In this video we will review the YAESU FT-710 transceiver and M-90D Microphone to see what's good and what's bad. And to answer the burning question is it better than the YAESU FTDX10.
Thank you very much for this video and review. As it happens I just set up my FT-710 with the same mic yesterday and found this video today as I got that far along in the setup this morning. Great baseline information to get things started with this mic, and much appreciated. 73!
I just got my FT-710 two days ago (2-1-24). Have already made some good contacts. I'm new to HF so a lot of these settings flew over my head. But nevertheless, I've been able to get on the air with minimal trouble. As I own and use this radio more I will learn more of how to use all this great stuff. Thanks for taking the time to make this video.
Thanks for sharing, welcome to HF! I have a short video coming out in the next week about using the radio’s features in the real world to work stations more comfortably. You as a new HF ham might want to watch it to jump start you on the ways to use them get the most out of an HF right.
Thank you for the video. My first choice for both base and POTA was the DX10 but it's too much radio in my opinion for POTA and I hated taking my only rig out and back into my shack, but made some really great contacts, even DX contacts. Last Saturday I walked out of DX Engineering with a 710 and without changing any settings I got a bunch of 59s during a POTA activation on my way home (23 contacts in 12 minutes) and hit everyone I hunted park to park. In fact the 3rd contact asked what I was running because he said my audio was outstanding, again all factory settings. So kudos to Yaesu for making a very high performing HT rig under $1000. I will say as of right now, obviously early using it, I do miss the duel ring VFO on the 710 vs the DX10, but I don't miss the dual ring on the other dials on the 710 simply because they are more useful primarily for pulling in weak signals/DXing, which I don't do during an activation. Now if I lived in a location with many more SOTA locations, I probably wouldn't pick a 10lb rig, but in Ohio all the POTA locations work well with a heavy rig as I don't have far from my truck to set up....I even love setting up on the tailgate and a lawn chair.
Since I am a new HAM (got my technichan ticket 6 January 2024) I have chosen a 710 to be my first HF rig. Your video solidified that. Pulling the trigger on it in May. 73!
Welcome to the hobby! I think you will be very happy with it. Everyone I talk to with a 710 is happy with it. Thanks for watching and for the feed back.
I find that the menu system on the 710 is much easier than the IC7300. Once everything is set up, you just hit the func button and you have the main menu(most used items). I also love the 3D waterfall. I use it exclusively. Signals stand out!
Thanks, I found that but was really wanting a menu button for band that would pop up the same dialog box as the band button so I could click it with the mouse.
I am sure you could by using a bt headset and mic with a bt rx/tx unit. You would just setup the VOX on the 710 so it keyed when you talk. I built a headset in the nineties that did this on my old FT-920 Thanks for the comment. Edited ft-710 to ft-920
Very interesting video, seen quite a few videos on YT about the DX10 and the 710 and they all seem to rave about the DNR on the DX10 and how much better it is than the 710, what are your thoughts on this , I seem to be getting to hung up about DNR lately! just wondered what your thoughts on this are ,thanks
Look at the date of the videos doing this. They typically are from 4 months or older. The dx10 is a great radio I played with one and have a number of friends with them. But remember it has been out much longer than the 710 so it was mature when the 710 was released. Since the release of the 710 there have been a number of firmware updates that have made major improvements including the DNR. The 710 being a fully sdr radio has one really big benefit. It is completely software with no analog front end. This means it can be improved radically with just a firmware update not limited by the front end hardware. The dx10 is the higher end radio as far as features etc. But considering the cost difference the 710 is one heck of a bang for the buck!
I am buying a FT710 next week. Initially before I deploy my transmit antennas. I would like to receive using my Wellbrook (receive only loop) which is a great general coverage antenna. My question is can you set the 710 up to ensure there is no accidental tx which would blow the 4 JFETS in the Wellbrook ALA100 loop. Thanks for the review, lovely paced and always interesting. Regards Ian G0FYD
Thanks, glad you liked it. You could just leave the mic disconnected and do not hook up a key. It will not transmit at that point unless you engage the tuner which puts out low power to do the tuning. Not aware of a way to otherwise turn off the transmit. Hope this is helpful. K4ROB
Thanks for the reply, appreciate the response, it was the atu i was worried about, I will turn the pwr to zero as well but you never know if you may get a spike of RF from accidently hitting the ATU. Regards Ian G0FYD @@LynxElectronicsLab
The FT-710 and most of the new yaesu's will only go down to 5 watts. So it will not let you set it to zero. But I am sure you will be fine if you do the other ideas and leave the tune button alone. Good Luck I know you will like this radio.
Important to note, the FT 710 was very close behind the DX10 in Sherwood's list "Before a years worth of substantial software updates". I suggest if the test was redone today it would come out ahead of the DX10. As for the menu layout it was easy...took me an hour.... It's the intelligent mans menu with far more access to the radio's operation !
RX better than a FTdx-10? Dream on.... There is a reason why the FTdx-10 is a hybrid, like the FTdx-101, build up to a spec not down to a price like the FTdx-710. The 710 is a stunning radio, but it is NOT a FTdx-10. And yes, I own all 3 radios I mentioned....
