| VE7BGP |
Rating:      |
2013-08-16 | |
| Great Jack of All Trades |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
After operating the FT-897D at the VE7NA Club Station for the past few years. When my IC-706G quit working it was a no brainer to go for the FT-897D to replace that failed IC-706. The 706 series radios were the Jack of all Trades Master of None scenario! These FT-897D are the Jack of All Trades Expert of many in comparison. I really like the Receiver on the 857 and 897 radios. I have added a Collins 500 Hz Filter and really like the old school filters and DSP features of that 897. I really like using the FT-897D on CW and had a lot of fun operating it on the NAQP and WAE Contests on CW on recent weekends. I love that CW Auto Mode calling a local 80 Meter net that calls Checkins in both CW & SSB modes. I also like how the 500 HZ filter can be switched on operating Digital & RTTY. Once you get used to the Yaesu Menu system it is less convoluted than the Icom 706 menu system. I think you can't go wrong with the FT-897D I feel they are the best $1k radios out there. Grab one before Yaesu decides to discontinue these fine Radios. 73 Gerry VE7BGP
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Earlier 5-star review posted by VE7BGP on 2008-10-27
I new Ham in our Club recently bought a FT-897D for his first rig. He has not set his home station yet and is doing renos to a room for setting up his own shack. Matt has taken a great interest in Contesting. At our Club station VE7NA we took part in the CQWW Contest as a Club Effort. We had quite a few operators operate the Station on the Saturday and enjoy the Contest and working DX. One student had the great experience of working his first DX! On the Sunday I got to put in 4 1/2 hours of operating time in this CQWW Contest closing this Contest. Once I turned on the IPO setting that switches off the wide band RF Preamp "Noise Maker" that also makes all receivers Overload easily. I really started to enjoy using that Little FT-897D in this contest. The last hour I was on 20 Meters is a challenge for all or any Receivers. The FT-897D handled the crowds very well! I was able to use the DSP and with the IPO off I was able to pick out a few good ones out of the Crowd. I have had a lot of experience with the Venerable Old IC-751A in Contesting I have a good radio to compare this FT-897 to. They do Compare! I have used that FT-897D in a few QSO Parties before this contest I liked it, but after CQWW Contest I am impressed with that FT-897D. Having New Hams and one Student get their "Feet Wet In Contesting" I closed out the Contest our Casual score was 75 multis about 150 Contacts and a Score of 28,400. Antenna used A3S tribander @ 40 Feet. I do not own an FT-897D yet myself there will be an FT-897D in my Shack one of these days. I think the FT-897D is a really Great Rig. The FT-897D's receiver blows the IC-706MKIIG's receiver out of the water. Our Club station has a FT-857D I have had quite a bit of experience with and Ergonomically the FT-897d is light years ahead of the FT-857D both are similiar performing radios. I think that FT-897D is a winner of a radio. Yaesu has come threw again with another Great Radio!
73
Gerry VE7BGP |
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| AD0DQ |
Rating:     |
2013-07-17 | |
| Solid Radio |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I have had my Yaesu 897D for about a year. In that period of time I've worked every band except 160 meters, and I've worked PSK and RTTY with the Signalink. I started with a 60 meter dipole and an LDG AT-897 tuner, and moved to a Comet Vertical. The radio has an excellent signal, is a workhorse on VHF and UHF, and is competent and workmanlike on the HF bands. When I added HRD software to the mix, I started to enjoy the Yaesu a lot more. Being able to dynamically change the DSP and use the sliders on HRD made a significant improvement in the operation of the radio.
Being built for both mobile and base station use, as well as being a "shack in a box" it does have some compromises. The receiver is not as good as the receiver in my Kenwood TS-590S. Using the same antenna I was able to hear distant stations on the Kenwood that were not audible on the Yaesu. But this is a minor problem in my view because even though I could hear more stations on the Kenwood, given my antenna and feed line problem, I could not get back to them.
Overall a really solid radio! |
|
| CR7000 |
Rating:      |
2013-07-06 | |
| You will not get better in this price range |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
My Ft-897D gets the great rating, and i am rating it when compared to similar radios in similar price range.
I use this radio, all bands, and on most modes, it does everything it is supposed to.
We all know it is never going to be a contest radio, but i am not a contester, so for my needs it is superb.
I have owned many radios over the years, FT-450D, IC-7000, PRO 3, IC-7600 etc.
I went for this radio which is now my only shack radio, due to myself being a casual user, and i had many thousands of pounds worth of radios in my shack, not being used.
This radio now serves my needs and still gets me as many contacts as any other radio i have owned.
I use mine with the SSB filter, FC-30 tuner, and a combination of the MH-59 and MD-200 microphones, i also listen to it through the MLS-100 speaker.
All the products above work very well together and i could not ask for more.
I achieve the same results with this setup, and still make the same amount of contacts, and the same distance all over the world, and i also have a nice amount of money put aside from selling all my other kit.
Remember i am rating this on my personal needs, and not those of a big gun contest station
A sure 5 for me as this is the best in its bracket by far. |
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| K7BWH |
Rating:      |
2013-06-23 | |
| Versatile portable radio |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've owned the FT-897D for two years now, and used it both at home and portable, and both HF and VHF. With a matching LDG tuner it's handled every antenna I tried.
Strong points:
* Sensitive receiver works great on all bands.
* On VHF, I've activated all 18 grid squares in our big state and it always gets across the mountains.
* I've taken it to state parks and done very well in HF contests.
* The DSP handily deals with most kinds of noise. * The RIT is quick and easy.
