Yaesu FT-60R

I have this...it was the first radio I bought. I ended up getting an external mag mount for my car...got a cable that goes from SO-239 to SMA on the other end...and use it as my moble in the car until I can install my 8800. It works great...

I love it..and it's easy as hell to run...
 
I bought and FT-60R for my first radio. This HT is built solid and with the three power settings will last you all day. I have also been using this as my mobile rig along with an externally mounted antenna (SSB5) and it works great even at only 5W.

Additionally, a great piece of donation-ware is available for programming this radio at http://www.kc8unj.com/. FT-60 Commander along with an $6-10 cable off eBay works great for managing the radio. I would highly recommend this to anyone as their first radio, but it is also a full function dual band HT for seasoned HAMs.
 
The FT-60R was my first radio. It's worked wonderfully so far for me. I also highly recommend the Commander software from KC8UNJ. It makes it soooo much easier to program large amounts of frequencies and also to keep them organized into the different memory banks. I actually programed a bunch of freqs this weekend into mine using that software. Free download, too, so you really can't beat it.

EDIT: The wide band receive is also very handy as well for setting it up as a scanner. I use it to monitor police/fire/ems frequencies when I work security and I also carry it as a backup receiver for the aviation band when I fly.
 
Last edited:
I've heard great things about it. I figure I will pick one up soon as my first radio over the VX-7R I was looking at.

VX7 is a nice little radio (I have one), but its complicated. For occasional/SHTF use you are better off with something more straight forward. If you are going to use it a lot, then go for it. I've only ever hit one 6m repeater with mine (I think that is because of the sucky antenna). 2m/440 is great. 220 has low power(1W) and there are not many opportunities to use it (though one reason I bought it is because the only repeater in my town happens to be 220).

Matt
 
Not for business use...

It can be sort of a fine line when doing security. Another security guard that I work with on Wednesday nights is also a ham. We're both on post, working security for the same company, but we use our personal radios to basically just rag chew to pass the time. We have another set of radios, owned by the company, that we use for any security-related issues.

EDIT: Like a friend of mine that does towing in Hartford. He's got a 2m mobile rig in his wrecker, but he never uses it for company business, just to rag chew while he's waiting for calls from HPD.
 
Last edited:
It won't transmit outside the ham bands without modification (many ham transceivers can be modified to "free band" - but be you are not licensed to transmit outside the ham bands. I believe this radio as 'wide receive' meaning it will receive over a broad range (including frequencies reserved for emergency services, etc.)
 
It won't transmit outside the ham bands without modification (many ham transceivers can be modified to "free band" - but be you are not licensed to transmit outside the ham bands. I believe this radio as 'wide receive' meaning it will receive over a broad range (including frequencies reserved for emergency services, etc.)

Correct. The FT-60R can receive frequencies from 108-520 and 700-999.990, but transmit is disabled for all but the 2m and 70cm ham bands. You can modify the radio by removing a friggin tiny resistor on the board, which will enable the radio to transmit on 137-174 and 420-470. For the most part you can't really legally transmit outside of the ham bands with that particular radio, though, so it's not really worth potentially destroying the radio to attempt the mod...and it's a TINY resistor, about the size of a single grain of sand. Long story short, the FT-60R isn't certified by the FCC to operate on any freqs besides those allocated to amateur radio, so it's really better to just go with a business band radio for business use.
 
It won't transmit outside the ham bands without modification (many ham transceivers can be modified to "free band" - but be you are not licensed to transmit outside the ham bands. I believe this radio as 'wide receive' meaning it will receive over a broad range (including frequencies reserved for emergency services, etc.)

You can purchase one online that is already "free band" and use the bands outside if you are licensed to, most are probably shipped from Asia (non US models).

I purchased mine in Asia so it came with "free band", no messing with soldering.
 
Correct. The FT-60R can receive frequencies from 108-520 and 700-999.990, but transmit is disabled for all but the 2m and 70cm ham bands. You can modify the radio by removing a friggin tiny resistor on the board, which will enable the radio to transmit on 137-174 and 420-470. For the most part you can't really legally transmit outside of the ham bands with that particular radio, though, so it's not really worth potentially destroying the radio to attempt the mod...and it's a TINY resistor, about the size of a single grain of sand. Long story short, the FT-60R isn't certified by the FCC to operate on any freqs besides those allocated to amateur radio, so it's really better to just go with a business band radio for business use.

Great info, thanks. I still have TONS to learn and unfortunately it is on the back burner as I am juggling a crapton of things as it is.
 
You can purchase one online that is already "free band" and use the bands outside if you are licensed to, most are probably shipped from Asia (non US models).

I purchased mine in Asia so it came with "free band", no messing with soldering.

If you're talking about the FT-60R, I'm not sure that's correct. The way the FCC regs are written, hams are allowed to modify equipment or even build equipment from scratch to operate on ham bands. However, radios for other bands (FRS, GMRS, Business, Public Service, etc.) have to be certified by the FCC for those particular bands. So, for example, you can take an old business or public service radio and reprogram it to operate on ham bands. You can't go the other direction, though, and take a radio manufactured for the ham bands and use to operate on a business band or public service band. According to a post I came across on QRZ, Philadelphia Fire Department purchased a bunch of modded amateur radios and used them on their public service freqs since they were cheaper than commercial radios. The FCC caught wind of it and slapped them with a rather large fine and forced them to dump all the modded radios and go with radios certified for commercial use.
 
Is this a good entry level radio? What can one do with this kind of radio? I've been thinking about getting into this hobby I'm just trying to find a good place to start. Can someone provide some helpful hints?
 
If you're talking about the FT-60R, I'm not sure that's correct. The way the FCC regs are written, hams are allowed to modify equipment or even build equipment from scratch to operate on ham bands. However, radios for other bands (FRS, GMRS, Business, Public Service, etc.) have to be certified by the FCC for those particular bands. So, for example, you can take an old business or public service radio and reprogram it to operate on ham bands. You can't go the other direction, though, and take a radio manufactured for the ham bands and use to operate on a business band or public service band. According to a post I came across on QRZ, Philadelphia Fire Department purchased a bunch of modded amateur radios and used them on their public service freqs since they were cheaper than commercial radios. The FCC caught wind of it and slapped them with a rather large fine and forced them to dump all the modded radios and go with radios certified for commercial use.

Didn't know that, but thanks...good info.
 
Back
Top Bottom