|
Hi,
I barely use my FT-60. It has been there for past 5 years, but used maybe 2 hours in total.
I charged it full 2 weeks ago. I took it out yesterday and to my surprise, I could not hear its audio from another radio. I thought its mic is bad. I could be wrong, but I remember it was over 7V. However, when I charge it full, it is working fine. I can hear it clearly from another radio.
I have 3 questions.
1) its battery spec is 7.4 V. why it is 8.2V when I fully charge it?
2) I charged it to 8.2 v this morning, and it is now 7.6 V after half day. Is this normal?
3) I am still waiting its battery voltage drop and repeat my test yesterday. Does it happen to you that TX is very weak at 7V?
Thanks.
John
|
Under-voltage will cause radio to shut down, not decrease TX volume.
Give it a couple discharge-charge cycles in the next few says. i believe your pack has life left.
--
Clint Bradford K6LCS
http//www.work-sat.com
|
>> ...?took it out yesterday and to my surprise, I could not hear its audio from another radio ...
Was that "other radio" right next to you?
--
Clint Bradford K6LCS
http//www.work-sat.com
|
My bad. sorry. I stated it wrong in the original post. ?Another different brand radio is receiving from FT-60 in another room. The audio coming out of this different brand radio is very weak. I can barely hear it. That is why I thought my FT-60 mic had issue. However, after recharging FT-60, the problem is gone.
I am doing testing again now. Try to see if I repeat the issue. right now, voltage is dropping to 7.4V after 12 hours and no issue with radio.
|
Hi John, I’m pretty sure that is normal as far as the voltage goes. Mine does the exact same thing.?
Brett
K7NVT
|
Hi, folks,
I found out why my radio behaves "incorrectly". It is all because I have not read the menu. Sorry.
I used chirp to program about 600 channels in and never bothers to read the menu. Big mistake.
The radio's 0 button was accidentally pressed. So the radio is in internet mode. In this mode, every time I press the PTT, it is quiet for 0.5s, and send a beep tone, and another 0.5 s to make internet ready. during this 1 second time, the other party is able to hear my voice very very faintly if I talk. my voice is back to normal volume after 1 second.
Also the radio is programmed to do auto power off after 5 hours. It makes me feel that its battery is depleted.
I read the menu today. It is so complicated that I do not believe I can remember anything. I will continue to use chirp to program my radio.
br,
--john
|
The FT-60 is actually THE easiest handheld to manually program. ?Clint put out an absolutely marvelous cheat sheet for this radio. I don’t remember the links, but do a search on FT-60 cheat sheet. There is also a way to disable the internet function. Search for disabling the WIRES function.? Jardy Dawson WA7JRD
Message sent by....Oh look!! Pretty lights!!
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Aug 19, 2022, at 18:50, John WJ6JW <john@...> wrote:
?Hi, folks,
I found out why my radio behaves "incorrectly". It is all because I have not read the menu. Sorry.
I used chirp to program about 600 channels in and never bothers to read the menu. Big mistake.
The radio's 0 button was accidentally pressed. So the radio is in internet mode. In this mode, every time I press the PTT, it is quiet for 0.5s, and send a beep tone, and another 0.5 s to make internet ready. during this 1 second time, the other party is able to hear my voice very very faintly if I talk. my voice is back to normal volume after 1 second.
Also the radio is programmed to do auto power off after 5 hours. It makes me feel that its battery is depleted.
I read the menu today. It is so complicated that I do not believe I can remember anything. I will continue to use chirp to program my radio.
br,
--john
|
Hi, Jardy,
Thank you very very much. I turned wire off.
I do not know this feature till today. It almost made me feel that my FT-60 was bad.
br,
--John
|
John,
This feature (WIRES) can be programmed so that it cannot be accidentally invoked. Check the internet. Both my FT60 and DT8900 WIRES is disabled. Rudi wa2nub
On Friday, August 19, 2022 at 09:50:30 PM EDT, John WJ6JW <john@...> wrote:
Hi, folks,
I found out why my radio behaves "incorrectly". It is all because I have not read the menu. Sorry.
I used chirp to program about 600 channels in and never bothers to read the menu. Big mistake.
The radio's 0 button was accidentally pressed. So the radio is in internet mode. In this mode, every time I press the PTT, it is quiet for 0.5s, and send a beep tone, and another 0.5 s to make internet ready. during this 1 second time, the other party is able to hear my voice very very faintly if I talk. my voice is back to normal volume after 1 second.
Also the radio is programmed to do auto power off after 5 hours. It makes me feel that its battery is depleted.
I read the menu today. It is so complicated that I do not believe I can remember anything. I will continue to use chirp to program my radio.
br,
--john
|
That feature is not used much in the USA, and is one of the biggest PIA you can think of. Do the search on how to permanently disable the feature. It is worth it! Jardy Dawson WA7JRD
Message sent by....Oh look!! Pretty lights!!
