Caveat Emptor

It's not often that I bitch about radio equipment, but when a radio that I've owned slightly more than one year (read "just out of warranty") goes tango uniform, it's time for an SoB to do what he does best.  I bought the radio in question, a Yaesu FT-1802 new back in May 2009.   The radio ran slightly hot, but I was aware of that before I bought it.  (Hey guys, how about re-thinking that heat sink design..)  I also became aware that some of the radio's programming ergonomics didn't conform to the same ergonomics I've come to expect from it's bigger brothers, the Yaesu FT-7800 and FT-7900, which I also own.  OK, what do you expect for a $120 radio?

Well for starters, what I expect is that a company like Yaesu - one of the long time "big three" in amateur radio wouldn't risk it's reputation on some Chinese crap.  (I've read that this particular radio is manufactured  in China for Yaesu - may or not be true, but it certainly fits my tale of woe.)

In the last couple of days, the radio's power output has diminished from 50 watts to zip, nada.  Bad enough...blown final power amplifiers aren't exactly unknown.  But when the problem is compounded with a receiver going from hearing great, to "Hey what's happened to the local repeaters?" to being as deaf as me listening to Jane's honey-do list while the radio's display indicates full output power...

As George W. said, "... fool me once, shame on ... shame on you.   It fool me. We can't get fooled again."