Time for a Review of the FT-891

Update July 2024: Don't buy until you read this, and probably don't buy even then.

TLDR: A potentially great field or even home radio, somewhat hobbled by a clunky user interface (UI).  Well worth the $600 – $650 street price as is, but if the UI and data mode messes got sorted out I would happily pay 50% more.

Pros: Triple-conversion superhet receiver with at 3kHz roofing filter, adjustable noise blanker, and an aggressive digital noise reduction (DNR) chip, all of which work to cut interference very effectively.  Weight and form factor are similar to Yaesu's previous king-of-the-trail, the FT-857d.  A somewhat improved UI, now with three user-programmable front panel keys and a much bigger screen.

Cons: UI still not up to snuff.  Often but inconsistently drops various settings during changes in operating band, mode, or memory channel.  Bizarre offsets in the PSK data mode, and seemingly broken upper bandwidth software-defined control on the general-purpose data mode (but there's a work-around, so read on).

what a mess, on the ladder of success   Testing new hardware is never a neat process.  On to the review.

OK, from the short version above it probably sounds like I don't like this radio, but to the contrary I'm impressed.  Furthermore it is a worthy successor to the venerable FT-857d, and at this price it is too good a rig to pass up.  It just took some wrangling to get past the quirks in the UI and get everything going.

The one setup tip to take away pertains to using an external sound card interface such as a SignaLink.  Simply set things to upper sideband mode and skip all the data mode settings ("PSK" and "Other") altogether.  This will necessitate some jumping into the deep menus to adjust down the TX power when switching between voice to digital, something that is easily forgotten and (if forgotten) not good for the radio's power transistors.  It would have been convenient to set the radio's data mode to 25w and SSB to 100w and forget all this, but there it is.  (This all took two days of spare time to figure out, ugh.)

The remainder of the setup was straightforward.  Also, the radio works well with an external MFJ-939Y autotuner.  That part was plug-and-play, as advertised.

About that direct computer cable data mode input on the back, sure, I'll bet it works great, but I'll never know because the only driver Yaesu has released is for Windows OS.  So it's data via SignaLink and audio input (mercifully, on the data port) for the foreseeable future.

Back to the receiver.  It's a triple-conversion superhet with a staunch roofing filter and a stout digital noise reduction chip acting on an intermediate frequency (IF).  If that sounds like the big FTdx-1200 base station, well, that's essentially what it is.  In a side-by-side comparison of published specs they are only slightly different, and certainly not enough to notice in use.  In a lucky coincidence last week I worked two similar Ohio stations minutes apart, one on my FT-857d and one on the FT-891.  In this RF-noisy location, the step up from the older double-conversion superhet with an audio frequency DNR circuit in the 857 was like night and day.  Most of the useful bandwidth and IF shift controls present on the 1200 are also there with the 891, albeit with most of them buried in the first level of menus.  Well, Yaesu did have to make some concessions to a portable's smaller control panel, so no complaints there.

This brings us back to the UI.  It really is an improvement over the older 857 and its brethren, the FT-817nd and FT-897, which all share the same wretched control set-up.  The three programmable keys on the 891's front panel are a very welcome addition that somewhat redeems the new UI.  Overall though it's just not that much of an improvement, and maybe not enough to justify the change in interface.  Also random flip-flops in control setting when changing bands and modes is a most unwelcome "feature."  Doesn't Yaesu test this stuff?

Perhaps the biggest change from the FT-857d to the new FT-891 is the omission of 2m and 70cm band capabilities.  I hate to see them go, but dumping 2m and 70cm reportedly allows for a more robust transmitter.  Furthermore, the field use for these two line-of-sight bands is so different than the other covered bands that they warrant their own dedicated radio.  Taken together, it makes sense.

For all that, it seems that not everyone is happy with these changes.  The street price of the FT-891 has settled in the low $600's, while just last week two discontinued FT-857d's on MTC Radio's used equipment page were sold at $1000 – about 30% over their original price.  Personally, I'd take a new 891 and a new 2m/70cm dual-bander for about the same money.

To sum it all up, the FT-891 is a potentially great field radio, somewhat hobbled by its clunky UI.  It is well worth the current street price, and if Yaesu got its UI and data mode weirdness sorted out I would happily pay 50% more.  Next radio though... maybe not a Yaesu.  I want to see if another company can pull off the magic and come up with a less ragged UI.  In the meantime though the FT-891's a keeper.

ps, and to ask and answer an obvious question: Why get a new FT-891 when I've got a perfectly good FT-857d that I like so much and is all dialed in?  The 857 is getting up in years, having been bought used and at an unknown age seven years ago.  Also, at this price they're practically giving away 891s these days.  Sometimes you've got to future-proof your camping radio capabilities.

