Hi James,
Welcome to the group! Before powering it on, I would first open it up and take a look inside. Members have been putting some hi-res pics in the Files section to help others.
The "Technical Supplement" in the files section (Files->"03 - Yaesu FT-980 All Manuals") has some good black and white pics. If you have any questions you can take pics and put in this group .... we can compare to our rigs and pics.?
While there are some common issues, the most problematic appear to be related to connectors (as you might suspect) and solder joints on the single-sided PCBs. If you don't see anything suspect (weird mods, blackened components, no "burnt" smell), you should be OK to power up. No variac or other precautions required.
The FT-980 architecture derived from the FT-One ... but Yaesu DID lower cost: the PCBs went from doubled-sided FR4 to Single-Sided CEM-3 type. The PCBs aren't card type. But the switches, buttons, encoders and knobs seem to be high quality. My unit was made in 1983 and has never had a front panel issue (I did have broken wire in a transformer once).
--
-Mat Breton, N8TW
Mat Breton N8TW