Re: Topband: Key-clicks FT1000MK-V field

["Doug Waller" <NX4D@comcast.net>]

> There are good alternatives to these radios. Buy the alternatives!
> Steer other hams away from Yaseu, and talk about their attitude on
> the air.  Tell the ham vendors you aren't buying Yaseu, and why.

I have sat by and watched some of you work yourselves into a frenzy.  It 
reminds me of an old cowboy movie where the good local citizens finally get 
the lynch rope out and hang the victim.

Yes, the FT-1000's have key clicks, some more than others.  Go to INRAD url 
and read "about key clicks".  There you will see that the Omni VI+ and the 
IC-765 are also very "clicky" radios. There are other clickers, which have 
not yet been tested. But like the article says, there are more MP's out 
there than all the other radios put together, so they get the focus.

The fact is, there are so many FT-1000's, because they are one heck of a 
quality radio for the price.  Almost everyone I know has recently purchased 
a FT-1000MP, Mark V, due to the price reduction.  Install the Inrad roofing 
filter, the 125hz IF filter, turn on menu 7-7, CW-R, and you have a quiet, 
sensitive, selective, top notch Topband receiver, comparable to $3300 to 
$9,500 models.  Can you imagine one of these Mark V owners telling another 
Mark V owner: "I am not going to work you because you have clicks."?

Another problem is that for fast CW, a fast rise and fall time is necessary 
for clean sounding characters.  I imagine that most of the concerned on this 
thread, including myself, only need to send very slow CW, for which the 
click mods work well.  Give Orion credit for adjustable rise and fall times, 
depending on CW speed.

We are stuck with thousands of these radios on the air.  They are probably 
still the top sellers today.  They are not going to go away.  The originator 
of this thread simply asked if the key click mod was applicable to the Field 
radio, being very agreeable to doing the mod.  I have an FT-1000MP, and one 
morning on 160m CW, someone sent "NX4D CLIX".  That was a wake-up call for 
me.  I got out my magnifying glass and soldering pencil.  Within two hours 
the mod was done, and it works!

So my advice is to gently and politely nudge the clickers into doing the 
mod.  Trying to force tens of thousands of owners to switch to a less 
popular radio, each of which has its own problems,  is just not going to 
work.  It would be nice if the factory did a major recall to modify these 
FCC and ARRL approved radios, but until then, let's exert pressure to DO THE 
MOD.

73, Doug / NX4D 


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