yaesu – Page 2

Yaesu FT710 final Review and Where to Go From Here

I’ve had the Yaesu FT710 for a while now and used it mainly in the field. That was and is my intent for this radio. In general, I feel if I am doing an activity like Field Day or a multi-day POTA activation, and I am not carrying my gear more than a few feet, why not bring a full sized but compact radio. These radios have more operating options and the controls are generally easier to use. In addition, running a 100 watt radio at low power (20 watts or less), the radio doesn’t even get warm. The radio works well with digital modes. It wasn’t that long ago that Yaesu’s were a real pain to run digital. Icom’s have had an easy interface since the IC-7100. Today, the FTDX10 and the FT710 both are on par with the Icom’s when it comes to digital modes. With CW, both brands are about equal. In general, I feel both radios are interchangeable and it would be the matter of personal preference which would determine which is best for you. In the next couple of paragraphs I will describe the pluses and minus’ of the FT710 and the IC-7300. John WD8LQT provided input from his use of my radio during the WGARS Spring Fling.

Attenuation. The IC-7300 only gives you 18dB of attenuation while the FT710 give you 3: 6dB, 12dB, and 18db. Your more expensive radios typically have 3 like the FT710. In an SDR radio, attenuation is your friend. Preamp should almost never be used. The nod goes to the FT710.

CW Tune. Both radios have autotune but the FT710 has a CW tuning indicator right below the S-meter. I find myself using it quit a bit. Some CW ops crank their filters way down and if you are a little off frequency, they won’t hear you. My buddy John WD8LQT, also liked this feature. Nod goes to the FT710.

Sound quality. The FT710 sounds a little better, but the IC-7300 has a lower noise floor. I do not find either one objectionable. YMMV. Draw

Waterfall. The IC-7300 has an averaging waterfall and the FT710 does not. That means that the FT710’s waterfall has to be manually adjusted every time band conditions change. John noticed that when sending CW the waterfall would flash rather brightly, enough to be a little distracting. This may have been due to the waterfall level not being adjusted properly, but it is not an issue with the Icom. Nod to the Icom.

Ergonomics. Here the IC-7300 is the clear winner. It has more of the right buttons on the control panel and it is easier to get to the most needed controls. The 7300 gives you 3 adjustable filters and the Yaesu gives you 2. To adjust the Icom, grab a knob and give it a twist. On the Yaesu, push a knob, twist the knob, push the knob, twist the knob.

Power consumption. The FT710 uses about 1.2 to 1.3 amps at idle with normal volume. The IC-7300 uses about 0.85 amps. This doesn’t matter if mains power or generator power is available but when working off of batteries this can become an issue.

Sensitivity and Selectivity. The Icom has a lower noise floor, -133 vs -127 dBm for the Yaesu. Before I get into selectivity let me explain a little about Rob Sherwoods numbers. Most people quote the 2 KHz blocking number, that comes with a couple of caveats. First, for the most part Rob measures 2 KHz blocking with a 500 Hz filter. That’s a CW filter. Sideband filters usually run 2.4 KHz plus. Unless you’re a CW op, this number is irrelevant. Here is what Rod Sherwood says, “I decided to sort the table on my website by close-in dynamic range at 2-kHz spacing. This was the “acid test” for CW contest / DX pile up operation.” He further quantifies his research with the following numbers. “What do you need in the way of close-in dynamic range? You want a number of at least 70 dB for SSB, and at least 80 dB for CW. A 10 dB safety factor would be nice, so that means you would prefer 80 dB for SSB and 90 dB for CW.” In the past I have compared the IC-7300 with the FTDX10 and the FT710 during a CW contest. What ever I could hear with one, I could hear with the other. The Yaesu’s had a little less ringing but I had no problem copying the signal from any of the radios.

What this means is either radio will serve the vast majority of operators well. Whatever your personal preference is, go for it. There are things I love about the FT710 and there are things I love about the IC-7300. I never feel at a disadvantage with either radio. I plan on keeping both.

