Thumbing through my copy of the new Radcom this morning I spotted the new Yaesu FT991. I thought it may make a good replacement for my 2 ageing FT857s ......... until I saw the price !!! £1250 - £1300 !!! I dont think the 857`s will be retiring any time soon.
Thing is, in the States, I reckon it will be the same amount or less - but in Dollars!
Edit - just looked Stateside, works out just over a grand (£)
+VAT = just over £1200.
VAT?
Warranty?
But look Steve… it weighs 9.7 pounds compared to the 4.8pounds of the 857 and RX consumption is 2.2A compared with 1A for the 857.
So it weighs nearly twice as much and uses twice the power on RX. I think your 857’s are keepers.
Hello Steve,
I would never ever get rid of my Yaesu 897D. So hang onto your 857s 8)
Night night.
Mike
It’s got a fairly thumping great DSP in the IF. It’s probably a good radio and it looks sexy. Maybe not a good radio for SOTA.
So does the KX3 with the ADSP21489, but that draws a tenth less then that. Sexy TFT displays use a huge amount of power, I hope they weren’t aiming at the “portable” market.
Deal breaker for me…No FM
73 Mike
2E0YYY
Modulation Type: A1A, A3E, J3E, F7W, F3E, F1D, F2D
Wonder if they’ll bring out a smaller QRP version to directly replace the 817?
If everyone stops buying the 817 then maybe they will 
When I first saw the FT-911 advertised I figured it explained why they’d stopped making the FT-897. It’s not an obvious replacement for the FT-857, however; too heavy and too power-hungry…
What they should bring out is a 50 Watt more ruggedized version of an FT-857, but the Japanese aren’t interested - neither is Paul Bigwood the UK Yaesu head honcho, was speaking to them all at 2014 Friedrichshafen about this - SOTA is too low volume yet to generate the sales to fund such a project unfortunately. We don;t need 100 watts and we don’t need a TFT display.
73 Phil
It’s not just SOTA folk who’d like a lighter rig; anyone taking a rig on holiday by air would be happy not to have to carry that extra two kilos…
To me, half of that power would be perfect: selectable 5, 10 and 25 watts max.
Best 73 de Guru - EA2IF
Definitely, it’s not a rig for SOTA activating but it’s a very attractive one for chasing from the armchair comfort.
Cheers,
Guru
Hi,
I understand that the FT991 is going to be the replacement for the FT 897,
and it is similar in weight. But it doesnt have a built in battery, and the manual
suggests that it should not be exposed to sunlight, dust or high humidity, so
perhaps not ideal for SOTA.
Yaesu’s website gives the warranty as 1 year.
Kind regards
Dave G0ELJ
[quote=“G0ELJ, post:18, topic:10259”]But it doesnt have a built in battery[/quote]The FT-897 always looked more like a mobile (bolted into the truck) sort of rig than something to carry anywhere by hand…
You need to be sure that Yaesu will honour the warranty of a US set imported into the UK by a UK resident. They have no legal duty to do so. So whilst you can get good deals overseas, it’s essential you compare like with like. i.e. same options/warranty/tax paid prices in the US/UK.