Mysterious rig breakdown

Last weekend, I noticed something strange with my Yaesu FT-897D. The AGC was squashing strong signals on CW and PSK31. The S-metre showed S1 or S2 for repeaters that usually were full-scale, such as the Maple Plain 147.000 machine. And, when I tried to do some UHF FM simplex as part of an antenna test, it was as if the RF gain was turned way down. Transmission was still fine, but the receiver was badly crippled.

The FT-897D is my main rig. I have a UHF TYT TH-9000 in my home office (with an indoor antenna) that I use to chat on a few local repeaters while I'm on my computer, and I have a 1.25M TH-9000 in the living room for the few repeaters on that band. But the FT-897D was the "go to" UHF/VHF rig for my day-to-day FM conversations, not to mention any weak-signal work, and it had the best antenna.

After discussing the situation with KD0KJI (Al) and KD0ZWN (Josh), I decided that I should take the radio in to Radio City for repairs. I took it in last Tuesday, and discovered that the shop has a six-week backlog on repairs. Still, I saw few other options, so I surrendered my main rig.

Later, KE0NA (Dave) sent me an email pointing me to some info on the problem with my FT-897D. He had heard the discussions, and was smart enough to connect the dots and refer me to the website that mentioned this relatively common (and unexpected) breakdown. This was a big relief, as it seems that my issue is only a "software" problem within the Service Menu of the radio. I had visions of my entire front-end requiring replacement. I foresaw a six-week wait only to be told that the radio had to be sent to Yaesu for another several weeks. I could easily envision repair costs that would make a new radio look attractive. Instead, I was looking at a fairly simple "alignment" that I could do myself if this happened again.

So, while I wait for Radio City to catch up on their repair backlog, I'm kind of limited as far as my home station goes -- and it was a pretty limited station to begin with. My 1.25M mobile radio is in my home office, with an indoor antenna that it doesn't really like. My UHF mobile is now my "main" radio, and I have a 7W TYT (16 channel) HT that is my meagre VHF FM rig. No weak-signal work for this guy. 

I was seriously considering the purchase of a "real" two-metre mobile, but I decided against it. I don't spend a lot of time on VHF, and I can still listen to the band on my old analogue scanner.

At least I'm still on the air, right?