The FT-690R is a multi-mode, 6 meter radio, intended for portable operation, such as mountaintopping, or Field Day. RF power can be radiated either via the built-in whip antenna, or the SO-239 connector on the back of the radio. There is space inside the radio for 8 C-cell batteries, either alkaline or NiCd. There is a charger input on the back of the radio, which will charge the batteries whether or not main power is being supplied via the back panel. The main power input will not charge the batteries -- it will in fact disconnect them.
The radio offers the following modes: AM, FM, USB and CW. There is no provision for LSB, since it's basically unused above 7 MHz. The AM is a nice touch, since there are still quite a number of older tube rigs for 6m which only have AM modulation. It puts out either 2.5 watts on high power, or 0.8 watts on low power. There is a clarifier circuit (Receiver Incremental Tuning for you non-Yaesu folks), which is initiated by pressing the CLAR button, and retuning with the main VFO knob. The display shows your receive frequency, and shows the transmit frequency when you press the PTT button. The clarifier is available in all modes. The maximum range of the clarifier circuit is 10 kHz either direction.
There are ten memories available, and two VFOs. The memories are not tunable. Unfortunately, it isn't possible to do split operation between the VFOs -- odd splits are accomplished by programming the receive frequency in a memory slot, and putting the transmit frequency into a VFO. Speaking of odd splits, I recently discovered that in the Seattle area, all the repeaters use a 1.7 MHz split between input and output frequency, and the 690 is programmed with "standard" 1 MHz splits.
The tuning knob is sharply detented, which can be annoying when trying to scan up and down the band, but is quite nice when operating vehicle or pedestrian mobile. The "up" and "down" buttons on the microphone can be used to initiate a scan, or to move one frequency step at a time. There is a "lock" switch on the microphone, to keep the frequency from being modified. The "scan stop condition" is set inside the radio via switch, to "stop on busy," "stop on clear" or "manual." As far as I can tell, "manual" means "don't stop, just play whatever audio is on the frequency then move on."
The FT-690 does include "priority scan," which will check a memory channel briefly every 5 seconds, and stop there based on the scan condition set inside the radio. It allows you to use the VFOs and move around all you want, but still monitor some important channel, like a calling channel.
The 690 that I purchased came without a tone board, but according to Yaesu tech support, the FTS-7A tone board for the Mk II models will still work in the Mk I. The connector is different, and will need to be ordered from Yaesu, but it will still function. I'll be installing the FTS-7A in my radio soon, and will report how it works. This radio offers an 1800 Hz tone burst for repeater systems that still use this method of access control.
The three switches on the back panel are fairly straight forward, but here's a quick overview: the power switch chooses whether to use 2.5 W (high power) or 0.8 W (low power). The NB switch will enable a preset noiseblanker circuit, which will cover ignition-type noise, and prevent it from tweaking the AGC circuitry. The Lamp/Off/Batt switch chooses either "light the display lamp for nighttime operation," "turn off the lamp but leave everything else unaffected," or "show battery condition with the lamp lit." If you look closely at the front panel, you may see that the S meter has a center line which is white and green (ok, it looks black in the picture). The bottom edge of that green section indicates 9v battery voltage when the switch is set to Batt. Any meter indication inside the green section indicates that the batteries are in good shape.
For CW operation, it's necessary to press the PTT switch and operate the key at the same time. There is a jack provided for an external PTT, such as a foot switch. There is also a jack provided for an external 8 ohm speaker. Notably, there's no provision for headphones, unless you really turn down the volume and plug into the speaker jack.
One of my sources of mixed feelings about this radio is the built-in whip antenna. It's about 5 feet tall, and feels very delicate. I've extended and retracted mine about 10 times so far with no ill effects, but every time I use it, I'm afraid I'll break it off. I intend to get a more sturdy antenna as soon as possible.
The FT-290R and FT-790R models are identical in appearance, but operate on 2m and 70cm, respectively. Their function is probably exactly the same as the 690.
I know of these optional extras for the 690/290/790:
This page was created by Ian
Johnston
Last updated Wed Dec 16 13:26:11 PST 1998
