Friend having a problem with his FT-857d. No output on SSB HF.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Friend having a problem with his FT-857d. No output on SSB HF.

Posted: 6/11/2017 10:07:42 PM EDT

One of my buddies from the club called me yesterday asking about assistance with his FT-857d. The radio has no RF output on SSB but it puts out full 100 Watts on both CW and Digital. He has performed several hard resets but the problem is still there. All menu settings seem to be correct but I have not personally seen the radio yet. I advised him to disconnect everything from the radio except the microphone and power cords. He has not called back and I assume this did not help.

I was wondering if any of you guys have experienced this issue? I told him that I will ask about it on the best ham radio forum known to men.

Posted: 6/11/2017 10:47:24 PM EDT

[#1]

So this may be stupid obvious but I fiugre id mention it. SSB will not produce power unless you speak or whistle into the mic. FM and AM have the carrier when keyed so no voice required.

Posted: 6/12/2017 5:09:35 PM EDT

[#2]

A friend of mine i believe had the same problem with his when he got it used , he had to send it off for repair, his name on here is Kimber45.

Posted: 6/12/2017 5:41:50 PM EDT

[#3]

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Quoted:
So this may be stupid obvious but I fiugre id mention it. SSB will not produce power unless you speak or whistle into the mic. FM and AM have the carrier when keyed so no voice required.

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You would not believe how many times I saw people trying to tune their radio in SSB mode and they got no output. Some would spend days trying to fix the problem. LOL.

Posted: 6/12/2017 5:44:52 PM EDT

[#4]

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Quoted:
A friend of mine i believe had the same problem with his when he got it used , he had to send it off for repair, his name on here is Kimber45.

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Thanks. I have not seen the radio yet but ti sounds like an internal problem. what puzzled me was the fact that everything works in digital mode. It would be a lot easier to repair if the radio only got output on CW mode.
I offered him to try the microphone from my radio before we proceed any further.

Posted: 6/12/2017 6:07:55 PM EDT

[#5]

I'd assume that a hard reset would eliminate this problem but it's worth a shot.

A long shot, but on the 817 there is an optional filter that if not installed will cause this I believe. If the option is turned on in the menu to SSB and no filter installed that is.

Posted: 6/12/2017 6:21:30 PM EDT

[#6]

Change out the Mic first the MH-31 mic is know to die suddenly for no reason --left me with no Tx audio till someone called it out to me when I tried repeatedly to answer him. If you sub out a dtmf mic --I think its the MH-59-- you have to go in the menus and tell the radio which mic you have hooked up.
If you hook up the dtmf mic the thumbwheel control is a PITA and should be disabled or you end up switching channels in the middle of a QSO among other things

Posted: 6/12/2017 7:23:51 PM EDT

[#7]

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You would not believe how many times I saw people trying to tune their radio in SSB mode and they got no output. Some would spend days trying to fix the problem. LOL.

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Hey, I only brought it up cuz I've done it in the past...

Posted: 6/12/2017 7:25:03 PM EDT

[#8]

Yeah, I'd double check the filter settings and the mic. I have few dead mics over the years.

Posted: 6/12/2017 8:58:42 PM EDT

[#9]

Mine did the same after about a month of use - bad mic. Also check menu 59 should be NOR for the regular mic.

Posted: 6/12/2017 9:58:50 PM EDT

[#10]

He will be bringing the radio over. I'll need to get into the service menu and check output power limit settings for each band. The limits should have been reset with the hard reset procedure but who knows.
The fact that the radio transmits on CW and Digital makes it a bit hard to guess what can be wrong. If it had very low to no power on all modes, I would first suspect the output bipolar transistors or the driver circuit. The driver (for the finals) appears to be almost identical to the FT-817 final amplifier. Sometimes they may overheat and loose the finals, especially when people run it at full 100 Watts on Digital modes (with full ALC).

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll check all the settings and measure the basic bias settings on the finals and the driver. Unfortunately I don't have a fully equipped repair bench like I used to. He already packaged the radio thinking about sending it to Yaesu for repair but I will take a look at it anyway.

Posted: 6/12/2017 11:30:51 PM EDT

[#11]

Bad mic. What do I win?

Posted: 6/13/2017 12:22:01 AM EDT

[#12]

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Bad mic. What do I win?

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A QSL card from me and a 2x2" Arfcom sticker!

I talked to him on the phone again this evening. The microphone works fine on VHF/UHF. This is what makes it so puzzling. The radio works on Digital and CW but not on SSB modes. Weird huh?
I recently had a very similar problem with my new IC-7300. No output on SSB but no problems with CW. I had to do a full reset about 5 times before it started working again. My FT1000MP MK5 acted in a similar manner once after I overloaded it's RX input from another station nearby during a contest. A full CPU reset fixed the problem. My TS-520 on the other hand, never required a CPU reset.

That thing is a beast!

Posted: 6/13/2017 4:06:21 PM EDT

[#13]

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A QSL card from me and a 2x2" Arfcom sticker!

