Are you saying that the external meter is displaying this fluctuation?

What about the internal SWR meter on the display?

Using a deep-cycle or AGM battery is a great idea.  As long as your transmit time is limited in comparison to receive time, the battery will supply the high current during transmit and will be topped off by the charger during receive.

I personally use a 9-Amp-Hour "High Rate" battery (as used in a computer UPS), in parallel across a 13.8V regulated supply.  As long as the battery remains close to fully charged, it will just float there without drawing current.  If it is discharged, you must use a controlled charger or limit the current to limit the charge rate.


http://www.batteryuniverse.com/Sealed-Lead-Acid/B-B/HR9-12/GZ1290_B-B_HR9-12_Sealed-Lead-Acid-Battery

I would also like to point out the USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate service.

"With Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes, if it fits in the box, it ships anywhere in the U.S. for a low flat rate. "

https://www.prioritymail.com/flatrates.asp

They will mail you the boxes free of charge.  Largest box ships for $14.50 and has dimensions 12" x 12" x 5-1/2"

https://shop.usps.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?storeId=10052&parent_category_rn=10000002&categoryId=10000033&top_category=10000002&langId=-1&catalogId=10001

True, Most of the scams I have seen involve forwarding the money to a third party, often via a Money Order or a wire service.... They don't want to have to deposit it into a checking account that can be identified.

On the other hand I am very very cautious about sending out pieces of paper to ANYONE with routing number and account number on them - namely, checks.

It's a shame we still have to use 18th century payment technology.  I wish the bank would let you print a cryptographically signed 2d-barcode-bearing document via their website that secured your account number and pre-authorized a certain transaction amount....

Also consider a horizontal loop "skywire" run around the circumference of the roof. If you can put up a 25' wire in a straight line, you should be able to put up a fullwave horizontal loop for (at minimum) 20m.

It should probably be stood-off from the concrete with some kind of insulator.

It will still have to be grounded at the feedpoint with an appropriate lightning arrestor.

Typical scam perpetrated against many unsuspecting informal sellers. On many online for-sale forums and craigslist.

1. You get their forged/fake check or money order.
2. You deposit it.
3. Bank credits you until it clears.
4. You send a legitimate check or money order to refund the "overage".
5. They deposit it.
6. Their check never clears.
7. Your check does.

The most unlucky victims also mailed off the equipment before the check failed to clear.


I have seen this scam personally hit many friends of mine, even just advertising places for rent or even for jobs.

Bottom line - if the buyer wants to overpay and have you forward money somewhere, it's an outright fraud or a money laundering attempt.  Every time.  100% guaranteed. 

Also, my worst offender was a cheaply made VOIP phone of Grandstream brand, plugged into a small 5v switching power supply.  That sucker could be heard through 450MHz, and it was so loud that I had to use my hand-held 70cm yagi to track it down.

Disconnect the power from your house and see if the problem persists. That's an easy way to find out if it's inside your house.

Using the AM radio is a good start - but I find it too sensitive to the mass of noise that surrounds most residences.

It is fairly easy to make a small sampling probe.... just take a length of RG-58, cut off about 8 inches of jacket, pull the shield back and trim it down to about a half inch, and form the 8" length of insulated center conductor into a coil around your thumb. Tape the coil with a bit of electrician's tape to keep it together. Then strip the last half inch and twist/solder it to the exposed shielding.  I then taped this to the end of a dowel to use as a probe, and started walking around the house with the rig+battery in a backpack and the probe as the antenna. You will find lots more noise than you ever expected!  Alarm systems. Power supplies. Monitors. Network cables. TVs. Etc etc etc.

I also jumped on the opportunity the last time the power went out in the neighborhood. Rig operates on 12VDC, and I have a portable audio recorder with line input. So I got a recording (on 20m) of the whole neighborhood coming back on-line!  Very interesting to hear all those noise sources indeed.

WM9V,

Do you actually have one of these radios that you are trying to operate? Or are you just trying to dig up crap on Youtube and other forums and paste it here? 


You say:


I pointed out that blanking/muting the audio is a well-known and acknowledged problem which can be fixed by drawing the audio from the rear panel, and corrected you about which connector it was.


Then you say


So you appear to have ignored the advice on how to work around the problem, in fact you say


And then you bring up two issues unrelated to CAT control - a perceived 60m problem, and a (possibly valid) receive audio quality issue, also that you found and copied/pasted from other forums.

Then you show that you have again ignored the advice and post


Yeah, I know people too - myself. I personally verified the muting problem exists with MY radio. And the work-around works on MY radio.  Did YOU verify the solution with YOUR FT-857d? Why not tell us about YOUR experience? We can search other forums ourselves.

