Yaesu FT-818 discontinued

According to a video released on the Official Yaesu Fusion group on Facebook which claims to be from Yaesu USA, the Yaesu FT-818ND and the FT400 are both going to be discontinued because they can longer source components for the manufacture of these radios.

Official Yaesu fusion Group

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I wonder what theyā€™ll come up with to replace the FT818. Maybe nothing :frowning_face:

In the video stated that there is no actual replacement available yet. I guess earliest chance for any news will be in June (Friedrichshafen Ham Fair) or Tokyo Ham Fair in September 2023

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Covered also here:

And hereā€™s the Official Yaesu USA announcement on YouTube:

Joe - I think Yaesu, like a lot of companies, will not release a new model until they can be sure of a long term steady supply of components for the new model. So my guess (and itā€™s only a guess), I would say the earliest anything will be announced would be Tokyo Ham Fair 2024.

73 Ed.

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Another victim of post pandemic supplier issues, just like the FT-DX3000 rig. Anything new most likely will be SDR which is sad to me, the days of solid state are slowing ending.

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I ended up with the FT-818 after I missed out on the FT-857D went out of production just as I was about to get one, everybody and their dog seemed to buy one when it was announced so they were scarse or being sold at silly money.

There is the FT-891 which looks very similar but without 2M/70 cm, however, it is a much different improved radio over the FT-857D, I guess if you wanted additional bands you could always get a transverter (seems to be a popular option nowadays). I wonā€™t hold my breath on Yaesu bringing out a new portable shack in a box as I think Yaesu will be concentrating on C4FM/Fusion for 2M/70 cm.

Still, there is always the Icom 705

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Every Ham in the World is lamenting the passing of a radio that every Ham in the World said was no where near as good as an ft-817. I remember everyone moaning about its 6 watt output, saying that wasnā€™t QRP!

Speaking as a non-owner. Glad Iā€™ve still got my ft-857d :grinning:

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At least there are literally decades of these radios out there for anyone to enjoy who wants one.
Itā€™s been a great radio and will be a hard act to follow for an all round package, but I look forward to seeing what Yaesu might offer in due time. Iā€™m sure the IC-705 hasnā€™t gone unnoticed.

Mark.

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I just recall my visit to JA for the Tokio Ham Fair in 2017. Big discussions that Yaesu might announce a FT817nd successor.

But it was stated there is no market for a QRP rig. So I guess they were wrong.
Or who can tell.

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Nowā€™s the time to put your bets on the chip supply issues. Thereā€™s much muttering and undercurrents that the huge shortage is about to become a drip then surge then flood of components with a terrible glut of unwanted chips. Just make sure you donā€™t get caught trying to sandbag RPi4s at $200 each only to find the supply issues vanish.

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:slight_smile:

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Iā€™ve enjoyed using the FT-857 and FT-817 for Sota. The 857 is too heavy for me and I never needed the 50-100W with my EFHW. The 817 was soon replaced by the KX2, which the internal tuner enabled successful operation on all bands.

Now I experience the 817 versus the KX2 on the double activations with Uwe, DK8OA. I notice the much more unpleasant noise level in SSB, which could spoil my fun. Not to mention the difference in CW with 50Hz bandwidth on the KX2 and the still 500Hz on the 817.

Uwe can be happy that he got a CW filter. This is no longer available and is certainly a good reason to discontinue the device.

I know now many will say I always do CW with an SSB filter. But as a beginner, that would have been a reason not to start with CW.

73 Chris

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I always used to operate CW with an SSB filter as that was all I had and could afford for many years. I developed quote a knack of working through the QRMā€¦ then I managed to buy a secondhand 300Hz CW filter and WOW, now copying was easy. When I bought my 817 I soon sourced a 300Hz filter from W4RT and havenā€™t looked back since. Yes, my recently acquired KX3 is quieter, but the 817 is more than adequate for operating SOTA and much less risky in terms of damage. I never felt the urge to update to the 818. I would not be surprised to see an 819 at some future date despite what Yaesu are currently saying.

