Fanboys Report!

It's been just a few weeks since the Yaesu FTX-1 Optima and Field models have started to ship. We've had the usual silly and pointless unboxing videos, and only a few in-the-field-making-contacts videos have come out. But there have been enough of those videos to show:

• the firmware is still buggy
• the field version with just the battery is pretty big and heavy; it ain't no Elecraft KX2
• the radio addresses some of the issues that linger with the very good FT-710, such as waterfall display averaging
• audio quality and volume are both good
• the radio naturally 'sits' at a good viewing angle (something Icom blew with the IC-705)
• something I never thought of, but Yaesu botched the placement of the two BNC connectors - the UHF/VHF connector should be at the top of the stack, making it easy to mount a whip antenna for local repeater work and still connect an HF antenna cable
• like all field radios that have come before it in the Yaesu line, it's about as water resistant as a submarine with screen doors

There have been no reports on Bluetooth or GPS performance yet. And no discussion or evaluation of the performance of the 'snap-on' accessories like the external tuner or cooling fan.

For me there are few huge wait-and-see items, and this post is a request for someone to specifically address them.

First, does the radio have back-lit buttons? Internet chatter indicates that, yes, the radio does have some back-lit buttons, but I'd love someone to do a short video in low-light conditions to show just what buttons are back-lit, and show the menu item that controls the lighting level (assuming there is one).

Next, how well does this rig perform when running digital modes? In the recent past, Yaesu's digital mode configuration settings on their HF field radios were an unholy mess (FT-891, 991A and a few others of the same generation). My sense with the FT-710 is that Yaesu spent a lot of time cleaning up their menu structures, but I never got to work the radio on digital. Since this rig seems to borrow a lot from the 710 interface, I'd like to see someone do a video on configuring the rig for something like FT8, and then running an extended session outdoors to see just how cool the rig does, or doesn't, run.

Last, and most important, how well does the FTX-1 do when running digital modes over a USB-C cable? This is the Icom IC-705's biggest design flaw - Icom badly botched the RF shielding in the rig, and it's unusable on digital modes over USB. I want to know how well the FTX-1 works on digital when controlled by a USB cable. Did Yaesu get it right - did they incorporate proper RF shielding? If yes, this radio has the potential to grab the majority QRP radio market share from Icom.

So Yaesu YouTuber Fanboys, here's your mission - I want a comprehensive, focused video of the new FTX-1 covering all the things I list above. Get it posted by the end of the week. Move out.

W8BH out