MFJ-939Y tuner works with FTdx-1200

Since putting up my apartment rooftop mini-W3EDP last winter, I've been wrangling it into 50 Ohm functionality with an MFJ-948 manual tuner.  Works fine.  However when switching bands the entire process gets a little tiresome.  Not to mention that I fried one radio some years back with this thing, so I'm still a little gun-shy and overly-cautious when tuning up.  Anyway, it's cumbersome.  So on a lark while testing out the new FT-891 (review forthcoming this week) and swapping cables around, I tried plugging the MFJ-939Y autotuner I'd paired it with into my main home radio, the FTdx-1200.  (Don't forget to go into the menus to switch the tuner from internal to external.) Mind you, the manual didn't exactly say it would work with this radio, but it did mention others in the series so I suspected that it would probably work.  Or maybe just fry a kilobuck of hardware... what'stheworstthatcouldhappen?  So I hooked it all up and:

Yeah, worked great, needn't have worried, should've begun using this thing from the get-go last January.  I'm keeping the manual tuner in the path between the radio and the autotuner however, for both the crossed-needle power/reflected power/SWR display as well as for the coax cable switching capability.

Also note: The 939 powers just fine via the control cable, you don't need to plug it in to 12v separately.  Not clear at all in the manual.  In fact, there's a lot that's not exactly clear in that manual.  Don't sweat it though, because with supported radios it's plug-and-play.  (Almost.  Remember, change the tuner menu setting to external.)

Here, you can read up on the specs at the manufacturer's web site, which includes several informative videos.  I found a like-new one on MTC Radio's used page for about 1/3rd off – a lucky hit – but even at full list the 939 tuner's a bargain.

They make this in several Yaesu-compatible versions, as well as for Icom and Kenwood radios.

The convenience is good to have, at the level of not quite but almost game changing.

Fred Brooks, RIP

It crossed my desk today that Fred Brooks, the author of The Mythical-Man Month died last week.  You can read the NYT obit here and a more personal note from a colleague here.

It is hard to over-state the influence Brooks had on my work, though I am neither in computer science nor had any direct contact with the man.  However, being in computational physics, I have had occasion to work on or even run medium-sized software projects, and found great value in his insights (described previously here).  If a programming project ever turns out to be more than one scientist can handle (in a reasonable time, on budget, on schedule, etc. etc.), reach for Brooks' book.  And if your organization doesn't support you in building the team needed to complete the task at hand and you find yourself in a morass of memory-swapping into a snail's pace of error-prone development, that is a giant clue that it is time to move on.

Black Friday Special

This, from over at xkcd:

Let me add one for the Machiavellian quantum political philosopher on your list: Switch handle for the out-of-control trolley with a screen occluding the observer from the politicians on each branch of the tracks.  (Normalization factor of 1/sqrt(2) applied.  Batteries and indeterminately dead/not-dead cat not included.)

Well that was bloody-minded.  Have a good post-Thanksgiving weekend, all.

Futzing with the FT-891

*grumble*grumble*  It's OK, but piping data into this radio is a pain.  Why the 1500Hz offset in one otherwise useful mode?  *grumble*grumble*  Will try to sort out storing settings in memory this morning, that's always good for a lot of work-arounds.  *grumble*  More later this week, especially if the weather stays bad.

later in the day: Yep, got it working.  Lots of needless fiddly stuff, but work it does and the hard part is done.  Talked (well, texted) to a ham over in Texas on 20m.  All is well, and it's a keeper.  Ordered a roll cage to protect the faceplate & miscellaneous protrusions when backpacking.  Adventure awaits.  But first I'm going to get some sleep.

Book Mention: An Atlas of Extinct Countries

Sometimes countries just don't work out.  Sometimes countries weren't good ideas to begin with.  This breezy little book  explores some of these wrong turns of history.  It's divided into four main sections, corresponding to the four main ways these countries were founded: Chancers & Crackpots / Mistakes & Micronations / Lies & Lost Kingdoms / Puppets & Political Footballs.  You have to admit, the names of these sections pretty well sum up the reasoning and mechanisms by which most nations, extinct or existent, were founded.

Here are a few illustrative examples from the book:

• The Ottawa Civic Hospital Maternity Ward, created so that a Dutch princess could have a baby in Canada during WWII without causing a constitutional crisis (on the off chance that the Allies would win the war and The Netherlands be restored)
• Libertalia, a pirate haven on the northern tip of Madagascar, which was not in reality nearly as cool as that sounds
• Dahomey, which had a real existence, somewhat fictionalized in a recent film
• German Democratic Republic, and good riddance to both it and the Cold War

Of course my personal favorites are The State of Muskogee and The Republic of West Florida, living as I do sandwiched in the wilds separating the two.  There are plenty more countries, each accompanied by a map; some extremely brief header material giving the population, language, cause of death, disposition today, and some curious locator keywords; and finally a one to three page history.

