an almost never used FT-90 dual band mobil rig.  Now
> before everyone jumps in and tells me about all of the problems this model
> has a history of having - I know all about them.  But the price was good
> and I needed the smallest mobil rig I could get to put in my wife's
> vehicle, so I took a chance.  All seems to be well with one very odd
> exception.  My local repeater is 145.290 (-600).  When I programmed this
in
> to the rig, the repeater was unable to break the squelch.  I had to turn
> the squelch wide open and then I could hear the repeater (which is about 3
> miles away, line of site, putting out 100W ERP from an antenna that is
100'
> in the air).  I then tried another repeater (146.625) that is about 40
> miles away.  The FT-90 heard that repeater with no problem.  Since then I
> have spent a couple of sessions trying to figure out what was going on,
and
> by complete accident I found that if I set the rig on 145.285 (5kHz below
> the repeater freq) it hears the repeater perfectly fine.  I then tried
> transmitting on the standard input freq and asked if I sounded on
frequency
> and I was told that I sounded "about 5kc's off".  The next step of the
> troubleshooting was trying other repeaters  at various frequencies to see
> if there was a range of freqs where there was a problem.  I have now tried
> about a dozen repeaters without seeing the same problem.  I have even
tried
> 145.310 (which was the closest one I could find to 145.290) and it was
fine.
>
> Sooooo... I am wondering if the problem is in the FT-90 or in the repeater
> (although why would nobody else be complaining ,and BTW I am the repeater
> guy for the club so I would know if anyone had a problem).  Could it be
the
> FT-90 has a problem at a specific frequency?  Has anyone heard of anything
> like this before?  I am going to get a buddy who lives close to run some
> simplex checks to see if we can confirm and bound the problem.  Other than
> that I do not know what else to do other than send it to Yaesu.
>
> Any suggestions are appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Rick
> W2RDS
>
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