The Yaesu FT-690R

This page is a brief pictoral description of the FT-690R Mark I model, about which I was unable to find anything on the web. I hope this helps anyone interested in the older Mark I models of this radio. Click on the thumbnails to bring up a full sized image.

I have written up a short description of the FT-690R Mk I, covering operation of the radio, and what some of the features are. There are also specifications from the manual available.

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  This is the front panel view, including amp and microphone. This amp has a "Spectrum Communications" label on top of it, but I've never found reference to the brand name anywhere else on the web.

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  This is the front panel view. You can easily see the Vol/Sql knob, the Mode knob (note that AM is included there), and the Memory knob. The buttons you may not be able to read are, from upper left to lower right, Dial/S; Call; MR/Pri; M; F; Clar; Step; VFO. The two LEDs are Busy and On Air.

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  Here is the back panel. Pretty basic. There are connections for Key, External Power, Charge, and Antenna. The switches are Lamp/Off/Batt, Noise Blanker, and Power Out. The "switch" in the middle is the latch for the bottom panel.

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  The battery compartment is opened by moving the latch on the rear panel. Nothing more complex is involved, which makes it easy to swap batteries in the field, or change settings. Inside this bottom compartment, you'll find the batteries, a switch for the Tone Squelch unit (and I just found out that the FTS-7A tone board will work in the older model), a switch to set the scan stop condition (Busy, Clear and Manual), and a backup switch, which will use the lithium battery to maintain memories.

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  To provide some sense of scale, here's a shot of the radio with my hand. It's not very big.

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  For yet more scale, here is the radio with keys on top.

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  This radio, unlike the FT-690R Mk II, includes a built-in whip antenna. Since it's a six meter radio, the antenna is quite long! I think the whole thing is about 5 feet tall, which precludes me from using it on a table at home -- my ceilings are too short.

This page was created by Ian Johnston
Last updated Fri Dec 11 16:54:14 PST 1998