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Reviews For: Yaesu FT-817ND

Category: QRP Radios (5 watts or less)

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FT-817ND
Reviews: 169MSRP: 589.00
Description:
The world’s first self-contained, battery-powered, Multi-mode Portable Transceiver covering the HF, VHF, and UHF bands! Despite its incredibly small size (5.3" x 1.5" x 6.5"), the FT-817 delivers big performance! Its next-generagion PA puts out five watts on all HF bands, plus the 50 MHz, 144 MHz, and 430 MHz bands, on all popular operating modes: USB/LSB/CW/AM/FM/Packet/PSK-31/RTTY. Now the 817 legacy is even better with the introduction of the FT-817ND, which includes coverage of the U.S. 60-meter (5 MHz) band, and it also includes a 1400 mAh NiMH Battery pack (FNB-85) and NC-72B Charger!
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.yaesu.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
151694.8
WA2DDL Rating: 2014-12-31
waiting... Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just purchased the straight 817 and ordered a Miracle Whip...from China (oh, Lord!). Very enthused about working QRP on HF. This should fit the RV much easier than the two Kenwood 430s's, AT-250 tuner, AC power supply and matching speaker (anyone want to make an offer?) Also will probably sell a VX-7, since I wont need that, either!
Will let you know how it works when I receive it and figure the darn thing out (at 61, I could use more knobs and fewer menu driven items that I forget in a week, hi hi!)
Ratings are needed for me to post so take them with a grain of salt....73's
M6RIK Rating: 2014-11-18
Cant be beat for portable DX fun Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Awesome bit of kit but with a few downsides.

Many hours have been spent calling CQ, or answering calls with no one coming back to me. Lots of good contacts too but sometimes a little extra power really would have been great.

The receive is a poor compared to other radios (however they are bigger) and it isn't very good at discriminating between good signals and bad signals.

Awful menus.

Simply put it is great as a portable but it isn't much good as a base station compared tot other radios.

Sold it and bought a Kenwood TS-480SAT
WW4DX Rating: 2014-11-13
Great for portable operation Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've owned the FT-817ND for a couple years now. Excellent back-packing rig. Compact, lightweight, with multi-band coverage makes this a winner for Yaesu. Ditch the internal battery pack and go with a 20C 2200mAh 11V 3 Cell LiPo battery pack, and add a ZM-2 Transmatch and you have a great back-packing rig.
PU1RYM Rating: 2014-11-12
Perfect One, Small, Mobile and totally functional Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Perfect for moutain tops, works great with a good antenna and just very low power. I'm surprised.
EA5IGC Rating: 2014-11-01
A great starter radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I chose this radio for my first HF rig. I did wobble between this and some 100W rigs that (only) cost another $100, but I'm glad I stuck with it. I've learned a LOT with this radio. I've used it almost exclusively as a QTH base station, but I've also packed it up with a sealed lead acid battery, a little antenna analyser and a dipole and gone off to a club field day on my motorbike. It's truly fun and a good platform to explore some homebrew accessories. I made my own digital modes interface, an isolated linear amplifier switch / PTT output relay, a bluetooth interface, a power conditioner and even turned my own solid brass tuning knob.

After using the radio for about a year, I did succumb to adding an external linear amplifier (RM Italy KL-400 + homebrew low pass output filter).

If I were to gripe, I could say that some more buttons might be nice (but I don't know where you'd put them!), the microphone cable coming out of the side isn't very ergonomic and the power connector really is a bit weak.

Now that I have a FT-450D for the shack I shall be using this for portable work, probably with the magnetic loop antenna - inspired by VK3YE!
K7SZ Rating: 2014-10-22
Out Bloody Standing!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I just bought my 3rd 817. This time it was the "ND" model. My first two were the original models. The 2nd one had to go back to Yaesu for replacement of the driver transistor, but that was the only glitch ever encountered. I used these first two rigs in just about every situation imaginable. From base station to portable DX station, to ARES/RACES primary go-bag radio.

During the K5D DXpedition to Desecheo in 2009 I was house sitting at my daughter's place in Tampa in a housing estate that did not approve external antennas of any sort. I ended up putting up a couple of dipoles in a palm tree about 15 ft off the ground and worked K5D on three bands using about 3-4 watts from the 817!!! Great rig!!

Personally I love this rig. I am keeping my latest 817ND as I truly believe that this rig is one of the most flexible radio sets ever made. Don't misunderstand, the 817 is NOT a GREAT rig...it is an ADEQUATE radio that does an amazing number of things WELL. Not great, but well. You can't get outstanding performance without sacrificing in some areas. The 817 is no exception. However, the overall impact of this radio on the ham radio hobby is nothing short of amazing.

The FT-817ND has a tremendous number of non-Yaesu accessories. It also has a cult following who absolutely love this rig. More than a few of which will undoubtedly take exception to some of my comments in this review.

If I could have only one rig from now until I die it would be the FT-817ND. Period. It does just about everything I want and, through the judicious use of HF and V/UHF linear amplifiers you can DX with the big-boys on the bottom end of 20m and provide emergency comms for ARES. Buy one. You won't regret it!!!


