

Yaesu Serial Numbers

The numbering system of Yaesu transceivers has been constant for many
years. Basically, as you have guessed, the first number refers to the year
of production.

A radio manufactured in 1988 would be identified with an 8 -- but so will
radios made in 1998, as is the case with my FT-847.

The rest of the numbers and the single letter indicate which model run and
so on. Although the numbers therefore are duplicated every ten years, Yaesu
figures you should be able to work out which decade your radio was made in!

As an aside, yes, the person who suggested the FT-736 with its quirky
automatic quinmatic system was one of the longest-surviving commercial
amateur transceivers was pretty close to the mark, certainly where the JA
manufacturers are concerned. However, some other non-JA makers have kept
models going for a very long time, and the FT-736 had several fairly major
revisions during its life.

The Icom IC-735 is another excellent example. It has been more or less in
continuous manufacture for even longer than the FT-736. It is STILL sold in
some Asian markets, as are some really ancient HTs we haven't seen for a
very long time. They are used by military forces, logging contractors...
all sorts of strange applications.

Anyway, enough space wasted! Greetings to all...