I have not tested it into a dummy load & meter. I test with two different local groups - I'll start asking if anyone has the test gear to check that out.
 

For throws, I stole a small rubber ball from the dogs. :-)

Check ebay for radioshack SWR/power meter, dirt cheap. Same for a dummy load.

Though I wonder if you're amish if you should be runnin radios

What model radio?

 

857d

I met up with I Am Ogre today and we verified my radio. The noise levels were similar and the output is full power on HF.


Now I know - its all location and/or antenna.

Post a topo of your location with dipole orientation.

Now that I look at it on a map, I'm pretty much screwed orientation wise. I'm still trying to work out which is up and down on the elevation lines.




Edit to add - dipole is NOT to scale.


       


 

I think it's your antenna or feedline trouble

Given the terrain to the nw is unfavorable I doubt you are getting out well that way. Maybe high angle. SW you are better off. But given your location I doubt there are many stations. Maybe few in TX or Mexico. If you can if orient it E/W or NW. That should get you the west coast in the afternoon. This is a dipole right? If not what I'm saying may not be accurate.

I've driven my HF mobile into some pretty deep valleys and still was able to hear DX

assuming the red line is your dipole, that's not bad.

It's pointed straight towards Europe and New Zealand

the Ft897 is a decent radio, similar inside to the FT857 that I ran mobile for years.

You should be hearing lots of DX, even with todays sunspot levels

I suspect your feedline or antennas is messed up.

And not your location.

Let me repeat that I have known more than one ham who works DX all the time, using an antenna INSIDE an apartment. Don't get me wrong; I agree that if you are at the bottom of a deep valley surrounded on all sides by high hills, that location isn't going to work AS well as having a 70 foot tall tower on top of a 12,000 foot mountain with a visual horizon 200 miles away. Location does matter. But even if your antenna had a text book radiation pattern exactly like a dipole in free space (which I would bet it doesn't), that doesn't mean (on HF) that the signal just stops when it gets to a hill. Maybe if you were in an underground coal mine, but.......................  
I live in an area made up entirely of hills and valleys (hills, not mountains). Half the hams I know live in a valley with hills hundreds of feet higher than their houses on two sides (river valley). They work all kinds of DX on a regular basis. They wish they lived on a hill, but they still have success with ham radio. As I have said a number of times on this board: having a monster station in a fantastic location is NOT required to enjoy ham radio. It just makes it easier. And for some of us, we are not always looking for easy. A challenge is nice. Working the same stuff as other people with one arm tied behind your back provides a certain pride that is very satisfying.

Let's sort out the problem and you will have a lot of fun.

RE: Amish_Bill and DX

I agree that it sounds like an antenna or feedline issue but I'll share my experience with my dad who got his license a couple years ago.  He has tinnitus and other hearing difficulties, only works SSB, has a somewhat high local noise level, but has had no problem working stations around the US.  He also said he had never heard any DX before I visited him last Summer.  When we sat down and I tuned around he worked New Zealand and one of those small countries in Europe that start with an L in no time at all.  This is with his IC-7100 and a fan dipole in the attic.  He was only trying to work the really strong stations and wasn't really listening for the DX before I showed him how.

Reorienting it will be a challenge - The supports are on my porch. I'll see what I can improvise, but going up and over the house pose issues with both the HOA and moreso, the XYL. God Willing, the next house will be more compatible with either a few long, high wires or a hex beam. (dare I wish for both? )

Attic, porch -- all the same as long as the wire is high enough and pointed the right way.


Tinitus -- THIS. It sucks. Pulling words out of background noise is a true challenge. I recently pulled a DSP speaker out of a storage box and hooked it up. Geez, it makes a difference. I need to experiment with how the in-radio DSP & blanking mix with the speaker DSP settings.


