FT897 was on my short list a couple years ago when I was looking for a small rig.    FT857D also but I decided against it because of the goofy control panel layout.   The 897 has a lot to offer but it seemed to me there was a little bit more HF radio in the FT450AT, which I eventually selected.

It all depends on the features you want.   All bands in one box has a certain appeal and there are times when I would like to have such a rig.

Rusty Shackelford
(giving the home address of a politician you don't like)

Good attitude!  But get the wire out away from the house if you can.

Still some unanswered variables, such as lot dimensions (particularly the back yard).  Stand up PVC pipe, 20-30 feet, in a 5 gallon bucket of cement - or maybe one of those telescopic fiberglas poles & some sort of tripod would be more elegant, and you'd have the apex for a half size G5RV, with the ends bungeed to a couple small screw in anchors.  Tip over & roll out of the way when it needs to be unseen.  If you don't have 50' of horizontal space, the bucket or tripod could hold a vertical, using wire counterpoise or buried radials, whatever's doable.

Do you have clothesline retrictions?  Play the global warming card.

Or there is the mercenary approach - do something else that's highly visible and universally offensive, yet unrestricted (maybe do your mowing in a tight pink speedo), then make a deal.

This is a really old thread but it might be useful info for someone.  I pulled my FT747 out of long term storage and it began having the exact same problem after a couple days use.  Some notes here and there suggested looking at the through-holes on the PCB for the filter unit (specifically the signal in/out pins), and one repair shop routinely straps those contacts around the board edge with small pieces of wire.

I pulled the filter unit on my rig and checked it out, and the connection through the board for the in/out pins checked ok with an ohmmeter, but after reinstalling the board the rig worked fine, so it seems (so far) the connectors just needed reseating.  

I had originally tried moving the board up & down while in place (while similarly working all the other plug in connectors), but being anchored by a screw and a nylon snap I guess it just didn't move enough.