Where do I go from here? That’s a good question. I don’t have anything in line to review. I have decided to take a step back from EmComm for a while. I’ve been doing a lot of digital lately and need to get back to the joys of CW. I also have a couple of QRP radios that need to be taken out and used. I still enjoy the smaller radios. I’ll take a big radio on a camping trips/Field Days and may take a little radio for a quick activation. Sometimes it’s nice to grab a small box or bag and go. I have some antennas I haven’t used in a while, I need to get them out.

Thanks for hanging with me. I appreciate your company. 73 de Scott

WGARS Spring Fling 2025

Today was the club’s semi-annual outing and this spring it was one of our old haunts, Cheaha State Park US-1037 in the fine state of Alabama. There are 3 things we as a club like to do, we like to eat, we like to socialize, and once in a while we talk on the radio.

As usual, food was in abundance.

We had several stations set up under the pavilion. QRM was held to a minimum. We had Xeigu G90’s, Tru-SDR, Icom IC-705, and my Yaesu FT-710. I set the radio up and turned it over to the club President John WD8LQT. John, like me is a CW op and I wanted his opinion of the FT-710. I didn’t have to twist his arm too hard. The setup was the radio feeding a Chameleon micro transformer with a 12’ whip and about a 20’ counterpoise. The radio was powered by a 20 amp-hour Bioenno battery and the paddles were a Begali Expedition.

Band conditions were poor and it took John most of the time at the park to get his 10 contacts. There were stops for eating and chatting. Early in the activation, I decided to change antennas to be sure we had an atmospheric issue and not an equipment one. I had my Diamond RHM-12 which recently proved itself to be a good performer. Once the switch was made and some searching through the bands, John started making contacts on 20 meters. I believe it was atmospherics and not the equipment. John got his 10 contacts and we called it good.

John’s comments about the FT-710 were quite favorable. Like any radio, there are pluses and minuses. In general he thought it was a very good radio for CW. There is more commentary from John on the YouTube video posted below. John did have one epic fail. The ear buds he was using which looked rather ancient finally gave up the ghost. I took it upon myself to intervene and unceremoniously threw them in the trash. John will thank me.

My review of the FT-710 is drawling to a close. I find that I like the radio. It performs well for its price point and has some features found on more expensive radios. It has its quirks as all radios do, but none that I find overly objectionable. I plan on keeping the radio and it has found a place among my field radios. I imagine the radio may make an appearance during this year’s Field Day.

FTDX10 or FT710

Yaesu came out with too fairly closely spec’d radios at different price points. The FTDX10 currently sells for ~$1,500 and if you add in the 300 Hz filter, another ~$175. The FT710 Field sells for ~$1,075. Roughly $500 less.

The FTDX10 is a hybrid radio with a down conversion receiver feeding into a Direct Digital Synthesizer (DDS). The FT710 is a SDR radio similar to the IC-7300. I owned an FTDX10 for about 18 months and I am on my second FT710, total ownership time is approximately 10 months. I had the first FT710 a couple of months after the initial release. It wasn’t working the way I expected it to so I traded. About 6 months ago, after reading some of the update material, I thought I would give it another go. My second FT710, this time the field version, is much improved. It is my current go to field radio. I plan on keeping this one. Having used both radios if I had to do it again which one would I pick?

I would pick the FT710. The FT710 has 90-95% of the performance of the FTDX10 for $500 less. In fact, I do not think one could tell the difference between the two in a side by side blind test. There is a caveat, the receiver architecture is different between the two radios and it requires a slightly different skill set. SDR radios like the FT710 basically run wide open all of the time. Keeping that in mind, in most cases it is better to run IPO or attenuation rather than preamp. I almost never run preamp on my FT710. What is nice about the FT710 is it gives you 3 levels of attenuation: 6dB, 12dB, and 18dB; a feature usually only found on higher end radios. In contrast, the IC-7300 only gives you one, 18dB.

The other control you should become familiar with is the RF gain. On a Yaesu, RF gain starts in the fully clockwise position. When there is a lot of noise, slowly turn the RF gain counter-clockwise until only the desired signal is heard. Coming from analog radios years ago, my brain is still a very good filter. I use digital noise reduction sparingly. I often keep it at level 2 or 3, enough to take the edge off.