I think I have a second run of coax - I'll break it out and give it a try the next time I have the opportunity. (maybe in 7-10 days?) As for the antenna, I have some nice wire provided by a wonderfully helpful local guy, a Wireman 1:1 balun, and a RigExpert 170 to get it all tuned up. (Yeah - I blew two years of Christmas money fairly quick there)

This is what my dad did.  He got one of those noise cancelling speakers and it made all the world of difference for him when copying stations in the noise.  He also kept trying different hearing aid solutions until he found one that worked well.  Not just with the radio but everything.  Keep working on things one piece at a time and you can do it.

High noise, just checking that you  turned OFF your pre-amp by turning ON the IPO function.  

Took me a year of dicking around before I saw that tip and it fixed my problem.

I may have missed it, but do you have a speech compressor?  Well worth the price of admission.

Here's my writeup on the W4RT "One Big Punch" Speech Compressor, which is installed inside the
mic's case.  Nothing outboard.  

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_10_22/680358_Jim_s_W4RT_One_Big_Punch_Mic_Mod.html

Talking on a net about 500 miles away, compressor on vs. off, the compressor gave about 1 S-Unit
of signal improvement.  We got a 5-7 signal report with just 5 w from the little radio.

No speech compressor - will look at it.

I'll look for the IPO setting - thanks.

Front panel menu Mf-m

Cheat Sheet

The 897 has a built in speech compressor so I'm pretty sure the 857 should. Check your manual. Also check your mic gain/agc etc settings. Honestly it might be worth jus doing a factory reset just to make sure something isn't set fucky.

I have this W4RT speech processor in my FT-817 mic. When I first got it, I did the usual A-B comparisons during every SSB contact.
100% of the people I asked, enthusiasticly told me that it sounds great and to never even think about turning it off.

The FT857 already has a speech processor. Check pg 50 of the manual.

What's the info on the amp? I would love to trade my 718 for a 817, but I would like to be able to use it at higher power... Info?

It's an eBay special outa China. There is almost no data on em but mine works. They run about 200 give or take on eBay. Model mp50m iirc. Or check eBay for qrp amp. All I can say is that it works 5w drive gets you 45w out. I usually run it with 1 or 2.5w drive on SSB and get 15 to 25w out which works well for me. No idea on distortion, birdies etc as I have no gear to test it.

Band selection is manual and make sure you tune with the amp off (bypass mode), as I don't think it has any swr protection (it might but I have no clue).

Sorry for the less than helpful post. You might find em cheaper on Ali express (Chinese eBay)

Here's some testing info, hope it helps: Chinese Amp Test

Great link. Though I've tested the power out to be 45w with mine on max vs his findings.

Resurrecting an old thread with new info.

I wanted to run digimodes but didn't want to buy a signalink or similar so I found this on ebay from a UK HAM for $30.
PSK31 Cable

Then, since my computer doesn't have separate audio input and outputs, I'm picking up a UBS soundcard adapter tomorrow for $10.

$40 for a computer soundcard interface with out the bulky box.  Not a bad deal.

I did not like the VOX option for the 857D when I tried running it without a hard PTT connection.  So I added PTT when I made my Easy-Digi adapter for my 857D.  It lives in a grape chewing gum container, not too bulky.
But I also run the programming cable since I like to have frequency control from the PC.

I've got a similar cable from radio arena uk. It's optoisolated and works well once you get USB driver defuckered.

Nice 817 setup OP. I an probably going to have to sell mine in the next few months since my knees and one ankle have made hiking and mountian top ops a thing of the past (getting old sucks) I am largely stuck with vehicle mobile type field days now and I hate to just let it sit gathering dust. I can still use my 857 in the same context if I need to in the future but I like the self contained portability of the 817 tho..

Just walk on the flats

The USB driver was the easy part. All of the programs recognized it as a sound driver and that was easy.  WSPR and WSJT seem to be working fine. HDR is receiving but I still need to figure out the Tx side.  Once I get my G5RV up this weekend, I'll be able to fully test it out.