[FARC] FT-897D QRP

[Jon and Suse Greenstone]

Hi Kirk,
Just fyi, the FT897 is my main rig here at the house.  I don't have the 
portable batteries, got rig used--no batteries, but I do have it hooked up 
to gel cell external batteries--that are solar charged.  Since the gel cells 
are charged at 24 volts, I have an Astron 24x12vdc converter.  While this is 
not an ideal way to operate--it works ok.  The more important thing is that 
I can run up to full power, batteries not withstanding, since the radio 
thinks its on a power supply.  While this would not be practicle for 
portable operation, at least it would work for field day or campsite 
situation assuming  you had a large gel cell or otherwise battery power 
available.  Enjoy the rig--what Tuner are you using?
Jon  kb3llx
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <kirktal7237 at msn.com>
To: "Frederick, Maryland ARC" <farc at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 3:37 PM
Subject: [FARC] FT-897D QRP


Just got an Yaesu FT-897D for portable use with the Buddipole antenna.  I'm 
running it on two NiMh battery packs which contrary to Ham radio dealer 
literature only provide 4 hours of continuous operation at 20 watts on HF 
not 8 hours.  The FT-897D automatically switches to 20 watts maximum RF 
power when using battery packs, I have no control over this.

Now I haven't set up the Buddipole antenna yet, but I am using the FT-897D 
with my 40 meter inverted V dipole.  This dipole has given fair to marginal 
performance at 100 watts with other radios depending on band conditions. 
Today using the FT-897D on 40 meters I made my first contact using 20 watts. 
I reached Joliet, Illinois and got a confusing signal report.  Very weak 
signal but good audio, with 0 to 1 S-units on the meter.   The guy could 
barely copy me over the background noise.

So this radio is evidently a QRP rig, not that there's anything wrong with 
that, and I was just wondering will I need some type of gain antenna like a 
beam to make this rig work?  I've been told that the right antenna with gain 
can be a good substitute for brute RF power and put out a fine signal.  Any 
thoughts on this?

See you all at the luncheon tomorrow.

73
KB3ONM
Kirk


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