Steve,

I searched through the Yahoo Group - Amateur Repairs for similar "dead"
FT-890 problems. I found one which may be of interest.

As the unit ages oxide builds up on the connector mating surfaces and
sometimes leads to erratic operation. In one case, an FT-890 had
exactly your symptons - dead and the front panel power switch did
nothing. The solution was to disconnect all power and external
connections and remove the covers (saving the screws). Then carefully
disconnect and reconnect, one by one, all the connectors on the
various boards. The disconnect/reconnect scrapes away some of the
oxide on the connectors and restores a low resistance connection. Then
reassemble the unit and try powering up again. Make sure you have
discharged yourself for static (wear cotton clothes and no nylon
carpet!!) prior to starting the job.

If this solves your problem you may be OK for a while. In a few months
it may come back. In that case you should buy some deoxidant from a
radio repair outlet and use it on the contacts for a longer term
solution.

Hope one of these ideas works and it is not a component failure.

Regards - Roger

Believe it or not I got it working! I am shocked. Not sure what I did.
This rig might of been mobile as I got a mobile bracket with it and the
power cable was questionable around the fuses (bends in wire) so I replaced
it.
With your suggestions I opened the radio up and started tracing the wires
from behind the molex connector and found where it connected to the circuit
board.
I took the wires loose and cleaned it up cause I kept seeing the voltage on
the multimeter swing. A couple of times I heard the relays partially click
but no power.
Anyways, with the radio in halves I got it to power up, however when I put
it back together it was dead again with no partial relay click.
I took it apart again to the point where it would power up and slowly put
things back and checked power after each segment.
Now the radio is all back tohther and so far still working.
Perhaps something came loose cause I know the pervious owner did a Mars mod
on the radio and who knows what was done if there were other owners.
Thanks for everyones help.

Steve,

Thats great news!! Thanks for the reply -it was nice to hear that it
all worked out for you.

Enjoy your rig - Roger

I purchased a used Yaesu FT-890 and was disappointed when I set it up and it was DEAD - Turns out I pressed the MOX button on the front taking it out of the box. That prevents the radio from turning on. I was a new user - it was that simple.

On Sunday, November 5, 2006 at 11:14:58 AM UTC-6, Steve wrote:
Went to fire up the Yaesu Ft-890 and it won't power up. I have power to the
radio but pushing the power button does nothing.
Used it a few days ago and everything was fine. There was no storm here so
it didn't get zapped.
Is there some kind of fuse inside this radio?
I have limited electronic knowledge, so is there something I can check that
may be a common failure to this rig that I might be able to do?
Bought it on ebay last year and its been flawless, but to me its not worth a
few hundred to ship it out to be fixed.

If the MOX switch is pushed in it will interlock the power relay and the radio will not power up. Just tracked that down and saw this and thought I would add that little observation.

Le mercredi 5 août 2020 Ã* 16:13:43 UTC-4, a écritÂ*:
On Sunday, November 5, 2006 at 11:14:58 AM UTC-6, Steve wrote:
Went to fire up the Yaesu Ft-890 and it won't power up. I have power to the
radio but pushing the power button does nothing.
Used it a few days ago and everything was fine. There was no storm here so
it didn't get zapped.
Is there some kind of fuse inside this radio?
I have limited electronic knowledge, so is there something I can check that
may be a common failure to this rig that I might be able to do?
Bought it on ebay last year and its been flawless, but to me its not worth a
few hundred to ship it out to be fixed.
If the MOX switch is pushed in it will interlock the power relay and the radio will not power up. Just tracked that down and saw this and thought I would add that little observation.
Thanks Jeter, the MOX switch fixed my power up problem.