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Aug 19, 2022, at 19:11, John WJ6JW <john@...> wrote:
?Hi, Jardy,
Thank you very very much. I turned wire off.
I do not know this feature till today. It almost made me feel that my FT-60 was bad.
br,
--John
|
Either way, you need a new battery. They can be purchased on Amazon for a good price. The ones I got are the brand name of Aimtobest and the model number is FNB-V67LI. It is a better battery than OEM in that it is lithium ion and is 2200mAh.
|
How much was the Lithium-ion charger for that pack?
--
Clint Bradford K6LCS
http//www.work-sat.com
|
Good morning
Never tried mine that low, but? I am surprised it transmits at 7 volts.
Mine is about 10 years old? I am on my second battery.? Sounds like you need to consider a new one.
You will be tempted to buy a no name knockoff.? Resist temptation and get a Yaesu battery.? When I got mine a couple years ago the price was not all that much different, but others have said the knockoffs do not hold a charge as well.
Have fun 73 Frank KB3PQT
|
I agree with Frank. Stick with OEM (better cells) and practice full discharge and full charge to maximize capacity. NiMh batts are great if you keep them healthy. Way better than a knock off LiOn anyday. OEM’s aren’t that much more anyway.?
|
Thank you, Jardy!
The FT-60 one-page "Quick Programming Guide" - as well as the two FT-60 manuals (the original, then the one that for when Yaesu began shipping with the desktop charger) - are on the SHACK AIDS page at ...
?
--
Clint Bradford K6LCS
http//www.work-sat.com
|
Forgot to mention the charger you would need to charge these. It is $32 on Amazon.
|
I sure don't understand the infatuation with lithium ion. Lithium ion will give you about 300 to 350 complete discharge-charge cucles. nickel metal hydride about 1000 discharge charge cycles. Yes lithium ion is slightly lighter in weight than nickel metal hydride. So just stop ordering super sized fries and that'll make up the difference. Oh, and if you work or live in Alaska, lithium-ion does indeed perform better in cold weather. The only other advantage I can think about is lithium ion will hold a charge unused longer. But you know what? I don't charge up my radio and put it in the glove compartment for six months without use. Also lithium ion requires a appropriate charger. Straight voltage into it is not the best way to go.?
--
Clint Bradford K6LCS
Let's see how Siri did with this.
http//www.work-sat.com
|
I have had my ft60 for 12yrs and haven't got close to 300 or more recharges, and the original battery lasted almost 8 yrs. Considering the life expectancy of these batteries is similar, since lithium ion holds a charge longer (if you forget to recharge once a month it does not matter as much) and are lighter to carry (which helps when being on any kind of a hike and also encourages making it part of a go bag) that makes all the difference.? I can't speak to colder climates, but in the Sonoran Desert where it gets carried/used in 100-degree weather on a regular basis, lithium ion works better than the OEM battery Yaesu gives you.
|
I have 10 Baofeng and FT-60 and some ICOM vhf radios. I find that Baofeng radios are quite competent and very cheap. I paid $25 for Baofeng UV5R and they are light, smaller and good enough for my usage. I programed all of my radios with Chirp with same frequency lineup. The good thing about $25 baofeng is that I do not care if I lose them. They are almost disposable. only one baofeng is broken so far when I fell into ocean water with it.
I do not see much advantage of $150 Yaesu over $25 Baofeng in VHF/UHF band.
|
Where did you get your numbers for Lion? 500 is the norm, with a big "but". A "charge cycle" for those batteries, is not number of times charged, but that it's a matter of full discharges, that is, charging a 10% discharged battery counts as 1/10 cycle .
"the life of a Lithium battery is related to the total charge of the battery?and has nothing to do with the number of charges."
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
-------- Original message -------- From: "Clint Bradford via groups.io" <clintbradford@...> Date: 8/20/22 4:14 PM (GMT-05:00) Subject: Re: [Yaesu-FT-60] No TX at low voltage
I sure don't understand the infatuation with lithium ion. Lithium ion will give you about 300 to 350 complete discharge-charge cucles. nickel metal hydride about 1000 discharge charge cycles. Yes lithium ion is slightly lighter in weight than nickel metal hydride. So just stop ordering super sized fries and that'll make up the difference. Oh, and if you work or live in Alaska, lithium-ion does indeed perform better in cold weather. The only other advantage I can think about is lithium ion will hold a charge unused longer. But you know what? I don't charge up my radio and put it in the glove compartment for six months without use. Also lithium ion requires a appropriate charger. Straight voltage into it is not the best way to go.? -- Clint Bradford K6LCS Let's see how Siri did with this. http//www.work-sat.com
|
Clint Bradford