Yaesu FT-897D Issue

[Raccoon]

Hey everyone , I have a Yaesu FT-897D that I bought new around 6 or 7 years ago , and it's never given me any issues before . Then this morning I turned it on like I do every other morning , and it's Mode switch , and Band switch seem to be locked . I figured that I must have accidentally bumped something (big hands and little buttons don't go good together) , so tried looking in the manual , and I tried Google without any luck . So I thought I'd ask here and see if any you might have had this problem before , and if so ... how do I fix it ??

Thanks

 

[AudioShockwav]

There is a Lock button right next to the main vfo dial and you will see a little key in the display when it is turned on.

73
Jeff

 

[Raccoon]

Actually the "Lock Key" button was the first thing that I checked, and unfortunately it wasn't locked. I even did a factory reset and the Mode and Band buttons are still not working. I wish the issue with my FT-897D were that easy to fix, but apparently it's going to be a little more difficult to resolve than that.

 

[Raccoon]

So today I hooked my Yaesu FT-897d back up to the power supply and turned it on to check it out and see if I could figure out what's wrong with it , and now it's working like it should .

No idea what went wrong with it to begin with , because it did this without any warning , and now I have no idea how it fixed itself . This is one of the strangest things I've seen happen in all of the 40 plus years that I've been in the radio ... lol .

 

[BC Coyote]

Unhooking the radio from power for a couple months undoubtedly allowed all the caps inside to drop to 0 volts, and that likely allowed the CPU to reset, which fixed the problem (which was almost certainly software related). So not such a big mystery really !

 

[AudioShockwav]

So today I hooked my Yaesu FT-897d back up to the power supply and turned it on to check it out and see if I could figure out what's wrong with it , and now it's working like it should .

No idea what went wrong with it to begin with , because it did this without any warning , and now I have no idea how it fixed itself . This is one of the strangest things I've seen happen in all of the 40 plus years that I've been in the radio ... lol .

My 897 has started showing signs of age, the display is getting zebra stripes.
I should not complain too much about it, I used it often outdoors, camping, on vacation, bounced around in the truck.
I left it out on the table one time camping at the lake, had a wild thunderstorm that afternoon and I literally poured rain water out of it.
Took it home, let it dry out and it worked fine.
It still functions just fine but I know at some point in the future I will have to address the display problem.

73
Jeff

 

[Raccoon]

My 897 has started showing signs of age, the display is getting zebra stripes.
I should not complain too much about it, I used it often outdoors, camping, on vacation, bounced around in the truck.
I left it out on the table one time camping at the lake, had a wild thunderstorm that afternoon and I literally poured rain water out of it.
Took it home, let it dry out and it worked fine.
It still functions just fine but I know at some point in the future I will have to address the display problem.

73
Jeff

I bought my 897 new , about 8 years ago from Gigaparts . It's from the 897's last run . They discontinued them 3 months after I bought mine . In all that time , it's just sat here on my desk . It's never been mobile , portable , or exposed to the elements . This is the first time that it's ever given me any trouble . I don't know what it was , but at least it fixed itself . I'm happy to have it back up and running again . Thankfully , I have a nice Yaesu FT-757GXII for back up if I need it .

 

[BC Coyote]

I don't know what it was , but at least it fixed itself .

The answer is in post #5 of this thread........ so you will know what it is if it happens again......

 

[AudioShockwav]

Mine still plugs right along, I have been using it often with the latest band conditions on HF.
When they came out they were the best little station in a box you could buy.
With the built in batt packs and tuner it was a complete portable station with a handle on the side.

The display on mine is still in need of replacement but I am too lazy to send it to Yaesu.....
Hope it resets clean.

73
Jeff