Basic walk through on ft891 a great compact but complicated rig

Pretty funny. And accurate. I've owned two 891's, but the shortcomings always left me disappointed (no built-in soundcard digital interface, no way to interactively switch between USB/LSB, the worst 3rd order harmonics issues ever seen by the ARRL lab until the Xeigu G90 came along, no voltage readout). After a fashion I found both of them new homes. The 891 is a radio where one of the primary design objectives was to NOT compete with other rigs in Yaesu's lineup, and it shows.

I like Yaesu products (I own multiple Yaesu HTs, two 817's and the FT-991A, which is my go-to portable rig), but this Yaesu fanboy couldn't look past the obvious design flaws in the 891. Sad really, because with just a few minor tweaks this could have been a killer rig.

 

My Mobile Rig is a President LINCOLN 2+, this a 12 and 10 Meter Band all Mode Rig made in Taiwan ....I really did not want to spend $US 700 for a Mobile Rig as I also only wanted 10Meter Band .....does about 40W... Audio TX & RX is super clean, menu is simple....I have it docket to a Home Brew 4 Transistor and a Mono Band 10Meter Antenna......working Brazil Argentina Chile with good reports........Rig is like $US225 there is always a Coupon around the Holidays from Group President a French Company
Life is to Short for Barefoot Mobile.
73 de KG4BFR

 

the only reason to want USB for a low band radio is to do digital ops,... just program those modes into a memory slot,.... and the 891 DOES have a voltage readout.

 

In comparison to FT-857D - what was your finding from operation use as well as receive?

 

Okay, color me lost on that comment ... but if I recall correctly, USB is the sideband of choice for oh, just a few frequencies on HF. You know ... that entire segment of voice operations on HF between 14 and 30 MHz. Did I misunderstand something here?

(slapping self on head and laughing now) Wow. Reread it for a 4th time and it finally hit me like a ton of bricks - USB PORT - not mode. LOL

And actually, if you're going to use menu choices on any of the newer rigs which let you plug a mouse in and do that (darned handy, I might add) ... yeah, that's another really good reason to have USB on a low band radio. ;-)

 

See above ^^^ LOL

 

Maybe it was designed to prevent you from changing settings while driving. If you're driving, your eyes should be on the road, not on some electronic device. Here in the Netherlands you get a €240 ($290) fine when holding a mobile phone or any other electronic device while driving. For a good reason.

 

I'll take a jab at this. Ignoring USB = Universal Serial Bus, lets assume USB only means Upper Side Band for now.

There's a setting where the radio will automatically select the correct sideband when operating voice (SSB). If you are on 20m, it will put your SSB selection as USB; if you go to 40m, it will select LSB for you. No need to change it, just select the band you want to operate. Now, if you want to operate digital on 40m, just go to DATA and it will use USB for digital modes.

Menu items are 8-12 DATA BFO (set to USB) and 11-07 SSB BFO (set to AUTO).

If this isn't where the confusion is then feel free to ignore it.

I like this radio (mostly) but it is also my first/only HF radio. I have no comparison yet. I use it portabe/base. Never used it mobile.

 

USB/LSB switch - true, but the lack of 'on-the-fly' USB/LSB switching is the sign of a poor design philosophy. I don't know of a single HF rig manufactured in the past 25 years that doesn't have this option, except maybe for some megabuck .gov gear. You can't even use CAT control software to drive the switching. I know, I asked HRD to give it a try and they said they couldn't do it.

Voltage readout - only when you first power the rig up, then there's no way to get it back (unless Yaesu's made some major firmware changes in the last 2 years).

Like I said, with just a bit more thought the 891 could have knocked it out of the park. If Yaesu comes out with an FT-891A, that fixes the USB/LSB issue and adds a sound card interface, I'll be standing in line.

 

Get an IC-7100 for mobile. You will be happy. I have one mounted in a 2004 Nissan Frontier pickup. The control head sits in the recess of the center console almost perfectly. The main body is mounted on the floor behind the passenger seat along with an LGC auto tuner. Very nice setup. And it runs HF, VHF and UHF.

 

The programmable A/B/C buttons that can be set to any menu setting are nice. I wish there were more, but there isn't physical room for more pushbuttons. I have mine mapped to NAR, TNR, and NB. Agree that the receiver is very good. Even with my crappy indoor bent dipole in the upstairs bedroom, I can copy sigs that are near the noise level by the usual adjustments NR, Bandwidth, NR, DNR, etc.

 

I think Yeasu just needs an Acronym Term Bank. I find myself wondering what stuff means in the menus and diving thru the manual to figure out a menu option. If the manuals (or the Yaesu Website!) had an Acronym Term Bank the manual wouldn't nearly be as vital.

 

Totally agree, the menu phobes really have an issue and should seek counseling . I go into a couple of settings here and there. No, I would not adjust it while driving, and of course you should not do that with any HF radio, sheesh. I use it portable only, and its fantastic. Just set DNR to one of the softkeys and you can pop it on when you switch bands. Supports the ATAS-120, other tuners, etc. What is REALLY is missing, especially in this day any age where hams are fascinated with watching paint dry (FT8) is a built in USB sound card. Still have to use a signalink or similar. Really, what would that cost, about 3 bucks? And you already have the USB port there! W1ip

 

590SG...

 

I owned one for about a month. Besides the menu the DSP was worthless. On level 1 it sounded like it was under water. I had it for a backup rig but after running it for a bit I sold it. I think Yaesu could do something with updates for some of the issues. The DSP was on a newer release than their website. The firmware was the latest as well. Not a bad radio but you could can get much better used. My 2 cents.