Yaesu FT-60R DualBand Handheld 5W VHF/UHF Amateur Radio Transceiver - Dual Band

This gift #2 out of 4. I have stayed with Yaesu because of the quality and build especially when it's military grade. The supplied rubber duck works well however if you're using this handheld where repeaters are some distance you'll want to upgrade and in this case, you get what you pay for. 73's KC6AJU

This thing is really nice. The build quality is great and the battery lasts.

Make sure you are getting the YAESU FT-60RE from IMPEX via Amazon. There is no doubt, the YAESU FT-60RE is an excellent amateur radio. We bought it for a specific purpose. We live in a rural Mexican community where 7 of our neighbors experienced burglary or theft and one home invasion in the last few months. We use the YAESU FT-60RE to set up a Neighborhood Watch in our area. I use the FRS and GMRS channels (listed in Wikipedia) which allow clear communications in areas where even Cell Phones don't work. Most of my neighbors have a one watt transceiver packaged with multiple radios. They can hear me and my wife with no problem. Most of these other cheap radios have short battery life and they have transmission problems because sending draws down the battery rapidly. Not so with the Yaesu FT-60RE. Should the rechargeable battery pass below operating voltage, the YAESU FT-60RE has a low battery alarm sounding like an alarm clock. It takes about 2.5 hours to re-charge the battery with the AC adapter that is bundled with the radio. I also bought a Yaesu 12 volt DC adapter for use in the car. In a city environment, I find the YAESU FT-60RE will broadcast 2-3 miles depending on urban obstructions. The YAESU FT-60RE can transmit in Mexican rural areas 1 to 6 miles depending on our hills and mountains. The GMRS channels allow an extended range over the FRS channels. For our Neighborhood Watch, I set the YAESU FT-60RE to a mid-power range (2 watts) instead of the high 5 watts setting with the FRS channels. This allows the battery to go 2 days without re-charging. My neighbors say my radio comes across as if I am in their house. Licensing requirements in Mexico for FRS/GMRS are unnecessary. However, use of local repeaters on other bands should bear study as business communications are dependent on the repeaters which become freely available at night. Amateur licensing in Mexico is not difficult to obtain if you want to use the repeaters, however the test is in Spanish. With the YAESU FT-60RE, I can monitor the Mexican police frequency at 866.700 MHz. It is strictly prohibited to transmit on this frequency without a Vecino Vigilante (Neighborhood Watch) signed agreement and training in the codes for summoning police assistance. This relationship is important as many of us have no cell phone reception in the mountain pockets where we live. I like the ability to program a frequency using the keys. The up or down scanning works well. Most important is the ability to LOCK the settings so that the dial does not change frequency. Novices can inadvertently push things. The LOCK setting allows the radio to be used in a carefree manner. Similarly the ability to select a different POWER range from LOW to MID to HIGH is very simple and the YAESU FT-60RE can LOCK in that setting as well. Any frequency can be saved as a channel and labeled. The manual goes thoroughly into the topic of REPEATERS and setting CTCSS AND DCS operations, an advanced feature to be used by Hams who have need of these. Overall, we chose two YAESU FT-60RE VHF/UHF radios from MARS IMPEX via Amazon for our use locally to help operate a local Neighborhood Watch and to manage our communication needs in the nearby city where we have only one cellphone between us. The cellphone cannot make phone calls from our house. For our purposes, the YAESU FT-60RE was an excellent choice.

The FT-60R is a great general-purpose dual-band (2m/70cm) ham transceiver. I've used this radio in the field as a volunteer search & rescue operator, and it has performed admirably in all sorts of conditions. For the price, it can't be beat. First the physical qualities: It's built solidly! Its body is cast aluminum, not plastic. It's not waterproof, but it is water resistant. I've been out in the rain with it and never had an issue. It's also taken a few drops onto hard surfaces without a hitch. The battery pack fits in real tight and never wiggles out of place. BTW, I highly recommend getting the FBA-25 battery pack that takes six standard AA cells as a backup if the rechargeable pack (included) dies. Programming the radio: This is a professional piece of equipment, and as such it is more complex to program than a regular walkie-talkie. As compact user interfaces go, this one's pretty good, but you'll get tired of programming lots of frequencies, so I recommend buying the USB programming cable and software. Operating the radio: This unit transmits with 5W of power; pretty common for this type of device. It's very good at pulling in weak signals. Voice is clear and stable, even when range becomes an issue. I like that the squelch is an analog dial and not a pair of up/down buttons. It has a control lock feature that prevents accidental button presses from detuning the radio unintentionally. It also has a scanning feature that can scan either stored channels in memory, or run sequentially up the dial.

This radio has been disappointing. I took it backpacking for the first time last weekend and was only able to get 90 minutes of monitoring before the battery died. I recharged it carefully before heading out and, again, it only lasted 80-90 minutes. I am not sure if the battery is defective or if it is the radio. I am going to try a different battery and see if that resolved the problem. 6/12/2017: I tested the radio with a new battery and it only lasted for 2 hours of monitoring. So, it must be the radio and not the battery.

Been a great little radio for me. Built like tank and has a good feel. Easy to program as long as you know WHAT your programming, specifically repeater settings. I like the analog squelch very much. The charging cradle is a bear to get radio into and lack of USB charging are the most annoying issues for me. Good receiver sensitivity and contacts report clear audio. Expecting it to last a good long time.

I know a lot of people are buying the cheap Chinese throw away radios but they would do themselves a favor by investing in this radio, its the best cheap radio of the big 3 name brand radios. The radio is not overwhelming with tons of features but have just enough to get the job done, paired with a good antenna you will be surprised how far you can transmit on only 5w of power! I really like the premium feel of the case, rugged and doesn't feel like your going to break it while operating the radio. Comparable with the kenwood th f6a (which is almost twice as expensive) build quality is pretty much identical, though I prefer programming the kenwood more than the yaesu. The kenwood has a larger capacity battery however the yaesu seemed to outlast it, not sure if the kenwood consumes more power with the dual receive feature or not?? I like the size of the yaesu compared to the kenwood, to me it was just a bit too small in the hand. Get an aftermarket antenna and this radio reception/transmit will be greatly improved over the stock antenna! Also have not had intermod problems on this radio unless standing next to a cell tower. UPDATE 2016: I have tried ALOT of different model hand held ham radios, most with ALOT more features like aprs and wider receive/transmit capability and digital. I still believe for basic 2m/440 use this radio is the best, radio is not hard to learn to program and does not have a ton of different options that will require you to have the manual always close by just to operate it. One features that I wished this radio had but doesn't is dual receive, sometime but not always its kinda nice to monitor 2 channels at once , this radio doesn't offer that feature however to get a radio that does be prepared to pay almost double the price. Probably my second favorite hand held is the kenwood th-f6 and it has all the bells and whistles you could want in a radio, on rare occasion you can catch it on sale but still costs more than the ft-60r. One thing I have learned though about hand helds is since they are low transmit power (5w max) features like aprs are almost worthless unless you have lots of repeaters dedicated to aprs like in a large city, also wide receive radios sometimes open the door to intermod issues which can drive you nuts.. buy the ft 60r, im a BIG fan of it for sure ( and I generally prefer kenwood radios!)

My first amateur radio, love it has great sound quality. I kinda was wanting a good scanner and this radio does that as well. I haven't gotten to use the transmitter yet still studying for my first test. I understand this is old school model but it's solid and a well respected name and model

Hace años tuve este radio y tuve que venderlo y ahorita tuve la oportunidad de obtenerlo de nuevo. No es el más actual de la marca, pero aun asi es buen radio.