[Yaesu] FT-817

[Caitlyn Martin]

Hi, Plamen, and everyone else,

I owned a Yaesu FT-817 for six moths and sold it when I was facing some
major medical expenses.  I am now planning on buying two more in the
coming weeks.  The FT-817 has a lot of positives going for it, but there
are a few negatives.  For a portable travel rig you just can't beat it
if you want a rig that does everything and are willing to carry a small
power supply.  

Positives:

-The rig is extrememly small, light, and portable.  If you need HF, VHF,
and UHF coverage and all modes you cannot find anything smaller or
lighter, which is a real plus when travelling.
-The rig has a very sensitive receiver, as good as most bigger radios. 
Sensitivity is good with the optional filters.  (See below on
negatives.)
-The rig has a very effective IF shift for fighting QRM that seems to
work better than many of its bigger cousins
-Memories, programmability, and features in abundance for such a small
rig.
-Very nice sounding receive audio (great for SWLing) and decent transmit
audio.  (SSB transmit audio is outstanding with the optional filter.)
-If you are a QRPer, it does everything. 5 watts is enough to work the
world, even on SSB.  Bring an outside (wire) antenna or something like a
Superantennas MP-1, though.  Whips sold for the rig for HF are grossly
inefficient.

Negatives:

-If you don't like the challenge of QRP you will want an amp, which
defeats the purpose for travel.  This rig is strictly for QRPers.
-If you do CW the filter is a must.  If you do SSB the filter is
recommended.  As sold by Yaesu you can only have space for one filter. 
W4RT offers a dual filter option, but you need to send your radio to him
for modification, and it's somewhat expensive.
-The receiver is subject to overload.  Don't expect to pull out a weak
one next to a strong one.  (In fairness, many bigger radios have the
same problem.)  For SWLing and strong signals the audio will distort. 
Expect to make liberal use of the attenuator and RF gain control to
correct this problem.  It'll sound fine if you do.
-The rig eats through batteries incredibly quickly.  If you do a lot of
operating you need to bring a power supply and probably extra batteries
if you plan on doing pure portable operation.
-Everything is in menus, with some important functions nested deeply. 
Ergonomics are nowhere near those of a big rig.

That's my take on the FT-817.  There are a lot of compromises involved,
but for what it is Yaesu did a remarkable job.

73,
Caity
KU4QD