[VHFcontesting] FT897D vs Icom 706mKIIG on VHF/UHF

[John Geiger]

Has anyone on the list had the chance to compare a Yaesu FT897 to the Icom 706MKIIG for VHF/UHF performance?  I am especially interested in 70cm performance as I am currently using an Icom 706MKIIG with pretty good results, but have been thinking about "upgrading" to a Yaesu FT897D or maybe a FT857D.  I have used some Yaesu rigs on the sats before and the 706MKIIG seems to hear them better, especially AO27.

I don't have a big setup-Cushcraft dualband yagi (5 elements on each band) with no elevation, so signals are not rockcrushing from the satellites.  The QST reviews show that the Icom has better sensitivity on 70cm SSB (MDS of -143 vs -139 dbm) and on FM (.16 vs .21 microvolts) but are those differences really meaningful?  Do the 897 and 857 still receive the sats really good with a minimal setup?

73s John AA5JG