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My wife bought me a FT-60 (before I was able to buy one, myself). I love it. As you said, it?€?s simple, has only the basics that I need and nothing that I don?€?t need. It?€?s built like a tank. I?€?ve dropped it and banged against stuff and it?€?s a Timex: takes a licking but keeps on ticking. Great audio. However, I need to replace the keypad as some of the labeling has rubbed off. I would definitely buy another one, if I needed to, rather than the newer, more compact and whiz-bang radios out today. Don?€?t need GPS, don?€?t need DMR, ?€?WIRES?€�, or any other features other than the basics. I don?€?t used it much for communicating these days but more as a ?€?scanner?€� for my fire photography activity. The scan speed is not as fast as a dedicated scanner is, but then that?€?s not what it was designed for. The receiver is excellent, of course.

For batteries, I bought a higher-capacity Li-I battery from Batteries America and it works great. I also have the AA case from Yaesu, but haven?€?t had to use it, yet.

In short, great radio, love it, would definitely get another.

KB6KGX

On Nov 17, 2019, at 9:14 AM, Chris - KC9AD <c.doutre@...> wrote:

Chris,

My primary reasons for preferring the FT-60 are:

1. Front panel programming is almost intuitive because it has human-sized
buttons with clear labels and many functions are directly accessible from
the front panel buttons: V/M, direct numeric entry of freqs and channels,
single button entry into squelch type and tone menus.

2. A dedicated squelch knob. No menus, no mode buttons; just a single knob
that directly adjusts the squelch and only the squelch.

3. As you say, a simple dual-band 5-watt radio that covers the basics of
analog simplex and duplex communications in a professional-quality unit.
Plus a case that's big enough to fit in my hand. Plus a clear

simple display

that my 73-year-old eyes can read easily, except that some of the

tiny icons

might be a little fuzzy to me.

I also like the DTMF keys that allow me to access IRLP repeaters and other
DTMF-controlled repeaters.

I have read comments that say the FT-70 has all this, plus Fusion, plus a
Li-Ion battery, for only a few dollars more. Except the case is smaller and
the buttons are smaller. And it has a two-button squelch mode

procedure. It

doesn't even have a dedicated volume knob. Very sexy perhaps, but not for
me. And, unless you really want or need digital voice, those extra DV
features are potentially a distraction.

Gordon West wrote an article many years ago that recommended the FT-60 from
among all the handhelds available at that time. I recently contacted him to
ask him about this. He confirmed that, after all these years, the FT-60 is
still his preferred "first" handheld, basically for all the reasons
mentioned above. YMMV. 73.

Chris Doutre KC9AD