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Reviews For: Yaesu FT-897 & 897D

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

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FT-897 & 897D
Reviews: 340MSRP: 1049.95
Description:
It is the world's first multi-mode high-power base/mobile transceiver designed to fitted with internal batteries (optional) for portable use. The coverage is HF 160 to 10 meters plus 50/144/430 MHz VHF/UHF. Receive is 0.1-56, 76-108, 118-164 and 420-470 MHz. 7.9x3.2x10.3 inches (200x80x263 mm).
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.yaesu.com/amateur/ft897.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
353404.6
KD4TWP Rating: 2009-07-22
My thoughts Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Well i got my 897 when they first came out before the D models came out. I am happy with it other than 2 things. The meter is way to small for me to see. so i got the external LDG meter and that works great.
Next thing is the matching auto tuner,it is not all that good,if you have 2.5 or higher swrs it will not tune,on 10mtrs it diesnt tune unless it is under a 2. so that is realy the only problems I have with this radio. I got the extra 110volt pwr supply that goes with it.And it works great.

it realy depends what yo want to do with this radio, if you never plan to use it on the bateries then i wouldnt get it i would get the 950 for a good mid range radio.
well i hope this helped someone out there.
M0RTS Rating: 2009-07-05
Excellent Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Well,I don't know where to start.I purchased by FT 897D brand new from a local emporium.

I always said i wouldnt buy a new modern Radio after running FT902's/FT101ZD's for years, I never thought that modern radios would be as reliable or well built. I was WRONG.

I did a lot of reaserach prior to purchasing my 897D comparing what was on the market for a "new shack in a box" and after speaking to various Hams who also had 897's I chose it.

Value for money is superb, from HF to 70cms and being multimode this rig is a dream, its packed full of features except the kitchen sink, all of which are a joy to use. It took a short while to get use to the menu's on this rig but don't let this put you off. One of my favourite features is the DSP which has made life an absolute dream,especially on CW. You can also customise your settings to your needs easily depending which Bands you use.

I started to use my 897D straight out of the box as set by the factory. Transmit audio reports are superb both thousands of miles away and locally,I havent altered anything yet as reports are good.

The reciever is excellent, very sensitive and nice to listen to,as mentioned earlier the DSP is easy and very effective which I still can't get over. The Noise Blanker is also a pleasure as I have always suffered interference at this QTH due to the local vicinity(supermarkets,shops,various elctrical appliances) but now its Gone!

Despite owning this Gem for a little over a year I haven't finished entirly looking at all of the features this Radio has due to work being demanding and because I love to use it on the air!

The size of the Rig is super,nice and easy for portable/mobile use and of course at home. The radio is built well and has not missed a beat, this rig for me is a keeper.

So if anyone is considering buying an FT-897D or looking to buy a new radio for the shack then I would say Go For It! You won't be dissapointed.

Also Well Done Yaesu!!

WB4RHQ Rating: 2009-05-11
Outstanding Performer Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have had my 897 for about a year and use it with a 170' long wire. Performance has been outstanding. Recently I obtained an IC-7000 to run mobile, but have had then both on the desk to compare. Most friends who run the 7000 have raved about the audio and the reception, but side by side, the 897 is a clear winner to me. The 7000 will still go in the truck, but the 897 is hard to beat for a sub $1000 radio.
N8EB Rating: 2009-05-11
Second look after a year Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had my 897D for about a year now, and thought an update was in order. If you read my first review, I mention that I had a noise source near my QTH that I could not track down. I have moved, so that is one problem cleared up.

I now live in a mobile home park that has antenna restrictions, so for 2 months I have been using a borrowed ATAS antenna with mag mount on the car to work HF - until last week. Some hams came out and put up an almost invisible inverted "L" wire antenna, so I have a choice.

On to the 897D! It has performed rather well even on the ATAS on the car. Now that I also have a wire antenna, it is amazing me even more on how well this rig can tune out noise - at least compared to my old Icom.

I have also started doing a little digital work lately, and I can not find any negative points about this radio - at least in it's price point. As I say in my original review, if you have a bazillion dollars to spend, there are better radios out there, but for a sub $1,000 rig that covers HF/UHF/VHF, this radio is hard to beat.

I am toying with the idea of buying a filter for digital work, but it certainly is not needed!

Unless I win the lotto, I plan on keeping this rig around for a while - great portable rig, decent base rig, and handles every mode/band with ease. Definately a keeper!

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Earlier 5-star review posted by N8EB on 2008-07-02

Before I start my review, I have to say that I hate to see reviews comparing a $700 multi-purpose rig to a $6,000 HF contest rig. My review is on this rig and what it replaces in my shack.

