Yaesu FT-891 100W HF/50MHz All Mode Mobile Transceiver

Okay well I bought this radio on sale. I will say this much, absent 2m and 70cm its a great radio. In one sense of the word by not cramming in 2 or possibly 3 other bands, you get more flexibility on what's left over.

Pros. On sale for $579 its a bit pricier than a comparable used unit, but not by much. A used FT-100D goes for about $400 to $450. So for a bunch more by $130 or so bucks you get a new unit instead of someone else's headache. it has all the features of the FT-100D other than 2m and 70cm, is smaller a bit and lighter a bit. Fits in my briefcase which makes travel easier. The output on AM and FM may be limited on some bands per spec sheets. SSB it can put out a full 100 watts ... but ... you need a very good SWR to get that. Unlike a tube set where you can trim and adjust everything, the radio controls a lot of your transmission. So get a good antenna tuner if you want to try and put out more power than the radio will let you put out.

As for portable and mobile operation, it has a separation set up so you can hide the transceiver and have it all run to a control head.

One thing that differs from the other units, is that this unit does not super heat while in reception mode. Some radios in generating audio output do accumulate heat. This radio runs relatively cool.

Like all other radios that rely heavily on buttons rather than adjustment knobs this takes some getting used to. There are hundreds of different settings that require using several different menus and resetting these settings while mobile is not a good idea if you're barreling down the road at 70mph. So its not the greatest of mobile rigs, but not the worst, either.

What I can tell you is that the DSP is excellent, the ATT is excellent and reception is crisp and clear even using the onboard speaker instead of an amped external speaker. The tuning knob is good, weighted and easily tunable. Unlike the FT-100 which has a bit of drag on it, this is a flywheel like operation.

Cons: Its a hairy eyeball to reset settings. First off the LSB/USB/AM/FM/CW settings are split between two menus. One menu controls modes except SSB. You can select SSB but if you want to switch from default SSB settings you have to go to the main mega-menu and scroll down till you locate the line number that controls SSB settings. There you have three choices and three choices ONLY. Auto (it picks the default for you), or LSB or USB. If you want to switch to LSB in a band that usually uses USB, then it switches the whole radio on all bands to that setting.

Second, tune button for auto tuner. You have to enable this feature and it only works with the ATAS system. If you have an external tuner made by someone else, well you need the accessory cable and will have to rely on that unit to control the radio not the other way around. To do that you need to set it to LAMP (as in Linear Amplifier) to allow an external tuner to tune unless you can manually set an ATU to it. If not, with a manual tuner you have to reset power settings in the same complicated menu to go to low power and then do a CW carrier or MOX to set the tuner manually.

On FM its a real power hog and honestly chewed up my 6m dipole. But FM is hard on antennas anyway. Also noticed that if you are out past about a minute on 6m FM, you will heat up the fuses. Have at least a good 30 amp supply that peaks a bit higher for 6m FM. That's my personal experience, and I don't use 6m FM that often anyway. Lower your power and it'll probably work with local repeaters and not drain your car battery or burn up 30 amp fuses.

I took it out for QRP operation with a homebrew and it performed very well for DX out in the field fed with a little car jump starter battery pack. At 4 or 5 watts at your feedpoint on HF you can talk to the world, jacking it up to 20 watts there was no perceptible difference. Band conditions are your friend here, power maybe gets you an extra S unit with this radio.

What it is lacking is an easy to get to mic gain control. On SSB mike gain can be critical in pulling off the "swing" you need to get the attention of that station somewhere on the border of the Indian Ocean. Its another exercise in fumbling around multiple menus.

SUGGESTIONS: 1. Put all the mode selections in one freakin menu! A lot of folks use USB on 40 and 80 meters. And a lot of people use LSB on 14 meters and above because it can be quieter. Making you go through a bunch of steps to switch between LSB and USB is nuts.

Also, Mic Gain. Put it where you can get to it easily.

Finally power settings. Same thing. You should be able to adjust power on the fly. Not have to fumble around multiple menus to get to those precious settings, and then have to reset them over and over again.

Overall I give it 4 out of 5 as its 80 percent there. Its a good radio, very innovative. Menu's kinda kooky but for the price you get your money's worth.