[Yaesu] Yaesu FT897/857 reliability

[mikea]

On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 01:02:09PM -0700, John Geiger wrote:
> Have the current crop of Yaesu FT897D and FT857D (within the last 2
> years or so) had all of the problems worked out of them? I know some
> of the early models had problems with RF feedback changing the hidden
> menus, and an incorrect bias affecting 6m audio, things like that.
> Have these been fixed? Are there any other recurring problems showing
> up in these radios-or other things that affect the reliability of
> them?

I had, and gave away, an FT-857 (not "D"), because it had a severe
self-oscillation problem on 6m -- bad enough that it fried the HF/6m
finals. It's still in use on 2m and 70cm. I'm given to understand that
this was a problem with many of the non-"D" 857 rigs. 

I've never had an instant of difficulty with my 857D or 897D, aside from
a few problems with the 857D after the control head got dropped into a
quart of iced tea. I used it successfully on HF and above after that,
until I traded it away about 2 weeks ago for an FT-450AT. I find I
prefer the 857D.

My 897D gets used heavily on HF most evenings and weekends, and nobody
has said anything worse than "really clean signal; very nice".

That all being said, that's just my experiences; I agree that YMMV and
am interested in what others have to say.

-- 
Mike Andrews, W5EGO
mikea at mikea.ath.cx
Tired old sysadmin