The YAESU FT-60R is my favorite handheld radio for camping, hunting, fishing & survival emergency uses. • I use it's VHF outdoors ✅ • I use it's UHF indoors ✅
@@sire24657 one and several guns. You can then take all the radios you want. I suspect in a real SHTF situation a lot of radios will available. Easy to take them off the dead lying around. You certainly aren’t carrying more than one and you certainly aren’t keeping much of anything without being part of a small army and even then greed and desperation does funny things to a man. Your BFF one day just could end up being you’re murderer. Stay thirsty.
No, you did not talk for far too long, Scott... You are a wealth of knowledge. And yeah, I grew up during the no-seatbelt-cigarette-lighter-plug days... Good times!
Great video, thank you! The FT-60 was my first, and still only, HT after getting my Tech last fall. Went with the FT60 for emcomm purposes and happy to see I have about half of these. Now, to get the other half.
Love my FT60, first radio i purchased back in 2011 when I became a ham. I found along time ago a 12vdc car plug that is connected to a battery pack that had no batteries that allowed me to plug in and operate mobile and not need my batteries. Ran like this for a while until I purchased my dedicated mobile rig.
18650 3D printed battery case is amazing. I'm using KeepPower 3500mAh micro USB rechargeable cells in mine. BNC adapter and roll-up slim jim antennas are also excellent. Put a o-ring on the squelch.
@@zachgraham739 The slim-jim is wire antenna made with ladder line that as the name implies rolls up. They're inexpensive, have great dB gain, you can string it up easily to a tree since height is might when it comes to 2m/70cm. Ed Fong and N9TAX both offer them for sale.
I love your vids. Thank you so much for the effort you put into them. I have often *thought about buying an FT-60, but am constantly held back by the archaic battery system used. In the past I've seen "upgrades" that can be done using Vertex Lithium-Ion battery & drop-in charger, but now evidently the drop-in charger is getting hard to find....and in the end 1 battery+charger would've added nearly $100 to the overall cost. :-(
Just got one at a Pawn shop for a bargain, so far the dead NiMH battery has come back to life and holds the repeater just fine. I got the stock Duckie and charge stand and wall wart but not a single accessory, yet! 73's from Flagstaff.
Hahahahahaha! I love the Blofeld James Bond reference. Bar none, this is my favorite Yaesu HT and overall favorite HT. It is one of the few radios that covers air band. It also has a descent front end and I will likely definitely buy one. Those accessories are mighty pricey but I agree with your recommendation. Stick to the factory accessories.
The rubbery finger grip on a "Zebra Z-grip" pen is the perfect size to "fill the gap" (per 19:00). Use a razor blade or X-acto knife to slice off the length you need. Cheap fix and you can still write stuff in your log.
I plan to buy an FT-60R as my first HT after I get my license (Real Soon Now (TM), just waiting to get my exam results from the Philippines NTC) and plan to get the MH-34, the FBA-23 alkaline cell case, two 2200mAh FNB-V67LI batteries and a CD-30 rapid charger for them. I already have an SRH77CA for the radio. I hope I never need to do EMCOMM, but after having had no electricity for a month after Typhoon Odette in December 2021 all this extra battery capacity is a must-have in case we get another typhoon in Cebu. As you say (and it's one of my sayings too,) better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
Thanks for another useful, thought provoking video, Scott! Not sure whether I've mentioned in another comment, but sadly you don't seem to be able to buy an FT-60 new here in the UK. A useful difference with -60s over here is that plugging in an external power source via the side jack does charge the battery...not sure why it's different between the European and US models, but so it goes. The Diamond whip I use with my FT-60 and other HTs with the same SMA socket is an SRH-771; as far as I can determine it's very similar to your SRH77CA...it's certainly a very good performer, I can hit repeaters with it that I can't even hear with a stock antenna. I'll have it see if I can find a UK source for the Spectrum pouches... 73, Simon G0CIQ
As always, valuable information. I feel pretty good knowing I have most of the recommended equipment. Thanks again, Scott, for another greet video! W1SLC
In the part of the video (10:12) where you complain that yaesu doesn't provide the plastic ring for the other microphone to hold the connector in place you can use a small plastic tie wrap and it will do the same thing. I also have two more plastic tie wraps where the two holes are for the battery holder and that works fine for me. Once I tie the cable I just cut off the excessive plastics sticking out of the plastic ties. The microphone will never ever disconnect or get tangled.
