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Reviews For: Yaesu FT-847

Category: Transceivers: HF Amateur HF+6M+VHF+UHF models - non QRP <5W

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FT-847
Reviews: 167MSRP: 1599
Description:
HF+2M,6M and 70cm Transceiver
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.yaesu.com/ft847.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
34.71674.4
N9TSL Rating: 2003-12-16
An Embarrasement Time Owned: N.A.
I sold a great working Ft-100 to upgrade to a Ft-847. Or so I though I was upgrading. The only thing it did better was it had a hotter receiver and had less menus to deal with. Selectivity was poor no matter what band you were on. Bought Yaesu's extremely overpriced Collins ssb filter to try and improve it. It was a help but not enough. NB was ineffective. DSP was a joke because it's nothing more than an audio frequency equalizer (i.e. bass and treble adjustment on your car stereo). The receive DSP bandpass would not switch properly when switching from SSB to CW or vice versa. It would lock up on the previous mode and you had to turn off the DSP and turn it back on again to get it to switch to the proper bandpass. Sent it back to Yaesu and of course I got this letter back with it stating it works to their specifications. SSB transmit audio was awful. Replaced it with a Kenwood TS-2000 3 months ago. MUCH MUCH BETTER!!
G8VHB Rating: 2003-09-12
Good performer Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The FT-847 is a good HF-VHF-UHF all band out-of-the-box performer. After 2 years, I have no complains whatsoever. I have added the Collins SSB filter as the only option. I use the Yaesu MD-100 desk microphone and always get good audio reports.

Barefoot 100 watts on HF and 6M, the 847 has given me many contacts on all continents with just a simple wire dipole.

KB0QWD Rating: 2003-06-15
Great to use Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had the ft-847 for awhile i like how easy it is use.I run the md-200 mic with it and get great audio reports.The recieve on it is to the point of being to good.There is one thing thats happend and maybe someone can give mesome help.Idont use the auto-tuner anymore but i accidently pushed the tuner button,now the icon stays on all the time.Tried pushing the tuner button and turning the radio on and off.wayne hanson kb0qwd
W2BRI Rating: 2003-04-23
Just a Wonderful Rig Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned this radio for four years now, and wrote a review under my previous call kc2ezv. I can say with great pride that this rig is just a terrific all around package. I have owned and currently do own a top of the line HF rig, so I can say the HF is not that bad with the Inrad crystal filters. The HF is decent and highly usable for the non-contester (but if HF is your real game buy a Mark V Field). The VHF/UHF of the radio is great. What an easy to use rig, with 50 watts on 2m and 440. 100 watts on 6 meters. For the money it's a steal. If it cost more it would still be worth it. You will never tire of this radio ever. The satellite makes working those birds so much easier. I am a fan, and a fan that has used every single area and function of the radio. Buy it, and you will not be sorry.
AA9YP Rating: 2003-04-23
Compact Rig Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned the 847 wonder box for approaching 3 yrs. The plus side of this rig : 1 button feature to work satellites , just enough memory channels for the casual user , works great on ssb..no problems with the audio , cooling system keeps rig very cool ..had a accidental keydown of over 45 minutes on UHF and heatsink wasnt even warm.
The negative side : lacks tapered audio..same complaint from many users , sounds horrid on AM .., why did they forget the VOX ? , true crossband would have made this a awesome rig , the selectivity on vhf and uhf leaves a lot to be desired...was working a fm repeater 50 miles away and a local repeater 10 miles away and 15khz up would skirt the signal..degradation was bad enough to make operating in that zone less than pleasurable. I also found the data plug scheme a bit disconcerting...had to add a resistor and cap to get the switching for HF amtor and packet right...feel this could have been easily cured by the manufacturer. On the whole..a nice rig in the right price range considering its advantages and setbacks.
W2RJL Rating: 2003-04-02
EXCELLANT !!! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Just 3 things the struck a nerve... otherwise, an excellant radio.

1. That AF control - same complaint as everyone else. Can not turn the volume down to a very low level before it drops off altogether. I use an external speaker with adjustable volume & filters - so, problem solved.

2. SSB filter that comes stock in the radio is too wide. Optional YF-115S-02 Collins Mech. filter is a slight improvement. But you should think about looking into a INRAD (International Radio) filter - #702, which is 2.1 khz crystal filter. It sure does make the improvement in the RX section. Anybody want to buy a YF-115S-02 Collins Mech. filter... I think I will try that YF-115S-02 in the TX filter slot - I have heard some mixed reviews on this feature.

3. Where's the VOX - I do not want or even use MOX... Well enough said there but I can live without the VOX - it's not the end of the world.

This radio performed excellant on all the bands, all the modes. I have not tried SAT work as of yet but when I do, I'm sure that it will work just as well.

