Just to let everyone know. Yaesu contacted me to see if I was still interested in having my FT-991 hardware upgraded to the FT-991A. I gave them my serial number and they gave me a price of $330. I said yes and sent them my radio. They were great on the phone and followed every step of the way via Emails and a post card saying they received my radio. It was on the bench the day after they received it and it was shipped out the next day. I received a conformation of the bill with tracking number. The final bill with a $28.32 shipping charge was $358.32. I felt that was reasonable for what they had to do to the radio. I don't know if everyone will have as fast of service. But this was my experience with YaesuUSA. YaesuUSA did a great job with communication and service. Thanks to "Scotty" and the Service Department Rick N3SCP
Cool! What did they have to swap out? Main board? Did they install a new front panel with the "A" designation?
The rework to me is a little high it was their mistake, but I don't know what the real issue was in the first place, If it a real to A version I guess it is ok. But I would keep the paper work that says it was done to that radio. You might want to sell it 4 or 5 years later, and with the bad reviews on the non A model, it could make a significant difference on what you get for it. Just like the original Icom Pro. They should made a replacement screen for it for a little while so you could replace it.
They replaced the main and control boards of the radio. The control board is where the CPU and firmware is. The radio boots up as a FT-991A and the firmware is for the FT-991A. I had to upgrade my RT Systems programming software to FT-991A in order to put my saved memories back in. The only thing that is missing is the "A" on the front of the faceplate. Radio Works great and it's nice to have the waterfall active all the time. My ATAS-120 seems to tune better as well.
I felt Yaesu did right by offering this upgrade. Some people are upset that the FT-991 didn't have the active waterfall. But I think of it this way. Do you expect Ford to turn your 2017 car into a 2018 for free?
Cool. I may do that with mine. $358 isn't bad when I only paid $800 for the radio on clearance a year ago. I had the chance to A/B the rig with a 7300 last weekend, and I think I made the right choice, so I might as well upgrade to the A-spec while it's available.
I don't understand what is happening in this thread. I know the OP posted a name and email address for the Yaesu representative. I don't see it now. Nor do I see my post in this thread.
