Looks interesting, shame it’s only 40, 30, 20, 17 and 15 meters.
73 Ed.
I agree, the KX3 is quite rugged. The SideKX handles and cover help for transport.
The KX3 was designed as a trail-ready radio.
wunder
I know a few of you use SideKX handles, I haven’t got any “extra” hardware fitted to mine. I am trying to bit bang the RTC input to the main Uc because I am too frugal to buy the board… 
Elecraft could have done more with it to justify the cost more so regarding software specifically. My main pet hate with it is the encoder polling routine is awful. Inc/dec is very sketchy.
Jonathan
According to a recent blog post, the portable SDR is a little bit more solid than vapourware.
It’s not really my cup of tea, heck, I struggle to run simple CW rig properly! Will be interesting to hear some reviews when it eventually appears.
For the past couple of days I’ve been dreaming up direct conversion crystal controlled rigs 
I discovered that I had the RockMite hex file, so I won’t even have to pay out for a keyer.
Regarding the KX3, I lusted after one for quite a while but I tend to think that the FT817 would survive a bit longer in the field. I think that if Yaesu brought out an updated QRP field radio, it would sell very well. I remember a friend that had to have the latest IC706 model, so the first one got replaced by a mk2 and then that got replaced by a mk2g. I think owners of the FT817 would want to trade up in the same way, given some nice ‘carrots’.
Technology has moved on quite a bit in the 15 or so years that the FT817 has been for sale, I’m sure there’s lots of little tweaks that can be done.
73 Colin M1BUU
Bought an FT817 for the price of an X1M?
My X1M cost 1/3 the price of an 817, both new. The only things the 817 does better (for SOTA) are easier to read display and VHF/UHF. The 817 looks better, the hand crafting of the X1M is obvious but it’s rx works better than the MTR IMO, tuning is much much easier, more power, and who needs a klunky 1950’s mike plug designed for Neanderthal hands?
The MTR is as tricky to operate as the X1M. Actually neither are tricky, just different, but some of us don’t do different.
Anyway some of you have made up your mind so I’m wasting my time suggesting you might not have an objective outlook.
Enjoy your dreams of an FT7 replacement. I’ll keep using the rigs I have.
Of all the new QRP rigs with lots of bells and whistles the KX3 beats the FT817.
The next best are the X108 and X1M.
If you want to sacrifice almost everything for CW, low current drain, small size and OK performance then the MTR3/5 is the way to go.
For really cheap and just useable transceivers go for the Chinese version of the Rockmite, “Frog Sounds” is what you will find it under. If you sacrifice the power level and sidetone you can buy a basic rockmite type of transceiver kit for under $10. Buy 8 and change the crystals to have all bands cw for under $100!
Something to do until Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood or Alinco come out with something like the KX3, or perhaps the next offering from Xiegu.
73
Ron
Do any of the smaller, lighter cheaper rigs mentioned do all mode (i.e. not just CW but also SSB, digital/FSK etc.) I’ll let AM/FM and 2m/70cm capability drop but I suspect many of the smaller rigs metioned are not FT817 replacements getting back to the original title of this thread. Lack of bands, lack of modes or crystal controlled with small frequency ranges would also exclude for me many of the models.
The FT817 is a good all-rounder multimode multiband portable rig. The KX3 is as far as I know the only real commercial competitor at the moment despite it’s high price and lack of 2m/70cm capability.
As always it comes down to what the individual is looking for and it’s great that these specialist options of the MTRs, X1M, X108, Rockmite even the KN-Q7A single bander SSB only, rigs exist as a choice but they are not FT817 competitors.
To throw another option into the pile - if the ELAD FDM-DUO SDR transciever were more robust, it might be a contender to be an FT817 alternative - as I said it’s GREAT that we have the range of choices that we have at the moment!
73 Ed.
2 Likes
That describes it perfectly Ed.
That is it in a nutshell, Ed.
My 817 doesn’t sit in my rucksack between trips, it sits on my desk on a PSU and gets regular use. Performance-wise, the KX3 is a terrific rig, but if I used it the same way that I used my 817 it would probably have to displace something at the front of the desk because it looks at the sky! And that is one reason why on first acquaintance with it I rejected it as an alternative - it is a rain-catcher! The other reasons? It felt tinny compared to the 817, which gives an impression of solidarity. And of course, price - by the time all the necessities sold as options are factored in you could spend less to buy two 817s, in fact you could buy two 857s, and have some change! I suppose the ideal is to have both, take the KX3 out on fine days and the 817 out in ordinary weather!
Anyway, I trust Yaesu to come up with a good replacement in their own good time, we will just have to wait and see!
Brian
2 Likes
I am pleasantly surprised the receive current draw is only 500mA, which is not bad for as far as FPGA based designs go.
Jonathan
500 mA on Rx. Hmmm, the same as the X1M …and just a bit better than the FT857. FT817 is 250 - 450 mA, KX3 is 150 mA.
Needs to do better to get my attention.
73
Ron
The reason for all this speculation about the future of FT-817, is entirely due to the recent big price drop. This rig can now be picked up for as little as £435.
