Mike and Alicia Fanning wrote:
>
> FWIW, I bought a 990 about four years ago at the local hamfest and kept it
> about a year. I really liked the ergonomics of the radio, but I always
> thought the hissing in the receiver without the switched capacitor filter
> engaged was really weird. Basically the "feature" of an adjustable SCAF was
> useless, as you had to keep it fully engaged all the time to keep the hiss
> out of the receiver when using it. I eventually sold the radio because I
> like using full QSK on CW, and the 990 full break-in is absolutely unusable.
> If you used semi-break-in, all was fine, but in full QSK mode, the radio
> would truncate characters so badly that folks would routinely ask for
> repeats. I guess if you don't do much CW work, or if you are okay without
> full break-in, its a good radio. I really do like the layout, but I would
> never buy another one again due to its CW performance.
>
Thanks for your information Mike. I went for a FT1000D (second hand) in
July 1996, but was considering the FT990 for a while at that time. The
990's full break-in performance would have been an annoyance to me. The
SCAF feature was an attraction to me, also. The reason why I went ahead
with the FT1kD is that I operate RTTY and I felt that I needed the heavy
duty power supply and finals (especially since I am long winded while
using RTTY mode).
73 and Have Fun,
de ~ Vince ~
WA2RSX IOTA NA-026
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