I am surprised at your comment that the 817 has poor sensitivity in the AM
broadcast band. I have found the opposite. What is lacking is selectivity.
The receiver can be easily overloaded on a longwire or SWL antenna. I found
the best antenna for me is just to plug it into my VHF yagi. At that
frequency the yagi is nothing more than just a 38" piece of wire. Just a
short antenna away from sources of interference in the house works very
well. I have not tried a tuned loop for the broadcast band but I suspect
that would work very well with the added selectivity.


"Steve Silverwood" wrote in message
...
In article ,
says...
My opinion about the FT 817 as a short wave receiver is that in order
for it to work properly, one must change the factory installed
IF ceramic filter !!!
A narrower bandwidth mechanical filter is a much better option !
Also, I have noticed that the FT 817 has very poor sensitivity on the
AM broadcast band , even when used with an external long wire antenna
!!!
My own 817 has a very narrow IF filter for working CW.
There is a modification that will allow using two filters, but
unfortunately I have never been able to get a hold of it, or of
the phone bandwidth IF filter ...

I've heard of that mod to put in both the SSB and CW filters, but I've
never tried it. As for the need for a filter for shortwave listening,
so far I've never needed it. The 817 is a solid rig and does well for
both amateur and SWL uses for me.

Good to hear from you, Arnie! Hope you've weathered the recent rash of
hurricanes well and are still safe and sound.

--

-- //Steve//

Steve Silverwood, KB6OJS
Fountain Valley, CA
Email: