Is the Yaesu FT-450D a good radio?

YES! I bet FT-450D is a great radio. I brought a new one to 4W (Timor-Leste) pedition in last September. i could took the rig in my regular travel bag. The weight is only 4.5 Kg. Although the operating desk was covered by dusty wind for 24 hrs, the radio had kept working without any troubles. The encoder did not have any problem. I could make 1600 CW QSOs in 2days and 1night NA, SA, ASIA, EU and AFs with 100Watts output and wire-antennas. Auto-tuner worked fine! DSP filters worked effectively ! Happiest experience! SSB worked also very comfortably by another operator.
Additionally FT-450D is very friendly with digital operation. You can connect it easily to your PCs via YAESU SCU-17 digital interface.
I simply say, this is good !
JI1AVY, W6AVY
Hidehiko (Hideh) Koguchi

 

Considering its price range and competition at that price range its a great little radio. Is on par with similar products and it looks great on the desk. Everyone I know that has one loves it. They sounded great on DXPeditions that used them and seemed to have enough ears to quite the haters. As you go up in price class however, I would stay away from Yeasu. They are not garbage, but dollar for dollar there are MUCH better options on the high end.

 

Basically anyone who thinks a 450 is a great rig has not used a good rig. It is a cheap entry level rig and nothing more. While it is IF DSP those that attempt to compare it with modern IF DSP rigs costing far more as being just as capable are sadly mistaken. You cannot build good IF DSP for that price. For same money as a new 450, there are a lot of used rigs to will perform better overall. What I am trying to say is that for same money, there are better rigs but if a 450 is all you ever had you will never know what you are missing.

 

So it seems like the general consensus is that the 450D is a good entry level radio. I have my tech and am studying for my general. I was gifted an alinco DX-70, but it needs some work to be able to transmit, and all of my other radios are yaesu so I have been researching the 450D. I made a home-brew wire 20m dipole I strung up inside to just listen in on various transmissions on the alinco and to learn more about HF (I own a town home and can't install anything permanent outside). My main question on the 450D is about the internal auto tuner. I was told it did not have an internal auto tuner, but rather it was an optional accessory. Is this the case or is it pre installed in the radio? If it is pre installed I know with my current antenna it won't be great to use on 10m, but with the internal automatic tuner would it work well enough to transmit on 10m? Thanks everyone, I know I have a lot to learn with HF, and thank you in advance for the advice and help.

 

The internal tuner will not tune the 20 meter dipole for 10 meters. The internal tuners are usually good for 3:1 or lower SWR.
When operating a dipole at twice it's fundamental frequency, it'll present a very high impedance and most likely greater than 10:1 SWR.
Even an external auto tuner would have problems with that type of match. A manual external tuner may do the job but the antenna performance may not be all that good.
It would be best to place a parallel dipole spaced a small distance from the 20 meter dipole but on the same feedline. That smaller dipole would be trimmed to make the best SWR for 10 meters.
This arrangement is called a "Fan Dipole". They can be tricky to tune but once set, they perform well.

Hope this helps
73
Gary

 

Got it, thanks so much Gary! With my external tuner on the alnico it will blink a status light to let me know how the SWR is. One blink is under 1.7, two blinks is in between 1.7 and 3, and 3 blinks is no match. Does the 450D have a similar feature or would it best to get an external SWR meter? Thanks again!

Dallas

 

Not to change the course of the conversation, but I have been looking at the Yaesu 450D, as well as the ICOM 7200, and now the Yaesu FT-857D.

I am under the impression that the FT-857D just does so much more than the other two radios, and prices are comparable. The filters are expensive, though (but are they really necessary for non-CW types)?

Anyone care to offer their feelings on the three radios listed above? I really like all of them, but the 857D seems like more of a Swiss Army Knife....

 

If I wanted it for a car, I would probably get the 857D, but it seemed too menu driven to be fun for home use. I went with 7200, and liked the build in USB and sound card. 480SAT and 897D appealed to me also.

 

The internal tuner will just flash the antenna icon if it can't match lower than 3:1. It WILL TX, but will limit the power to like 5 watts. I bought an LDG YT-1200 auto tuner. It works well with the 450D.

The 450D is my first HF rig and I know it isn't a 3000 dollar radio. I've been using it for almost exactly a year now and have had a blast. I've worked all 50 states, all continents and around 60 countries with the radio, tuner, 100 watts and a cheap wire dipole about 20 feet off the ground - which is fed by a horrible old piece of coax.

Greatest? Probably not. Good beginner radio? I'm convinced.

I have never had any of the VFO or noise issues, either.

 

The FT-450D does have an internal bar graph type SWR meter. It doesn't have the resolution of a regular meter movement, but it is still quite useable.