Nice video mate. Put SMA to BNC conn. To your bag. And you can put 3500mah battery on AA case.and the trick to charge is remove the plastic cover on bottom battery. And it will tuch two small pins on your radio and you can charge the battery pack using 12v socket. And pig tail also good item to have in and around. I also put some glow in dark sticker around the antenna . So it's really useful during the night op. BTW it's nice to see hard co yeasu fan.. 4S7JL
have you gotten your hands on a signal stick yet? would love to hear your review on the signal stick and how it compares to your other ht antennas. great review love your content! you got a sub sir! :)
The most useful thing you can do is to put in a hardened dual band antenna at the highest place you can afford to put it, run appropriate coax down, and operate the radio on that over any whip or duck. Let Antenna gain be your advantage. 3dB is twice your power. 6dB is four times your power. A 2W HT power setting assuming negligible losses into a 3.3dB half wave antenna is about 5W before losses. Conserve power when able. The fact that the FT-60R is capable of operating full power with AA batteries or external power is a huge plus. KN4GEI
spot on! Just one comment: People often tell me that my MH34 speaker mic is picking up wind noise. I ended up putting a sock on it. Could you elaborate a bit more on wind, and differences between the MH34 and the newer mic? In some regions, this matters. Otherwise - great video, couldn't agree more!
KC0OLH in Dallas. I have the FT-65. Much of the kit you show is available for the FT60, FT65, FT70, and the FT5DR radios. But there are some that are not available for the FT65. There is no car charger or alkaline case offered currently. But good ideas for expanding what one might or might not have for their kit.
I have an FT-65 accessories video where this is noted. I recently had some online discussions with the main US Yaesu rep and he is completely uninterested in offering a battery eliminator kit or alkaline battery case for the FT-65. Odd, but not surprising. Yaesu, as a company, has some really odd takes on what the US market wants and needs from them. I believe it is exclusively down to this particular Yaesu rep, who strikes me as supremely arrogant and close minded.
I use only 5 things that keep my ft 60r up and running ..1 Chirp. 2. A good hand mic. 3. Good cigarette power cable 4....a good quarter wave magmount antenna for my car..... 5....rubber ducky antenna from the yeasu ft817
New subscriber here as well as newish Tech....great video...many thanks as I prepare for learning more about EmComm (which is my main reason for amateur radio)....can you tell more about your portable power supply shown in the upper left of the screen? I like the idea of having one of those around as well and can see the need for one of those in EmComm kit.
I love my FT 60. My hearing is getting worse to the point I've been having problems hearing my HT. My hearing aids have bluetooth capabilitiy, it syncs to my iPhone.. Do you know of Bluetooth HT to hearing aid adapter?
Great demonstration,,have most of them accessories already..asking on your power supply demonstration on the DC power back up,,you have model# any thoughts or regrets w it..looking for one
@@KS6DAY You can use the Vertex Standard VAC-20B, VAC-810B rapid charger, VAC-801B and the VAC-UNI-B universal rapid charger. Same charger that will work on VX-130, VX-160, VX-180, VX-410, VX-420, VX-414, VX-417, VX-424, and VX-427 series two way radio. All three Vertex VX-160 & VX-180 Series battery will work with the FT-60.
Very informative! Do you have a video or are planning a video for your power box in the background? The last one I made, back in 2006, was all Powerpoles and used a small 12v battery I had for my home alarm system. It worked great, but it looked crappy.
Don't judge the Chinese exclusively based on the products you see on Amazon. Yes, admittedly, there are a lot of poor quality items coming out of the country, but there's a reason for that. The Chinese are perfectly capable of producing quality products when the need arises. Apple, for instance, assembles a lot of their iPhones in China or other countries in Asia. And, I have a Yaesu FT-60 I purchased in 2012 from Ham Radio Outlet that was made in China. It's impossible to tell it from the ones made in Japan without taking the battery off and looking at the label. As far as to why there are so many poor quality products on Amazon is because Americans, and that includes ham radio operators, will buy them with no regard for anything but the price. How do you think the Baofengs became so popular? It certainly isn't because of the quality. It's their price point...
Lots more VX-6 material on the way. I have an accessories video coming up and quite a few front panel and computer assisted programming tip videos as well. Thanks for checking in.