Perhaps the most compelling reason to chose the FT710 over the FTDX10 besides the cost, is the ergonomics. I have large hands and fat fingers. The FTDX10 clustered its controls close together so I had to be careful when pushing a button or twisting a knob. Even so, I would bump the frequency dial and throw it off frequency. I have remarked that the controls on the FTDX10 were more suited for the lefthand. In fact when it was a part of my home station, it sat to the left side. With the FT710, the controls spaced further apart and are easy to get to even with my big mitts. This is a real benefit for a field radio. The position of the radio or the lighting conditions may not be optimal so ergonomics are important. I find the FT710 a joy to use in the field.

If you are a dyed-in-the-wool FTDX10 owner, this post is not for you. I wrote this for the amateur radio operator looking for their first HF radio, or maybe a seasoned operator looking to venture into the Yaesu family. This is also for those who have limited funds and are agonizing over which radio to get and should they sacrifice funds for the more expensive radio over something else they may need for the shack. The FTDX10 is a fine radio. Its Achilles’ Heel is its ergonomics. The FT710 is a fine radio in its own right. I believe it is 90-95% of what the FTDX10 is but for much less money. Of all the Yaesu radios I have owned over the past almost 30 years, the FT710 is the one I have been most happy with. YMMV de Scott

Surprises at Laura S Walker State Park

I decided to travel a little further this time and head toward the Okefenokee swamp. this time I tried the Laura S Walker State Park. It was a five hour drive and about 320 miles but fortunately I was able to stay off the interstates for all but about 30 miles of the trip. The park is near Waycross, GA which recently suffered from severe weather. Even though it has been a while there it still plenty of evidence to attest to natures fury. The park itself was in good shape and I had a nice campsite.

I would normally use my 28.5′ vertical antenna but I had a power line that passed almost directly over my truck and camper. I could have requested a better campsite but in the spirit of FunComm I decided to work with what I had. Instead of my usual antennas I deployed a new antenna. A Diamond RHM-12. This is a manual screw drive type antenna that is only about 7 feet tall and covers 40 meters to 440 MHz. With additional coils it also covers 80 and 160 meters. I set it up away from the power lines and used a Chameleon Spike to set it into the ground. I also had 2 counterpoises about 20-25′.

I was a little concerned about its performance. Inside the camper I had My Lenovo Laptop and Yaesu FT-710 with an LDG tuner.

I had a Rig Expert Pro Stick antenna analyzer with me and I was able to get the SWR down below 2:1. I guess I could have monkeyed with to get it lower but since I had the tuner…

I have really taken a liking to the FT-710. It has been performing well and since the last firmware updates, it has become a little champ. It is winning my heart. The radio, tuner, and computer all worked well together. I only ran 25 watts of power as that is about the limit on the antenna using FT-8. I was going to work some CW but the days I was at the park the temps were up around 90 degrees, far from the 43 degrees the morning I left my home QTH. I ran the air conditioning and when it is on I have trouble copying CW. Years in Army Aviation and other loud occupations have affected my hearing.

How did I do? Surprisingly well. In a 24 hour period which included sleep time, I made 400 contacts (7 dupes). I made contacts in 46 states (Not AK, HI, MT or RI) and 34 DX entities! I think that’s a new record for me during a POTA Activation. I got as far west as Australia and American Samoa, and as far east as Turkey, Bulgaria, and European Russia. The bands were up and down and I had to make a few trips out to the antenna to adjust it when I changed bands.

I never expected that little antenna to perform so well. The RHM-12 antenna has been assigned to permanent duty in my antenna kit.

It’s important to take your gear out and use it. Understand how it operates under various conditions. Know what your gear can and cannot do. This is good to know having fun but becomes critical when more is at stake.

Night on Bald Mountain

This trip was to Cloudland Canyon State Park located in NW Georgia. It is a very nice campground about a 2 hour drive from the home QTH. I got at the campground Tuesday, around 2000Z and quickly set up. Radio du jour was the Yaesu FT710 Field which is currently under review. The antenna was my 28.5’ random wire vertical. I am also trying out my Maestro Evolve III laptop along with HAMRS Pro software.

