6m opened here today

[Captain Kilowatt]

Yep 6m was open here with good signals as far south as South Carolina as received in my mobile.On the 6 element beam it would have been even better. Moot point however as I just discovered,while calling CQ 6m, that I have a problem with the 6m TX section of my FT-857. It figures,just as 6m opens I have a busted rig. :? Oh well,the Halifax Ham Flea Market is tomorrow.

 

[SR385]

That's a very well known issue with the 857's, they come from the factory out of alignment. The fix is below and fixes them right up too.

All it involves is plugging a VOM into test points and twisting the pots to put the transistors into proper bias current levels.

http://members.cox.net/wb1aex/897idle.html

Mine seems to be working o.k. but it's one of the brand new runs of the 857D, the problems seem to be more consistent and frequent with older models.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Tnx for the info. I know there was a problem on 6m that was described as poor audio but my problem seems to that when i key up on SSB there is no power out as it should be but as soon as the irst syllable is spoken the power shoots to 100 wats and stays there even after I stop talking. The RF power control has no effect as well. It may be alignment causing oscillations I suppose and is worth a check before I look at sending it back to Yaesu. It is one of the first units made and this is the first time I have had a problem with it.

 

[SR385]

Yeah it's the idling voltage that's all wrong and it's almost always most evident on 6m making it unusable as in your case.

The 857 Yahoo group is excellent, I highly recommend it, that's where I heard about the issue and the relatively simple fix. The worst of it is attaching wires to the test points on the SMT board these radios have...such small components.

What stinks is that this issue isn't any defect with components, just quality control with the initial alignment of the radios. Once they are aligned, they stay that way and work just great.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

I have heard about that as well regarding the alignment. I thought I was just lucky as I bought the radio only three months after they hit the market and up until now It has been trouble free.Oh well, the good luck finally ran out.I saw no 6m gear at the flea market today except for a Mirage amp good for 10 watts in and 150 watts out on 6m. I left it there.I did join the Yahoo FT-857 group but it has been a loooong time since I checked the site.Time to do so I guess. Thanks again for the fix,I shall try and perform the magic and hopefully all works out fine.