After buying my new (secondhand) Yaesu FT-950 base transceiver I knew I again wanted to do the wideband mod. This is the same mod I did for the Yaesu FT-817 some time ago; I wrote about it in another blog entry. Because the FT-950 is much larger than the FT-817 I thought it would be easier to do the mod and I was right!
To do the mod you have to turn the radio up side down and remove all 18 (!) screws.
The jumpers that you have to change are grouped on the front right corner.
The only thing you have to do is close jumper number 5, this is it!
The jumpers will than look like this:
FT950 Jumpers for widebanding
I only took a picture of the after situation, not the before.
After reassembling the rig you have to do a full reset holding the fast and lock buttons while turning the rig on.
After this the rig is open for TX on 1.8 to 30 mHz and 50 to 54 mHz.
In the end the whole mod took 5 minutes. 4.5 minutes to unscrew / screw the bottom plate and 30 seconds to do the mod! 😉
A final word of warning 😉
Please note that you are taking full responsibility for any damage caused to the transceiver during this modification. All normal precautions to protect against static electricity should be followed.
Hi Cees,
I have also FT-950 with programmed 5 channels US version on 5 MHz band, can you share please after the modification you did, what do you have now on 5 MHz band?
73 Avi
Hi Avi,
We are not allowed to use the 60m band (5mhz) here in the netherlands so I’m not using it.
I quickly checked and found that after the mod, between 5mhz and 6mhz, it’s open for transmitting.
Hope this answers your question?
73 de Cees
I tried this mod on my 950, it didn’t work!
I’m sorry to hear that it didn’t work for you Danny. Did you do the full reset after doing the mod? You’re the first person that tells me the mod didn’t work for you so I’m a bit surprised.
I do not have anything on jumper # 1 and 2 does that matter.
DE Barry VE3BLM
I don’t know Barry. Maybe you have a different version of the FT-950?
I saw a few FT-950’s and they all had jumper 1 and 2 closed.
I do not have anything on jumper # 1 and 2 does that matter.
DE Barry VE3BLM
PS It’s done and seems to work.
Thanks DE Barry
Good that it works Barry!
Than probably it doesn’t matter that jumper #1 and #2 were open.
Thanks for your reply here. It can be useful for other people.
73 de Cees
PA1CA
Do you know how to use the FT-950 on 60m channel 3 for FT8?
Hi Layne. I sold the FT-950 some time ago so I don’t think I can help you there. Sorry.