Band conditions were a little off so I started on FT8. It was slow going but I made 15 contacts before the new day. After supper, I went back to FT8 to try to get 15 more contacts before the storms hit.

The whole time I had moderate winds and some pretty good gusts. Right before the storms I lowered the antenna and put a garbage bag over it to keep it dry. The antenna is weather sealed, but the push up pole when it gets wet, is a real pain to dry out.

How about the FT710? In general, I like the radio. I think it’s a keeper. It is fun to use and performs well. It has a few niggles that I camp about but I like it. I talk more about the issues on my YouTube video. I will say that this radio is very different than the first one I got. The first radio was probably released too early and still had growing pains. This radio just feels better. In general I feel this radio and the IC-7300 are about equal. Either one will work well.

Evolve III. This is a pleasant surprise. I paid about $122 for it and for a field laptop it does well. Last night I ran WSJT (FT8) and AcLog without any issues. I was also running. BktTimeSync with a GPS receiver in the background. It is a little slow to start up but once it’s running, it does fine. I run it with a Logitech M310 mouse.

I am also trying out HAMRS Pro. I have it on Windows, Mac, IOS (iPhone, iPad) and they all sync up. I will talk more about HAMRS in a follow up article.

This is Wednesday morning and I am going to try to do some CW before I pack up and go home. Bands conditions are so-so at the moment. I will break my normal procedure are hunt a while to try out some of HAMRS features.

I only managed to make one CW contact hunting and activating. I could tell I was getting out as I showed up on HamAlert. Here is a QSO map of the activation.

If I remember correctly, I had issues last time I was at Cloudland. The important thing was I got out for a while and I had fun. It isn’t always about the numbers. Below is a video about the activation and my thoughts on the FT710. Stay tuned es 73 Scott

Deja Vu all over again

The 2025 promises to be a better year. I am looking forward to being more radio-active. I am also looking forward to more blogging and more vlogging. I am hoping to undertake some long term reviews. I have two in mind. One is going to be a Maestro Evolve III laptop computer. I know a lot of hams use them so I thought I would give one a whirl. My other project is going to be another Yaesu FT710, this time the field version. I last owned one about a year and a half ago, I traded it off after a few months of use. The radio was going through some growing pains and was probably not ready for prime time. My general thoughts back then was the radio was a likable and fun radio and compared favorably to my IC-7300. I thought I would give it another look and a fair shake since it’s been through a few firmware updates since its release in 2022.

I am hoping this FT-710 is more polished than my first one. I can see at least two firmware updates since my last 710 and the manual has been updated. Hopefully Yaesu cured those early issues. I picked up the radio yesterday. I plan on using it as a field radio for POTA activations as well as for Winter Field Day and Field day with my club. In general the IC-7300 and the FT-710 are comparable, each with their pluses and minuses. Whichever brand you are married to, either radio will probably serve you equally well. One reason I got this radio is there are many members in my club that use Yaesu radios. Having familiarity with the Yaesu system allows me to help them with their radio problems.

My initial thoughts are similar to the ones I had a year and a half ago. It is a likable radio and it has a certain fun factor. I am going through my past blog posts and YouTube videos to make list of things I found with my first FT710 and see if they have been corrected. I will also post the settings I changed on the new radio to suit me.

I like big radios when I go camping or even on POTA day trips. I like having the controls I use handy and if band conditions get ugly, I can turn up the power. I normally run 20-25 watts for CW and digital. The rare times I am on SSB, I may go as high as 50 watts. Another plus with a big radio is I can run digital modes all day long and it will not overheat the radio. I do have a couple of QRP radios and I do take them out for a spin every now and again; but I can just as easily turn my big radio down to 5 watts. I am looking forward to using it in the upcoming Winter Field Day. 73 de Scott

Culling the Herd

I feel I have too many radios. It’s better than having too few, but I have more than I need. The radios I have are not getting enough use even in a round robin. In the past, when I let radios sit too long something happens. Usually it’s corrosion somewhere and once discovered, a simple cleaning is in order. But I have had cheaper radios go dead on me. I like to use my radios enough to keep them healthy. I didn’t plan on all these radios; they were acquired through deals and trades I didn’t expect. But the bottom line is at least one has to go.

