Yaesu 897 D

[dksac2]

Right now I have been using UHF/VHF and even GMRS with commercial radios. I use Echolink and have a simplex repeater and will soon be setting up a Yeasu Wires system as I got a complete wires set up cheap. Of course, these both depend on the internet.

I very much want to get into HF. I'm heavy into EMCOM's and like the fact that the 897D has UHF/VHF as well as an easy to add antenna tuner, batteries for use off the grid and away from a 12 volt source.

My main question is how well does this radio work on HF. I'm not looking at working pile up's, but do want a radio with reasonable sensitivity and the ability to seperate close stations to a reasonable amount. Being able to pull out weaker stations would be nice, but I realize that the more money spent, the better and higher the antenna system is, the better your ability to pull in weak stations becomes.

I guess bottom line is I need a lower cost radio for HF that will work fairly well. I very much like all the other features besides the HF, but don't want to be too dissapointed in the performance of the radio. I know antennas are very important and in my situation will not be able to put up a tower, I was thinking of a square wire antenna up about 30', this home built antenna has got some decent reviews as well as a couple wire antennas.
I will be working mostly 20 and 40 meters.

I'd like opinions on this radio and how well you think this type of set up will work for me. I'm looking for emergency use as well as some good ragchews. I'll never have the money to put up the big gun station.
I'm looking for a little fun and a good emergency radio that can be easily be used in a variety of situations.

My Best, John

 

[ropin4gold]

John

I had a 897 and really liked it. I think it will work well for your situation. The display was small but other than that it was a great radio. If you didn't need the vhf/uhf you might look at the Yaesu FT-450.

 

[nanZor]

I very much want to get into HF. I'm heavy into EMCOM's and like the fact that the 897D has UHF/VHF as well as an easy to add antenna tuner, batteries for use off the grid and away from a 12 volt source.

Note that the optional dual internal 4500mah nimh batteries are convenient, but very pricey. Many recommend just running from an external battery. However, they do allow you to just pick up and run with the radio, and are quality cells. You'll need a special charger for them too, so it all starts to $$ add up. Be sure to actually use them once in awhile, rather than letting them just self-discharge for a year. About 3 cycles or so gets them in peak shape before an outing. The special charger is a switching type, and if you charge while operating, it might get noisy if your antenna is very close.

The optional AC switching power supply was amazingly quiet - I guess it has to be sitting right underneath the radio.

I'm looking for emergency use as well as some good ragchews. I'll never have the money to put up the big gun station.
I'm looking for a little fun and a good emergency radio that can be easily be used in a variety of situations.

The 897D fits this requirement very easily. Sure, it isn't a kilobuck-radio, but it performs well for the class that it is in. In difficult situations, you may need to merely turn off the preamp (IPO ON) in Yaesu-speak, crank down the rf-gain etc, and drive it, rather than lounge around with it.

The compact size means dealing with a menu structure, which for me was ok once I got the hang of it. Be sure to make use of the user-programmable A/B/C buttons for those menu settings you like to change the most - reduces deep menu navigation a bit.

Tip: Out of the box, the 897D and 857D are wide-open receive audio fidelity which you'll want to crank down to something reasonable in the menus right away. Use something like 300hz for the HPF, and 3000hz for the LPF, and THEN make sure that [DBF] is selected to actually put those receive audio filters to use.

At first, I was quite confused when selecting my preferred HPF and LPF values and not having them do anything - until I realized I had to follow through with activating the [DBF] to actually make it do something. Now I could read the manual and play a little bit without thinking the radio was harsh or defective.

I really like the 897D, and it's 857 sibling. In fact, the 857 might be considered if you never plan to run from the optional switching supply or internal batteries and fits inside a briefcase very well. On the 857, note that you can almost double the size of the frequency font (at the expense of some other info).

For some, the optional Collins mechanical filters aren't worth it. For my weak-signal work, the optional ssb filter (and the 500hz cw filter) were nice additions. YMMV.

 

[prcguy]

I had an 897 with internal batteries and an LDG-897 tuner on the side. Then I happened across a cheap used FT-857 and never ever used the 897 again.

The 857 and 897 are the same radio inside and an 857 mobile with an external LDG tuner and batteries will be smaller and lighter and cheaper than an equivalent 897. I used to carry this setup around in a small backpack with a Buddipole 4S2P battery pack which ran the radio at 100w instead of being limited to 20w like the internal 897 batts.
prcguy