 With an FT-50 and Yaesu-specific accessories, we took a lot of interest when the FT-60 was announced. We waited a bit, as we often do, for the initial batch to work its way into the market and any flaws to be corrected, and then acquired one. After a while, we acquired a second one.
One point which especially interested us is that the FT-60's output is 5 watts with either the standard FNB-83 battery pack or the FBA-25 auxiliary pack. The FBA-25 uses six "AA" cells. As is typical of Yaesu, the instructions tell you not to use rechargable batteries in it. You should not attempt to charge them while in the FBA-25, but we have run this and the FT-50 with NiMh cells in the auxiliary pack with no trouble (although we are very careful to make sure that they are placed in the correct direction). We always obtain an auxiliary pack such as this for any equipment. It is useful in case your primary pack runs out and you can't recharge it right away. It is also useful should there be a problem obtaining a new or rebuilt one several years down the road. Far more of our electronic equipment has had to be retired because of an inability to find replacement proprietary batteries than any other cause. Think of that AA pack as a little bit of longevity insurance. We did find that undoing the latch to change the pack on the FT-60 is a little difficult. A quarter is about the right size object to give you the leverage you need.
As we expected from our FT-50, this radio works very well. You can include a 6-character alphanumeric name for each memory slot. That's enough for the call sign of a repeater or for either the full name or a good abbreviation of many locations. We've had a couple of problems. At one point we had to reset the radio because it stopped transmitting on some frequencies. That solved the problem, but while reprogramming it by hand (we hadn't gotten around to buying the software yet, in good part because we figured that with 1000 memory slots, we would not have to change what's in it very much), the knob froze. Yaesu tech help was quick to tell us that we had a problem, and the repair department was quick to fix it. We received a mail acknowledgment, stating it would be about two weeks. The radio was back the next day! As with the FT-50, we still carry the instructions around, because there are so many things it can do. The instructions are available as a PDF document from Yaesu. This allows for a search of key words and quick jumping around. But it can be difficult to find just what you're looking for in a hurry or don't have a computer nearby. The Yahoo FT-60 group came to the rescue, among its files is a one-page "cheat sheet" of the most common commands. We've also made up a guide with the functions we use a lot, including quick reference for the most important frequencies and what's in each bank. This is arranged so that anyone can pick up the radio and use it quickly, and it's part of the go kit. For those who are overwhelmed by the complexity of the radio, here's a link to you a You Tube video by "garbageman204" that shows how to set it up and get it going quickly.
FT60 Resources |
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Last revised 2 February 2012; first posted 21 February 2009.
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The FT-60 offers most of the features of the FT-50, and adds several improvements. There are now 1000 memory slots, along with a bank system to help manage them. The troublesome power button has been replaced with a combination power-volume knob. Neither of these systems is perfect. There are ten banks; we could use more. The power-volume knob is a tight fit if you have big fingers or are using gloves.
As with the FT-50, we added one of 
