Newbee needs help... torn between Yeasu 897D and FT 450D

[AmateurHour]

Get the 897D

Get it used. You will love it - it is all the radio you will need for quite a while. I had one, sold it for a different radio, and am mad about it every day. Seriously.

Until then, start figuring out what you are going to do for antennas. It will help you with your tests and dramatically improve the magic you get out of that box.

 

[mr_fx]

love my 857d, GREAT rig, don't be afraid of a used 857 or 857d (only difference is the 'd' has 60m pre programmed and the non d does not)

I run mine mobile and a the QTH, I have worked he world on 20m mobile (I am a general)

as a Tech you will find the 857 to be awesome, while you might get pissed wih the 450d as you will not get to enjoy it as much

budget

857d $500-900 (depends if it's new or used)

2m 440 edison fong J pole (build it yourself) $2-5

10m and 6m just get a couple pieces of wire, about 8.5 foot long, then attach then to another 2 pieces about 50-55 inches long... now you have a 10m/6m fan dipole (you can add as many bands as you want, but more than 4 or 5 gets a little hairy to tune)

other things, might want to look into a 2m halo and a 70cm halo to work those band

also consider a tuner in the budget, maybe a 949mfj? $50-$100 used

 

[cycleguru]

Wow. Interesting. Everyone here hates the 450D. I absolutely love mine. I've had it for about two years now and have had ZERO problems with it. It does everything I need it to do. It's simple to operate and has all the bells and whistles I need. I'm retired and on a fixed income and the 450D fit my budget well. But, based on this unscientific poll you'd better get the 857 or 897!

As far as antennas go, everybody thinks whatever they have is the greatest and you should have it too. I happen to have a three element tri-bander Yagi on a crank-up telescoping 40' tower. A beam antenna will spoil you forever. I also have a G5RV for working 80, 40,17, and 12. I'd suggest that you start out with a GOOD G5RV (there are some crappy ones out there) or a Carolina Windom. Others will disagree with this, of course, but that's my suggestion. With a G5RV you'll need an antenna tuner. I paid $159 for my tuner and it works great.

Good luck on the exam. I know you'll pass!

Mark K7OWG

 

[dangerdan]

I have The ft-857D and the ft-450D .
I like them both.
I put the 2.8 k and 500 inrad filters in the 857D .
a good Antenna system is what will make the difference .

 

[w9cll]

That's a really small screen on the 897. I know for me it's to small for daily use no matter how good the radio is.

My personal preference in the "shack" is to have separate radios for each band, i.e an HF, VHF and if needed a UHF. If one fails I don't lose all bands. In the car the 706 I run is just fine as I wouldn't want that many rigs in the car.

As someone else suggested start looking in the used market as there are plenty of options there.

As for antennas, well why not build your own. You will learn how to build one and it will cost a lot less then buying one built. I use an inverted V antenna at the shack that I built, it's in a fan dipole form meaning that I have separate wires for each band I want to operate. Currently I have wires on it for 17, 20 and 40. I can load 15 meters on the 40 meter wire and if i want to run 10 I use a tuner. I just prefer to have resonate antennas on the band than rely on a tuner. To build the antenna my total cost was about $30 and that included purchasing the balun. A balun, coax, rope and some 14 gage wire is all you need to build a very good antenna in about an hour.

 

[W5LZ]

To make it a little simpler...
Look at the features of all the radios you can find. Determine which of those features you just have to have and which would only be 'nice' to have. Start eliminating from that stand point. And then, before plunking any money down on one, sit in front of one and play with it, see if it 'suits' you, or can you stand looking at the thing all the time? I can't think of a better way of going about it.
Antennas. Antennas can range from $10 - @0 dollars to as much as you can afford to spend. Of course there are differences between different kinds, but most will 'do' fine to start with (or forever actually). Wire antennas are about the cheapest things around and are NOT difficult to make. They can be as 'simple' as can be, or as elaborate as you want to make them. From there is sort of amounts to how 'imaginative' you are, sort of. Make the thing 'fit' your situation, that's not impossible in most cases. An antenna is an electrical conductor with certain characteristics according to what band you want it to work on. If it conducts electricity it can be an antenna or a part of one. If that doesn't open up some weird possibilities you just ain't thinking hard enough!
Good luck and have fun.
- 'Doc