Tag: 857

  • My POTA Radio History: Five Radios, One Lesson About Carrying Less

    From an AnyTone 578 in an Armoloq cage, through a G90, an FT-891, and an FT-857D, to landing on the FTX-1 Optima. Here’s the actual radio history behind my current POTA setup, and why I kept swapping until it matched my shack.

  • MARS/CAP Mods on the Yaesu FT-857D: What They Actually Do and Where the Legal Line Sits

    Part of our The Yaesu FT-857D: The Complete Guide. What a MARS/CAP Mod Actually Is I cover what a MARS/CAP mod actually is, the DoD and Civil Air Patrol programs behind it, and the legal reality of transmitting on the frequencies it unlocks in What Is a MARS/CAP Mod? The short version for the 857D…

  • The FT-857D as a Shack in a Box: Why It’s One of My Favorite SHTF Radios

    Part of our The Yaesu FT-857D: The Complete Guide. One Box, Every Band You’d Actually Need When I think through what a grab-and-go radio needs to do in an actual SHTF scenario, the list is short: reach the local repeater network, monitor and work HF for anything past line of sight, and do it all…

  • Taming the FT-857D’s Menu: A Practical Cheat Sheet

    Part of our The Yaesu FT-857D: The Complete Guide. Why This Radio’s Menu Fights You The 857D packs a genuinely deep set of features into a single-line display and a numbered menu tree, which was a reasonable design in its day and hasn’t aged gracefully. Settings are grouped by number rather than by plain-language category,…

  • Getting the Yaesu FT-857D on FT8 with WSJT-X

    Part of our The Yaesu FT-857D: The Complete Guide. What You Actually Need The FT-857D predates USB audio interfaces, so getting it onto FT8 means bridging two separate connections: a CAT cable for rig control and a sound card interface for audio in and out. A USB sound card interface like a Digirig handles both…

  • FT-857D CAT Control Setup with Ham Radio Deluxe

    Part of our The Yaesu FT-857D: The Complete Guide. The Physical Connection CAT control on the FT-857D runs through the Mini-DIN CAT jack on the rear panel, not the DATA jack used for digital mode audio. You’ll need a CAT cable with a USB-to-serial adapter on the computer end, since the radio predates native USB.…

  • Common FT-857D Problems and How to Fix Them

    Part of our The Yaesu FT-857D: The Complete Guide. ALC Clipping and Power Foldback on 40 Meters This is the complaint that comes up most in FT-857D circles: power output drops or the ALC meter spikes and clips specifically on 40 meters, even though other bands sound fine. It’s a well-documented calibration drift issue tied…

  • Buying a Used FT-857D: What to Check

    Part of our The Yaesu FT-857D: The Complete Guide. There Are No New Ones Left Yaesu discontinued the FT-857D in 2020. Every unit on the market today, whether it’s a dealer’s used listing or a private sale, is coming from someone’s shack or go-bag, not a warehouse. That changes how you should shop for one.…

  • Yaesu FT-857D vs FT-891, G90, FTX-1 Field, FTX-1 Optima, IC-7300 Mark II, and FT-817: Where Each One Actually Wins

    Part of our The Yaesu FT-857D: The Complete Guide. I get asked constantly how the FT-857D stacks up against the rest of the radios in my shack and go-bags, so here’s the honest rundown of where each one wins and where it doesn’t. Quick disclosure up front: I own and regularly use the FT-891, the…

  • Yaesu FT-857D Review: A Great All-Bander Held Back by Its Own Menu

    Part of our The Yaesu FT-857D: The Complete Guide. Still a Legit All-Bander I picked up the FT-857D for a great price and ran it in both the shack and the field kit, though it never rode in the Jeep. The reputation holds up. It’s a full HF/VHF/UHF all-mode radio, SSB, FM, and the data…

  • The Yaesu FT-857D: The Complete Guide

    The FT-857D is the radio I point people to when they want one box that covers HF, VHF, and UHF without carrying a second radio. It’s not the newest or the friendliest to program, but it earns its keep. This page rounds up everything I’ve written about it. Start Here Yaesu FT-857D Review: A Great…

  • I Bought a Yaesu FT-857D for a Great Price. Here’s Why I Sold It

    I picked up a used FT-857D for a great price, ran it for a while, and decided it wasn’t for me. Here’s what’s genuinely good about it and why I sold it and went back to the FTX-1.

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