Yaesu FT-891 Initial Impressions from an Outdoor Ham Radio Operator

They may have fixed the digital issues, with hiss on rig control. Newer radios have reported not hearing it. At least one, anyway.

 

Wow no sound on the USB? That should be standard these days, especially for the price point.

...DOUG
KD4MOJ

 

Elucidate please.

 

This rig excels in cw, it does not get the credit it deserves in this area. The power consumption will hold it back from being an Elecraft slayer but the rx is just as good.

 

Really?

 

My KX2 heard better than my 891. Better front end. For 95% of contacts, irrelevant.

Where the 891 excells is in Noise reduction. The KX2 fails badly in NR. I am talking as an SSB op. But, the KX2 does so well with the RF Gain and EQ, that NR was a moot point. KX2 wins, overall.

The 891 bests the KX2 in two other areas -- handily. First price. Second , it runs far higher power. Important for SSB, these days. You will be heard when the KX2 will not.

With Lifepo4, the poor efficiency of the 891 at low wattages is less of a factor.

 

I would like to see some real world current drawn measurements at 5 - 10 - and then 20 watts.

Seems all you can find online are specs. while running full bore.

 

I'm a cw op, do not do digital modes nor much SSB.

I prefer the 7300's ability to change filtering in 3 increments, not to mention twin passband tuning easily from accessible front panel controls. Ergonomically, 7300 offers the panadapter. Overall, the icom is just easier for overall setup and use.

I sat down in front of a 7300 for the first time and other than setting the colors on the adapter, I never touched the manual and managed to figure out 99.9% of the features. The yaesu takes a couple read-throughs and even then you need a Nifty cheat sheet to adjust basics stuff;

I find the receiver is more sensitive and selective on the 7300 compared to the 891 - if you can't hear them, you can't work them. The 891 works very well to eliminate man made noise, arguably even better adjustments in the DSP than the 7300 - but the result is still hit or miss in terms of improved copy - It is good for a mobile environment when your antenna is most likely picking up noise from the noisy (ford) fuel pump in the car ahead of you on the road. But for home station use, I do not have much man made noise and the Icom receiver exceeds the Yaesu receiver in my A/B comparision on same signal, same antenna. I observed a similar performance difference when I moved up from Yaesu FTDX1200 radios to IC-7300 radios in the shack. I'd actually like to compare the 891 vs the FTDX1200 - they seem very similar to me but I've not done actual A-B comparisons as I sold the FTDX1200's a year or more ago.

The 891 transmitter has some IMD artifacts. This is visible on a spectrum scope and gets worse I observe, as voltage drops below 12.5VDC It's a PA issue and could use some redesign in my opinion. This probably is not as big an issue using a very high Q mobile antenna ....

I dont do digital but am told the audio still requires more separate cables to the sound card interfce on the yaesu. The icom is a single USB plug and you're on digital modes. Literally one cable from computer to radio for the Icom.

It's a great entry level /low cost mobile radio and the size can't be beat for something to "get on the air"..-- something half the cost of the IC-7300 and it probably holds the spot for "lowest cost" radio offered today- even cheaper than the Alinco SR8T which is a bare bones, basic radio.

 

One last input - I did try the rig on SSB, and observe that the 891 mic gain / power settings seem to change band to band, and depending on VSWR... One MUST watch the ALC and adjust for 1/4 to 1/2 scale deflection max.... and that setting changes from band to band and is very sensitive to VSWR...eg... 1.1:1 versus 1.3:1 requires mic gain adjustment. Never had a radio (since the very very early solid state rigs) to be this sensitive to VSWR settings.

 

Very interesting comparison with the 7300. When the 891 first come out, there were those that claimed the 891 rx trumped the 7300. Probably nothing too that and they may have been focusing on SSB.

I extensively ran a kx3 with amp and I would agree the elecraft has better performance and over all quality feel. I just had a ton of $$ invested in all of it.

For the money there is no comparison. Last night a F6 station responded to my CQ on 30 meters close to mid night. Could barely hear him, kicked in the DNR and it pulled the station right out. Really amazing.

 

Yes, Derek KE0EYJ wrote a blog and review claimed that the 891 was better than the 7300; I've not consistently observed that. I live outside the city, 10 acres, big antennas and see my shack photo on QRZ, can easily do A/B comparisons. In fairness, Derek was living and operating from Seoul, ROK and I suspect his daily noise floor is higher than mine. Thus, his use of the dynamic noise reduction is really an important feature. In that environment, like a mobile environment, the 891 may be better. I just do not see that benefit in my operating environment. Comes down to choosing the right tool for the job...For me, the panadapter, twin PBT, and ergonomics of the Icom are hard to beat. But if I only had $500 in my wallet, the Yaesu 891 would be my choice over a lot of other used radios...