My first HF rig was an Icom IC-718 - a very basic but capable low end starter rig. I added a TenTec 6-meter transverter for 6-meter work, but that only put out about 12 watts.

So after about 3.5 years on the Icom I assessed my needs. I wanted a rig that would handle my base needs with better control of noise, I wanted more power out on 6-meters, and since I had just acquired a 2-meter beam I wanted all-mode on VHF. Many in my local club love to go out to a local Metro Park, throw a wire up in a tree, and play radio for 5-6 hours - we call this a "Lark in the Park". So this new rig had to handle portable duties also.

I looked at several rigs - FT857D, IC-706MKIIG, Alinco DX-70TH and others, but one friend let me come over and "play" on his 897D before I made my decision. Although my Icom 718 had some menus, the 897D kind of scared me - after all there are almost 100 menus, and even less buttons or knobs!

I thought I would have to go with an HF/UHF/VHF mobile to get a rig that would handle what I wanted in a rig, but I am so glad I got to play on the 897 before making my decision!

The size/form factor of the 897 is great - I am amazed that Yaesu packs the capabilities in such a small box. The case itself is a bit smaller than the Icom, and feels very solid and sturdy. I don't think I will have any problems with damage taking it out in the field - as a matter of fact I have had it out for a "Lark in the Park" several times already, and it has done very well.

Although Yaesu and others make internal battery packs for the 897D, I chose not to buy any. I use a deep cycle marine battery which allows me to work 6-8 hours at the full 100-watts out and I barely scratch the surface of the battery's capacity. At a slightly reduced power I think I could get 24 hours for something like Field Day.

Having 100-watts out on 6-meters is a dream! While I did work states 700-1,000 miles out during a band opening with only 12-watts out, 100 watts makes a HUGE difference!

I use the 897D on 2-meters FM both on repeaters and simplex on a regular basis, and storing repeater info (freq, tones, offset) into memory is a breeze. I have tried out SSB on 2-meters, but still have some SSB nets I want to try.

HF... I have something near my house that makes a loud annoying noise on 40-meters. The DSP on the Icom had trouble knocking it down, and I called the electric company, cable company, and several club members to try and locate the source to stop it. Not much luck there.

When I put the 897D online, I can clear it up except on the very worst of days. It took me a few weeks of playing with all the features to find the best combination of DSP, Noise Blanker, and IPO to knock down the noise, but the Yaesu is FAR superior to the Icom.

I don't do that much CW - if ever. Several guys with an 897 love it's CW features, especially with an optional filter. On SSB where I do most of my work, every time I use the 897 I like it more and more. The noise floor is pretty quiet - not as quiet as a $2500+ rig, but much better than my old 718. The notch filter does an excellent job in crowded conditions, and as I said, the DSP does a great job on the noise.

So in my opinion if you compare this rig with others in it's class, it is one heck of a radio for it's price. It is jam-packed with features, and once you get used to the menu system they are easy enough to access. After you set the rig up to your liking, you don't need to use that many of the menus all too often.

So far I have only found one thing that might be considered a problem. If I use the memory to go to a 2-meter repeater, then switch back to an HF frequency, the SSB step switches from the 1Khz setting to 2.5Khz. I have heard that all 897's, 857's, and the 817 all do this. It appears to be more of a design quirk than a problem, and it certainly does NOT make the useage experience any less.

If money is an issue and you need a rig to handle many duties, choose the 897. If you need a rig to handle portable duties, choose this rig. If you have a bazillion dollars to spend on a rig and you want top of the line everything, maybe you should look at a different radio - but buy a 897 anyway as a back up!
W7XK Rating: 2009-05-07
Solid Rig Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I bought the FT-897D for VHF/6M/Echolink to complement my 950D. I run it via HRD as I find the controls a tad too narrow for constant tweaking. Aside from that minor inconvenience I find the rig a delight to work and the menu system easy after a few run throughs. I'm looking forward to field work in the Wind Rivers this summer. 73
G4WBW Rating: 2009-04-28
Happy ending Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Waters and Stanton contacted me yesterday to say that as my 897 could not be repaired after so long they were sending my a replacement.
G0RIF Rating: 2009-03-30
First impressions...are good! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My FT-897 (purchased second hand) arrived about a week ago but was only used on receive for the first few days while I got the hang of the menu system and sorted out a new power supply. Out of the box I have to say that the pictures don't do this radio justice. Granted it's what's on the inside that really matters but it doesn't hurt if a radio looks good on the desk. To that end the FT-897 is a good looking radio!

