27 Jan 2014

FT817ND - the perfect QRP radio?

For some time I wondered why Yaesu had not replaced the FT817ND with a more recent model. Then, of course, the penny dropped. This radio, although not perfect, is a good buy at around £500 in the UK.   Basically this is still a very good little radio. Expect a further price drop with the latest £:yen exchange rates.

All it needs are better batteries, auto-ATU and a speech processor, all which can be easily added to the FT817. The KX3 is twice the price of the FT817 and this does NOT include 2m and 70cms all mode. No, for me it will be a second FT817, this time the ND version plus another auto-ATU.

At some point a newer version may appear, but the current version regularly scores well in the eHam reviews (4.8/5) because those who own the radios know just how good they are. Of all the radios I have ever owned and used, the FT817 is the very best, without doubt. Someone called it the "Swiss army knife" of radios.

See the Yaesu brochure at : http://www.yaesu.com/downloadFile.cfm?FileID=618&FileCatID=154&FileName=FT%2D817.pdf&FileContentType=application%2Fpdf
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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousTue Jan 28, 06:28:00 am GMT

    Roger - can you tell me how the 817's receiver performs on 600m?

    Steve / VE7SL

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  2. Roger G3XBMTue Jan 28, 08:54:00 am GMT

    Steve, I use mine without a preamp on 600m and sensitivity is good enough to hear most active Europeans over band noise. I suspect 600m sensitivity may vary unit to unit and a small, well filtered, few dB preamp may be useful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Roger G3XBMTue Jan 28, 08:55:00 am GMT

    I have heard USA stations without a preamp on 500kHz. On 136kHz it DEFINITELY needs a preamp.

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  4. AnonymousTue Jan 28, 04:46:00 pm GMT

    Tnx Roger

    Steve 73

    ReplyDelete
  5. Pedro-CT7ARQWed Jan 29, 12:53:00 am GMT

    Hello Roger there is a good project from India that may put FT-817 to a corner is call MININA http://www.phonestack.com/farhan/minima.html

    ReplyDelete