Then you posted a video of a radio that does not have a CAT cable connected, saying the noise shown is a result of the CAT connection...  Is this the noise you are experiencing or not?


As a followup, you paste another 3-year-old forum posting, but it again refers to the exact same audio muting problem ... We all agree this problem exists. Have YOU tried the suggested workaround?


Anyway you ignored advice presented in that post as well (ferrites), saying


You mentioned earlier the radio "is hooked up to the laptop via a usb cable to a plug and play west mountain".... Well, there is an RS-232 converter in there, turning USB into RxD and TxD for the CAT jack. Even if the CAT data is TTL level (0V/5V) and not RS-232 level (-12V/+12V), it's still square-edged serial data that can induce currents in audio lines and potentially cause RFI.

I PERSONALLY have poked around MY CT-62 and USB converter with a sensitive inductive amplifier probe, trying to find CAT control noise, and right along the serial cable I hear CAT commands as a BRAP BRAP BRAP BRAP BRAP in time with the lights on the USB-to-serial converter... This is pretty normal with RS-232 cables.  BUT I don't hear ANYTHING in the audio from the radio itself. No CAT noise present.




So - if you want to sell the radio on eBay, fantastic. Get rid of a product you obviously dislike.

Stirring up this thread with more pasted forum postings and irrelevant Youtube videos, when you ignore the advice offered, isn't doing anyone any good.

Unless the goal has nothing to do with YOUR radio and YOUR operating problems, but is to make a bad name for Yaesu. There seems to be at least one other active poster with the same goal. 

Anyway, my FT-857d seems to be working just fine.

Please don't reply with another pasted forum posting "proving" some problem exists.  Instead, see if you can make a recording of your own radio's audio issues.



Joe Koberg AE5NE




PS. Just an FYI, it's hard to take your un-punctuated, un-capitalized "stream of conciousness" writing style very seriously.

It will be nice when we get actual LED-pixel TVs instead of the marketing lie "True LED" that is being put out now.  They would potentially offer extremely wide color ranges, ruggedness and long life, and very low black levels.

But its very hard to put (1920x1080x3) = 6.2 million LEDs in a 60" diagnonal space.... that's over 4000 LEDs per square inch!

Amphenol UHF info page: http://www.amphenolrf.com/products/uhf.asp?N=0&sid=4B943E005ADE17F&

Amphenol BNC info page: http://www.amphenolrf.com/products/bnc.asp?N=0&sid=4B943E006B90E17F&

Wikipedia index of Coaxial Connectors: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Coaxial_connectors

BNCs are good connectors though about 1.5GHz. They are very popular. They are far easier to mate and unmate than a PL-259 (aka UHF), and I use UHF(M) to BNC(F) adapters on the back of my FT-857D to permit fast antenna switching and "preserve" the factory UHF(F) connector.

Beyond 1GHz I prefer a connector with more mechanical rigidity, such as a TNC, N, or SMA connector.

If I were using BNCs in an environment with stiff cables and movement/vibration, I might be concerned about the slight "wiggle" they can experience. In my mind, movement = noise or eventual open circuit. I guess that's why TNC connectors exist.

The name "UHF" for PL259/SO239 connectors was coined in the 1930s, when UHF meant 300MHz. Due to their geometry (diameter of inner connector surface vs. outer diameter of center contact is not a constant ratio), they don't present a constant 50-ohm impedance through their length, which will cause a reflection in a matched 50-ohm system. I would just ignore that below about 400MHz. I would be more worried about properly terminated, quality connectors on quality coax.

The BNC is a constant-impedance 50-ohm connector.

Lots of low quality BNCs adaptors exist. Then again lots of cheap PL259s exist too.

The Motorola plug is an obsolete connector still used in new car radios. I also have a scanner that uses it. You won't find it on new equipment.

The video in question does not show the CAT-control picket fence noise. It seems to be some other fault causing a "crackling".

In fact it is pretty obvious the CAT cable isn't even connected in that video. (2m28s in)

I would like to thank KC8ADU for the valuable and correct technical suggestion.

If I could vote him up I would!

My settings were 161 and 255. Obviously scrambled.

I am pleased to report that putting in reasonable values has fixed my s-meter! But keep 'em coming.

Thanks KB1NRB and KB2CPW for the solid data so far.

WM9V, if I had access to a calibrated service monitor or signal generator, I wouldn't be asking for this info!  I have no desire whatsoever to dial up the PA gain.


An interesting question is - if these values can be corrupted by RF, what other values might be corrupted?

That would lead me to advise new FT-857/897 owners to go into the service menu and record all the settings before they do anything else! And put that piece of paper in a safe place, like taped inside the radio!