Yaesu Original FT-65 FT-65R 144/440 Dual-Band Rugged & Compact Handheld Transceiver, 5W - 3 Year Warranty

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Great product and fast shipping

It seems like Yaesu didn’t want to be left in the dust by all the other “Chinese” radios. To be competitive, this radio is similar to many other Chinese radios. Examples: antenna, single dial knob, flashlight, FM radio, program layout. However, this is still a Yaesu radio. There are also a lot of familiarity that reside with Yaesu. This is a better built radio than any “Chinese” radio. It still has the easy “full front” easy programming. It puts out a true 5 watts. I feel this is a great radio especially if you are a first HAM operator. Incase anyone is wondering, the so called “MARS/CAP” mod is extremely easy to do. No pulling of diodes or resistors. It’s simply a code that you enter on startup. One thing I want to mention is there is not a lot of after market items for this radio. Has weird spacing for a mic jack, meaning normal mics will not work. It’s specific to this radio. Overall, I am extremely please with this radio as I use it for normal HAM operations. If you’re considering this radio versus the yaesu FT60R, I’d say the FT60R is a staple for the HAM industry for handheld radios. More options and aftermarket accessories. I’ve had the FT60R for over 10 years. It is more expensive but remember, you get what you pay for. As I mentioned before, I feel the FT65R was built to keep up with the other “Chinese” radios in the market. This is not a step up to the FT60R. It’s more of a lateral move for Yaesu. With that being said, still an excellent radio. Hope this helps with your decision.

Excelente inversión ya que es buen radio

This is good little HT. No bells or whistles but thats what I wanted. I have to say its a step up from a Baofeng (not that there bad) . The build quality is good, not that hard to program even using the keys. I have a roll up slim jim antenna hanging from the pull chain of my ceiling fan and can hit repeaters 15+ miles away.

I expected more from a name brand company than a slightly worse Baofeng UV-5R. Dont waste your money with this radio. It is garbage. ::edit:: Okay, here is why I call it garbage. I own a Baofeng UV-5R and it has moderately good reception, but poor output. 5 watts just isnt enough. I have had it for 3 months. I tested the Yaesu FT-65R the exact same way as I did the UV-5R. Put on the stock antenna ran some tests on known good repeaters, and nothing. No one could hear my screams. I moved outside to the same spot my UV-5R gets out and nada. Switched antennas, to the NA-771 still nothing. I know there are at least 5 hams within a 2 mile radius and none of them could hear me. Keyed up the Baofeng, got a verbal confirmation of weak scratchy output Just like always. Switched back to the Yaesu and nothing. Over the coarse of 5 days owning the radio, I noticed that my receiving function slowly deteriorated to nothing but static. That right there is why I called it garbage.

After trying a number of different dual-band HTs with varying success and quality, I finally landed on this beauty of a transceiver and love it. While it may cost a bit more than some of its competitors, it has the heft and feel of a quality piece of engineering and it functions very well.

GARBAGE. Does not transmit. Sending back for refund.

Like any similar device I had to read the manual twice to fully understand how to manually program repeaters, etc. Otherwise the memory and VFO modes are intuitive to set up and operate. The speaker sound quality is very good and plenty loud for my purposes. Lastly I had no problem hitting a repeater three towns away using 5W and the rubber ducky antenna. I do plan on getting a longer antenna that is better suited for 2 meter operation.

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