SSB Comparison between IC-7300 and FT-891

[@steveh1130]

Doug, I enjoyed this comparison and the information provided, glad you decided to post this. There aren’t many channels that explain details (when you use it/ why you use it) of a lot of the menu items/functions. I always learn a thing or ten while watching. Hihi. Thanks for all of your videos. 73

[@n4hnhradio]

Thank you Steve! I appreciate when people let me know that they found a video to be helpful. 73, Doug

[@gregwhite8470]

Thank you for makinig this - I'm currently looking at both of these radios trying to decide which one I want to get. Really good video.

[@n4hnhradio]

Glad I could help!

[@stevewarner8880]

Morning Doug. Good video! I Have both radios and like both. My 7300 has been my base for almost 3 years, I updated it to 1.4 firmware this week and it has some worthwhile changes. I took my 891 in my go kit to Mississippi this past weekend and set up my Wolf River Coil antenna and made some great contacts. This in preparation of some POTA this summer. I love the display on the 7300 and it’s ease of operation. The 891 is a little powerhouse that is feature packed with great “ears” and great value for your money. 73 de WA9SWW

[@n4hnhradio]

You nailed it Steve! One radio is fun to look at and operate while the other has the better receiver. That just about sums it up. 73, Doug

[@alvarogaitan2529]

7300 is for the base and 891 for mobile both are Great radios enjoy 73 from kb2uew

[@okhouri]

I learnt a ton from this video. Thank you very much

[@n4hnhradio]

I’m glad you found the video informative. Thank you for letting me know. It’s nice to know my time is well spent. 73, de N4HNH

[@indianxbullet]

Thank you so much for your effort in putting these videos out. I have been trying to figure out how to have a Peak Hold indicator on my 7300. I see your radio's are both showing it, as addressed in the Yaesu manual, 02-05. Any clue on how to do this on my 7300 would be greatly appreciated..

[@n4hnhradio]

I don’t think ICOM includes a peak hold option.

[@vne2328]

How do you think the FT991 would compare to these two? Thanks for the comparison.

[@n4hnhradio]

I must have missed something. Which two?

[@n4hnhradio]

I think you are wondering how the FT-991 would compare to the IC-7300 and the FT-891. I shot comparison videos of the IC-7300 versus the FT-991A. The FT-991A and the FT-891 have very similar receive capabilities on HF. The FT-991A has a 9 MHz 2nd IF, where the FT-891 has a 450 kHz 2nd IF. The FT-991A uses the same receiver front-end technology as the FTdx series radios, including a quad mixer and 3SK294 dual-gate MOSFETs, for an extremely quiet noise figure. The FT-991A has a slight edge over the FT-891. But don’t count the FT-891 out. It’s still great little receiver. You can watch the comparison "shootout" videos and form your own opinion. From my experience, the FT-891 edged out the IC-7300 on receive, while the FT-991A edges out the FT-891. But the $640, current price, FT-891 does well against the more expensive radios. 73, de N4HNH

[@rightpedaldown9346]

hi! I am wondering why most people compare these two radios. One is mobile and one isn't, one is $300 less. Do you know how the Yaesu would hold up in a 100% mobile application? I know they make the 2 band mobile, but would like a HF in my vehicle to accompany my FT 3D. Thank you for sharing!

[@n4hnhradio]

The FT-991A is the more comparable radio to the IC-7300, except that the FT-991A also includes the 2-meter and 70-centimeter bands. I shot videos comparing the IC-7300 to the FT-991A as well. But some people want to find the lowest priced radio that will allow them to get started on the HF bands, and the FT-891 is the best radio for the money. My experience is that the FT-891 has the better receiver but the IC-7300 has the better user interface. But I have no problem operating my FT-891 as my mobile radio, as shown in a couple of my videos. I find the menu easy to use. The FT-891 with rails is the one I carry in my backpack. The one in my truck is mated to the Yaesu FC-50 auto-tuner. I program a CW frequency, a SSB frequency, and a AM frequency per band into the memories of my FT-891. This keeps me from needing to press buttons and rotate the VFO to select band and mode while driving. For example, I just go to the memory channel for 40m SSB, and tune the VFO for a specific frequency in that band, if other than the one I have stored in memory. I prefer to have a separate dual-band VHF/UHF radio, so I can monitor a repeater or simplex frequency on VHF/UHF while working HF. I have used my backpacking radio as a base station as well. I used it for approximately 3 months. It’s easy to connect a Yaesu MD-100 desk mic. I shot a video showing how easy it is to connect the MD-100. I used a Yaesu SP-8 external speaker, so the FT-891 could sound like a full size base station on receive. The receiver can hold up against radios twice the price of the FT-891, so it does quite well as a base station. No one knew I was using a small radio for a base station unless I told them. Thanks for visiting my channel! 73, de N4HNH

[@rightpedaldown9346]

@@n4hnhradio Thank you

[@SebastianKaczorowski]

Would you buy 891 again? I use old 818 and I'm considering upgrade.

[@n4hnhradio]

Yes. I have two. One in the truck and the other for portable ops.

[@KD8GKR]

Good Video. I have been away from ham radio for 10 years and looking to get back into hobby with retirement. i have narrowed my radios down to ic-7300 and ftdx-10. I find myself trying to justify if the ftdx-10 is $700 more of a radio at current prices. ic-7300 is $995 after all rebates. Trying to wait and see if the ftdx-10 is going to drop some in price. I feel it should've been at the $1500 price point to be little more competitive with the 7300. Right now I keep coming back to the 7300 for bang for buck. The price point it is at kind of makes it the most conscience choice. I noticed on icom you have changed the RX bass and treble(which i would too). Have you used the lpf/hpf. i seen lots of videos with others rolling of some highs. like 100/2000, 100/2100, 100/2200?

