Bill,
Dayton 1995. There I was, owner of two IC-765s which I was very pleased
with, and wrestling with the exact same decision as you. IC-775 or
FT-1000D? W8WD and I must have walked between the ICOM and Yaesu booths a
half dozen times.
My decision was compounded by the fact that I harbored an active dislike
for Yaesu radios. I owned (and still own) a FT-107M (the WHITE radio) with
which I won the 1984 ARRL ARRL DX CW from HR1DAP. Still, every other Yaesu
HF radio I used struck me as rather odd: FT-101s (any version), the FT-102
and any model of the FT-7x7 family. I harbored a secret fondness for the
FT-ONE which I got to use at N5AU in the 1982 CQWW, but it still had its
oddities and a huge price tag to boot.
I walked out of Dayton 1995 with a brand new FT-1000D. In the seven years
since I've acquired four more used ones ("Ya got a used FT-1000D for sale,
call K8CC - he'll buy it" :-)). Another FT-1000D is a long term guest in
the shack, courtesy of a friend on assignment in DL-land. This past
January I bought a used FT-1000MP from AES to see if I was missing
anything. Multi-multis consume lots of radios...
When I sit down to single op, the FT-1000D is radio I get behind. Compared
to my IC-765s, its a much better SSB radio which is what I was looking to
improve. The SSB crystal filtering of that era (dual 2.7 KHz filters
yielding a -6dB bandwidth of 2.4 KHz) was not narrow enough. The IC-775
struck me as a DSP wrapped around the back end of a IC-765.
I am a big fan of "simple to operate". In this regard, the FT-1000D is
better than the FT-1000MP, although I've gotten used to it by now. The
TS-950SDX IMO was the worst in this regard - lots of little knobs with
medium gray legends which were difficult to read.
K6KM makes an excellent point - if you're going to do SO2R, you really need
two radios of the same model. I did 1991 SS with one IC-765 and one
IC-761. Same front panels, but different controls in different spots. The
same condition exists between the FT-1000MP and MKV/Field.
So there are a few data points to consider. If all you can do is replace
the blasted radio, I'd get another IC-775. If you want simple to use,
150W+ and competitive capabilities, I'd sell the IC-775 and get two FT-1000Ds.
FWIW
73,
Dave/K8CC
At 10:01 PM 8/22/02 -0400, Cqtestk4xs@aol.com wrote:
>Ah, the joys of living in Florida...another lightning hit. It looks like the
>main xcvr, an Icom 775 is toast. The other 775 was not in line so it looks
>like it is clean.
>
>Insurance will be buying a new transceiver and since the 775 is approximately
>the same price, if not more than the 756 Pro and the FT 1000MP5, it looks
>like decision time. I loved the 775 and am tempted to get another. The
>reliability and simplicity of use are great. I have also heard very nice
>things about the 756 and the 1000.
>
>I am primarily a phone contester and like the fact that both the 775 and the
>1000 put out more than 100 watts which is handy for contests with the 150
>watt limit. I do operate some CW and plan on doing more in the future but my
>main love is SSB contests.
>
>Some of the review posts suggest quality control is more of an issue with
>Yaesu than Icom. More trips back to the shop, but some suggest the 1000 is
>the ultimate rig.
>
>My question is this: knowing what my operating habits are, if you were in my
>shoes and price were no object, which of the three would you purchase and
>why. Also which of the stock filters would you recomnmend. You can either
>send the suggestions and critiques to me or post them. I am not trying to
>start a war of Icom vs Yaesu, only to get a feeling from the community about
>the pros and cons of each. .This should be interesting.
>
>Thanks for the help.
>
>Bill K4XS
>
>
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