FT-DX5000 newcomer, weird issues (or quirks?)

First off, this is my first post on QRZ (read about a million though!) and this may not be in the right spot. If not, i apologize ahead of time.

I just got a new (to me) FT-DX5000 radio and a few other goodies to get back into the HF world of things after being out for a few years due to career changes. I LOVE this radio and got it at a pretty good price. Not good enough to be skeptical that there is something wrong, just right place right time. It was fully checked out by a very knowledgeable person at HRO so i think maybe i'm being a bit paranoid, but for a months worth of pay i'd like to make sure i don't have a ticking time bomb before my 30 day window shuts closed for return.

The first weird thing i noticed is a funny "chirp" coming from the back of the radio at random times. Its very quiet and hard to hear if the volume is up at normal or high levels. But if its muted you can definitely hear it. It's like a medium to high pitch almost muffled chirp sound that lasts about a half of a second. Sometimes it happens 10 times in a minute and sometime i go an hour without hearing it. To my observation, i haven't been doing similar tasks when this happens (tuning, tx, adjusting vfo, etc).

The second is the built in tuner. I have an MFJ tuner on the way so it wont really matter but it seems like it takes this tuner anywhere between 5 and 10 seconds to tune. This may be normal, but the FT-950 i had a few years back took less than 5 seconds no matter how out of tune it was. Once it tunes, it works fine every time. Is this a normal time frame to tune? i was hoping the manual would have ones of those * notes that says "tuning time can be between x and y" but it had nothing.

The last one, and the most weird to me, is the tx relay sound. I know of a few people that have complained on the loudness of it but mine is a bit different. When i tx on vfo A the first time, i hear the good old mechanical click like normal. After that, when i press ptt, nothing. It broadcasts just fine, i just done hear the click. If i go to vfo B and tx, i hear it every time i press ptt. Go back to vfo A and tx, i can hear it once, then not again. Is there some fancy logical relays going on for tx or is there a possibility of something being wrong?

As stated above, this is all probably normal stuff, but with the amount of money and an option to return for full refund if there are issues, id like to not take a chance.

 

I have two FT-DX-5000-MPs in daily use for five years now ( both purchased from HRO, one was open-box ). I have never encountered any of the problems you mention. That chirping sound would surely get my attention. The only relay sound I hear is the band-change-immediate-auto-tune relay in the Alpha 9500. I have never tried the FT-5K internal tuner. Hopefully others with FT-5K experience will chime in.

 

I also have been using the FTdx5000 for 5 years or so with no problems, absolute fantastic rig. You say the chirp is coming from the back of the radio, not through the speakers and that would concern me a great deal, If I couldn't solve that I would take it back and start a search for another one. If it was chirping in the speaker AND you were using a remote speaker I would think it would be the speaker cable. What is the antenna and feedline? It should not take 10 seconds to match unless the antenna isn't anywhere close to being resonant, makes me think that the antenna or feedline could be causing the long tune time and perhaps is even changing during transmission which could also be causing the the chirping. This is a HUGE guess. Once you tune the antenna do you need to retune it because it rises or once tuned does it hold at the low swr the tuner provided on the given frequency?

I think the first thing I would do is transmit into a dummy load and see if the problems are still there, if they go away I would take a deep sigh of relief and start checking the feed line and antenna.

 

Well, after some extensive testing and talking to an engineer over at Yaesu, i have a few answers.

On the first one, its half answered. We believe it was the sm-5000. they have a known issue with reported noises due to an unfiltered DMU cable. Added core and so far nothing. Though, im not holding my breath.

On the built in tuner, the engineer said its well within normal timing. my 950 took less time, but he said due to multiple antenna connectors and various other additions beyond the 950 it can add some time. 2 to 10 seconds would be normal. If it clicked and didnt stop or if the click got too bad (like a relay is over jumping or over driven) then it might be an issue. Sounds just like my 950, just takes longer. (on the commend from WA8UEG, it does not re-tune often, only when i make it. im replacing the coax anyway this week, one is fairly old RG8U and one is newer 8x).

On the TX, he said this was also normal. under certain circumstances, tx is done by logical relays and not the mechanical. He didnt know off the top of his head what it was but he said his 5000 did the same thing and he had a first run unit. Something to do with which antennas are selected on which vfo and if they are on the same band.

At this point, i'm pretty satisfied with these answers. I dont think HRO would lie about checking it out. Any time i bring a radio in to trade they give it the 5th degree before they do anything. though, this was consignment. I still have about 25 days to decide if there is an actual issue here with the chirping. If it happens again i'll try to get it on video and link here. Maybe i'm just crazy, but its a lot of money to gable on so i'll be listening closely.

If anyone is wondering, Yaesu is offering to fix the OLED issue on any version of the 5000 for 1st AND 2nd owners. 2nd owners will need to provide proof they are the second (and not 3rd or beyond) owners. If you ship it to them at your cost, they'll fix for free and ship back for free. Or, if you elect, they will send you the part to fix it yourself for free. Just in case anyone has that issue and was worried it was going to cost $500 to fix it.

 

Sounds like they have you on the right track. I can't understand 10 seconds being in the normal tuning time range, mine never took more than a couple seconds, 4 to 5 at the max.

I didn't consider the DMU5000 cable, I purchased the FTdx5000LT which does not have the DMU but makes sense.

 

Regarding the chirping, maybe it has that dreaded disease, Chirpies.

It's Canarial.

But it's Tweetable.

 

I'm curious, did Yaesu actually identify the reason for the OLED issue and address it? So if someone sends their 5000 back to Yaesu to replace the OLEDs, will that fix the issue permanently, or might the issue happen again sometime in the future?

 

From what i understand the issue is the driver for the OLED units. I've ready mostly good reports after the issue is fixed in the last 2 years. Those that send it in for repair in, say, 2014 still got the issue coming back because it was replaced with the same unit that failed. It wasn't until recently that Yaesu admitted that it was a crappy part and have switched to a new unit. I'm going to end up giving it a shot since its free minus shipping.

The tuner issue is not an issue anymore, its a normal time frame for the 5000, especially with bad SWR.

Noise from the power supply is most likely (according to Yaesu) a transformer making noise or a coil making noise during transmit. Since my Quadra amplifier does the same thing, i'd say they are right. I'll have them look at it when i send it in for the OLED issue just in case. Though, i've had zero actual issues from it since i got it over a month ago. Now the Quadra amp.......thats a different story.

 

Will they replace all three OLED displays for free or only ones with the lines?

 

Hi Jordan:

I've used a Yaesu Quadra for quite a few years with no problems at all, so I'm curious as to the issues and repairs you've seen with yours. How long have you had the Quadra, did you get ot new/used, how has it failed...?

One practice I'm careful to follow is to turn on and shut off the Quadra using the amplifier module's front panel "soft switch" first, then wait a few seconds before shutting off the power supply with its own front panel "Hard" switch. The amp hard switch has to be thrown or the Quadra will inhibit TX on many Yaesu rigs if it is left on. And only after throwing both front panel switches will I ever throw the breaker on the back of the power supply. The Quadra is known to be sensitive to power-up/down sequencing and a few posts note failures resulting from simply using the breaker or power module switch to turn it off/on as a regular practice.