Yaesu Original FT-65 FT-65R 144/440 Dual-Band Rugged & Compact Handheld Transceiver, 5W - 3 Year Warranty

This is good little HT. No bells or whistles but thats what I wanted. I have to say its a step up from a Baofeng (not that there bad) . The build quality is good, not that hard to program even using the keys. I have a roll up slim jim antenna hanging from the pull chain of my ceiling fan and can hit repeaters 15+ miles away.

Me canse de comprar radios baofeng, tuve unos 4 de estos y siempre tenia pequeños problemas de recepción y transmisión, funcionaban aceptablemente bien pero tenían sus PEROS. Compré este Yaesu FT-65 y estoy muy contento, se siente la superioridad del radio, los pequeños PEROS no van con este radio, si que vale la pena hacer la inversión, super recomendado!

Works as advertised

Great radio. This one reads made in Japan. This radio is easily programmed from the face. I find no need for programming software or cables. I’ve received glowing reports about the audio from local hams and the 1 watt speaker is clear with a balanced output not harsh or too weighted towards treble. Yaesu dominates my shack now.

Perfect! A rugged little transceiver.

Does not pick up the frequencies very well VERY disappointed in Yaesu FT-65 THE Yaesu FT-60 is a better value

The reason why I am stating that this radio is the best radio is based on using the following radios 1. Yeasu FT3D - Waste of money fancy but reception or transmission is not good. 2. Yaesu ft-70dr - Nice but short battery life and reception/transmission was okay 3. Baoefeng bf-f8hp - Good but not certified for use in USA. 4. Other GMRS radios Now coming to Yeasu FT-65, the range and the power is outstanding and just to give you an example my son was driving down the road to hill side and I was in our house and there is no line of sight and it is through traffic and flat terrain, we were able to communicate up to 22 miles and it could have been more since my son was driving up the hill the Tesla battery was down but FT65 was still doing good. Transmission and reception is very strong and is very clear. The only challenge is programming this damn things is a pain so I purchased programming cable and now it is a breeze to set this radio up. I have done MARS Mod for emergency use and I was able to communicate with my son on GMRS when hiking with no repeaters. Also applying Mars Mod is simple and through keypad unlike other radios. This proved to be a good radio with my real time test and I dont believe in 5watts, 8 watts and signal test equipment all that stuff. This is real deal.

Great radio, but bought at HRO for 89.00 usd

This radio would have gotten a 4-star rating had it been $25, but at over a hundred bucks its a 1-star. If I had a bugout bag and had the choice between an FT-65R and a Baofeng UV-82HP, Id take the Baofeng any day. And if they were both $25, Id still take the Baofeng. We need to judge these radios on sound, check; reliability, check; range, lousy; durability, check, and well, you get the gist. When checking this out, I do so using the cheap Chinese Baofeng as a base. If Yaesu would change the FT-65R and make it an 8-watt or 10-watt, and if it would boost the signal reception, this radio would storm the Chinese radios. As it is, I wouldnt own one. Finally, another problem with this Yaesu is that it looks and feels, not like a Yaesu, but a Baofeng. Meanwhile, it broadcasts, or transmits, okay, but it doesnt receive that well. With Baofeng radios, one may recei2ve weak signals that sound like theyre a world away, buy its better than not receiving them at all, and though I dont have any way of measuring the FT-65s transmitting power, it doesnt receive distant signals very well. Its as if the designers decided to filter out distant signals and receive only stronger signals in this radio. Even with the squelch turned completely off, the FT-65 didnt receive signals the Baofeng UV-82 received, and its $35! I have no doubt that other Yaesus would not have this problem. The FT-65 looks and feels like a Baofeng; the other Yaesus do not. If I get a better Yaesu to test in the future, I will. But for now my bugout bag has Baofengs in it, not Yaesus. And as long as I can understand a signal, I care not how tinny and distant (scratchy) the signal is. I just want to understand it. And yes, Id spend more money if I could make distant signals stronger, but it aint this, babe. No no no, it aint this, babe. It aint this youre looking for, babe. It aint this youre looking for, babe!

I think Yaesu may have stepped back from quality to try to compete in price. This radio looks and feels like it was made by one of the Chinese cheap manufacturers - it seriously resembles one of the BaoFeng radios. It purports to do Split tone, but Ive yet to get it to work. There are grammatical errors in the programming software and the settings dont match up with those of the radios front panel programming. On the plus side, checking it with a spectrum-analyzer, the RF is very clean, modulation (WB and NB) meet specs, the frequency stability (with fully charged batteries) is spot on (better than 0.5ppm both VHF and UHF), RX sensitivity is excellent (better than 0.25uV for 12dB SINAD on both bands). Physically, it doesnt feel as tough as its older brother, the FT-60, and the charger supplied with it is really cheap and light - not to say its bad, just doesnt have that solid Yaesu Feel. Ultimately, I have returned the radio. Tone Squelch only works with the strongest (Full quieting) signals, this product is not up to Yaesus standards, they should be ashamed to market it.