Frank Olaughlin wrote:

The 817 is a known consumer of electrons whenever they are available. It
will drain a set of AA cells in short time even when turned off. The idea
of measuring the current on the radio with a milli amp meter is an excellent
suggestion.

If you are interested, there is a group at Yahoo.com that is focused on the
817. There are discussions of problems, enhancements and experiences with
the radio on this forum. There are also files relating to the radio and
software that is useful to help operate it from a computer. Can one say
memory backup for the radio?

Go to www.yahoo.com and click on groups. Sign in and do a search for 817.
It should show one or two or several groups there.

Allan Butler
ka0ies