Possibly Manufactured in April, 1983 which would make this a very early radio in the Yaesu FT-980 line-up as they started making this radio in Jan 1983. This is assuming that the Serial Number is starting ‘3D’ as it looks more to me like ’30, but after seeking knowledge from the font of knowledge, i.e. the Fox Tango Website, the serial number should be start with a ‘Letter’ followed by a ‘Number’, but this one certainly looks like two numbers…
So, we have a very untidy HF Transceiver that was in it’s year of manufacturer one of the top radios of its type at the time, but it was a strange time as around then Yaesu were still selling the FT-902DM at nearly the same cost of the FT-980, and they also had the ‘VERY’ popular and fantastic radio (Very much on my ‘Wish List’), the Yaesu FT-102.
You certainly expect a level of quality with Yaesu kit and this does not look like something that Yaesu would have done, not investigated much about this yet but certainly will do.
The capacitor is the same make as the ones fitted inside the radio but the implementation of this one is a little less Yaesu, this may not to be a customer’s bodge, but a Yaesu one, that said I don’t think I can forgive it and I may have to attack this one soon.
I know that the ‘Red’ and ‘Black’ leads here are for the Battery Backup, but the small bodge to elongate them could have been done a little neater, I will replace this with possibly a small Molex connector similar to the ones all over this unit so that it will match in better and also look as though it was a factory fitting.
Scroll down to see what downloads are available for the FT-980 and also a running total of what I spend on this restoration, and of course a list of people that have helped along the way.
There will be a long break here as I really am not well at the moment, but once I can handle working on this kit I will get back to it and post updates.
Replacement Knob for the FT-980 purchased off eBay.
£21:99
Kerry Rochester (G8VR)
Kerry has been a great help supplying a load of photos of his much cleaner model so that I can try and see what has been bodged in this one, he also pointed me in the right direction with regards to a set of Knobs for this model. Cheers mate, forever in debt to you.
I am now retired and living on the Isle of Man, my background is as varied as it gets, ranging from Information Technology to Graphic Designer and 3D VFX Artist, using and teaching Autodesk Maya, Softimage, and Smoke, one of more enjoyable positions. Since Moving to the Isle of Man I try to keep myself to myself and work on the house, I don't do much with regards to Amateur Radio or Electronics anymore, but I am still interested in the hobby and may well get back into it one day....