The radio I chose is my Yaesu FTDX10, Sheldon. I’ve owned the FTDX10 for about a year and a half. I’ve had a love/hate relationship with it. It is a good performing radio and I enjoy using it for casual CW like hunting POTA and for the past year or so and has been my back-up radio in the shack. I used it every other month switching between it and my IC-7610. While it’s a nice radio, Most of my gear is Icom centric and I feel that the ergonomics are better on the Icoms. Obliously, I like the radio enough to have kept it for a year and a half but, something has to go and I chose it. The radio was used mostly for CW and was run at 50 watts or below in a non-smoking environment.

I will probably replace it at the QTH with my K3(s)/10. This radio was a surprise trade and I have upgraded it from a K3 to a K3S. This is a radio that deserves more use than it has been getting. I was using it as a field radio, but it really belongs in the shack.

The FTDX10 is for sale, I will post an ad on QTH.com. It comes with the microphone, power cable, 300 Hz crystal filter, Portable Zero Rails, an SPE linear Amplifier Cable, and manual. I am asking $900. I prefer a local pickup/delivery. If shipped buyer pays shipping either USPS or FedEx. You can email me a sroyle@live.com. Low ball offers will be ignored.

Thanks to all who visit this website and associated YouTube Channel.

Naming Radios

Men in general, have a habit of naming things. All sorts of things, cars, body parts, you name it, we will cast our own nickname on it. I thought I would share some of the names I have given my radios. Typically, I don’t just throw a name on something. I am around it for a while, before I decide what I am going to call it. My poor dogs, when I first get them, I go through a plethora of names until I find one that fits. My latest dog, a boxer mix from the pound was named Hawkeye by them. I got him home. I had to get to know him.

He ended up being Andy but likes to be called pup-pup. Maybe his last owners called him that. He’s still very much a pup but is going to be a great dog.

I will start with my main radio which is an Icom IC-7610. It is my workhorse radio. It is probably the best radio I have ever owned. I have worked the world on it and it does everything I need it to do. I call it Zeus, the king of all my other radios. I believe there is not a radio out there that can do anything that Zeus cannot do. Any improvements over Zeus would be marginal.

Next up is another Icom, the IC-7300. I’ve had this radio the longest. It is simply called Peter, after the Apostle Peter. This radio is my rock. It can do everything my other radios can do. Not as well, but if I could only have one radio, the IC-7300 would be it. I’ve used it as a base, I take it to the field, run it off of batteries, voice, digital, CW, it does it all.

The last Icom in my stable is my IC-705 whom I call Jack. Jack with the AH-705 can do it all. Jack is short for Jack-of-all-trades. It does everything quite well. Because the user interface is similar to my other Icoms, it is easy to use. I think Icom has some of the best ergonomics out there for modern radios.

The next radio on the list is my Lab599, TX-500. This is a fun radio with a simple interface in a small package. What sets this radio apart is it is weatherproof. I have taken out on cold rainy days without issue. Its name is Baal (pronounced bale) which is the Canaanite god of weather. This one doesn’t see as much use as the others, but when bad weather is in the forecast…

The last radio in my current quiver is the FTDX10. My most recent radio and one I wanted to try over a long period to see how I like it and how it compares to my other radios. I named it Sheldon after the main character on The Big Bang Theory. Like Sheldon, the radio has its moments of brilliance, but along with that an awkwardness that can’t be ignored. I will continue to use the radio and try to keep the firmware updated. Yaesu could easily fix some of the issues so we shall see. One thing that I do like about the radio is the roofing filters including the 300hz one.

The last radio on my list is a Penntek TR-45L This radio was due to be delivered last Thursday but has now been postponed until Monday (thank you USPS). This radio is already named Apollo, after the Apollo moon missions back in the 1960’s. I was fortunate enough to be alive then and watched the actual landing on TV. This radio has a 1960’s vibe to it so Apollo it is. More about the TR-45L once I get my hands on it.

