I don't know about the 891, but on my 817 I use some cheapo Walkman headsets (I grab everyone I can get at Goodwill cuz I'm kind of hard on them and they are more fragile than heavier headsets) are light to carry, have fairly good fidelity and and have less draw than the indigenous speaker. You usually have to turn the on-board speaker up to hear weak signals clearly which takes more power to drive and the volume usually stays up. With inexpensive portable headsets like the ones I mentioned I find that there is a difference, not to mention that the fidelity on all the signals is better because you're wearing headsets. Give it a try, put it on the meter and see what you think. 73.
Planning to buy my first HF radio and thinking hard about the 891 since I'd like to do some mobile operations with my motorcycles and the 891 is small and seems to be the ideal radio for the task. Videos like this are great in helping me to understand the radio better, so thanks!!!!
Excellent - have my 891 as my base station with the FC-50 tuner but love the radio and may get another one for POTA a as and/or SOTA as it can be used at full power or down the power for QRP. Love Yaesu products - VX-6R (3 of them), VX7, FT-8900, and FT-2900.
...good point Tracy, but nowadays with the increasing availability of high capacity LiFePO4 batteries the squeezing down the absolute minimum current draw somehow becomes a moot point. Back in the olde days they were making SSB transcievers with less than 100ma of RX current (Spilsbury and Tindall SBX11) ...10 watts crystal controlled yes, but they were life savers for the outdoorsmen and trappers of the Canadian North. When the Beaver on floats was coming to get you or drop off supplies and a snow squall was in progress... someone needed to be told... I use a 50 ah ( only11lbs) lithium battery for my setup... charged by a 250 watt solar panel. Even without the panel, it'd be good for the better part of a week... am I worried? Nope. Even a small 10-15 ah battery.. pack-sack suuitable for SOTA or POTA has enuff capacity for an afternoon or even most of a day of operation. Need nore?... bring a spare.
Thank you very much for this comment. It took me a while, but I now agree with you 100%. I recently saw a 100 Ah LiFePO4 battery selling for less than $300 CAD. That pricing blows the old paradigm right out of the water.
@@OutdoorsOnTheAir Tracy... here is a good option for what it's worth, I purchased a TimeUSB 50ah battery from TimeUSB specially as a power supply for my Xeigu G90 or FT 891...it'll run the Xeigu for days, although mine is charged with a Renogy MPPT 20 amp charger and 250 watt solar panel ( the panel was given to me)... the battery is only 11 lbs, so on it's own it's quite portable... I don't regret this...I live in Mexico so I had to have it muled down... they don't ship outside of the USA. 50ah is pretty small in size yet would be more than enough for most POTA applications...maybe even some SOTA...If you look at the price point, you'll find this is the best value for your money...the small ones like Bioenno are too expensive per watthour. Richard VA7AA/XE1 Jalisco MX www.timeusbpower.com/products/12v-50ah-pro-lifepo4-battery
If you use a solar panel that can provide the same or more amps than the radio draws, it won't matter how much current the radio draws. Also running less TX power can help with power consumption, especially for operators who like to operate closer to 50/50 TX/RX. I've been looking for ways to reduce current draw in my FT-891 as well, and I keep hoping that there are more features that can be either turned off or turned down. 73 KD5YOU
Thanks for sharing Tracy. Yaesu definitely hit a home run with this radio. It's still on my shopping list someday as a backup to the 705. 73 from Scotland 👍
You saved every FT-891 user 100mA. Well done! I am actually getting ready to sell my FT-891 as I can't handle the weight of this rig in the desert during these summer months.
@@OutdoorsOnTheAir I've been favoriting the Yaesu FT-818ND the last year given its size and weight. The 6 watts is rarely a problem on SOTA as I am the station that people want to work and typically have an elevation advantage. I'm still waiting for Yaesu to deliver a 20 watt version of the FT-818 while maintaining the same size and footprint.
