Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
The Yaesu FT-817ND is a little and versatile all-band multi-mode portable ham radio transceiver which I am using routinely during SOTA (Summits-On-The-Air) activations. Although the little radio is already quite capable in it’s default configuration there are several tuning options available. One of these is the integration of the YF-122S Yaesu FT-817ND ssb filter with an bandwidth of 2.3 kHz. The advantage of using this filter is the ability to better suppress strong signals on adjacent channels.
The integration of the Yaesu FT-817ND ssb filter is already perfectly described in the manual (one could only wish that manufacturers of other electronic products would provide such detailed instruction manuals) and I do not intend to replicate those instructions here. However, I’ve made a couple of fotographs during the build process which I would like to share with you. Firstly, ensure that the radio is complete without power which requires the removal of the NiMh battery.
Proceed by removing the radio’s top lid. One has to be careful to not put too much strain on the speaker cables unless one wants to risk damage the connection between speaker and PCB.
Let’s take a closer look at the top main board: the spot for installing the filter is located on the top right corner of the PCB.
The Yaesu FT-817ND ssb filter comes in a nice little cardboard package which is labeled YF-122S.
When opening the package I was surprised to find a filter labelled XF-119SN. As it turns out, those two filters are the same in term of package and filter characteristics.
In order to install the filter one has to insert it with the description sticker facing upwards Since there are 3 pins on one side and 4 on the other it is difficult to wrongly insert the filter.
The last step is the activation of the filter within the radios software:
Congratulations, your SSB filter has been successfully activated. When doing portable ham radio operations on SOTA summits I’ve noticed that strong stations on adjacent channels are considerably appear more quiet than they would without the SSB filter. Thanks to this little modification the FT-817ND continues to be a corner stone of my portable ham radio operations.
4 comments
Doug Schwinn 02/04/2021
TNX
Alexander Entinger (OE5LXR) 03/04/2021
I'm glad you found the article useful ;) vy 73 de Alex, OE5LXR
Petr Ourednik 08/06/2022
Hi, is it valuable/worthy to buy and install optional SSB Collins filter to 818ND? Stock Muratta -6/-60dB: 2.2/4.5kHz; YF-122S -6/-66dBm: 2.3/4.7kHz… 73 - Petr, OK1RP
Alexander Entinger (OE5LXR) 09/06/2022
Hi Petr, Thank you very much for your comment. To be honest, that's a difficult question since I do not have any (measurement) data to back up my claim. My feeling is that yes, having the additional SSB filter in place leads to less of "bleed-over" from strong channel adjacent RF signals. However, since I can not back this "feeling" up with measurement data I'm reluctant to make a clear recommendation (sorry). vy 73 de Alex, OE5LXR