The FT-897D is a very efficient transceiver for portable use, perhaps because it is designed for use with battery power in mind. As I recently purchased an Icom IC-7200 to replace it for HF use whilst portable, I thought I would do some tests on the efficiency of them both, and also my FTDX1200 for comparison. The IC-7200 is comparable to most other HF desktop transceivers, using up to 20A with a 100W carrier. See the plotted chart below:
Comparing 3 transceivers for efficiency.
This table shows the test results. All tests into a 50Ω dummy load, at 13.8v on 7MHz:
[table]
Transceiver,RX,TX 5w,TX 20w,TX 50w,TX 100w
FT-897D,0.6A,3.8A (9.5%),6.3A (23%),9.9A (36.6%),13.4A (54%)
IC-7200,1.1A,7A (5.2%),10.3A (14.1%),14.7A (24.6%),19.5A (37.1%)
FTDX1200,1.6A,8A (4.5%),11.2A (12.9%), 15.1A (24%),19.5A (37.1%)
[/table]
It can be seen that the IC-7200 is ever so slightly more efficient than the FTDX1200, but neither is anywhere near the efficiency of the FT-897D. It will be interesting to see how the new Yaesu FT-991 compares to the FT-897D! In all cases, the more RF power you use, the more efficiency you are getting 😉
I have a 100AH Leisure Battery which still provides enough power for an afternoons operating with the IC-7200 at full power, so that will do me, although a bit more efficiency is always nice!
on my 2nd 897 now,swapped first for the ft 450 ,its a good alround rig,copies from Canada to new York ,cape town to Norway,all on 10ws,regards ken,m3zkb,rafars 4680