Subscribed but just tried to purchase the FT-60 radio pouch shown here & also the belt widget from Specter Gear & to my disappointment the company doesn't offer shipping outside of the USA.
Thanks for the video. I was about to buy an external mic, but heard about the issue where it comes out. I don't think I'll bother wasting the money. Does the external mic sound better?
Yes. That was a bit inarticulate. Don't know why I said that as I've had that belt clip on and off that radio many times and stuck the screwdriver through those very holes. Thanks for catching that.
The YAESU FT-60R is my favorite handheld radio for camping, hunting, fishing & survival emergency uses.
• I use it's VHF outdoors ✅
• I use it's UHF indoors ✅
I like the FT-60 so much I went overboard and added a third to the fleet in case Yaesu stops making them! The Specter pouch is top notch.
I'm about ready to buy another one as well, along with a couple of VX-6R's just in case.
@@KS6DAY How many radios would you recommend a person should own (either FT-60 or VX-6/both?)
@@sire24657 one and several guns. You can then take all the radios you want. I suspect in a real SHTF situation a lot of radios will available. Easy to take them off the dead lying around.
You certainly aren’t carrying more than one and you certainly aren’t keeping much of anything without being part of a small army and even then greed and desperation does funny things to a man. Your BFF one day just could end up being you’re murderer.
Stay thirsty.
@@sire2465711
No, you did not talk for far too long, Scott... You are a wealth of knowledge. And yeah, I grew up during the no-seatbelt-cigarette-lighter-plug days... Good times!
Easiest HT in the world to program directly from the keypad! Great video! 73, K8JLW
Great video, thank you! The FT-60 was my first, and still only, HT after getting my Tech last fall. Went with the FT60 for emcomm purposes and happy to see I have about half of these. Now, to get the other half.
Hello Scott a true proven radio
Love my FT60, first radio i purchased back in 2011 when I became a ham. I found along time ago a 12vdc car plug that is connected to a battery pack that had no batteries that allowed me to plug in and operate mobile and not need my batteries. Ran like this for a while until I purchased my dedicated mobile rig.
Great value video. I will share it with my club. Thanks!
i’ve just ordered a second ft60 and also added batt’s antennas pouches and the external mic
18650 3D printed battery case is amazing. I'm using KeepPower 3500mAh micro USB rechargeable cells in mine. BNC adapter and roll-up slim jim antennas are also excellent. Put a o-ring on the squelch.
O-ring on the squelch. That's an excellent idea. Bumping the squelch knob has gotten me a couple times. I definitely plan to experiment with that.
What’s a roll-up slim Jim antenna? Sorry if I’m asking a dumb question
@@zachgraham739 The slim-jim is wire antenna made with ladder line that as the name implies rolls up. They're inexpensive, have great dB gain, you can string it up easily to a tree since height is might when it comes to 2m/70cm. Ed Fong and N9TAX both offer them for sale.
Do u sell or make the 18650 battery cases? Been looking for several for my ft60’s
I love your vids. Thank you so much for the effort you put into them. I have often *thought about buying an FT-60, but am constantly held back by the archaic battery system used. In the past I've seen "upgrades" that can be done using Vertex Lithium-Ion battery & drop-in charger, but now evidently the drop-in charger is getting hard to find....and in the end 1 battery+charger would've added nearly $100 to the overall cost. :-(
Just got one at a Pawn shop for a bargain, so far the dead NiMH battery has come back to life and holds the repeater just fine. I got the stock Duckie and charge stand and wall wart but not a single accessory, yet! 73's from Flagstaff.
Hahahahahaha! I love the Blofeld James Bond reference. Bar none, this is my favorite Yaesu HT and overall favorite HT. It is one of the few radios that covers air band. It also has a descent front end and I will likely definitely buy one. Those accessories are mighty pricey but I agree with your recommendation. Stick to the factory accessories.
The rubbery finger grip on a "Zebra Z-grip" pen is the perfect size to "fill the gap" (per 19:00). Use a razor blade or X-acto knife to slice off the length you need. Cheap fix and you can still write stuff in your log.
