I Sold My FT-817nd

Why on earth did I do that? What spirt possessed me to do this? Here are some answers I hope.

Well nuts. I may have been a little off my rocker to get rid of it. That’s water under the bridge. It is a great radio, a little long in the tooth but has some great features. It is a full featured QRP radio running at 5 watts max. The receive capabilities are incredible.

I am not a QRP kind of people. QRP frustrates me when I can hear stations I want to work but do not have the power to reach them with any kind of legible signal. Last Field Day (2022) I could hear stations on the mag loop but they could not hear me. With stations using max power of 100 watts, my 5 watt signal was like throwing stones in the air expecting ripples.

I packed up the radio and antenna, pushed it to the back of my mind, and got on with life. Had to make a trip to California, to check on my mother-in-law, making sure she was ok. Work had some challenges, had to get some studying done. After New Years things quieted down.

The Ham Fest was scheduled for Saturday April 1st and I started thinking about stuff I could get rid of. Reminded of the experience with the 817 it occurred to me to sell it and the magnetic loop. Still had a bad taste in my mouth from field day. I researched the options across all manufacturers for a replacement.

I decided on the FT 891. It has what I am looking for. Small size so I can use it in the field, making up a GOBOX with it as the star. Selectable power from 5 – 100 watts in SSB, Digital/CW, and 5-40 watts in AM. I can work some of those pileups that were once heard but unreachable. It is a 5 year old radio with most of the bugs worked out.

So I sold the 817, and some other items to finance the purchase of the new radio. It was ordered from one vendor only to discover they were unable to provide the new unit in a timely manner. It was going to take 2 months. So I chose another vendor and paid a little more to receive it in a week. I am in the process of putting together a GOBOX for portable use, and will post more about it later. The antenna will be the Wolf River Coils.

73 for now, KF7SFU, Dave