The FT-818ND has one quality no other radio of its size matched: every band from 160 m to 70 cm, every analog mode, and a metal case that shrugs off a backpack, all in a box 135 mm wide that runs from its own battery. Nearly everything you love or hate about owning one follows from that. It goes everywhere, survives everything, and asks you to supply the comforts yourself.
Yaesu built it as a quiet update of the FT-817ND. The changes are three: 6 W instead of 5 W on external power, a TCXO-9 oscillator built in (±0.5 ppm), and a 1900 mAh NiMH pack. Production ended in December 2022, when Yaesu USA cited trouble getting components, so today this is a used-market radio.
My view: it is still the toughest all-band field radio you can carry for the money. Go in knowing that the screen is tiny, the stock battery and charger are the weakest parts, and CW really wants a narrow filter that is hard to find.
A radio you throw in the pack and stop worrying about
The case is metal, the band and mode keys sit on top where a drop will not catch them, and the rear jacks are shielded by side protrusions of the chassis. It weighs about 900 g bare, more once the battery, mic and whip are in. That is heavier than modern QRP rigs, but it is weight you never have to baby. It is built like a tank, and I would treat that as its main feature.
The knobs on the front are the exposed part. Side rails with a fold-out bail, from Portable Zero, Windcamp and others, protect them and tilt the front panel up to a usable angle. The radio ships with no legs or stand at all, so on a picnic table or a rock the controls face the sky. I count a rail or bail kit as part of the purchase, not an extra. For the rest of a field kit, my guide to the best portable radios for POTA and SOTA puts the FT-818ND against its newer rivals.
Every band and mode, and two antenna jacks
Transmit covers 160 m through 6 m including 60 m, plus 2 m and 70 cm, in SSB, CW, AM, FM and digital through the DIG mode. Receive runs from 100 kHz to 56 MHz, 76 to 154 MHz and 420 to 470 MHz, so broadcast, airband and shortwave listening come along for free. Very few portable radios give you 2 m and 70 cm SSB, and those bands alone make it a natural for VHF contests and hilltop operating.
The antenna arrangement is better than most of its rivals. There is a BNC on the front and an SO-239 on the back, and Menu 07 picks FRONT or REAR for each band group: HF, 50, 144 and 430 MHz. Put a 2 m whip or a small Yagi on the front, a dipole or end-fed on the back, and change band without touching a cable. If you are building a wire for it, my end-fed half-wave build guide gives a good partner for the rear jack.
Satellites are where the 818 shines. Split VFOs and CTCSS make FM birds easy with one radio and a handheld Yagi, and two FT-818s, or an 818 with an older 817, make a full-duplex linear satellite station that fits in a small bag. My guide to getting started on amateur satellites covers antennas and Doppler.
Receiver and transmitter: honest QRP numbers
For portable work the receiver is good. In the ARRL Lab the 2 kHz third-order IMD dynamic range measured 62 dB, low for contesting and fine for a dipole on a summit or a park. It is sensitive enough to hear weak DX on a portable antenna. It is not a shack receiver, and next to a modern SDR it shows its age.
Two lab results are worth knowing. Image rejection on 70 cm measured only 38 dB, so SSB and CW on 432 MHz near busy commercial sites can bring in images. Treat the S-meter as a relative indicator, not a calibrated one. On 2 m the wide-spaced dynamic range was excellent at 96 dB, which explains its good name on crowded VHF hilltops.
There is no DSP noise reduction, only an IF noise blanker, IF shift, IPO and an attenuator. Under power-line or switching-supply hash, that is the receiver's real weakness. Add-in DSP boards exist, but the install means pulling the main board, and in a quiet field location the radio rarely needs it.
Power steps are 6, 5, 2.5 and 1 W on external DC. Six watts is less than 1 dB above five and costs more current, and the old 0.5 W step from the 817 is gone.
Power: the battery, the charger and the drain
This is the part of the radio I like least. The supplied SBR-32MH is a 9.6 V, 1900 mAh NiMH pack, and on it (or on eight AA cells in the FBA-28 holder) the radio drops to 2.5 W. It does not last long. Receive alone draws about 450 mA with the backlight and audio running, high for a QRP rig, and transmit takes 2.4 A on HF and 2 m at full power.
The charger is timed, not smart. Menu 11 offers 6, 8 or 10 hours, 10 is the default, and the radio runs the full cycle whatever state the pack is in. Worse, the radio keeps drawing a small current from an installed battery even when switched off, enough to flatten it in weeks. Never store it with the pack connected.
