Yaesu FT 857D HF/VHF/UHF All Mode Transceiver – Review by ZS1JHG

If you are looking for a compact base station than can do it all in one box and go mobile at a great price then this radio must be on your short list.

Having been the owner of an Icom 706 I was very reluctant to do without the large screen and neat faceplate arrangement that these radio

s have.

Yaesu have made some significant improvements to the “D” model in addition to fitting a high stability oscillator. Looking at the QST tests of the “D”

model it comes very close to IC 7000 in some figures . I am aware that the IC 7000 has superior IF DSP and TFT colour screen etc.

My initial impression of the FT 857D is of an oversized tuning knob and fussy looking faceplate layout.

However once you actually use the radio it all makes sense as you soon memorise the button positions and they all fall easily to hand.

The memory system in my opinion is much better than the IC 706 and I only had to refer to the manual once or twice.

Now how does it play?

Setting up the radio for 40m I found it far too sensitive and noisy for my ears. No problem . First I turned the IPO (preamp) off,

Then into the DSP and set up the bandwidth to about 1.8 KHz and set the noise reduction to about 50 percent.

Now for my ears much easier to listen to and not S9 on almost any moderate signal. As an aside I have also fitted the LDG FT meter which

gives a nice large clear S meter readout and SWR readings plus adds an extra readout to your radio – for more see my review of the LDG FT Meter.

Right where were we , Oh yes on 40M . so I tested the radio on a wire antenna against the FT 450 (IF DSP and narrow roofing filter).

Yes the FT 450 was quieter on receive but all stations heard on it were equally well copied on the FT857D. Next I looked for stations close to one another in frequency , dare I say it one running a mega linear, and the test radio coped well with some splatter from the mega station which was also heard on the FT 450

Note the IF shift on the FT 450 could substantially reduce the splatter, this was not the case with the shift on the test radio.

So some work has been done on the front-end of the FT 857D as it is a very good performer on 40m, way better than my IC 706 .

The display is small but apart from the S meter/SWR readout is very clear and sharp and you can set a background colour that suits your eyes.

In fact I set 20m HF to my best background colour and then all the other bands to different colours.

I made a number of local contacts on 40m with hams who know my voice well and the switched to the FT 450. All commented that my voice sounded natural

and much the same on both radios. Then onto DX on 20M and worked a couple of stations on the HF beam and again got unsolicited good audio reports.

Let’s have a look at VHF on 2m using a Slim Jim antenna I had a number of simplex contacts on 25w and got favourable reports.

Onto the AM Air band and found this radio on the 2m Slim Jim antenna to be very sensitive .

For short-wave listening I would recommend an external speaker as the fitted speaker is sharp ,ideal for mobile but lacks base and tends to rattle on higher volume settings.

Now I get it why you folk like your FT 857D radios, a true do it all really well in one box radio and it goes mobile with all the fittings supplied (Icom take note).

So I am converted , still not convinced about the looks but it plays and handles real well . ( For those who do not wish to go mobile the FT897D is the same in a larger box and can take internal batteries or power supply and an outboard ATU).