I plan to buy an FT-60R as my first HT after I get my license (Real Soon Now (TM), just waiting to get my exam results from the Philippines NTC) and plan to get the MH-34, the FBA-23 alkaline cell case, two 2200mAh FNB-V67LI batteries and a CD-30 rapid charger for them. I already have an SRH77CA for the radio. I hope I never need to do EMCOMM, but after having had no electricity for a month after Typhoon Odette in December 2021 all this extra battery capacity is a must-have in case we get another typhoon in Cebu. As you say (and it's one of my sayings too,) better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
Thanks for another useful, thought provoking video, Scott! Not sure whether I've mentioned in another comment, but sadly you don't seem to be able to buy an FT-60 new here in the UK. A useful difference with -60s over here is that plugging in an external power source via the side jack does charge the battery...not sure why it's different between the European and US models, but so it goes.
The Diamond whip I use with my FT-60 and other HTs with the same SMA socket is an SRH-771; as far as I can determine it's very similar to your SRH77CA...it's certainly a very good performer, I can hit repeaters with it that I can't even hear with a stock antenna.
I'll have it see if I can find a UK source for the Spectrum pouches...
73, Simon G0CIQ
You can buy it from r and l electronics and theyll ship it
This is a really good you tube channel. Subscribed
Love the review
Great video, have been programming my pair of FT-60's today, so good to find ur video. 73 de KT1R Lou
As always, valuable information. I feel pretty good knowing I have most of the recommended equipment. Thanks again, Scott, for another greet video! W1SLC
Thanks for all your support and the many kind words, especially the email that got me unstuck and back on task.
@@KS6DAY I'm just glad all is well. I am very bummed that I waited too long to get another 10-99 bag, however. That is great kit!
@@sire24657 We will be doing some special runs of those in the future. Kind of a seasonal special like the Shamrock Shake.
@@KS6DAY Great news; please keep me in the loop on those if possible!
In the part of the video (10:12) where you complain that yaesu doesn't provide the plastic ring for the other microphone to hold the connector in place you can use a small plastic tie wrap and it will do the same thing. I also have two more plastic tie wraps where the two holes are for the battery holder and that works fine for me. Once I tie the cable I just cut off the excessive plastics sticking out of the plastic ties. The microphone will never ever disconnect or get tangled.
Nice video mate. Put SMA to BNC conn. To your bag. And you can put 3500mah battery on AA case.and the trick to charge is remove the plastic cover on bottom battery. And it will tuch two small pins on your radio and you can charge the battery pack using 12v socket.
And pig tail also good item to have in and around. I also put some glow in dark sticker around the antenna . So it's really useful during the night op.
BTW it's nice to see hard co yeasu fan..
4S7JL
I appreciate the HRO links.
Thank you
have you gotten your hands on a signal stick yet? would love to hear your review on the signal stick and how it compares to your other ht antennas. great review love your content! you got a sub sir! :)
The most useful thing you can do is to put in a hardened dual band antenna at the highest place you can afford to put it, run appropriate coax down, and operate the radio on that over any whip or duck. Let Antenna gain be your advantage. 3dB is twice your power. 6dB is four times your power. A 2W HT power setting assuming negligible losses into a 3.3dB half wave antenna is about 5W before losses. Conserve power when able. The fact that the FT-60R is capable of operating full power with AA batteries or external power is a huge plus.
KN4GEI
spot on! Just one comment: People often tell me that my MH34 speaker mic is picking up wind noise. I ended up putting a sock on it. Could you elaborate a bit more on wind, and differences between the MH34 and the newer mic? In some regions, this matters. Otherwise - great video, couldn't agree more!
My FT 60 has taken a couple of nose dives off my chair or couch and bent the antenna but still appears to be in one piece.
KC0OLH in Dallas. I have the FT-65. Much of the kit you show is available for the FT60, FT65, FT70, and the FT5DR radios. But there are some that are not available for the FT65. There is no car charger or alkaline case offered currently. But good ideas for expanding what one might or might not have for their kit.
I have an FT-65 accessories video where this is noted. I recently had some online discussions with the main US Yaesu rep and he is completely uninterested in offering a battery eliminator kit or alkaline battery case for the FT-65. Odd, but not surprising. Yaesu, as a company, has some really odd takes on what the US market wants and needs from them. I believe it is exclusively down to this particular Yaesu rep, who strikes me as supremely arrogant and close minded.
I use only 5 things that keep my ft 60r up and running ..1
Chirp.
2. A good hand mic.
3. Good cigarette power cable
4....a good quarter wave magmount antenna for my car.....
