Posted: 6/24/2013 9:32:50 PM EDT
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I have been thinking about a Yaesu FT897D, It's got what I want to do, and the price is doable, not happily, but it is doable.
If you were out "RV" camping and wanted to set up a 2M/440 antenna for this radio, and then set up the HF radio, what antennas would you use or recommend? Thank you. |
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I homebrew'ed a 2m j-pole from some 300 ohm ladder line: just hang it up as high as you can reach. You can also build or buy one for 2m/440 as well.
For the HF side, why not a dipole from a couple of trees? eBay has quite a few selections on HF dipoles for pretty reasonable pricing. |
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Quoted:
If you were out "RV" camping and wanted to set up a 2M/440 antenna for this radio, and then set up the HF radio, what antennas would you use or recommend? HF: http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_10_22/664579_THREE_ANTENNA_PROJECTS.html ar-jedi |
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Quoted:
I have a home made jpole, and have thought about making a solid copper one, just for the heck of it. The HF antenna is the one I am the most interested in. I've seen them made out of copper water pipes. I have one made from aluminum stock. It works great. |
| If you are primarily going to use this as a base or mobile setup, the 857D is basically the same thing for less. You give up the internal battery packs, and the ability to hard bolt an ATU to it. IMO the 897 is about as close to a "manpack" backpack radio as most ham-gear gets but if you don't need any of that then the 857 is like 1-200 cheaper and is literally the same radio in a different case. |
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Quoted:
If you are primarily going to use this as a base or mobile setup, the 857D is basically the same thing for less. You give up the internal battery packs, and the ability to hard bolt an ATU to it. IMO the 897 is about as close to a "manpack" backpack radio as most ham-gear gets but if you don't need any of that then the 857 is like 1-200 cheaper and is literally the same radio in a different case. The internal batteries in the FT-897D cause the radio to limit to 20 watts maximum. There may be times when battery life is not the most important thing, and the ability to get a signal out is all important. The FT-857D and FT-897D are so similar that the manuals are essentially word-for-word identical. A good 1/3 of the volume of this radio is to allow room for the batteries, if used, or room for the FP-30 internal power supply. Don't bother with the Yaesu tuner made for the 897. The LDG AT-897 is a far better tuner. A good Windom for HF and the N9TAX roll up slim jim are good "hang in the trees" antennas and will get a good signal out. I made contact to Yokohama, Japan a few months ago with a 66' Windom operating on 20 meters at the time. It was hung between two oak trees about 20' off the ground. |
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Quoted:
If I was going to drop a grand on a shack-in-a-box mobile rig, I'd go ahead and spend $1100 and get an IC-7000. Better filters, and a display my old eyes can read... Edit: spellins I shall investigate the ICOM IC-7000. Thank you for the suggestion. Quoted:
Right on!... You going to upgrade to your General soon? Yup! You got the "General" idea. Quoted:
Quoted:
If you are primarily going to use this as a base or mobile setup, the 857D is basically the same thing for less. You give up the internal battery packs, and the ability to hard bolt an ATU to it. IMO the 897 is about as close to a "manpack" backpack radio as most ham-gear gets but if you don't need any of that then the 857 is like 1-200 cheaper and is literally the same radio in a different case. The internal batteries in the FT-897D cause the radio to limit to 20 watts maximum. There may be times when battery life is not the most important thing, and the ability to get a signal out is all important. The FT-857D and FT-897D are so similar that the manuals are essentially word-for-word identical. A good 1/3 of the volume of this radio is to allow room for the batteries, if used, or room for the FP-30 internal power supply. Don't bother with the Yaesu tuner made for the 897. The LDG AT-897 is a far better tuner. A good Windom for HF and the N9TAX roll up slim jim are good "hang in the trees" antennas and will get a good signal out. I made contact to Yokohama, Japan a few months ago with a 66' Windom operating on 20 meters at the time. It was hung between two oak trees about 20' off the ground. I like it because I plan to use it as a "manpack" radio. That was one of the big selling points to me. I am already working on the power issue, and devising something now. Perhaps spare gel-cel in the vehicle for when near it, and run off batt's for when I am not near it. Or is there an internal way to rig this thing up, if the battery packs series or parallel could get the radio to operate safely at full power. As for the only 20 watt's For HF and VHF, 20 watts is sufficient for most comms to me. It's the HF that I am not sure about. |