FT-857D AGC Anoyance

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nay27uk
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FT-857D AGC Anoyance

Post by nay27uk »

Hello all.

OK.
On an FT-857D is there any way of getting the meter to actualy work without having to have the AGC turned on?
The radio is far much louder with the AGC turned off but when you turn it off you loose the meter reading (what a stupid idea Yaesu).

So before I try reading the big bible of a user manual I thought I would ask here first, on a FT-857D can we have a meter reading without the AGC turned on?

FAR, FAR To quiet with the AGC on. {bnghd}
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Re: FT-857D AGC Anoyance

Post by Admiral »

Yup, that's a quirk of the 857, best to set the AGC to 'AUTO' rather than 'ON'.
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Re: FT-857D AGC Anoyance

Post by nay27uk »

yeah its on Auto Admiral, It seems to make no difference in volume wether set to on or auto but I leave it at auto.
Just wish the meter worked with it off as there is at least a 50% increase in the volume of the Radio with it turned off.
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Re: FT-857D AGC Anoyance

Post by Tigersaw »

You can get an external meter that plugs into the front panel - I bought the £11 ebay chinese one, bit crap to be honest.
You can turn the AGC off and then change the squelch control to a RF gain control and operate that way if you find AGC action not to your liking.
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Re: FT-857D AGC Anoyance

Post by nay27uk »

Nice one Tigersaw do you have a link to that meter or would I just search eBay for FT-857D Meter
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Re: FT-857D AGC Anoyance

Post by Tigersaw »

its this one;
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/External-S-Me ... 2510933224
not sure which vendor I bought it from.
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Re: FT-857D AGC Anoyance

Post by nay27uk »

Tigersaw wrote:its this one;
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/External-S-Me ... 2510933224
not sure which vendor I bought it from.
Yep I did see those erler on today.
Thanks for confirming that for me.
I think at that price I will get one ordered.
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Re: FT-857D AGC Anoyance

Post by RadioPixie »

nay27uk wrote:yeah its on Auto Admiral, It seems to make no difference in volume wether set to on or auto but I leave it at auto.
Just wish the meter worked with it off as there is at least a 50% increase in the volume of the Radio with it turned off.
There won't be a volume difference between ON and AUTO, it's just a time constant - slow for voice modes, fast for cw, and the AUTO just sorts that out for you. Personally I wouldn't have the AGC OFF, can be distorted without using the RF Gain, and defeats the idea of having an AGC for more pleasurable listening.
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Re: FT-857D AGC Anoyance

Post by nay27uk »

Thanks Pixie.
I am sort of getting use to it now and using the DSP and IPO stuff to, still very low volume but with headphones plugged in it is 100 times better and sounds like an old valve radio
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Re: FT-857D AGC Anoyance

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Re: FT-857D AGC Anoyance

Post by andymuza »

The S-Meter on most radios don't show a reading when the AGC is off. Most radios measure the voltage to the AGC so when it is turned off there is no voltage to measure. The AGC prevents strong signals swamping the radio and distorting the audio. With the AGC off you can control this using the RF Gain, as has already been mentioned.

Go into the AGC settings and select fast, see if that helps. Auto sets the AGC to fast on CW and slow on SSB.

You may find that setting the MTR PEAK HOLD when you have AGC set to fast will help you get a better reading of the received signal strength as it holds the display to the signals peak.
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Re: FT-857D AGC Anoyance

Post by marvin »

Your 5 and 9 bye bye
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Re: FT-857D AGC Anoyance

Post by andymuza »

marvin wrote:Your 5 and 9 bye bye
Yeah, very constructive and helpful post.
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Re: FT-857D AGC Anoyance

Post by RadioPixie »

nay27uk wrote:Thanks Pixie.
I am sort of getting use to it now and using the DSP and IPO stuff to, still very low volume but with headphones plugged in it is 100 times better and sounds like an old valve radio
Have you considered plugging a speaker/amplifier into your 857 and boost the audio up that way :?:
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Re: FT-857D AGC Anoyance

Post by Tigersaw »

I've used 857's for a few years. DSP is a waste of time, IPO mainly of use in broadcast band.
As for actual volume level, it should be reasonable but I use an external speaker most of the time.
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