John:
while I know your opinions on Yaesu very well, and some may be warranted, 
the 897/857d/817 series are all pretty solid and well respected radios.
The local ham store sells almost exclusively yaesu gear, and so many many 
local guys have the 857D.  I hear them on 2m and 70CM all the time, and 
quite allot on local HF nets.
I actually don't know a single guy who has had one in the past 5 years that 
has had to send it in for repares, the 857 or the 897.  Not only that, they 
seem to perform, they are built very well with the exception of the front 
pannel perhaps, and they are as solid as anything else out there in that 
class.  Small buttons and small controls on any radio weather it's a yaesu, 
icom or kenwood will tend to fail more often than bigger heavier duty bass 
type radio controls do.
Look at the TM V7A from kenwood for instance? it had huge problems with the 
display..not an issue for most blind hams, but a major problem in the model.
I will say though that some of the yaesu HF gear like the ft2000, ft9000, 
and several other earlier yaesu radios did have a reputation of being a bit 
flaky.
I too don't use them because they are non-speech friendly, but the rigs are 
very well made and as solid as anything else out there.
Like I said, I hear about 6 857's on the air on a daily basses, and many 
many more on a weekly basses on most of the bands.  the audio is good, they 
are easy to use in a mobile setting by drivers, they're less pricy than 
other similar models, and they really are built like a brick outhouse.
but, again, they're not accessible to us and I agree there.
73
Colin, V A6BKX
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Miller" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, November 06, 2010 9:19 PM
Subject: Re: ft-897d


> no speech for that radio. All I can say is good luck.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Butch Bussen" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Saturday, November 06, 2010 6:42 PM
> Subject: ft-897d
>
>
>> Wondering what anyone can tell me about this radio.  Does it have a voice
>> synthesizer or voice as an option?  I just got a call and I won this 
>> radio
>> at Kingman ham fest.
>> 73
>> Butch Bussen
>> wa0vjr
>> open Node 3148
>> Las Vegas