On 5/26/23 14:25, K4IDC via AMSAT-BB wrote:

I'm considering acquiring a Yaesu FT-847. Realizing it's a 30 year old radio & there are some documented issues with it, I'd like to hear from anyone on the list who's owned and used one..the good, the bad & the ugly.

Hello Robin,

I have used my FT-847 for terrestrial VHF/UHF and satellite work, but not in more than a year or so now. I have not used it on HF.

It also survived a lightning strike on the power line that seems to have hosed the speaker output (but not the headphones) -- I'll fix this someday.

In general, I'm pleased with it. It is not an IF DSP rig like my IC-746Pro, nor is it a full SDR, but with the the 400 Hz CW crystal filter from INRAD (http://www.inrad.net/product.php?productid=158&cat=18), it works like a champ. It also has audio-stage DSP, which, when enabled, works wonderfully to clean up the post-IF crystal filter output.

You'll likely want to put in a crystal reference heater. I have some bookmarks, but I'm not sure which one I used. Here's one that looks familiar:

http://www.frenning.dk/OZ1PIF_HOMEPAGE/QH40A.htm

Something I dislike: The RS-232 CAT control messages have no checksum (unlike Icom's CI-V), so any stray RF may/will cause the radio to interpret CAT messages from the PC incorrectly. This means it might change modes, bands, etc. during a QSO on the bird with Doppler tracking enabled. I've heard that the fix to this is to change out the RS-232 connector on the back with a USB dongle that uses a FTDI USB<->Serial chip. This means that all the serial CAT traffic is protected by the USB's CRC protection on the cable and the actual UART signals only travel on the PCB within the rig. Plugging a USB<->Serial adapter right into the back of the rig, skipping the intervening cable, might also solve the issue, but that depends on how well the USB serial adapter's electronics are shielded.

This FAQ will come in handy, in general:

https://www.supercontrol.de/cat/ft847faq/ft847faq.htm

73,

--- Zach N0ZGO