 

Hi John - Tis was a spot-on demo for both the FT-891 as well as proper amateur radio operation and on-air practice. I am looking into making my own "go-kit" so this was a timely presentation. Thanks so very much and I can't wait to see your next review on the tuner, which is critical in field operations i/m/h/o.

'73,
Larry Lutzak/WA2CNV
ARCECS.org/WB2QBP/K2ARC

 

I was an 'early adopter' of the FT-891, purchasing one of the first released in the US. At first I was excited by what the radio offered - excellent DSP for a mobile rig and first rate SSB performance. I actually gave it a good initial review on eHam. But very quickly the things Yaesu either left out or stumbled over in the design started to wear away at my enthusiasm. The first was the lack of a sound card interface. There seems to have been some mis-communication between Yaesu Japan and Yaesu USA, because there were strong hints that this radio would incorporate a sound card for digital modes. Had Yaesu done that the 891 would have been a giant killer. But no, USB is there only for rig control. But wait, even that was implemented with glitches - evidenced by the infamous (and as far as I know, not as yet admitted to by Yaesu) CAT monitor 'clicking issue'. Many of us waited for that to be fixed by a firmware update, but apparently it's a hardware design flaw that can't be fixed in firmware. I was also a number of early buyers who reported significant problems getting the radio to work with a sound card interface. It just never ran right for me when hooked up to a Signalink. The problem was so bad that I shipped it back to Yaesu in California for a check-up. They reported all was well and shipped it right back. What I and several other users suspect is that the radios, at least the early ones, were overly sensitive to RF interference. It was so bad that my particular radio would often lock up and require a factory reset as often as once a day when trying to get it to run properly on digital modes. Oops, there goes all your settings... again (and yes, I used shielded and choked cables).

Yaesu also engaged in some deceptive advertising regarding the quality of the display. What you see in the brochures or on their website is nowhere close to what you see on the radio - the resolution and clarity is much lower. It's still much, much better than the old 857, but certainly not as good as Yaesu implies in its literature (and yes, I know other manufacturers do the same - I'm talking about you, Icom - but that doesn't mean Yaesu gets a pass on this one).

What's good about it? Well based on my experience with my early production model I'll say that SSB voice performance was excellent. The FT-891 truly is a great radio if all you do is operate SSB voice. The DSP is excellent. The menus are fairly easy to navigate once you learn them (and the lock-up and resetting issue I discuss above gave me plenty of opportunity to learn). The band sweep function, while not real-time and given the low resolution of the display, is actually pretty good.

I also bought the matching Yaesu FC-50 tuner and I think it's a very good tuner. It's the same size as the radio itself and Yaesu provides a neat set of 'feet' and a bracket for the radio that allow you to lock the tuner and radio together as a single unit. The tuner found a match for every antenna I hooked it up to. I use 'mostly resonant' antennas and the Yaesu tuner handled them all. I have to say that the tuner may well be the best part of the FT-891 'system'.

Given the radio's teething problems and the number of unresolved issues and missing features I truly expected that we'd have seen an 'FT-891A' on the market by now, an updated design that incorporates a sound card modem and cleans up the original radio's issues. Alas, it looks like Yaesu isn't in the clean-up mode right now. The recent release of the warmed-over FT-817 is evidence of that. Plus, if you look at where the FT-891 sits in the Yaesu line-up you realize that an improved version with more features is a threat to both the FT-857 and to the FT-991A. Before Yaesu can get serious about upgrading the FT-891 platform they first need to kill off the FT-857.

But if Yaesu does introduce an updated FT-891 with a sound card interface I'll be back in line to buy one. But only after I let others beta test it first.

Alas, my FT-891 got sold and replaced with an FT-857. Guess what? It worked first time and without glitches when I hooked it up to the Signalink. Hmmm...

 

Hi Charles (KC8VWM)

You will find a video about Yaesu FT-891 power draw requirements by OH8STN. Look for his title :

Yaesu FT-891 Current Consumption test

 

I wish I had the same enthusiasm for Ham radio I did a year or more ago. Nice video! I hope you thoroughly enjoy the Yaesu!