A while ago MW1CFN John tried to find a new mobile rig that wouldn't drift. His first choice, the Lab599 TX-500 seems to a nice choice at first sight, but drift wise it is a disaster. John seems having the same thing with his Yaesu FT-450 in the past. So, I offered him to do a test with my FT-817ND which hasn't got the optional TCXO, it is just standard. Actually I couldn't remember any issue with drift at all. Even my W5OLF 30m WSPR transmitter drifts only about 2-3 Hz, and that is just a kit not even een real transceiver. But I was curious what the outcome would be, so after a long time a put my FT-817 in service again.
Earlier today I did read John made his choice to buy a Icom IC-705. A very versatile and luxury rig with a very high price tag. Every mobile transceiver has pro and cons. The new IC-705 is state of the art at the moment with lots of features. One big pro is that it can be connected to a computer with just one USB cable or even wireless. A disadvantage is that it isn't as rugged as a FT-817 or 818.
Certainly the big disadvantage of a FT-817 (818) is that it isn't really luxury. No extra filters, no touch screen. Not the latest state of the art at all. And you need a lot of cables to connect it to a computer as you can see on the piture above...
However, I think connecting CAT control and audio can be made simple if only someone takes up my experimental idea about bluetooth wireless control. I did experiments before and I showed a working "prototype". This could be implemented in one box with power supplied from the ACC socket on the backside. However I haven't got the time, knowledge and money to put something like this on the market.
But back to the drift story....does the original FT-817ND drift on HF WSPR? Well, you can judge yourself by taking a look at the above screenshot.
And in the meantime John made another choice.....which saved him a lot of money. He bought a FT-818ND which will do perfectly for his needs I guess. And he will not have any drift problem at all, that's for shure!