Being a proud owner of a Yaesu FT-857D, I have most of the must-have accessories for the rig, but I had one dark secret: I hadn’t yet put in any sort of audio filter. Oh sure, I still think I have pretty good ears. And the Digital Signal Processing on the radio does a pretty good job of taking down the noise and interference. But during contests or pile-ups, or even a busy weeknight, it can be tough to pull out a signal, especially on SSB.Probably long before I even considered buying a Yaesu, I was aware of Collins filters. You can read all kinds of reviews and look at pretty bandwidth plots but until you sit down and actually listen to how much a difference one of these can make on your radio; you most likely think you can live without one.

I shopped around and found the Collins filters from W4RT.com were getting high praise. Earlier this year I purchased an LDG Z-11Pro Ultra Plus from them and I felt quite happy to give ’em my money again.

	The filters are individually wrapped for fresher taste and to keep rotten QRM and QRN from seeping into the package. 🙂
	Removal of the FT-857D top cover is a simple matter of taking off the seven Phillips screws, per the directions in your Yaesu FT-857D manual (page 120).
	Once the rig is open, you can see the empty filter slots in the upper-left corner.
	The top cover comes off easily once you disconnect the speaker from the rig chassis.
	“Gaze into the crystal . . . filter”
	The 500Hz filter installed. The 2300Hz filter fits right next to it. The filter boards can go in only one way. If you have difficulty, take a look at the pins in relation to the holes they go into on the Collins filter.

Since I installed the filters, I’ve been enjoying much better reduction in nearby QRM. The 500Hz filter is still wide enough to not ring. And it REALLY works beautifully with the DSP as well as the IF Shift.

The 2300Hz filter makes a slight difference, at first glimpse. But you’ll hear the difference when the conditions get crowded. Also, on transmit, you can select to have transmitted audio pass through the filter, giving your voice signal a bit more ‘punch.’ (update – 20080228):  The sideband filter really makes a HUGE difference!  Now that I’ve had time to use this filter in contests and pile-ups, I can certainly say that without the audio filter, I would not have made many of the contacts I did (including huge pile-ups for VP6DX).  The filters both make use of the DSP and IF shift MUCH more effective.  I’m also noticing that when I turn on the filter, the signal I’m trying to tune-in actually ‘pops out’ and makes copying a LOT easier.  My advice to new and old FT-857D owners: BUY IT!

All in all, I have found the W4RT filters to be a much-needed improvement to my FT-857D.