The fix is lithium. The Windcamp 3000 mAh internal LiPo pack fits the battery bay and holds enough voltage for 5 to 6 W, and its replacement door adds a charge jack and a real off switch that ends the drain. The other route is an external LiFePO4 such as a 3 Ah Bioenno, which runs the radio for hours at full power. I would do one or the other before the first outing.
The DC jack and the other weak spots
The coaxial power socket on the back is the one piece of hardware I do not trust. It was designed like a handheld's jack, and a battery lead pulling on it in the field can damage it. A Powerpole adapter that bolts to the rear panel is the first thing to fit. If you stay with the stock plug, use a right-angle plug and clamp the lead to the chassis so nothing pulls on the socket.
The display is the other complaint. It is small, the characters are tiny, and older eyes struggle with it outdoors. The three backlight colours (blue, amber, violet) help a little. Nothing fixes it, and if your near vision is going, try one before you buy.
There is no internal antenna tuner. An external unit with a control cable to the ACC jack, such as the LDG Z-817 that sits on top, the Elecraft T1 or the JNC CS-818, is the usual answer. A resonant antenna on the bands you use also works.
Menus, keys and getting comfortable
Everything lives behind the F key. A quick press brings up the function rows that the A, B and C keys act on (VFO A/B, split, repeater shift, power level, meter, charge and voltage), and a long press opens 57 numbered menu items that the SEL knob scrolls through. It feels cramped at first, especially with big fingers, and the radio does not explain itself. After a few sessions the function rows become second nature, and you only visit the deep menu to change a setup.
The CW keyer is basic: 4 to 60 WPM, a weight setting and paddle reverse, but no message memories. An inexpensive external memory keyer covers that.
For digital modes there is no internal sound card. DIG mode with Menu 26 (RTTY, PSK31 or the USER modes for FT8) and an interface such as Yaesu's SCU-17 or a small third-party cable on the DATA jack does the job.
How it compares
RadioBands and powerWhy you would pick it Yaesu FT-818ND160 m to 70 cm, 6 WAll-mode VHF/UHF, front and rear antenna jacks, near-indestructible case Icom IC-705160 m to 70 cm, 10 WColour waterfall and more power, at about twice the price new Xiegu X6100HF and 6 m, 10 WBuilt-in tuner, waterfall and sound card, but no 2 m or 70 cm Xiegu G90HF only, 20 WMore power and a built-in tuner for HF parks work on a budgetThe one radio that does everything the 818 does and more is the Icom, and my Icom IC-705 review explains what the extra money buys. If you never touch 2 m or 70 cm, the Xiegu X6100 review shows a lighter HF rig with a tuner and a sound card, and the Xiegu G90 review covers a cheaper 20 W HF option. None of the three is as tough as the Yaesu.
How I would set one up
- Fit a Powerpole adapter to the DC jack, or at least a right-angle plug with the lead clamped to the case.
- Replace the NiMH pack with a Windcamp LiPo and its switched door, or plan on an external LiFePO4 battery.
- Pull the internal battery, or switch it off at the door, whenever the radio goes on the shelf.
- Add side rails with a bail so the front panel faces you and the knobs are protected.
- If you work CW, find a 300 or 500 Hz Collins filter (YF-122CN or YF-122C) and enable it in Menu 38.
- Set Menu 07 for each band group so your HF antenna and your VHF antenna each have their own jack.
- For SSB in the field, an inline speech compressor or a BX-184 compressor board in the MH-31 mic adds punch.
Activating parks with it is a pleasure once this is done, and my Parks on the Air guide takes it from there.
Who should buy it
- Portable operators who want HF, 6 m, 2 m and 70 cm in every mode from one rugged box.
- SOTA and VHF contest operators who want all-mode 2 m and 70 cm on a summit.
- Satellite operators building a cheap full-duplex station from two radios.
- Anyone who enjoys modifying and accessorising a radio, since the aftermarket is huge.
Skip it if you mainly work CW and cannot find a narrow filter, if you want a waterfall and DSP, or if small screens are hard on your eyes. Digital-mode operators who want a single USB cable will also be happier with a newer design.
Bottom line
The FT-818ND is an old design with a tiny screen, a poor stock battery and a fragile power jack, and every one of those can be fixed for a modest outlay. What cannot be bought elsewhere at this price is 160 m to 70 cm all-mode in a case this tough, which is why I would still pick a good used one for field work over newer rigs that do less.
Reader field notes — share yours
Log in to share your field notes and photos.