I talked to him on the phone again this evening. The microphone works fine on VHF/UHF. This is what makes it so puzzling. The radio works on Digital and CW but not on SSB modes. Weird huh?
I recently had a very similar problem with my new IC-7300. No output on SSB but no problems with CW. I had to do a full reset about 5 times before it started working again. My FT1000MP MK5 acted in a similar manner once after I overloaded it's RX input from another station nearby during a contest. A full CPU reset fixed the problem. My TS-520 on the other hand, never required a CPU reset.

That thing is a beast!

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I'm a loser.

These "new fangled" rigs are baffling sometimes. I still like the Yaesu FT-101 series rigs. Like the TS-520, bullet proof, literally.

Posted: 6/13/2017 5:20:37 PM EDT

[#14]

Quote History

Quoted:

A QSL card from me and a 2x2" Arfcom sticker!

I talked to him on the phone again this evening. The microphone works fine on VHF/UHF. This is what makes it so puzzling. The radio works on Digital and CW but not on SSB modes. Weird huh?
I recently had a very similar problem with my new IC-7300. No output on SSB but no problems with CW. I had to do a full reset about 5 times before it started working again. My FT1000MP MK5 acted in a similar manner once after I overloaded it's RX input from another station nearby during a contest. A full CPU reset fixed the problem. My TS-520 on the other hand, never required a CPU reset.

That thing is a beast!

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By the mic "working" does it mean it outputs when keyed, or can he actually talk to people with it? Big difference for SSB, does it output power in AM?

Posted: 6/13/2017 8:03:31 PM EDT

[#15]

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I'm a loser.

These "new fangled" rigs are baffling sometimes. I still like the Yaesu FT-101 series rigs. Like the TS-520, bullet proof, literally.

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How about I send you my card and a sticker anyway? Is your address good on QRZ?

Posted: 6/13/2017 8:04:35 PM EDT

[#16]

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Quoted:

By the mic "working" does it mean it outputs when keyed, or can he actually talk to people with it? Big difference for SSB, does it output power in AM?

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Yes, he can talk to people with it. I specifically asked this question.

Posted: 6/14/2017 7:51:30 AM EDT

[#17]

So does it work on AM?

I'm still thinking if it works on all the other modes its something weird with a menu setting somewhere if the mic works.

Posted: 6/14/2017 8:56:57 AM EDT

[#18]

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You would not believe how many times I saw people trying to tune their radio in SSB mode and they got no output. Some would spend days trying to fix the problem. LOL.

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I've done it before. I was scratching my head trying to figure out what was going on, and then I realized I didn't push the button for AM!

Posted: 6/17/2017 12:47:59 PM EDT

[#19]

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So does it work on AM?

I'm still thinking if it works on all the other modes its something weird with a menu setting somewhere if the mic works.

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This is what puzzles me. He dropped off the radio last night. I'll try to work on it later today. Hopefully it's something in the settings and did not reset to default when he did a full reset procedure.

Posted: 6/17/2017 12:58:22 PM EDT

[#20]

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I've done it before. I was scratching my head trying to figure out what was going on, and then I realized I didn't push the button for AM!

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About 20 years ago, I was working on commissioning a new piece of equipment and needed someone to help me check functionality while I was forcing outputs on the computer, 2 levels below.
My boss (plant manager) offered to help. I gave him a handheld radio and he went upstairs to where the equipment was. I tried calling him on the radio but he never replied. About 5 minutes later he came back wondering why I could not hear him. We checked the radios again and they worked fine. So he goes up the stairs, I try calling him and there is no response again. Several minutes later he comes back, throws the radio on the desk, saying that we need to buy better radios. I check the radios again and they work just fine. I asked an electrician to hold on to my radio and go upstairs with my boss. He talks into the radio and I notice that he never pressed the PTT button. Apparently he did not know that he had to press the button to transmit. LOL.

Posted: 6/18/2017 6:37:54 PM EDT

[#21]

I hooked up his radio in my shack today and it did not take long to find out that his microphone element is bad.
This would have been obvious but he said that the microphone was working fine on VHF/UHF. Most likely he was able to transmit in FM mode and open a repeater since it requires no microphone input.

I verified that there was no output on HF SSB with his microphone. So I plugged the microphone from my radio and everythig was fine. Easy fix, LOL.

He had already packaged the radio to send it to a Yaesu repair center. Oh well, I saved him some money and frustration.

I think I may be able to fit a cheap electret element in there since there is a 5 VDC power source in the connector. Will see what he wants to do with it. Most likely he will buy a new microphone.

Almost forgot. The prize goes to KB7DX.

Posted: 6/18/2017 11:25:48 PM EDT

[#22]

Quote History

Quoted:
I hooked up his radio in my shack today and it did not take long to find out that his microphone element is bad.
This would have been obvious but he said that the microphone was working fine on VHF/UHF. Most likely he was able to transmit in FM mode and open a repeater since it requires no microphone input.

I verified that there was no output on HF SSB with his microphone. So I plugged the microphone from my radio and everythig was fine. Easy fix, LOL.

He had already packaged the radio to send it to a Yaesu repair center. Oh well, I saved him some money and frustration.

I think I may be able to fit a cheap electret element in there since there is a 5 VDC power source in the connector. Will see what he wants to do with it. Most likely he will buy a new microphone.

Almost forgot. The prize goes to KB7DX.

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