As with this week's earlier mentioned The Conspiracy Book, the Atlas of Extinct Countries is comprised of short chapters detailing each each of its subjects in more or less sequential order.  This makes for good bedtime or "five minutes to kill" reading material.  Also, most new nations begin as little more than a conspiracy, so there's that commonality as well.

All in all, this book is fun reading to peck at in odd moments over a couple of months.  As the intro chapter concludes, ALL HAIL NEUTRAL MORESNET.

Home Sweet Home

Book Mention: I Am Legend

You've likely already seen one or more adaptations of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel: The Last Man on Earth (Vincent Price, 1964), The Omega Man (Charlton Heston, 1971), or I Am Legend (Will Smith, 2007).  This short novel however is still very much worth the read, if only for its influence on the zombie and post-apocalyptic genres.

Set in the late 1970s following a short WWIII that the U.S. "won" (for an exceedingly poor value of "won"), Robert Neville is a sort of everyman protagonist stuck in an impossible situation: he – and he alone – is somewhat mysteriously immune to the zombie-vampire bacterium that has brought down civilization.  (A zombie-vampire?  Yes, this symbiotic bacterial infection causes its victims to have some of the features of each: mindless shambling combined with a vicious thirst for blood, fear of sunlight, etc.)  Where did this new hell come from?  It's not clear, but it was probably a last-ditch bioweapon used by one side or the other that got loose in the aftermath.  Anyway, Neville has lost his wife and daughter, and everyone else too.  Each night he has to barricade himself in his home while the monsters cavort and rage through the streets and attack his house.  Each day he goes through the motions to salvage whatever he needs to stay alive.  However, without any hope, how can he keep his mind and sanity alive?  Then hope arrives in a most unexpected form.  But is it the hope he wanted?

OK, no more or we'd be getting into spoilers.  If you read it, you'll just have to power through the first third of the book.  (It took me two tries, but I'm glad that I did.)  It's grim and gray and seems kind of pointless, but it's all about setting the mood for what comes later.  If the twist and the ending seem like something out of a Twilight Zone plot, just know that Matheson went on to write 16 episodes of that TV series.

Recommended, but only if this sounds like your cup of coffee.

Book Mention: The Conspiracy Book

Subtitled A Chronological Journey Through Secret Societies and Hidden Histories.  Sure, you've heard of lots of these: the Pythagorean Brotherhood, the Hell-Fire Club, Skull and Bones, the Thule Society, etc.  You can go down all kinds of ratholes sorting out what is what.  Or... you can let John Michael Greer do the in-depth reading and then enjoy his mercifully brief one-page summaries.  Probably all you need or want to know about most of this stuff.  One page each, with a very nicely illustrated opposing page on each topic.  Also, the binding and design have a deluxe feel, so skip the e-book and get this one in hardback.

While each topic is presented on its own here, there is substantial cross-referencing to show how some of these conspiracies fed into others.  It all makes for an easy episodic read, but there's enough linkage to encourage further research if you are so inclined.

Finally and worth mentioning, there's been a rift between the author and publisher detailed here.  If you are having trouble finding at your local book store, there's a link to the author's Bookshop web site at the link.

Deep Fried Coffee: Why?

Video here.  It's an alternative way of roasting beans, as opposed to dumping your cup of Folgers into the frydaddy.  That would likely be...  explosive, as in turducken gone tragically wrong; not a recommended as a best practice.  Anyway, deep fried coffee sounds kind of interesting, in a completely mad scientist sort of way.

TLDW version:  Coffee, barely.  Espresso, no-just-no.

I will never get those 13 minutes back, but now you don't have to bother.

The Time Change Blues

Not a particular problem around here (solution in a moment), but this kicked over the gigglebox anyway:

And the promised solution:

Auto-sets via WWV's time signal.  You do have to enter your time zone, ONCE.  After that, change batts every couple of years (no leaky AA batts, please), and then forget about it.  Keeps up with both local and Zulu time, on the off chance you need to phone any of your Zulu friends.  All for the low, low price of $79 one can be yours.  Yeah yeah, you could set the stove clock from your cell phone too, but would it be as cool nerd-riffic?

A Weekend at the Seafood Festival

Look, I didn't take many pics, and the ones I did were no where nearly as good as these at The Times.  Here are the links:

• Friday's Festivities
• THE Parade (there is no other, puts Macy's and Thoth both to shame)
• Oysters & Crabs: Racing, Shucking, Eating (do not get out of order)

I'll leave the click-throughs to y'all.  On a more personal note, pretty much all I did was eat fried mullet & roe, and talk & catch up with friends, and ate too much yet again.  Took it easy on Sunday and played radio with the new Yaesu FT-891.  (Preliminary impressions: Overall favorable, a more modern replacement for the FT-857d, with all the crazy menus we've come to expect from Yaesu.  Expect more on this in a couple of months.)

Meanwhile, out in the astroid belt...

Wasn't me.  Not this time, anyway.

Hat tip to one of the nephews on this.