Yaesu FT 817 review

HF,6,2and 70cm all mode 5 watt portable radio.

If you know what your getting with this radio regarding the low power then you can’t fail to be pleased with it. Its my opinion that many people buy this little radio not realising your simply not going to make lots of HF contacts without a good antenna and then simply use it as an expensive 2m radio.This radio has lots going for it for the half educated amateur.

There’s not a lot of bad points i can honestly put my finger on with this radio. You have all band coverage except for the newer allocations like 4m and The 5mhz band can be obtained with a mod. It has a host of features and the two antenna ports are very handy.There were issues with the earlier models (non nd versions) with the finals failing.This was put down to a couple of things from working into a bad load to keeping the internal batteries in to run down causing the finals to occilate and destroy themselves. YAESU fitted an upgraded finals board in the newer ND models in an attemp to solve the problem. I think the finals debate was blown out of proportion with help of the internet simply because it was easier for people around the world to communicate any problems. This will hold true for any radio “fault”. I must admit i’v had no problems with final failure but i do make sure the radio has a good match and i have never left the battery in. This was the biggest issue regarding the earlier models that i’m aware of.The frequency stability can leave a lot to be desired on some radios once you leave the HF bands. On my radio 2m ssb tends to drift slightly and 70cm ssb drifts like an old spanish gallion. This isnt directly a fault of the radio as more YAESU needing to fit a high stability crystal as standard.The frequency stability is around + – 4ppm which can be a lot at 430mhz. Other radios such as the ICOM IC703 has a figure of + – 0.5ppm, much better and this is standard.I rarely use 2m ssb and never 70cm ssb so this hasn’t been a real issue for me. The ssb filter is a good option along with the W4RT OBP (one big punch) speech compressor which can help with DX and can be fitted in the radio or as i did fitted into the mic,which isnt difficult to do . On air reports have mainly been very good with good audio reports given ,and i tend to ask for a true report rather than a polite one so i assume the audio quality is fine.RX is very good and this tends to be mentioned by many owners of the radio. The standard internal battery pack is pretty much useless and i’v always used a 12v 7ah SLA battery.

This radio has been a pleasure to own and use. With very few real issues to be concerned about. Hook this radio up to a decent antenna and it will stand toe to toe with much bigger and more expensive radios. So if you want a qrp all mode all band radio thats very small and light you’d be hard pushed to find better for the money. I give this radio a solid 8/10. Its lost out on a point for the crystal issue and the useless battery pack. Would i get rid of mine? No.

Original article my M 0 J H A originally available at M 0 J H A . com