In reply to G8ADD:
but the BNC socket on the front of the 817 is notoriously weak
In what way?
Andy
MA0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
If I recall…the reputation was down to people hanging an antenna straight off the BNC.
If you connect some coax in between, there should be no reasn t worry about it.
M0EIQ
In reply to MM0FMF:
A number of people have reported that the socket has either broken away from the front panel or started to give an intermittent connection, it doesn’t seem to be robust enough. In my case I had no trouble using a half-wave 2 metre whip via an adapter, but I had noted that the socket moved a little when you pushed it from the side, so avoided carrying it with the whip inserted and only used it as a static rig.
73
Brian G8ADD
In reply to G8ADD:
A 2m half-wave would be (get’s out calculator), erm, 1m long give or take. 
A 1m long antenna on any BNC socket is going to exhibit a catastrophic turning moment. And if as I suspect your adapter is an SO-239 to BNC then effect will be magnified as I have yet to find an adapter which is a snug fit to a BNC. If you study the rubber duck supplied by Yaesu you’ll see the rubber base is designed to tightly abut against the top panel. Also its base is quite large so as to spread the turning moment out over a greater area. Just what is needed to support the rubber duck.
I’m not sure if it’s a Yaesu issue but the BNC on my Yaesu FT-470 (now that was a real piece of junk) handheld fell apart after 18 months of daily swapping the duck for the car antenna. Yikes… I paid £449 for my FT-470 in 1990, don’t believe anyone who moans about equipment prices now!
Andy
MA0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
I had a similar problem with the BNC socket on my Yaesu FT51R, which I still think is one of the best handheld radio’s Yaesu has ever made. While other radio’s are more practical (I take a “water proof” VX7-R out on summits with me), the features it had were marvellous.
I used mine as a handheld, in the car, in the shack, & anywhere else I could think of, which involved repeatedly connecting & disconnecting things via the BNC socket on the top of the rig. Eventually the two little pegs on the side of the socket wore away & would not hold a plug, or antenna, in place.
After much searching for an exact replacement socket of the type used by Yaesu for that radio, I gave up & came up with a far more radical solution.
I resigned myself to only using the radio as a handheld & after making sure that good electrical contact was made & that the chosen antenna provided a good match to the radio…
…I used Araldite to permanently fix the antenna in place!!!
This has proved to be a very sturdy solution & the radio is still going strong today, with absolutely no movement at all in the connection between antenna & radio.
I would not recommend this solution to others unless you have no alternative!
The antenna I used was not the standard Yaesu “rubber duck”, but actually an antenna designed for a Yupiteru scanner. After going through literally hundreds of different handheld antenna’s I found that this one gave the best match & performance when I used the radio handheld with the large capacity battery. It out performed several “brand name” dual band handheld antenna’s, even some of those several times it’s length.
Experimentation does sometimes pay off
73,
Mark G0VOF
In reply to MM0FMF:
Strangely enough, Andy, my Yaesu rubber ducky went open circuit after about a year of very sporadic use, I split it open and repaired it but it was never the same again - not that it was much cop to begin with! Yaesu makes great rigs, but often there are annoying little flaws and weaknesses, like the dead PA syndrome on the early 817s.
73
Brian G8ADD
In reply to MM3ZYS:
Im failry new to all aspects of the hobbie (radio and hillwalikng) but i have found that 2m FM is being used a great deal in my area GM-NS, yes 145.575 seems to be the frequency of choice, but there always seems to be someone ready waiting to talk back.
The VX-170 is rock solid, i take it around with the 817 just incase its raining.
7 3
MM6ADR
In reply to MM6ADR:
I recently returned from a 2 centre visit to GM-CS (work related, not SOTA)and heard the sum total of nowt on 2M simplex from Gretna to Edinburgh and exactly the same on the way back home from Glasgow. I work a few of the guys up the coast around Ayr on 2M ssb from home but where are the rest of ye?
73 Chris
In reply to M1DTJ:
It can be quiet on 2m here. Robin GM7PKT does very well but he has more patience than me. Call on 145.575 and beam at Inverness when located fairly well North of Edinburgh. There are some keen 2m chasers, Andy MM0USU, Ken GM0AXY and Christine GM4YMM spring to mind.
It should be remembered that for reasons to do with under-exposure to sunlight and over-exposure to Belhaven Best, Edinburgh VHF activity takes place on 145.800 AM. The reluctance to QSY or tacitly accept even moderate compliance with bandplans or update themselves out of the 1950’s is legendary in these parts. Some have got all new fangled and have synthesised AM sets but QQV 6-40A’s, 829B’s, crystal mics and high-level plate modulation with a pair of 807’s are considered de riguer. Sometimes you can hear them call “CQ and tuning high to low” 
Andy (not qrv AM)
MA0FMF
In reply to M1DTJ:
Thats a shame Chris, if you were further north ie inverness-shire/ross-shire 2m is fairly active on FM. Mostly just rag-chewing between the regulars but occasionaly Ive heard a few new callsigns for the log.
7 3
Adrian
In reply to MM0FMF:
WX permitting we’re planning a run up to SS over the next few weeks to initiate the lad since passing his foundation, always fancied Criffel and Cairnsmore of Fleet. Reassuring to know that there are some GM chasers out there but there definitely won’t be an AM portion of the activation
…also, Adrian, I think GM-NS will have to wait until next summer but do hope to work you sometime when we get up there
73 Chris
In reply to M1DTJ:
Yeah that should be good, ill look out for you, ill have most likely changed to at least 2M0??? and hopefully a MM0.
Listen out for GM0UDL-Andy
MM0LOZ- Laurence
MM0EFJ- Mike
MM3ZRF- Bob
MM0DVZ- John
73