On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 19:02:09 GMT, Ed
wrote:



I am contemplating the purchase of a new dual band HT. I have
narrowed my decision to either the Yaesu FT-60 or the Kenwood TH-G71.


I picked up an FT-60 in December, and it's a solid HT for 2m/70cm.
Not a lot of bells and whistles to get in the way. It definitely is
computer programmable, and I use the free "FT-60 Commander" software.
I wish the alpha tags were more than 6 characters, and you can only
display the tag, or the freq, but not both. This is a *minor* gripe.
Battery life is very good, and I always get good Tx reports.

One thing about the TH-G71 - the power levels using the battery are
5W, 0.5W, and 50mW. This is a rather odd power distribution, IMO.
You either drain the battery or go extra low power. The FT-60 has a
more even 5W, 2W, and 0.5W which I think is more practical - 2W is
nice for local repeaters.

Finally, the FT-60 has 1000 memories, plus you can organize the memory
banks any way you like. In other words, bank 1 can have 7 freqs, bank
2 can have 56 freqs, bank 3 can have 14 freqs, and so on.

I know nothing of the TH-G71 performance.


Good luck!
Erik

I picked up an FT-60 in December, and it's a solid HT for 2m/70cm.
Not a lot of bells and whistles to get in the way. It definitely is
computer programmable, and I use the free "FT-60 Commander" software.
I wish the alpha tags were more than 6 characters, and you can only
display the tag, or the freq, but not both. This is a *minor* gripe.
Battery life is very good, and I always get good Tx reports.

One thing about the TH-G71 - the power levels using the battery are
5W, 0.5W, and 50mW. This is a rather odd power distribution, IMO.
You either drain the battery or go extra low power. The FT-60 has a
more even 5W, 2W, and 0.5W which I think is more practical - 2W is
nice for local repeaters.

Finally, the FT-60 has 1000 memories, plus you can organize the memory
banks any way you like. In other words, bank 1 can have 7 freqs, bank
2 can have 56 freqs, bank 3 can have 14 freqs, and so on.

I know nothing of the TH-G71 performance.




Very nice review on the FT-60 in response to my original question.
Thanks!


Ed

On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 04:11:59 GMT, Ed
wrote:


Very nice review on the FT-60 in response to my original question.
Thanks!

Thanks & no problem. The only other thing I'll say towards the
negative is that the FT-60 is a little inconsistent when using the
"SET" menu to change parameters. Sometimes you have to push the [F/W]
key to select the parameter, and other times you have to hit the PTT
button. Doesn't seem to have a rhyme or reason, and it's challenging
to remember which. Sometimes I hit PTT but end up ker-chunking the
repeater instead. :-)

You'll end up only changing the same few parameters in the field, like
Tx power, so it's not terrible.

One other plus - the speaker is LOUD and really punches through, esp.
on the noisy highway.


Erik