[@KD8GKR]

I have also wonder why icom has never made changes to the NR in updates over the years the radio has been on market. for me it seems to be the weak point of the radio. If it had been addressed in updates, I probably would already own radio. Since it has never been altered in any updates makes me feel like its non addressable.

[@n4hnhradio]

The FTdx10 receiver is in a completely different league than the 7300. The DSP in Yaesu radios is far superior. The front-end of the 7300 lacks the level of filtering needed to make a SDR compete with a superheterodyne receiver. It is prone to front-end overload. The FTdx10 has a superheterodyne front-end that hands off to the SDR for further processing. The selectivity of the FTdx10 is so good that it is beaten only by the $6000+ Flex 6700 and the $3200 FTdx101D. The FTdx101D is number 1 in the world for selectivity. The digital noise reduction, Audio Peak Filter, and Contour control also outclass anything ICOM has. If you buy the 7300 now, you will want to upgrade later. If you buy the FTdx10, you are done, unless you later decide that you want the simultaneous dual receive capability of the FTdx101D or the 200W transmitter in the FTdx101MP. Like you, I think within a year or so we will see the FTdx10 at $1,500-$1,600. But even at $1,700 I think it is a game changer. Thanks for your comments! 73, Doug

[@brianmatthews232]

@@n4hnhradio I've had both rigs and compared them side by side and found the above to be exactly true, and is pretty much what I was about to post as a comment. I used the 891 as base rig after qth move and it performed brilliantly. I bought it as a mobile rig but its great as a main rig option. only improvement might be a quieter fan! The 7300 is a great starter rig for the money and well built and easy to use, but has now been sold for a FTdx101D. No regrets :-)

[@n4hnhradio]

@@brianmatthews232 congratulations on getting a FTdx101D! That’s a boss of a radio. 73, Doug

[@ferdinandfrozenstein]

@@KD8GKR Maybe the hypothetically updated NR might work better than it does now, but I am happy woth Icom NR. It's smoother and less aggressive than DNR. In some situations, I find DNR solving my noise problem better, but for most casual operations, NR sounds more natural for me. I have FT-991A and IC-7300.

[@captlarry-3525]

I hate how it sounds with the dsp turned up. a lot of expensive tech to make the audio sound muddy. IMHO

[@n4hnhradio]

I suggest you not purchase the FTdx10. Or just don’t enable DNR. There is no radio with better DNR, so if you don’t like the FTdx10 DNR, there is no DNR that will measure up for you. I like the fact that, even at the lowest setting it is effective, but I set it at algorithm 3 and leave it. There is a 3-band equalizer for the receive audio in case you feel that you need to add highs after enabling DNR. I’ve become so accustomed to the receive audio without noise that I can no longer operate without DNR.

[@EdinGacic]

@@n4hnhradio I am thinking of picking up the 891 as my first HF radio but missing antenna tuner is putting me off - I like how it sounds and I think people have to listen to it with better speakers or headphones - we can't judge over youtube that compresses the signal even more - what do you think about 891 as of now or are there better mobiles to choose from at this time?

[@n4hnhradio]

FT-891 is a great mobile. I have two. One is in my backpack, for SOTA, and the other in my truck. The FT-891 is too small to have an internal antenna tuner capable of handling 100W. But Yaesu has the ATAS antenna system for mobile use. It tunes itself. But, if you prefer a tuner, the FC-50 mates up with the FT-891 perfectly. You can see it in the videos I shot from my truck. The receiver and DSP allows the FT-891 to compete with radios at nearly twice the price. The Digital Noise Reduction, when set to algorithm 9, with RF gain rolled back, can make you sometimes forget that you’re using SSB. The only flaw that bothers me is the noise blanker. Like many of the modern radios, that use a DSP-based noise blanker, instead of an analog noise blanker, you can hear some distortion in receive audio. I use the noise blanker only when absolutely necessary. 73, de N4HNH

[@yaesuicomkenwood]

Thanks for that video, but! How a transceiver A/B comparison becomes more usefully? - Use external, equal loudspeaker, on each transceiver. - Use a Antenna switch. - Switch each 5 second, between A and B transceiver. - Switch during the same station is talking. - Don't talk yourself during the test. - Please take this as a constructive critic. Maybe you will find some more facts? Best Regards Mark

[@n4hnhradio]

Do you remember already writing the same thing in relation to another video on my channel? I answered you. My video is not a lab test. You misunderstand my channel. I show features under real-world operating conditions. Rob Sherwood does lab tests. The ARRL does lab tests. My channel is a teaching channel. There are plenty of channels with people who twist knobs and push buttons without explaining why. You should watch one of those. And you can read Rob Sherwood and ARRL lab test results. I use the radios the way they come, with their own speaker. I do not want to throw another variable into the mix, especially one that can color the sound. I used an antenna switch and switched while the stations were talking. Your comment tells me that you didn’t pay attention to the video. The truth is that the lab tests place the IC-7300 in 22nd place. It is what it is. Not terrible but not great. The reason the FT-891 beats the IC-7300 on receive is because it benefits from the selectivity of a triple-conversion superheterodyne receiver, a physical roofing filter, and the best DSP in the business, beaten only by the FTdx5000MP, FTdx10, and FTdx101D/MP. The IC-7300 is a great casual use radio or beginner HF rig. If you have a IC-7300, enjoy it. 73, de N4HNH

[@johnlagreca6288]

@@n4hnhradio Not using an external speaker let us hear the limitations of the 891 speaker a bit. The 891 has fantastic audio though, I prefer it over the 7300 with an external speaker or headphones (headphones are where the 891 really shines).