[Yaesu] Yaesu FT857/897 on satellites

[Adam Farson]

Hi John,

Just curious: why do you not simply  hang onto your 706?

Cheers for now, 73,
Adam VA7OJ/AB4OJ


-----Original Message-----
From: yaesu-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:yaesu-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of John Geiger
Sent: 12-Aug-09 20:57
To: amsat-bb at amsat.org; yaesu at mailman.qth.net; ft897 at yahoogroups.com;
ft857 at yahoogroups.com; ft-857 at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Yaesu] Yaesu FT857/897 on satellites

Is anyone on the list using a Yaesu FT897 or FT857 on the LEO satellites
(both FM and SSB)?  I am currently using an Icom 706MKIIG with pretty good
results, but have been thinking about "upgrading" to a Yaesu FT897D or maybe
a FT857D.  I have used some Yaesu rigs on the sats before and the 706MKIIG
seems to hear them better, especially AO27.

I don't have a big setup-Cushcraft dualband yagi (5 elements on each band)
with no elevation, so signals are not rockcrushing from the satellites.  The
QST reviews show that the Icom has better sensitivity on 70cm SSB (MDS of
-143 vs -139 dbm) and on FM (.16 vs .21 microvolts) but are those
differences really meaningful?  Do the 897 and 857 still receive the sats
really good with a minimal setup?

73s John AA5JG