@@TheTechPrepper 4lbs vs 2lbs? You must be a long distance hiker or something? Seems as though the advantages outweigh a 2 lb disadvantage in your case? But I’m listening!!!
@@twobikesandadrone I'm not so much a long distance hiker, but someone who hikes year around in the Sonoran Desert. My typical hikes are 6 to 10 miles with temperatures between 100F to 118F during the summer. I also tend to go multi day and need to bring 6-8 liters of water per day. Most of my weight is water with the pack running about 65-70 lbs with the radio gear and support gear. The additional weight of the 891 and larger battery really start to break the camel's back. Right now my full FT-818 manpack weighs 10 lbs. I've made several videos on the manpack configuration.
Thanks Tracy don't have one as Yet HI.. !! Still FT897 and FT817 but very interesting.I hope to get out QRP soon but ageing fast Hi 82 this Month really good to hear from you,,, Trig GM4NNC
My current draw is zero on my FT-891… until I turn it on. 😂 But seriously… about battery life. If I have a 6Ahour battery on my FT-891 (which draws approx. 1A on receive).. Does that mean I could theoretically leave it on for 6 hours? Theoretically speaking of course, since I bet it shuts off at a certain threshold.
Good video but I don't think 891 was built with energy efficiency in mind. It looks like a car radio. On the other hand with some lithium battery this may not be an issue at all. It all depends on what you want to do. If you are about car camping I would not even bother with the display because 40Ah LiFe battery will keep you going "forever".
Tracey I’m a new ham looking to get my hf privileges soon. I have a question- how do you think a 12v 10Ah battery would fair in real life with this rig?
Hi Kevin, thank you for reaching out. Welcome to our great hobby! I have tested my 10Ah LiFePO4 battery in a Parks On The Air activation with the RF power output on the rig set to 20 watts. In my use case, I expect it to last 2.5-3 hours using the setting shown in this video.
@@OutdoorsOnTheAir. Thanks for this comment. I’m going to go for it and see just how it goes. A test. I have a 12v 12Ah Bioenno battery. I plan to test it out on a SOTA activation. I’ll use 20w on SSB for a few contacts and then 5w or 10w on CW. Most likely be fine. Thanks a ton! I love tests… and if the battery dies… at least I got a good hike in!!!
@@dengen3944 Agreed, but the video was about receive current, not transmit current. There is absolutely no reason that I know of that a QRO radio can’t be built that has a receive current rating well below 300 mA. Yaesu does a lousy job of building power-efficient radios
Yes. There is a little known way to reduce the current consumption of FT-891. It simple, but very efficient. All you have to do is to replace it with KX3. This also reduces the weight of the radio and improves the UI significantly! :)
Absolutely brilliant. Who wouldn’t want 10% more battery life? Great find!
Thank you, Mike! Hope you are doing well.
I don't know about the 891, but on my 817 I use some cheapo Walkman headsets (I grab everyone I can get at Goodwill cuz I'm kind of hard on them and they are more fragile than heavier headsets) are light to carry, have fairly good fidelity and and have less draw than the indigenous speaker. You usually have to turn the on-board speaker up to hear weak signals clearly which takes more power to drive and the volume usually stays up. With inexpensive portable headsets like the ones I mentioned I find that there is a difference, not to mention that the fidelity on all the signals is better because you're wearing headsets. Give it a try, put it on the meter and see what you think. 73.
What a great idea! I’m going to try it.
Planning to buy my first HF radio and thinking hard about the 891 since I'd like to do some mobile operations with my motorcycles and the 891 is small and seems to be the ideal radio for the task. Videos like this are great in helping me to understand the radio better, so thanks!!!!
You can view the video??? I got nothing! I have the 891, love the radio, DNR works like a charm, best I’ve heard in any small radio…
@@rmonsipapa I can see the video fine, and I sure like hearing that you're happy with the 891.
Just buy it. It’s the best mobile/portable 100 watt hf rig on the market.