These are my radios. I like them all and I try to rotate them as I go to the field. The past couple of months though has had horrible band conditions during my trips so I tended to bring the bigger radios for more horsepower. That and I was working on my POTA N1CC award. When I was at a faraway park I wanted a little insurance working 10 different bands. Gas prices were killer back then so I wasn’t sure about a return trip. Upcoming trips should see a more normal rotation. 73 — Scott

Look What Followed Me Home

Yesterday, I drove to HRO in Atlanta and picked up a Yaesu FTDX10. No, this does not replace my Icom IC-7300 which I still consider to be the best all around HF field radio out there. I bought the FTDX10 for a couple of reasons. It has been a while since I owned a Yaesu radio and I thought I would try this one out. I do tend to gravitate towards Icoms and will probably get to a couple of those reasons in this post.

Its purpose as a part of my stable of radios is going to be a field radio. Just like I have 2 QRP field radios, I now have 2 QRO field radios. This radio brings a few things to the table that the IC-7300 doesn’t and also has a few niggles absent in the Icom. In the field, I primarily operate CW and FT8. This radio has several features that enhance CW operation over the IC-7300 that are found on the IC-7610. I feel that I have an IC-7610 radio in an IC-7300 size (not totally true, but you get the idea).

Size wise, the FTDX10 and the IC-7300 are fairly close in size with the FTDX10 being about an inch wider.

The FTDX10 also weighs about 4 pounds more. Weight and size differences this small are insignificant when considering how I plan to use the radios. Mostly, it will be portable operations either operating out of my truck or my camper. I might have to lug the radios maybe 15 feet. I carry the IC-7300 in a Dewalt Tough System 2.0 medium box and plan to do the same with the Yaesu.

Setup – Display/Power. There are lots of options on the Yaesu. I would say that this is not a beginners radio. While the manual is pretty good, you still have to have some idea of what you are doing. One of the niggles I have is receive current. When I first turned on the radio, it was drawing over 2 amps in receive. The Icom only draws a little over 0.8 amps, less that half of the Yaesu. I changed the following settings to bring it down to 1.78 amps:
LED Dimmer 7
Dimmer 10
Color 5
Max HF RF Power 50 watts.
The last 2 didin’t help with the amp draw but they were set at the same time as the others. I normally don’t operate past 50 watts in the field.

Setup – SSB. I don’t plan on operating SSB in the field, but then again, you never know. I tried to setup SSB according to the manual and found I didn’t get the expected results. I had to fiddle with the settings in order to stay within the prescribed parameters. Here are the setting I used:
Mic Gain – 65
Processor Level – 71
AMC – 41
Of course MMMV. This was using the hand mic. I really like the hand mic with its controls. It has a mute button to mute the receiver as well as up/down buttons and 4 “P” buttons which perform the following:
P1 – Main Dial Lock
P2 – QMB Quick Memory Bnak
P3 – VFO A/VFO B
P4 – VFO/Memory
I may keep the microphone connected just for the convenience of the buttons. I did not set all of the parametric settings. That will be another endeavour.

Setup – CW. This is where the FTDX10 really shines. It has APF, Audio Peak Filter Zin/Spot (same as the 7610). A really nice feature is the high cut and low cut filters, which help to isolate the incoming desired signal. My initial CW settings are based upon 700 Hz sidetone:
Low Cut – 600
High Cut – 800
CW Out – 50
CW BK-IN – Full
Keyer Type – B
Ratio – 3.3
Like the Icoms, you can set the the keyer BK-IN to off, you can use the radio as a practice oscillator. One thing the FTDX10 has over the IC-7300 is it can decode CW. Often your ears are better filters, but I can see the decoder maybe helping with difficult callsigns or your brain is not firing on all cylinders that day.

Setup – FT8. Here I was surprised. My last Yaesu radio was a FTDX3000 and the computer interface was tedious at best. You had to make the radio use digital modes. It was one of the reasons I shied away from Yaesu. Icom has been doing this better since the IC-7100. However, Yaesu has learned. Now setting up for digital modes and computer logging is a breeze. Once you setup the software for FT8, on the radio you do the following:
Set Mode to USB and PRESET (both must be on or blue color)
Set Roofing Filter to 3K
That’s it. I made about 5 quick contacts on FT8 to include europe. I also set up ACLog to work with the Yaesu. Easy Peezy.