For many years I did own an 857, but sold it earlier this year as I have for some time preferred to run a linear with the 817 as the current drain on receive is lower. Of course, sometimes I just use a linear for 2m and run the 817 barefoot on HFā€¦ often finding I have left it on 2.5W output which is the 2m linear drive level. :grinning:

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Thatā€™s the past, not the future!

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I bought my FT817 in April 2001 as I was going on my first solo holiday to the Isle of Mull. I was 21 and had owned a car for about a year. I wanted to go on an adventure involving a ferry. That holiday remains one of my favourite ones of all time. I thought it would be great to get one of the new FT817 rigs to take on my camping trip. In the end I think I made only one QSO from Mull, on SSB.

Iā€™d passed my Morse test in 1999 but was not competent and it took about 10 years until I got interested in CW seriously. It was Kjell @LA1KHA 's fault, he issued his PP3 challenge and I had to do CW to take part. As always, itā€™s the rig building that I was really interested in.

I had my FT817 but I didnā€™t like using it for CW, the filter width was just too wide. In 2012 I built my first KD1JV Mountain Topper and it my first experience of a good CW filter. I used that Mountain Topper at home for chasing as it was the best CW rig I had.

In time as the CW bug really bit me hard, I decided that it was time to upgrade the FT-817. I found a secondhand 300Hz filter on ebay from somebody who had been a data enthusiast. The filter made a huge difference to the FT-817. I canā€™t really believe that Yaesu sold such a QRP rig without adequate filtering!

Iā€™ll treasure my FT-817 for as long as I can.

73, Colin

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^^This.

My thoughts entirely!

The 817 is pretty near perfection for what I need. My wish-list for enhancements to it would be:

  • Narrow CW filter
  • 10 watts
  • 5MHz (as a standard band rather than by ā€œopening upā€)
  • 70MHz
  • C4FM

However, I strongly suspect that whatever ā€œreplacesā€ the 817/818 will be further away from my ā€œideal radioā€, not closer to it. Therefore I really need to take good care of my 817 (Iā€™ve been through two already; this is my third)!

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I was going to sell my other 817 as it doesnā€™t get used enough but itā€™s suddenly become much more of an item to keep. I will get a KX2 but thereā€™s a massive waiting time right now because of chip supply issues. IC-705 much more readily available. I just need to be brave and spend some of my pension !

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Everybody is ā€œcryingā€ about cw filter. CW is 98% usable without cw filter.

Try to listen old tube rigs, ts510/515 or ft200 with wide ssb filter not on 3cm speaker but with good headphones or 20cm speaker. You will be amazed with quality.

I have two ft818. What do I need?

1 - built in small, wide range atu
2- rx current about 300mA max
3 - bands from 1,8 to 432 MHz
4 - all mode
5 - price in the range of ft818. No
more than 700 euros
6 - simple menus as much as
possible
7 - little bit bigger lcd. No need for
tach screen
8 - robust, ā€œhardā€ dc power
connector

What would be nice?

1 - 10W

What do I do not need?

1 - digital voice. Why? If one want to go DV buy handheld. I always carry handheld with me

I wish everybody happy New Year

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Yaesu is somewhat boxed in to move forward as I see it. On the one side they have to compete against the IC-705 - can they one-up that radio at a reasonable price point? The other side is the growing popularity of the MCHF or the Xiegu products at a lower price point than the 818 has garnered. Perhaps they will ā€˜shrinkā€™ the 991A as they did with the 897 to introduce the 817?

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I shouldnā€™t comment as I donā€™t like CW and never use it. but I can distinguish between and concentrate on just one of two signals separated by about a quarter tone, which would be about 21 Hz at around 700Hz in octave 5 or F5 to a musician, my comfortable audio frequency for CW. Iā€™m sure that regular users can do much better than that. When I was first learning to read morse code some 60 years ago I was using an Eddystone 840A with a bandwidth of about 8 kHz, many WWII military receivers for field use had similar bandwidths, few had crystal filters. Narrow filters are nice to have, I certainly appreciate the one in my TS520S, but you can learn to do without them.

My wish list for the hypothetical FT819 would merely be an ATU and a more modern battery pack - and of course a more robust external power socket! However at my age I rather think that my FT817ND will outlast me.

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