Yaesu FT891, good & bad

[Gunfighter14e2]

Bought a new FT891 from HRO & received it last Monday. Did the MARS mod powered it up and started to learn how to operate the little transceiver. It did not take long to realize for my needs (a 3rd backup rig) this dog was not going to hunt.
For 90% of all my needs it exceeded my wants, but the 10% of needs it failed across the board. If you ever have to operate in a time constraining environment this is not the radio you want to be looking at. The time it takes to set the radio up for standard compound splits is much longer than normal compared to many other radios, and your window for challenge/counters is over. Digital compound split set up time is a none starter, as it takes much longer to set that up in the radio than std compound splits.
As a Ham radio for most folks and most contests, it will work well as you have the ability to set Tx & Rx to most any liking, be it yours or your contacts. It is nice & compact and most everything is adjustable.

Sold this one to a bud and am now back on the hunt for another compact rig, to fill my needs as a third backup.

 

[John?]

@Gunfighter14e2

Thanks for your quick review. We’ve been considering the 891 as a portable/mobile QRO option. QRP is fun and challenging but not something to rely on even when using CW or a digital mode.

We have a single, ancient ICOM HF in our station. Considering getting a second HF for our station and my 3 teenage sons bicker about whose turn it is to chase DXCC. Any suggestions, considering that we may need to press the radio into other use? Yaesu 710 is often recommended around our AO. That rig seems big and fragile for any use other than fixed station.

Thought on front end protection in a multi-radio station are also welcome. Some of the advanced band pass filters are pretty spendy. I need to protect against kids accidentally overloading receivers on harmonic frequencies; you know teenagers don’t always follow instructions. Antenna separation isn’t the right answer on our place…

-john

 

[Gunfighter14e2]

@Gunfighter14e2

Thanks for your quick review. We’ve been considering the 891 as a portable/mobile QRO option. QRP is fun and challenging but not something to rely on even when using CW or a digital mode.

We have a single, ancient ICOM HF in our station. Considering getting a second HF for our station and my 3 teenage sons bicker about whose turn it is to chase DXCC. Any suggestions, considering that we may need to press the radio into other use? Yaesu 710 is often recommended around our AO. That rig seems big and fragile for any use other than fixed station.

Thought on front end protection in a multi-radio station are also welcome. Some of the advanced band pass filters are pretty spendy. I need to protect against kids accidentally overloading receivers on harmonic frequencies; you know teenagers don’t always follow instructions. Antenna separation isn’t the right answer on our place…

-john

Antenna coupling can be an issue but not normally depending its target band, and if wire its cut length.
Depending freq's involved and the transceivers front end sensitivity to include where you are setting the I/F, you can hurt either the radio or Rx ability. This is where a good 6-10' off the ground long wire Rx only antenna comes in handy.
I rarely have to use more than 5 watts on CW or digital save FS or SSTV. Many a time I've shoved 100 watts into the fed line on voice (skegs) and there was nothing, yet 5 watts CW or digital was clear as a bell both ways. Antenna quality will most always trump wattage output to a point, before a amp is fired up. Even then I've seen a good array only running 100 watts, out preform 4-500 watt stations.
Are your kids trying to run the same bands at the same time & what kind of arrays are the pushing into?
Your,.... operational needs,... will most always dictate,...your,... radio needs. The FT891 fills most all Hams needs 100%, it just was not operationally fast enough for my needs, in the venues I needed it to back up other radios for.