73's Rich W2RJL
N4NOY Rating: 2003-02-22
Outstanding Rig Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
What a great little rig (and I do mean little!). I chose this radio because of the number of bands it will operate in a small package. My space arrangements do not allow for several radios, so I had to compromise. But in retrospect this was really no compromise at all.
VHF and UHF performance on local repeaters is great. I don't have any personal experience with satellite, but dad uses this rig for that application and loves it. In fact, he replaced the IC-970H with the Yaesu for birdie work. Given that the Icom was designed specifically for VHF/UHF sat work, that says a lot (and it's an awesome radio in its own right).
I've worked 18 MHz extensively with this radio and have a great time with it. I have some bad environmental noise problems here, but the rig pulls the stations through. Great comments from folks on the receiving end as well.
Criticisms:
No vox. I believe that should be standard on any radio of this class.
no full-break-in qsk. The cw delay can be set short enough to approximate this, but the TR relay sounds like it'll launch out the back of the rig. Ergo I set the delay higher to imitate VOX.
Volume control. The audio jumps from zero to moderate upon rotating the dial to ca. 8 o'clock.
And these problems are minimal.
This rig is made for the ham that has broad needs but who does not have a cavernous wallet (or cavernous shack, for that matter). Someone who is a dyed-in-the-wool SWL or contester may not enjoy this rig - they need more features that this radio does not provide.
If you're considering this radio, I'd suggest making the leap.

73,
Andy
N6HBJ Rating: 2003-02-21
GOOD BARGAIN Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This radio is very easy to use. The menu is simple and the manual is easy to understand. It looks very nice and I consistantly receive unsolicitated good audio reports with stock micrphone.

It would be nice if it had VOX. The volume control lowers to a point and then just drops off. The internal speaker is very poor and tinny sounding with no punch so you will want to add an external speaker for good audio.

Being inactive for 10 years and now back on the air, I am unable to give an honest evaluation of it's sensitivity and selectivity due to me having nothing to compare it to.

I will say that the NOTCH filter and IF shift are very good. As far as the DSP and NOISE REDUCER filters are concerned, I don't notice much of anything other than a change in the signals's tone and I don't notice any weak signals being "pulled out" of the noise with this feature. NOISE BLANKER is effective at times.

This radio is not perfect, but it is darn good all around especially for the price ($1250.00) Good for ragchew and DXing. If you are a serious contester then look elsewhere.

I'm keeping mine!

One question. When people reccommend the 2.5 khz filter and state that it improves SSB audio are you saying that the audio actually sounds more pleasing, or that you can hear the signals better due to narrower bandwith and therefore the audio quality would diminish even though more readable? I have no filters installed and am wondering about purchasing one for SSB and BTW will it effect my AM receive?
K9PO Rating: 2003-02-11
Excellent even after a year Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have now had this radio for over a year and have used it on satellites, VHF weak signal modes (SSB, CW, and Meteor scatter), HF (SSB, CW, RTTY, PSK31, and RTTY). I have run three contests with it so far. Sweepstakes, ARRL 10m, and June VHF contest.

In the past year I have had absolutely no problems with this radio nor any of the modes of operation. I do have both the SSB and CW filters installed and that makes HF operation a lot nicer. The receiver is very good and I have mastered the DSP and enjoy using it as it helps pull the weak ones out of the dirt on both HF and VHF.

The satellite operation is superb. The radio is controlled via SatPC32 and that make life very simple I enjoy being able to crank the CW monitor in sat. mode when I am on AO40 and there is a delay. Having the monitor loud helps me to ignore the delayed CW downlink and concentrate on the CW sidetone.

On meteor scatter I have made 15 contacts on 6m and 21 on 2m since September of 2002. This is without using an external amplifier and adjsuting the power for 100% duty cycle (50% rated max. power).

There are some complaints about a lack of VOX but I never use VOX and the MOX swich is something I have only touched accidently once. I use two PTTs one on the floor and the other on the desk and the desk one allows me to lock the PTT so no need for me to reach up and hit the MOX.

I like the way split mode is set up and that I can switch between which VFO is TX and which is RX very easily. To me it is easy to see when in split mode as I read what the display indicates. using the 'sub' function I can tune the sub-vfo without having to switch it to the main VFO postion and then switch it back.

I really like the memeory set up and use the memory dial all the time to rotate through my favorite bands and initial frequencies.

A great radio. I am very happy with it and all the things it does.


Scott

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Earlier 5-star review posted by K9PO on 2002-06-09

I bought the FT847 new from AES after having a bad experience with a VHF/UHF radio of another brand. I primarily work satellite and weak signal work and a friend had bought a FT847 and liked it a lot.

The receiver on this radio is excellent and I was had a easy time fo setting the unit up to work with my computer for doppler shift correction tuning when using the satellite mode.

Power out on VHF and UHF is great. Having 50 watts makes sat operation easy. I find myself turning down the power all the time!

100 watts on 6m is great too. I use a 2 element HB9CV design beam for 6m and during one band opening there was a pile up for a rare grid, I made a call and heard 'the strong 9 station come again'. Whew I never here that on HF!

I have even used this radio for an HF contest, while it is not a FT1000D it performed surprisingly well and I was impressed with the respectable rejection of adjacent channel rejection of strong signal and could not detect any desense.

The front panel is layed out well and the display is easy to read. The user manual is superb and does not appear to be an english translation of a Japanese manual that was written after the radio was designed.

I especiialy enjoy the shuttle knob for tuning and DSP makes pulling a signal out of the noise a breeze.

73-Scott
KB0NLY Rating: 2003-02-11
Great Buy! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
You can't miss buying this radio, i have one permanently installed in the shack now. I definitely recognize the need for some additional filters for HF, but without them the DSP works nice to help clean up the noise. Average used price right now is under $1000. Grab one if you can and have all the bands you need!