In use I have found the menu system simple enough but if you're used to a more sophisticated user interface you may find some of the key presses required to effect a change in the radio's setup to be a little bit long winded. My other radio is a Kenwood TS-480SAT and that radio has a very nice user interface - by comparison I am finding the Yaesu FT-897 to be a bit cumbersome.

Receive performance on HF is good and the radio does benefit from audio DSP noise reduction. This does significantly quieten what is otherwise a pretty noisy receiver. There is also DSP [audio] bandwidth filtering which is effective in reducing adjacent channel interference. This was put to particular use in the CQWW WPX SSB contest this past weekend where the receiver seemed to cope quite well with crowded band conditions, although it should be noted I do have the W4RT 2.3KHz Collins SSB filter installed which no doubt helps.

By way of comparison I would say that the FT-897 is not as good as the TS-480 on HF receive but that should come as no real surprise as the TS-480 is HF+6m only and is designed for optimal HF performance whereas the FT-897 covers HF+6m plus 2m and 70cm. The difference is hard to quantify and I couldn't hear anything on the Kenwood that I couldn't on the Yaesu - it's just that the Kenwood seems more "in control" and has better recovered audio that the FT-897. This is just my wholly subjective view - your opinions might differ.

I can't say much yet about the transmit performance - I need a few on air reports to compare a few settings before passing judgement. I hope to be able to conduct those tests in the next few weeks - I'll report my findings then.

Overall, given it's design intent, the FT-897 is in my opinion a very good radio. It seems to have ticked all the right boxes and arrived at good compromises in terms of size, frequency coverage, operator convenience and performance.

I am looking forward to taking the radio out into the field for some portable operations and antenna experimentation but for now I'm enjoying using the radio in the shack where it is used for HF SSB, 2m and 70cm work while the TS-480 handles all other HF modes.

In summary then, given what it sets out to achieve, I have to rate the Yaesu FT-897 a very good radio (but not great) and one I look forward to owning and using for many years.
KC9KUH Rating: 2009-03-12
A+ Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
SO FAR SO GOOD LOVE THIS RADIO HF/VHF/UHF ALL IN ONE RADIO WORK OTHERS ON VHF FM AND SSB AND IN THE VHF CONTEST WISH IT WAS 100 WATTS ON VHF BUT 50 WORKS FINE FOR WHAT I DO .
JUST PUT A HEIL HM-10 ON IT NOW I LIKE TALKING ON HF MORE AND NOW IM WORKING ON GETING MY DXCC IM UP TOO 56 SO IM WORKING ONE AT A TIME . THIS IS THE BEST DEAL OUT THER GOING SO FAR IT NOT A ICOM 7700 OR ONE OF THE BIG HI END RADIO BUT IT'S A NICE RADIO TO GET THE NEW OR OLD HAM GOING.

JUST GOT TO PLAY WITH PSK AND RTTY THE 897D WORKS GOOD WITH THEM TOO

73'S KC9KUH

73'S KC9KUH
G7WAP Rating: 2009-03-04
inexpensive but great Time Owned: more than 12 months.
ok the prices have gone up recently for whatever reason but when i bought my 897 i was impressed on how well it performs. I've had mine for a good couple of years and i'm still learning about it. It gives a very good performance on hf,vhf, and uhf overall. It caused a little tvi on a bad filtered freeview box that my other radio didn't cause but i soon solved that. I addition this radio is fantastic on data. So if you like Rtty, psk then this is the box for you. If you don't like data but have a budget limited to around £500 then you can pick up one of these beauties or it's little sibling the 857. My only minor complaint is the menu driven front end but once you get used to it, it grows on you.
KB9MVW Rating: 2009-02-13
quality Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The biggest mistake I have made was trading my original 897d I had a few years back. FOR THE PRICE it is my opinion that there is not an equal to this radio in any respect.Just the right size for a base or a serious field rig. Works hf very well, you might prefer to install the collins filter for sideband work but its truly not needed for cw. In cw there is a dsp feature that really narrows the pass band more than any sane person should need. And on phone it is fine, During crowded conditions the if shift takes care of most problems, the collins filter would be needed more for the ham involved in contests. The internal batteries work pretty darn good on sideband, Expect a faster drain on fm. This is one of the best general purpose radios I have ever used. I Just bought another one with the same outstanding results. There is no other portable radio on the market currently that can do what this rig can..!!!OHH one hint don,t crank up the audio more than factory spec in the menu, the audio is hot enough and turning it up will just make you sound distorted..