yaesu ft-891 and ATAS 120A

[Mudfoot]

I like the radio. I almost kept it in the shack. I don't like how you have to have cat like reflexes spinning the knob to change bands before it defaults back. Seriously, why wasn't that fixed in the updates?

Slapped it in the Jeep XJ this afternoon. The ATAS tunes up nicely on advertised bands, except 40 meters. I'm experiencing common mode. When I key up, my fogs lights act as anmodulation indicator and I heard some kind of buzzing/clicking sound in the dash. SWR on 40 is pushing 2.0. I was sort of expecting something, since I put the antenna on the front bumper.

I believe I'll order a ball mount for the passenger rear quarter, or K400s mount for the rear hatch. Hopefully, this will minimize issues. I don't believe I have a grounding issue, but possible.

 

[2RT307]

The ATAS is pretty particular about grounding. I ran a could of ground straps to the body on mine. Looks like you have a real solid mount, but I would double check it just to be sure, and maybe even scuff up the hole in the bumper. 40 is easily do-able with mine, but every vehicle is different. I have seen where some guys use a longer whip to have better bandwidth on 40. If you have a Wilson whip around, might be worth tossing it on there just to see if you get an improvement. Also, I did run a couple of ferrite chokes on the remote cable for my Mic, and it helped quite a bit with rig.

73,
Brett

 

[Mudfoot]

I sanded both sides of the bumper down to shiny metal. My bumper is bolted on with frame rail plates. I also welded them in a few places. I was thinking everything has a good ground.

I was outside earlier changing some menu items and discovered 6 meters is now getting flaky. I'm not going to trouble shoot it any further. Having the ATAS on the front bumper is starting to bug me now. Going to go with the ball mount.

I do have various whips laying around. Guess it's worth a shot to try them out tomorrow.

 

[Mudfoot]

Installed a K400s mount on rear hatch. Placed two ground straps to bond the hatch and prepped the area for the mount set screws to get a good contact.

The ATAS acted like it was working fairly well, then it just acted like the gears are stripped. I can hear it "whir", but no uppy or downy. I can manually tune it from the menu ok, but pressing the tune button just goes "whir".

It may still be a ground issue, but honestly, I can't think of anything else, except mig welding the hatch shut.

I solved the problem, though. I just took everything out and put my Wilson 1000 magnet mount back on top and slapped my Optima back in.

Problem solved!

Secretly, I think I wanted to run this radio in the shack, anyways.

 

[Riverman]

Installed a K400s mount on rear hatch. Placed two ground straps to bond the hatch and prepped the area for the mount set screws to get a good contact.

The ATAS acted like it was working fairly well, then it just acted like the gears are stripped. I can hear it "whir", but no uppy or downy. I can manually tune it from the menu ok, but pressing the tune button just goes "whir".

It may still be a ground issue, but honestly, I can't think of anything else, except mig welding the hatch shut.

I solved the problem, though. I just took everything out and put my Wilson 1000 magnet mount back on top and slapped my Optima back in.

Problem solved!

Secretly, I think I wanted to run this radio in the shack, anyways.

Whew! I thought you were going to say you got out your hacksaw and fixed the antenna for good.
A remedy I am well familiar with.

 

[Mudfoot]

I hope they listen to user input and come out with a worthy firmware update soon. What a strange quirky menu it has.

 

[binrat]

I hope they listen to user input and come out with a worthy firmware update soon. What a strange quirky menu it has.

And that is why I haven't got one yet.

 

[Mudfoot]

I have no regrets buying it, especially at the price I paid for it. These should be starting to pop up cheap on the used market.

 

[2RT307]

I really like mine, despite some menu weirdness. Good reports on it, and pretty hard to beat for the money.

73,
Brett

 

[2RT307]

Installed a K400s mount on rear hatch. Placed two ground straps to bond the hatch and prepped the area for the mount set screws to get a good contact.

The ATAS acted like it was working fairly well, then it just acted like the gears are stripped. I can hear it "whir", but no uppy or downy. I can manually tune it from the menu ok, but pressing the tune button just goes "whir".

It may still be a ground issue, but honestly, I can't think of anything else, except mig welding the hatch shut.

I solved the problem, though. I just took everything out and put my Wilson 1000 magnet mount back on top and slapped my Optima back in.

Problem solved!

Secretly, I think I wanted to run this radio in the shack, anyways.

Mine did the whir thing when I had a strap from the mount directly under the antenna where it screws onto the SO-239 and mounted to the to the body inside the trunk. Took it off, and it works fine now.

73,
Brett

 

[Mudfoot]

I figured it was still a grounding issue. I also noted that the radio seemed like it was tuning, but there was no output. The ATAS menu was blinking, but no output while doing so. I just heard whirring. I noticed the sound diminished when I opened my door.

Since I could manually tune it from the menu, it shouldn't be a mechanical issue with the omechanism inside, don't you think. I just boxed it back up to mess with a other day. I just lost patience with it for now. It's definitely a fickle antenna.

 

[camaro1]

ft891 and atas120a still working fine here, I have been using and tuning it almost every day since I installed it and no issues yet, I did put a longer whip on it, about 12" longer.

we will see what happens once the snow falls and it gets frozen

 

[firerunner]

I talked with a guy in San Diego the other day he loves his FT-891 and he sounded really good. i almost picked one up but have the 857 so I didn't happy with the 857.

 

[Riverman]

To adjust transmit power, the menu offers the following options:
HF SSB Power
HF AM Power
HF Power
Is HF Power for FM? If not, what is it for?

Same question for 50HF Power.

Thanks.

 

[2RT307]

To adjust transmit power, the menu offers the following options:
HF SSB Power
HF AM Power
HF Power
Is HF Power for FM? If not, what is it for?

Same question for 50HF Power.

Thanks.

IIRC,HF Power was supposed to be labeled FM, and 50HF is for 6 meters.

73,
Brett