External Antenna Tuner. This has been another sore spot with me. Using an LDG tuner with an Icom is plug and play. One cable and I can tune using the radios tune button and the tuner is powered by the radio. The Yaesu on the other hand, has never been an easy fix. It seems that to use an external tuner, you had to do something extra or something different. When I bought the FTDX10, I bought an adapter cable for my LDG Z-11 Pro. It was still more fiddly than I liked.

What’s next? I am seting this up for field work. I ordered a Mat-30 antenna tuner for the radio which is supposed to work like the LDG tuner does for the Icom. Push the tuner button on the radio and it matches the antenna. I also ordred the 300 Hz filter and a pair of Portable Zero side rails. I don’t put my radios in Pelican type cases. Those cases take up too much space and in reality, the radios do not need that much protection. The side rails prevent the knobs and buttons from hitting the wall of Dewalt box while in transit and allow me to set the radio up on end which I seem to do alot while setting up and breaking down.

Where does the FTDX10 fit? I think this radio will get its most use when I am either camping with shore power or in a cabin. In general I try to go camping at least once a month where there is power available. The IC-7300 will get used in areas where I am operating under battery power. I have been an Emergency Communications Specialist for my church for 25 years and if I were to deploy to a disaster again, I would take the IC-7300. The FTDX10 is not a radio you can learn about over an hour or two. I will take a while to learn all the goodness it contains. On my POTA activations, you will still see both radios along with my QRP radios. Tnx for stopping by de Scott

Why I’m keeping my IC-7300

I know there’s been a lot of hoopla over the new Yaesu Radios. I am sure they are fine radios and do a great job. These will be fine radios for those invested in the Yaesu environment.

I have owned Yaesus in the past, the last being the FTDX-3000. However, I always seem to gravitate back to Icom. I am not necessarily an Icom fan boy, just that currently, Icom suits me better.

I was tempted to buy the new FT-710. I looked at it long and hard. I schemed about how I was going to buy one. Part of my justification was looking at the specs where I discovered something…

The IC-7300 hears better. The noise floor for the IC-7300 is -133 dBm vs -127 dBm for the FT-710. Rob Sherwood defines noise floor as “Noise floor measures how weak a signal one can hear.” I can work signals on my IC-7300 and IC-7610 with an S0 (zero) on the meter. I’m working a station and the meter is not moving when receiving.

I hear comments about the FT-710 being quieter. It could be possible that Yaesu has a 6 dBm high pass filter creating an artificial noise floor above the actual one? This is just my opinion based on what I see in the specs. That may be why the Icom hears better and the Yaesu is quieter. Ah, but the FT-710 has better close in dynamic range. This is true. The FT-710 has about a 10 db better close in dynamic range then the IC-7300. The question becomes, do you really need it? From Rob Sherwood “What do you need in the way of close-in dynamic range? You want a number of at least 70 dB for SSB, and at least 80 dB for CW. A 10 dB safety factor would be nice, so that means you would prefer 80 dB for SSB and 90 dB for CW.” Unless you’re a hard core contester or chasing DX, the answer might be maybe not. Rob Sherwood put an IC-7300 through its paces during an ARRL 160 meter CW contest. His comment was “I have zero complaints about using it in a CW contest.” This contest would be a good test for any receiver. Like Rob I have no issues with my Icom the way I use it.

Am I telling you not to get a FT-710? Of course not. It’s a fine radio in its own right. Like I said, I was tempted. But, if you already own an IC-7300, the extra expense of buying a FT-710 and/or selling your IC-7300 may not be worth the effort. I’ve owned my IC-7300 since 2017 and can make it dance and sing. I would have to relearn the Yaesu menu architecture and it may take me a while to get the same results as the Icom. I have 4 Icoms with the same/simular menu system so for me it’s a no brainer to keep the Icom. I believe either radio is well suited for the task it was designed to do. I am not really saying the Icom is better than the Yaesu, what I am saying is that the Icom is better suited to me. YMMV. 73 Scott.