I bought a Yaesu FT-891 HF rig in mid December and spent a lot of time trying out various settings in the galaxy of menus this radio has. I was away from ham radio for 30 years and my, how things have changed. After much testing of many settings (especially the Tx audio) I decided to do a master reset and then reapply the settings I found favorable to my use. This would return the radio to default factory condition in case there where settings I changed and forgot about.
The reset did indeed return the settings to default. But afterword's while doing some signal strength testing on 80 meters with a local friend I found that the power menu topped out at 50 watts. This was also the case with the 6 meter settings. Since resetting the radio it no longer has 100 watt output. I called Yaesu, and the tech had me do a "hard reset" using two buttons on the radio along with the power button. This isn't mentioned in the manual unless I missed it somehow. The reset did not correct the wattage problem, so the tech had me do a firmware refresh as well. Still no change in the power menu. The tech then had me give him the serial number to see if I had been sold a European version of the radio. The European version is 50 watts maximum, includes 4 meters but excludes 6 meters. My radio is the North American version according to the serial number. They had me send in the radio, it is supposed to hit their bench on the 5th.
I also called Ham Radio Outlet where the radio was purchased (Atlanta store), and they informed me that they had another FT-891 returned to them with the same issue. The difference with the radio they had was that it had been "modified" for out of band operation. My radio hasn't. From what I have read it is done by soldering some contact points that are normally open from the factory.
My advice for those who might have this radio is to not do a complete reset until the cause of this problem is understood, and a solution can be provided that doesn't require sending the radio to California. Hopefully a user solution can be found, such as a firmware update.
The reset did indeed return the settings to default. But afterword's while doing some signal strength testing on 80 meters with a local friend I found that the power menu topped out at 50 watts. This was also the case with the 6 meter settings. Since resetting the radio it no longer has 100 watt output. I called Yaesu, and the tech had me do a "hard reset" using two buttons on the radio along with the power button. This isn't mentioned in the manual unless I missed it somehow. The reset did not correct the wattage problem, so the tech had me do a firmware refresh as well. Still no change in the power menu. The tech then had me give him the serial number to see if I had been sold a European version of the radio. The European version is 50 watts maximum, includes 4 meters but excludes 6 meters. My radio is the North American version according to the serial number. They had me send in the radio, it is supposed to hit their bench on the 5th.
I also called Ham Radio Outlet where the radio was purchased (Atlanta store), and they informed me that they had another FT-891 returned to them with the same issue. The difference with the radio they had was that it had been "modified" for out of band operation. My radio hasn't. From what I have read it is done by soldering some contact points that are normally open from the factory.
My advice for those who might have this radio is to not do a complete reset until the cause of this problem is understood, and a solution can be provided that doesn't require sending the radio to California. Hopefully a user solution can be found, such as a firmware update.
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