Nice radio, one of the best of the older Yaesu rigs, I had one for
several years and it worked nicely. Plus, the finals are 6146's
instead of the darn sweep tubes, and are much more durable.
The 902 hears better than the 101, and has filter positions for AM,
SSB, and CW instead of just the SSB and CW as in the 101. If you can
ever find FoxTango replacement filters for the rig, snatch them up!
The stock filters are good, FT's are better.
There is a memory function for working splits without an external
VFO, but, these are around. If you find a VFO for one of the older
901's, you can reverse a couple of wires inside the VFO to change the
direction in which the ext. VFO tunes...the 901's tune like the 101,
i.e., backwards and the 902's tune higher in frequency as you turn
the VFO knob clockwise...I believe these are the wires from the
optical encoders, it's been a few years since I did this, so, I am
running on memory! The ext VFO for the 101ZD won't work for the
902.
The rejection tuning, built in keyer, bandpass tuning, and WARC bands
make this a keeper compared to the 101...the 101 is a good rig, the
902 is a great one.
Use it with a non-amplified D-104 or secondly a Shure 444 and have a
good sounding rig. Be very, very judicious in use of the processor
and have someone listen to it on the air to help adjust it. For the
most part, I kept the processor off.
There is also a monitor scope that can be had (with a spectrum
analysis function [option?] if I remember correctly) that matches the
radio, plus an external antenna tuner, a VHF-UHF converter with
modular construction, a speaker (phone patch optional), and the
rarest accessory and never sold in the USA as it was designed after
the FCC's ban on amplifiers having 10m band coverage, the FL-2100Z
linear amplifier. This amp had the same bands as the older 2100's,
PLUS 160, 17, and 12m! A few of these have come in from Canada and
are a great little amplifier...2-572B's as finals.
There are some FET's in the RF and IF sections that can be replaced
with more modern equivalents that offer a lower noise floor than the
stock ones and have a greater static resistance, I don't remember
which ones, but, you can experiment if you feel like it, just observe
proper static procedures and keep the old ones...
Just a few thoughts from a former satisfied user.
I just sold it because I have too many darn radios!
Rick Blank, KI5SL
rblank@txdirect.net
AMSAT NA# 26195
San Antonio, Texas
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