@@hamradiotube Totally agree -no brainer at the price point
Excellent - have my 891 as my base station with the FC-50 tuner but love the radio and may get another one for POTA a as and/or SOTA as it can be used at full power or down the power for QRP. Love Yaesu products - VX-6R (3 of them), VX7, FT-8900, and FT-2900.
...good point Tracy, but nowadays with the increasing availability of high capacity LiFePO4 batteries the squeezing down the absolute minimum current draw somehow becomes a moot point.
Back in the olde days they were making SSB transcievers with less than 100ma of RX current (Spilsbury and Tindall SBX11) ...10 watts crystal controlled yes, but they were life savers for the outdoorsmen and trappers of the Canadian North. When the Beaver on floats was coming to get you or drop off supplies and a snow squall was in progress... someone needed to be told...
I use a 50 ah ( only11lbs) lithium battery for my setup... charged by a 250 watt solar panel. Even without the panel, it'd be good for the better part of a week... am I worried? Nope. Even a small 10-15 ah battery.. pack-sack suuitable for SOTA or POTA has enuff capacity for an afternoon or even most of a day of operation. Need nore?... bring a spare.
Thank you very much for this comment. It took me a while, but I now agree with you 100%. I recently saw a 100 Ah LiFePO4 battery selling for less than $300 CAD. That pricing blows the old paradigm right out of the water.
@@OutdoorsOnTheAir Tracy... here is a good option for what it's worth, I purchased a TimeUSB 50ah battery from TimeUSB specially as a power supply for my Xeigu G90 or FT 891...it'll run the Xeigu for days, although mine is charged with a Renogy MPPT 20 amp charger and 250 watt solar panel ( the panel was given to me)... the battery is only 11 lbs, so on it's own it's quite portable... I don't regret this...I live in Mexico so I had to have it muled down... they don't ship outside of the USA. 50ah is pretty small in size yet would be more than enough for most POTA applications...maybe even some SOTA...If you look at the price point, you'll find this is the best value for your money...the small ones like Bioenno are too expensive per watthour. Richard VA7AA/XE1 Jalisco MX www.timeusbpower.com/products/12v-50ah-pro-lifepo4-battery
If you use a solar panel that can provide the same or more amps than the radio draws, it won't matter how much current the radio draws. Also running less TX power can help with power consumption, especially for operators who like to operate closer to 50/50 TX/RX. I've been looking for ways to reduce current draw in my FT-891 as well, and I keep hoping that there are more features that can be either turned off or turned down. 73 KD5YOU
Thanks for sharing Tracy. Yaesu definitely hit a home run with this radio. It's still on my shopping list someday as a backup to the 705. 73 from Scotland 👍
Thanks! Every little bit helps.
You saved every FT-891 user 100mA. Well done! I am actually getting ready to sell my FT-891 as I can't handle the weight of this rig in the desert during these summer months.
I get that! What will you use in its' place?
@@OutdoorsOnTheAir I've been favoriting the Yaesu FT-818ND the last year given its size and weight. The 6 watts is rarely a problem on SOTA as I am the station that people want to work and typically have an elevation advantage. I'm still waiting for Yaesu to deliver a 20 watt version of the FT-818 while maintaining the same size and footprint.
@@TheTechPrepper 4lbs vs 2lbs? You must be a long distance hiker or something? Seems as though the advantages outweigh a 2 lb disadvantage in your case? But I’m listening!!!
@@twobikesandadrone I'm not so much a long distance hiker, but someone who hikes year around in the Sonoran Desert. My typical hikes are 6 to 10 miles with temperatures between 100F to 118F during the summer. I also tend to go multi day and need to bring 6-8 liters of water per day. Most of my weight is water with the pack running about 65-70 lbs with the radio gear and support gear. The additional weight of the 891 and larger battery really start to break the camel's back. Right now my full FT-818 manpack weighs 10 lbs. I've made several videos on the manpack configuration.
