Got one couple days ago. Thanks to a fellow near Nashville who told me how to use the menus Couldnt figure how to raise & lower the power. It was doing 50 watts out of the box.. Love this radio. Right now just mobile in the local parks with a couple Shark hamsticks. Alot of good reports.-Tim N4TCM
I just learned more about radio operations in a few minutes than I have been able to learn over several years. Never fully understood AM operation on 50m.
Thank you for this helpful video. I just got my 891 about a week ago and am trying to get used to getting through the menus and making some adjustments. I've got an MC-750 portable antenna and a Bioenno battery. I plan to get into POTA and this setup will hopefully get me up and running with minimal problems. I also notice that my new radio has newer firmware than what you showed. That's good because I hate doing any kind of software upgrades - ha.
Nice job! All good ideas for setting up the radio. I totally agree with lowering the power out until you become familiar with the rig and the antennas you might be using. I love my FT-891 due to it's performance, small portable size, many adjustable features and most of all the very affordable price tag!
I ordered an FT-891 yesterday and an LDG Z100 Plus today. Setting up the menus will be the first thing to do. I plan to operate portable SSB and data (PSK 31 and newer modes). Thanks for the info.
That’s a great basics video! Thank you. I find this radio much more confusing than my ft 991a. The menus are a little unclear. But I like it’s ease of portability. The battery, radio, auto tuner and accessories fit into 2 pelican cases plus my Wolf River Coils antenna and I’m set for POTA. MikeinMinnesota N0WDM
Thank you! You're right, the menus are a little querky, and it's still difficult to get to the power setting.. but no other radio can touch it for power, size/portability and super quiet receiver.
careful with the electronics of the car, there might be RFi, that can be very dangerous in a car, there are lists for these newer cars how much HF they may be exposed to and to some cars its not even 100watt.
I think it takes 3 months of regular use to become totally familiar with the menu without going back to the manual....Thanks for a great vid.!!! It was a nice throwback to the past finding a fellow AM dx'er!!!! Nice touch and I would do the same thing!!!! I live the center of NYS so I get all of the clear channel AM stations with no problem, but West of the Mississippi is a challenge. My greatest catch was Radio Reloj out of South America when the station in Atlanta, GA went down and itd allowed Columbia to come in...that was 15 years ago or so.
Thank you! I like hearing the AM stations coming in, you never know what you'll hear... nice catch having your radio on when that S American station came in! I used to drive long distances at night coming home from work, and I'd try out AM on the radio and would be surprised of the long distances heard in the truck on the small antenna.
Hey. This video was very helpful when I first setup my 891. Thank you! As I watch again, I notice that your video has no flicker on it at all. I see flicker of this display when I record videos of my 891. Do you recall your shutter or frame rate settings when you record shots like this one? Thanks again! Scott, KE4WMF.
Hi Scott, you're welcome! I looked up this video and it was recorded with my iphone 7. It was recorded at 1080P at 30FPS. Hope this helps. 73, Ed N1UHF
Absolutely fantastic! Thank you so much! I bought one of these a few months ago; what I want to know is how to you change the view where it shows PO for power out to showing your SWR? I am having problems finding that in my owners manual. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and God bless! Mark G. W5HSJ
Hi Mark. I was looking for that myself and found it under Function - 2. From there you can change the meter from PO to SWR. It's been a year since you ask the question so probably you already figured it out but posting it here for anyone who may have the same question. 73 and God bless! Abner G. KD2VEC
have they fixed the switching from USB and LSB issue? can you easily switch from USB to LSB on any band now or do you have to do weird menu work around stuff?
You go into menu 11-07 and switch the 'BFO' setting from 'AUTO' to either 'LSB' or 'USB'. So, in a nutshell, they didn't fix it. There should have been a 'USB' and 'LSB' option in the selection screen that pops up when 'BAND' is long-pressed. Also, the error that mislabels the QMB button as the MODE button in the User Manial is unforgiveable. Yeasu, you can do better.
Our FT891 has the menu optio in different orders and different "chapters and pages". It is confusing trying to set up a new FT891 when this video and the menu do not correlate
Hmm. that's weird.. everyone else's is the same that has commented here.. does yours match the chapter and page list in the manual? Was it modified in anyway?
Made a few short transmissions on 20 meters voice with around a 3:1 swr on the built in swr meter... Had the output at 25-35 watts, think this could have damaged it?
Hi… no you’re fine. Most Yaesu radios including this one starts reducing the power output when the SWR goes above 1.5 . And you were using reduced power, and the swr was t infinite so that was good. Once you get a tuner for it or a more resonant antenna you’ll be all set.
Yes, with a compatible tuner, the tuner is responsible for controlling the FT-891 by switching modes and lowering the power. So the FT-891 is able to be controlled by the tuner no problem. I’ve used MFJ and LDG to control all my radios auto tuning:
8:37 Set the contour level (menu point 12-02) to +10 the DNR works ok but attenuates the higher tones a bit, the audio sounds then a bit muffled. the contour filter set to +10 amplifies the higher tones a bit and compensates the attenuation of the higher tones, the audio sounds then so much clearer & better. The contour frequency is best around 2600Hz. The yaesu ftdx1200 has a way when pushing two of the buttons lower left side from the VFO knob, then the thw SSB TX bandwith can be set to "TTBF", that is an almost whole 4KHz bandwidth, from 50Hz till 4000Hz. the 100-3000Hz SSB TX bandwith in the 891 is good too but 4KHz make a great difference in that matter for a very good audioquality. how about a large diaphragm condenser studio mic for the 891 ? i wonder how the 891 would sound then.
Yeah, great idea to splatter around and ruining other people's QSO. Especially when operating QRP I really love this special kind of hams. Using 4 or 5 kHz bandwidth to pose with your studio mic and 'broadcast like audio' is nothing but ignorant. You really can ruin someone's day this way. 2.7 kHz is the way to go!
So many of these FT-891 radios have been sold since they came out and I haven’t heard a single report of any issues with finals failing, and these arentaken out in the field all the time with compromise antennas so I’d say no issues with finals.
Why wouldn’t you check the SWR on AM or Ritty. No need to lower SSB to 45 watts. Do the checking on AM/Ritty then go back and talk on SSB. 73 de N2LRB.
Thanks for the question. I'm not sure what you are referring to in the video about checking SWR. I always use RTTY on manual tuners to tune an antenna after lowering the output to about 20W, Otherwise I always use automatic tuners and they change to RTTY and lower the power automatically, I never would use SSB to tune though setting the auto tuner to tune on Keying it tunes using SSB on the fly while you're talking, You might have misunderstood what I was saying about safety. These are initial settings,, I turn down the power on all modes until I have the new radio installed in the vehicle, go box or shack. When the antenna is working properly and all is good that's when I turn the power where I want it so as not to blow the finals. I hope this answers your question!
They sell "real" radios without many menus and more buttons but it wouldn't be small enough to carry for portable. Take a look at the MFJ-9400 series , these are awesome old school radios with just a few buttons and knobs,no microcircuits etc.. as far as menus, since this radio has lots of capabilities as far as DSP, Digital, diff power out setting for diff modes, that older radios don't have the menus will be there. The good news is there are plenty of old school radios out there. I have videos on this channel of my MFJ-9420 making contacts.
This is a radio I am currently looking into for exactly the reasons you stated above. I also do not want all the fancy LED/touch pad microcircuits etc. Sometimes simpler is better. I am new to the hobby and got into this hobby to stay away from my computer, or high tech tools. Simple old school techniques and equipment is fine for my taste. Wish tubes and crystals were still popular, or readily available, as those were even simpler times 😉