5....rubber ducky antenna from the yeasu ft817
New subscriber here as well as newish Tech....great video...many thanks as I prepare for learning more about EmComm (which is my main reason for amateur radio)....can you tell more about your portable power supply shown in the upper left of the screen? I like the idea of having one of those around as well and can see the need for one of those in EmComm kit.
Why couldn't they put a simple mic Jack in with two pin
Good Video, Congratulations... I will improve my accessories...!!! 73 of PU2TCM from Brazil
THANK YOU ! Would like to see more on your battery supply case???? ❤ Did you make it or buy it??
Zip tie a work over the antenna 2
Thanks from Steve N4KFN
I love my FT 60. My hearing is getting worse to the point I've been having problems hearing my HT. My hearing aids have bluetooth capabilitiy, it syncs to my iPhone.. Do you know of Bluetooth HT to hearing aid adapter?
Great demonstration,,have most of them accessories already..asking on your power supply demonstration on the DC power back up,,you have model# any thoughts or regrets w it..looking for one
I have a signal stick and it's far and away better than the cheap Chinese antenna that came with my retevis.
The Vertex FNB-V126LI-UNI Lithium Ion 2300 mAh battery will fit that radio.
What charger do you use with it?
@@KS6DAY You can use the Vertex Standard VAC-20B, VAC-810B rapid charger, VAC-801B and the VAC-UNI-B universal rapid charger. Same charger that will work on VX-130, VX-160, VX-180, VX-410, VX-420, VX-414, VX-417, VX-424, and VX-427 series two way radio. All three Vertex VX-160 & VX-180 Series battery will work with the FT-60.
Very informative! Do you have a video or are planning a video for your power box in the background? The last one I made, back in 2006, was all Powerpoles and used a small 12v battery I had for my home alarm system. It worked great, but it looked crappy.
Scott, Could that plastic ring set up that came with the older external mic be created using a 3d printer?
Don't judge the Chinese exclusively based on the products you see on Amazon. Yes, admittedly, there are a lot of poor quality items coming out of the country, but there's a reason for that. The Chinese are perfectly capable of producing quality products when the need arises. Apple, for instance, assembles a lot of their iPhones in China or other countries in Asia. And, I have a Yaesu FT-60 I purchased in 2012 from Ham Radio Outlet that was made in China. It's impossible to tell it from the ones made in Japan without taking the battery off and looking at the label.
As far as to why there are so many poor quality products on Amazon is because Americans, and that includes ham radio operators, will buy them with no regard for anything but the price. How do you think the Baofengs became so popular? It certainly isn't because of the quality. It's their price point...
Are there still plans for some more deep dive bites on the VX-6? Thank you sir.
Lots more VX-6 material on the way. I have an accessories video coming up and quite a few front panel and computer assisted programming tip videos as well. Thanks for checking in.
Thanks for making this video. 73's, KF5RMN - SAM
Subscribed but just tried to purchase the FT-60 radio pouch shown here & also the belt widget from Specter Gear & to my disappointment the company doesn't offer shipping outside of the USA.
If you send an email to info@spectergear.com they can set up shipping outside of the US on your order.
I changed to the VX-6. The side speaker mount on the FT-60 over time keep coming lose.
Have you checked out the Smiley Antennas for HT's?
Thanks for the video. I was about to buy an external mic, but heard about the issue where it comes out. I don't think I'll bother wasting the money. Does the external mic sound better?
So, the chinese lithium version battery does not work well with the ft-60?? I"m away of buying the ft60 because the old ni-metal battery
I have not had any problems with my Yaesu factory supplied batteries in 5 years of service. But none of the off-brand copies have worked well at all.
How about Signal Stick antenna? Did you try it ? Thanks
Can you use lithium rechargable batteries in the double A battery case?
I'm fairly certain it's alkaline only.
I use eneloops NiMH, alkalines and aa lithium rechargeable from paleblue with good results from all 3
11:20 The holes are to access the belt clip screws, no?
Yes. That was a bit inarticulate. Don't know why I said that as I've had that belt clip on and off that radio many times and stuck the screwdriver through those very holes. Thanks for catching that.
Yup my mic clip broke
Looking forward to your VX-6 videos. What antenna do you recommend for it? Thanks
Just waiting on a UPS truck with a couple last minute accessories in order to get this video done. It should be out in a week or so.
Great info !
de K6REH
Signal stick antennas are overrated. Terrible SWR. The diamond antennas have a much better SWR.
Thank you