[K3PZN-List] Yaesu FT-891 Thoughts

[Kyle Thornton]

Hi All,
So my 706 seems to have bitten the dust (I think the finals went bad as it has very very little output power, Mike can hear me but nobody else seems to be able to but he’s also a stones throw away) After contemplating what to do as its a 20 year old radio even though its a very nice radio I decided to get the 891. I don’t plan on getting rid of it but to use it to learn what went wrong and how to fix it. I just got the 891 today and so far love it! Haven’t made any contacts yet but the receive is really nice and you can really pull a signal in out of the noise. I have not tried it yet with digital as I’m waiting on the cables from Tigertronics but I suspect it will do well. A lot of people seem to complain that it doesn’t have 2m/70cm like the 857D did but I do not find that a problem as its my base HF radio to go along with my Kenwood TM-281a. Its a VERY menu driven radio but all the common stuff (except power output) is in a quick access menu. Other than that I’ve had no issues what so ever with it. Im very impressed with Yaesu as I’ve never had one and the quality is amazing. I think I’m a pretty picky person with radios and how they look, I had looked at an 857D but I didn’t like how small the screen was and although I’m sure useful I really didn’t like the HUGE VFO knob it had and it was also a bit more expensive. I received a heil microphone with it for free as some offer HRO was doing. Haven’t tried that out but its a kind of mic that you’d put on a boom. 
Let me know what you guys think about it or any questions about it. Just thought id give my general view of it after receiving it. 
Kyle 
KC3FMP