@@TheTechPrepper get yourself a Chinese 45w amp for the 818, it’s still lighter then a 891 and a bigger battery.
Thanks Tracy don't have one as Yet HI.. !! Still FT897 and FT817 but very interesting.I hope to get out QRP soon but ageing fast Hi 82 this Month really good to hear from you,,, Trig GM4NNC
Happy Birthday, Trig!
I attribute some to the larger backlit display.
Thanks for sharing!
Fantastic video Tracy 73 from kb2uew
Thank you, and I will get out on the air tomorrow when the tank goes below 41C.
This is valuable information, thanks for share it! 73s! TI2GBB- Greg
My current draw is zero on my FT-891… until I turn it on. 😂
But seriously… about battery life. If I have a 6Ahour battery on my FT-891 (which draws approx. 1A on receive)..
Does that mean I could theoretically leave it on for 6 hours? Theoretically speaking of course, since I bet it shuts off at a certain threshold.
If you don't transmit, you could get 5+ hours with your 891 before it shuts down.
Wassup.
What's the connections on the "plus" and "minus" wires are used?
Suuuup. Anderson Powerpole connectors.
@@OutdoorsOnTheAir thanks!
Thanks Tracy 73
You're welcome, Alvaro! 73 from VE3TWM.
Great video thanks!
Good video but I don't think 891 was built with energy efficiency in mind. It looks like a car radio. On the other hand with some lithium battery this may not be an issue at all. It all depends on what you want to do. If you are about car camping I would not even bother with the display because 40Ah LiFe battery will keep you going "forever".
Tracey I’m a new ham looking to get my hf privileges soon. I have a question- how do you think a 12v 10Ah battery would fair in real life with this rig?
Hi Kevin, thank you for reaching out. Welcome to our great hobby!
I have tested my 10Ah LiFePO4 battery in a Parks On The Air activation with the RF power output on the rig set to 20 watts. In my use case, I expect it to last 2.5-3 hours using the setting shown in this video.
@@OutdoorsOnTheAir. Thanks for this comment. I’m going to go for it and see just how it goes. A test. I have a 12v 12Ah Bioenno battery. I plan to test it out on a SOTA activation. I’ll use 20w on SSB for a few contacts and then 5w or 10w on CW. Most likely be fine. Thanks a ton! I love tests… and if the battery dies… at least I got a good hike in!!!
Is the reduction the same during Tx as Rx?
Any rig will draw far more on transmit than receive. Reducing the current draw using the techniques shown here would be negligible during transmit.
No stream tap to retry error
please try again.
Still no video. Bummer
something odd is happening with TH-cam. give it a while and let's see if the issue clears up. Thank you for your patience!
I got it to work now finally. Thx for the reply. Good video.
Increase voltage . . current will go down. . . . 4s2p or 4s3p lipo is a better power source.
Video not available…. ;-(
try again :)
Still no stream. Bummer
There is another solution..buy more batteries and wire them up parallel..boom..loads of juice..lifepo4 batteries are light by comparison to lead acid.
I can run my TX-500 for 8 hours on that same 890 mAh as the FT-891 consumes in an hour.
Hi Todd this is 100 watts rig not a qrp
@@dengen3944 Agreed, but the video was about receive current, not transmit current. There is absolutely no reason that I know of that a QRO radio can’t be built that has a receive current rating well below 300 mA. Yaesu does a lousy job of building power-efficient radios
@@toddbu-WK7L your are absolutely right 73’s
Yes. There is a little known way to reduce the current consumption of FT-891. It simple, but very efficient. All you have to do is to replace it with KX3. This also reduces the weight of the radio and improves the UI significantly! :)
Yeah that will lighten your wallet at the same time
I found one: switch it off!
Now this is the ultimate technique 😀
@@OutdoorsOnTheAir and scale down to smoke signs or even pigeons 🤣 thx for your videos.
Thank you vary much. Vary helpful from w7utp.