Values are estimates from recent comparable sales — condition, accessories, and included extras vary. Always compare before buying.
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Median sold price per month, trailing 1 months. Roughly flat over the period.
Based on classifieds listings marked SOLD — asking prices sellers marked as sold, not confirmed sale prices. Refreshed daily from our deal-scan comp checks.
| Date sold | Item | Price | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individual sold records for this model are still being compiled — the fair-value estimate above is based on 8 recent sales. | |||
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The Yaesu FT-950 is the 'poor man's FTDX5000' -- and for once the nickname is earned, not marketing. It inherited receiver architecture from Yaesu's flagship line: triple conversion with real selectable roofing filters in the first IF and 32-bit floating-point DSP, a combination that had independent labs ranking its close-in dynamic range ahead of pricier radios. DXers and contesters bought it as the budget big-gun, and the reviews read like love letters to the filtering -- CW bandwidth squeezable to a whisper, a quiet fan, punchy transmit once you dial in the EQ. The price of admission is the menu system: deep, occasionally reshuffled by firmware updates, with veteran owners grumbling they were Yaesu's beta testers. And the stock hand mic is the classic Yaesu weak link -- thin audio that most owners fixed with a desk mic, which tells you what to listen for when testing. Other honest notes: the tuning knob feels light enough that an aftermarket weighted dial kit exists, the internal tuner clicks audibly and will not match a random wire, and there is no separate receive-antenna input. Used checklist: full 100 watts on every band after a proper heat soak, tuner cycles that actually lock, a smooth drift-free encoder, and a clean display. Find a clean one and you have flagship-grade ears for workingman's money.
In the receiver, closer than the price suggests -- the FT-950's roofing-filter front end comes from the same design family, and its measured close-in dynamic range embarrassed some pricier rigs. What you do not get: dual receive, the 5000's heft and headroom, or its resale prestige. Think of it as a flagship's engine in a midsize chassis. For a contester or DXer on a budget, that is exactly the right trade.
The microphone, full stop. The stock hand mic sounds thin, and the standard owner prescription is a Yaesu desk mic -- widely called the single biggest transmit-audio upgrade you can make. After that: a matching external speaker, and the weighted aftermarket dial kit if the light stock tuning knob bothers you. Do not judge the radio's transmit audio by the stock mic.
No single endemic failure defines the FT-950 -- it is generally regarded as reliable. Verify instead: the encoder (a flaky tuning knob hides in those deep menus), display brightness, the internal tuner's relay action (endless clicking with no lock means trouble), and that the firmware is the final release, since early units had real firmware bugs. One documented case of power dropping after warm-up argues for a 15- to 30-minute heat-soak test at full power before you pay.
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