* With practice I can run it mobile-in-motion on the passenger seat in the dark in a VHF contest.
* Rugged, reliable, portable, never had a problem.
* It has lots of modes and scanning features; it helped me map all the repeaters around. It helped identify a malfunctioning repeater.
* CW sounds good, keyer works fine.
* Measured output power meets specs.
Weak points:
* Not a great HF contest rig. The sensitive receiver works best on quiet bands and falls down in crowded contest conditions among lots of strong signals.
* I sure wish it had 220 Mhz capability.
* Tuning is easily bumped, of course it can be locked, but it's also too easy to bump the tuning again while locking the freq.
* Adjusting keyer speed requires going into the menu system. I wish it had a few simple keyer memories.
* Audio quality is okay but tiring, even with a Heil Traveler headset.
* Local radio reception is fine on AM band but FM band is low audio quality, almost as if it's being limited to SSB bandwidth.
This rig has been an outstanding performer for me. I take it everywhere in my 4WD, and then put it on the desk at home, plug in CAT control, and use it some more.
Barry K7BWH
PNW VHF Society |
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| N4WGY |
Rating:      |
2013-06-23 | |
| Jack of All Trades |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| I am an extra licensed ham with a moderate experience level with equipment. The FT-897D is a jack of all trades, master of none. Though it comes close in a few areas. I love it for its versatility, reliability and ease of use. For such a capable rig it is also affordable, and if well maintained and unmodified will hold its value well too. Hard to beat for a beginner or seasoned operator that wants to buy a new radio and be able to experiment with a TON of different operating modes on a TON of different Amateur bands at home, on the road OR in the field and at a reasonable price, with good overall performance. |
|
| AC2KK |
Rating:      |
2013-06-12 | |
| A Workhorse Transceiver |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| This is a solid, hard-working and no-nonsense transceiver. It does most anything you might want and it does it well. I have no problem with the menus, though they could slow you down a bit if you need to do something very fast. I'm very happy with this radio, it's just plain good quality. |
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| KD6JSM |
Rating:    |
2013-06-01 | |
| Low power |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've had the Yeasu FT-897 D for 2 years. It is a good , rugged, and faithful radio. I dislike all the menus, knob placement, and bar scale meter for swr, signal strength etc. What really gets me is power out put on SSB as it never puts out 100 watts about 80 is the best I can do. Been back to Factory twice and a independent and they all say it is preforming to specs. In one study of the low power thing they suggest a aftermarket mic to get up to 100 watts. If the Kenwood TS 480 SAT had VHF and UHF this radio would be for sale.
But it does a good job and always gets the job done. Yes if a friend needed a portable HF/VHF/UHF I would recommend it , but its not the love of my life.It was bought as my first radio and I lacked the experience to find something better. If you buy one you will not get burnned you will have a good radio that's a menu pain. But if you want 100 watts out of this radio buy a amp. |
|
| MM0XXW |
Rating:      |
2013-04-05 | |
| Very capable radio .... |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
containing lots of features all in the one basket.
The good points far outweigh the bad ones and if you're the kind of operator that likes lugging radios up and down hills, in and out of vehicles then this is the one for you.
Mine is coupled with the FC-30 auto-tuner which has never missed a beat and fine tunes my Doublet with ease.
There's a lot in the package and they are worth every penny! |
|
| N5KNG |
Rating:    |
2013-03-26 | |
| Good basic radio, but not for everyone ... |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I think this radio is well-built and solid. It is a bit of a chore working through the menus, but no worse than other small radios of the same class. I also missed having a built-in antenna tuner, but if you use resonant antennas, this is a non-issue.
What surprised me about the radio, and ultimately led me to sell it, was the lack of signal filtering. Even though it has "DSP", the older design of the radio means that the high and low pass filter applies only to the AUDIO signal. In other words, it's basically a crude audio equalizer. For situations where another station is transmitting nearby, this is pretty useless. Thus, to get real filtering of the RF signal, you have to load the radio with filter modules, and be satisfied with the resulting fixed (RF) bandwidth.
Newer radios don't have this limitation - you can adjust the width of the RF passband as you like. When band conditions are noisy, or crowded, that is a huge advantage.
Other than this consideration, I really liked the radio! It's hard to beat the multi-band capability and power for the price. |
|
| N0IKD |
Rating:      |
2013-02-20 | |
| I am still happy I bought it |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
This is not a technical review. I've had my FT897D for 4 years now and am quite happy with it. I was somewhat "menu challenged" at first because it was my first "modern" transceiver. I am now able to make it do what I want without the manual being constantly referenced. I have not had a shack of my own since I bought the radio. It has traveled around in my mini rv running off a small solar panel and deep cycle marine battery. Recently it has been on the mains, feeding a deck railing mounted Tarheel 400 at a resort I live at. It has certainly been a good radio for the "ungrounded" lifestyle I have experienced recently. It will also be a good radio when I get moved into the off grid cabin I am building nearby. The FT 897D will be my "base" radio and the FT 817ND I bought last year will be portable. Similar menu's have made both radios easier for me to use.
Poor audio? I plug in a Paradigm Titan stereo speaker and it sounds very good playing Wednesday Night Jazz on the local FM station or a Blue's hockey game on AM. Talking to the locals on the radio club's 2 meter repeater, working a bit of 10 meter ssb or listening in to the 75 meter rag chewers. All on the same radio. I like it's versatility, small size and performance. I have nothing to compare it too except my FT817ND. And they both perform well enough to make me happy. |
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