KM4DYX Rating: 2014-09-12
Great Little Radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I'm a new ham, so take this for what its worth.

I did my homework before purchasing my 817ND. Its small size, internal battery, and overall suitability as a portable rig really appealed to me. I didn't envision myself as a rag chewer or contester; I was enamored with the notion of being able to (without any supporting infrastructure such as cell towers or satellites) communicate hundreds and even thousands of miles with a rig I could carry in a day pack.

The FT-817ND has exceeded all of my expectations. In the two weeks that I've been on the air I've made contacts all over the South East (and once into Canada) on 40 meters (I'm in NC.) I've also made contacts as far away as California and Italy on 17 meters. Sometimes my signal report is a little low, sometimes its a solid 59, but either way I'm getting through.

I run my rig with an external Energizer XP8000 battery, which boosts the output somewhat above the default 2.5 watts. My antennas are simple wire dipoles; my 40 meter dipole is at about 8 ft above the ground and my 17 meter dipole is at about 16 ft. Neither antenna is in an optimal location.

I've read more than once that the Ft-817ND shouldn't be a ham's first radio. I cannot agree with that. I think it makes a great economical first radio. It is versatile and capable and it will force you to learn about propagation and antenna construction in a way that a big base station rig would not.
KT6TT Rating: 2014-07-17
A Great Compact QRP Rig Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had my 817nd for about two weeks now. I have had a chance to run it through some of its "paces," doing on-air tests with my 2-element STEPPIR @ 30'.

Clearly, this isn't typical of real-world portable use, but it gives me a chance to get a feel for the rig and some of its capabilities. I've also had a lot of fun while testing the rig.

I've participated in a VK/ZL sideband roundtable on 20 Meters and made a number of stateside contacts, and DX CW qso's into Europe, the South Pacific and Asia, mostly on 20.

I am using it stock, without the accessory roofing filters or the bhi DSP unit - all of which I purchased but have yet to install.

First things first, this is NOT my Elecraft K3, or my K2, especially in terms of the receivers in these rigs. Anybody who tries to compare the 817 to any top-tier QRP or fixed station rig, as some some have, is being unrealistic. It just isn't a fair comparison.

The 817nd is fine for what it is: A very small, versatile and reasonably simple rig that is designed primarily for "back pack" portable use, that can also serve as a decent "go kit" radio for emergencies. The receiver off-the-shelf stands up well against my old stock FT-100, though it seems a little more sensitive and prone to noise. In fact, one thing I noticed is that QRN made working weaker stations more fatiguing at times. I expect the installation of crystal filters and the Bhi audio DSP unit will make a major difference here.

The transmitter performs quite well, even given the maximum output of 5 watts. On SSB, the signal and audio reports were always solid - though I am using the "One Big Punch" modified mic with audio speech processor and Heil mic elements, which make a substantial difference compared to the stock mic.

Pros:
(1) Extremely small size and light weight. It is little bigger than a typical paperback mystery novel.
(2) Very versatile, covering all bands from 160M to 440MHz.

The only "cons" I've found with this rig are:

(1) the small display and control knobs (bad eyes and fat fingers),

(2) the myriad layers of menu selections to adjust the rig,

(3) the tuning resolution in cw is a small problem. The 817 won't let you tune to the nearest Hz - the smallest tuning step is .1 Hz.
But these are trade-offs you will find with any versatile rig that has been designed for versatility, portability and light weight -

(4) The stock un-filtered receiver, while fairly sensitive, tends to be more prone to QRN and QRM noise levels than either my FT-100 or my Elecraft K2

Note: I haven't operated this rig running on battery power, or under "contest" (crowded) conditions, so I cannot evaluate the FT-817 from those angles.

Over-all, the FT-817 is a great rig for QRP portable or EMCOMM "go bag" use. I've had a blast operating it so far, and look forward to putting it through its paces once it is fully built-out.


SV1JRF Rating: 2014-05-22
Excellent qrp transceiver Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I will never sell it. I think that says it all.

73's
R2ABT Rating: 2014-05-21
Second transceiver in my shack Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Yaesu FT-817nd was meant to be my first rig, but I was persuaded by experienced HAMs to believe, that the output power of less than 100W is too small for short wave these days to be heard. Thus, my first transceiver was a 100W Kenwood TS-440SAT. It is a very nice radio, but while I was using it, I still felt eager to try something smaller and less powered. I also considered some other QRP rigs like PFR-3 or KX-3, but after careful consideration I decided that FT-817nd was the most appropriate to my needs. All HF bands including LW, MW and SW broadcasting, air band, FM-radio, 2 m and 70 cm VHF – everything fits within the small box, packed tightly for your enthralling experiments!

I use very simple antennas like long wire, inverted vee, dipole and delta-loop, and I was able to make numerous interesting QSOs during a year from my QTH in Moscow, including HAMs from Japan and USA in CW mode, as well as the ones from Western Europe, Caucasus region, and Asiatic Russia in SSB. My best result is a contact through the distance of more than 2000 km with only 500 mW output power in CW.

I did not find anything to be disappointed by in this rig. I used it for a long while and experienced only positive emotions from flawless operation and mindful design. In my opinion, FT-817nd is the ideal radio for those who like QRP and QRPP.