However, radio hams being radio hams, scream blue murder when the price of a rig goes up and view it with suspicion when it goes down. If I were in the market for a QRP rig, I’d be throwing my £435 at Radioworld pretty tout suite, because at this price, which probably includes a two year warranty, it’s an absolute steal.
And even if they do bring out a new rig, it will initially cost an arm and a leg, making the current purchase price of the 817 even more attractive.
Of course, YMMV
Who’d be a ham radio manufacturer eh?
73 Mike
2E0YYY
1 Like
Hi Ron
My FT-817 was bought second hand and yes - it cost me about £75 more than the X1M I bought new but which I returned immdiately as being “unfit for purpose”. That transceiver was dreadful to use - I found the HB1B I had for a few months on loan far superior and easier to use, but that was a CW rig and I am biased towards that mode which provides superior enjoyment for me on SOTA work.
The X1M as well as having an almost unreadable display (and yes I have been to Specsavers) the receiver was terrible. It did not appear to have any AGC whatsoever. Buyer beware I say. Maybe you have got a good one but mine was dreadful! I think you must be the first person I have heard who enjoys using that radio.
The KX3 looks really good and performs well but is far too expensive when compared to the FT-857 - which is cheaper and a great reliable SOTA radio providing you can carry the extra weight with the bigger battery - and it provides me with to 100w of power when I feel like carrying it.
73 Phil
Hi Phil,
No doubt the display is impossible to read in bright sunlight. The FT 817 is a bit better but not totally legible in all VK conditions to my eyes. I have a cardboard shading box that I peer into of I’m not using a memory frequency and need to know where I have tuned to. Yes the X1M has no AGC (luxury lad, luxury) but that’s not as much of a problem as might be imagined. My first radio had no agc and no gain control but I managed. Of course there is a small aftermarket mod if you must have AGC.
For those hanging out for an 817ND replacement, look at the time line below.
Dates vary for different markets. Power is nominal output power more was possible.
1971 1976 2002
FT75 FT7 FT817
HF HF HF + VHF + UHF
10 W 10 W 5 W
The FT75 was a hybrid mobile/portable transceiver, SSB, CW. A B version produced 30 to 50 W out.
The FT7 was a fully solid state replacement SSB, CW, with plug in boards which made servicing easy but sometimes the fault was oxidised board connector pins.
ICOM upstaged the FT7 eventually with its IC703 but that is also truly obsolete although many are doing good service and I saw someone trying to sell one recently for nearly $1,000!
No need to say much about the 817.
The 5 year life of the FT75 is explained by the pressure to produce a rig without any valves - the FT75 had 2 of these lovely devices.
So it took some 25 years approx to replace the FT7, some of which still do a fine job. There was a B version which made a handy 50 W out. I don’t see them advertised often. One owner is selling now on E-bay, but board by board with the main body separate.
The FT817 might well be around until 2027. Unless Icom or Kenwood make their own version of the KX3 there is no imperative to replace the 817 yet. Many Yaesu and Icom HF radios are brothers of their commercial offerings. If there were a commercial market for an SDR type rig that ran QRP then a replacement for the 817 might appear.
Mike is right to suggest that if you are in the market for a QRP rig now or in the next year then buy an 817 now. The price is right. It’s not perfect but neither is any other rig. Good enough really is good enough and to hold off seeking perfection is to deprive yourself of enjoyment. Perfectionism can be it’s own punishment.
73
Ron
1 Like
Well said Ron - I like your philosophy in the last paragraph especially! Make the best of what you’ve got and get on with enjoying it.
73 Phil
I understand your reasoning, but it depends on the continuing availability of the components - they can transmute to unobtainium with surprising rapidity.
Do you use the enlarged frequency readout? I find it helps in bright sunlight, but it is surprising how many people use the FT-8*7 rigs but don’t know about this facility!
Brian
I currently have the Kenwood TS480 which is Kenwoods only HF offering at anything close to portable/mobile use. It is however designed for vehicular portable. I am able to take it on SOTA but at 4KG for just the rig its a heavy one by comparison.
I like the look of the LNR LD5, FX4a and the Yaesu FT817. Of course if i had the money I would consider the Elecraft KX3, but I don’t.
I primarily use SSB as i dont have the patience to learn to receive morse, (but thats another thread) if only I could plug myself in like in the matrix and download it hihi. I also do some PSK work so am planning on doing some PSK SOTA activating in the future.
I might have to see what Santa brings me. Is there any cheap PSK only transceivers like you can get low power small CW transceivers?
I missed that one Brian - thanks. FT817 now set to blue background, contrast 5 and large frequency readout. Lets see if that’s better in the field now.
Getting back to the original thread, Anthony, I don’t think there will be a new FT817ND in the near future and if I were looking for an all-rounder SOTA portable rig, with the recent reduction in price of a new FT817ND, that’s the way I would go. It’s amazing what this rig can do!
The two mods I recommend is to fit a LIPO battery inside the FT817 and add an RF speech clipper to the microphone - this can either be a replacement board inside the standard Mic or one that plugs into the cable between the Mic. and the rig.
Ed.
Turn that off. A) it wastes power B) reduces visibility in daylight