Yaesu FT-736R Multi-band Satellite Transceiver Major Features:

• Multiband satellite transceiver operates on 2m and 70cm ham bands
• Add additional bands with 6m, 1.25m and 23cm optional modules
• High sensitivity Receiver
• Transmits on 2 meters and 25watts on 70cm
• Built in AC power supply and 12vdc operation
• Built-in CTCSS encoder

My experience:
I bought this multiband satellite transceiver from Ham Radio Outlet a few years back. I bought the 220mhz, the 1.2ghz module and CTCSS decoder board at the same time. I like the looks of this radio, uncluttered and well thought out. I fired it up and it all worked fine. The audio quality is excellent both ways. At first I used it only for FM. Later I used it on the satellites. I even worked Oscar 10 (I have QSL cards to prove it). I found it easy to compensate for doppler shift. The receiver in the FT-736R is quite sensitive. I was using my homebrew masthead preamplifiers on the beam antennas so my receive performance was excellent. The one annoyance I had is with the AGC set to fast on SSB it may distort the audio. Over the years, an issue developed where I would get a crackle on receive with strong FM signals after the radio heated up. It sounded like a geiger counter. It would also get the crackle in the transmitted audio when using higher transmit power. I used a small fan on the case which worked for about 1 year. Then the problem got so persistent that nothing would stop it. I ended up taking it apart to figure it out. It wound up being a defective tantalum capacitor located in one of the oscillator sections. I replaced it and bam, no more problem. While I was in there, I decided to change reduce the fast AGC setting so it wasn't so annoying. I just added an additional capacitor and that was better too. There are reports that this radio has internal power supply issues. Mine never had this problem. During all this, I bought the Yaesu FT-847 that came out because I wanted HF band operation too. I originally thought I would sell the FT-736R afterwards, but I liked having the two radios together. A few years later my amateur radio operations slowed down to almost nothing (due to lack of time) so I decided to sell the FT-736R.

Yaesu FT-736R Multi-band Satellite Transceiver Pros:

• You can add more bands with addon modules
• Sensitive receiver
• Good transmit audio
• Built-in CTCSS encoder
• Nice well laid out controls
• Easy to read display

• No Built-in CTCSS decoder

Yaesu FT-736R Spot Rating:
Overall, it's a good reliable general use multiband and satellite transceiver.