The testing labs don’t seam to agree that the ft-710 receiver is not near as good as the dx10. As far as building down to a price the SDR radios are not cheaper because they are building them cheaper. SDR radios are just cheaper to build. Being digital every A2D chip performs exactly the same with the same software. The analog radios require people to match parts and do tweaking to get good crystal filter matches and such. This people time and part matching cost lots of money. The SDR radio is more build it, load firmware and ship it. Also the analog radios are a good as they are going to get. They have been perfected over decades. Ham is just getting going with SDR radios and they can compete now. Where will they be in decades? DSP filtering can be a brick wall. It is impossible to do this in analog filters they will always have skirts. I have used all three of these radios. The 710 is the least when you look at features and such. But I was guess 98% of hams in a blind test could not tell the difference on rx between the three. On the other hand no real contester would be using the ft-710. When you include the price for what you get on a ft-710 for the average ham, all I can say is WOW!
i have dx10 and 710 and 710 receives better and it's the radio i use more. the knob to change freqs is very useful like the 991a that i also have. 710 amazing for sure.
My 710 was superior to the FTdx10 I had, for the NB & the autonotch (DNF) functions. The FTdx-10 had very audible distortion on both of those functions which I have to use at my QTH on a regular basis. I sold my FTdx10 but I don't see me ever selling the 710. It is the best value out there, plus it is just one of the best rigs period. Yaesu really did their homework on it. I am fortunate to own a Kenwood 890 & an Icom 7610 and I always looks forward to getting back to the FT-710. I've never been a Yaesu fanboy since the revered FT-101E. 73
I have a new yaesu ft170 and the m90d mic Is there something I need to do to set up the mic? The supplied hand mic works great but when I plug the m90d in it keys the transmitter but shows no power or modulation. Any help would be appreciated Thanks Greg Wb5lxj
Make sure you are plugging the cable that comes out of the base into the microphone head ( round part with foam) then you plug the round plug on the coiled cord into the mic base and the modular plug on the other end to the radio. If you plug the short non coiled cable to the radio this will cause this issue. Let me know how you make out.
@LynxElectronicsLab thanks so much! Now I feel pretty dumb for sure. Been a ham for 40 years and totally missed the connection at the back of the mic Thanks so much. Works great 73 Greg Wb5lxj
Thanks very much for yr video. I have had my ft-710 for 3 months but I have never been able to tell any difference between DNF being ON and OFF. Any comments on that?
I would guess that you like me took a look at the DNF and thought at first it is the digital noise filter. Then I realized this is a digital notch filter. Turning it on will not seem to do anything, but leave it on and the first time someone tunes up on frequency you will see it kill the heterodyne. DNR is the digital noise reduction. Push it to switch it on and off. Push and hold it to get the setting for DNR to pop up so you can change the level of DNR. You should hear a difference when it is switch on. Hope this helps.
@@LynxElectronicsLab Oh that is to eliminate a carrier, thank you so much! I should have guessed it myself, but with the manual being in Japanese, I just gave up). Abt DNR I use it pretty regular, so do know what it is, thanks again!
The receiver in the FT-710 is excellent in reducing my local noise (in-home from hvac). Beats my beloved 7300. However, like the icom’s user interface but rcvr wins.
It’s a DVI video cable. Be careful of using a DVI to HDMI converter cable as some have popped a fuse on the circuit board that requires sending the radio back in to repair with those cables as they draw power from the DVI port to operate.
My "right-click" mouse for "Function Menu" to show up, doesn't work. I run a old Logitech Wireless(Wifi) mouse on the latest FT-710 firmware(Nov, 2023). Mind telling me your mouse make and model no.. TIA
I bought a Logitech Wireless Mouse M310 for it as I had read the Yaesu radios were picky about what wireless mice worked correctly with them. It seemed the m310 was the one everyone had luck with working well on them. Hope this helps
That was very helpful. I got my FT-710 5 days ago ( caught the Hamcation sale) and it has been a joy learning the ins and outs of the menus. Good thing I have a FT-60 HT as I am passingly familiar with the levels the menus elements can take. I already have FT8 running and loving it. Not hard to understand at all and your tutorial on the sound side was enlightening. 73 DE KN6ZVI
I made it by welding up some 3/4 inch steel tubing and finished up a nice piece of wood and attached it. To make sure it stays in place I 3d printed some brackets that attach the legs to the desk. I do a lot of diy stuff.
Yeah, the difference between a ic746 and a ft710 would be Hugh! Thanks for watching. Check out my video on managing noise on the 710 you might find some tips in it.
throwing everything in one menu screen is not a feature, it's a deficiency of the user interface. when you're in cw you don't need mic gain on the cluttered menu screen etc etc
As I said in the video I think the menu could be better, but in reality of use the menu is more of a selection of what the function does so for your example you pull it up and choose cw speed and then the function allows fast changing of cw speed ext. If you are in SSB you choose to do mic gain ext. So once you get used to it I find it works fine. I do think the menu is the weakest part of the radio but it’s not that bad in my opinion now that I have had a chance to use it for a number of weeks. The ic-7300 has better menus but a weaker receiver, so I guess everything seams to always be a trade off.
I find the main menu screen to be excellent for fast access to the most used buttons. Once you get used to it you can go right to the item you want. There are more menu items at the bottom of the screen for more detailed items like the IC 7300 has so this is much easier.
