so ive had my 817 for probably 8 years now and its been a workhorse, no complaints really. but i keep reading about the mars/cap mod and also the extended rx mod and im wondering if anyone has actually done both and whether you noticed any real difference in day to day use or if its just one of those things you do because you can.

my main interest is being able to listen down into the MW broadcast band a bit more cleanly and also having the TX unlock for MARS use — i do some emcomm stuff so that part actually has practical value for me. the rx thing is more just curiosity honestly.

i found a couple different procedures online and they conflict on which jumpers to move, which is making me nervous. the board in the ND version is different from the original apparently? mine is an ND so i want to make sure im not bridging the wrong pads and bricking something. anyone done this recently on an ND unit specifically?

did both on my ND about two years ago. the jumper diagrams floating around from eham are mostly right but there's one that gets W10 and W11 mixed up depending on which revision of the service manual they copied from, so double check that before you touch anything. i used a good stereo microscope borrowed from a friend and it still took me like 45 minutes just to be sure i had the right pads.

the extended RX is noticeable on MW, youll actually pull in AM broadcast pretty decently with a good antenna. dont expect miracles on the low end, the front end wasnt designed for it, but its usable. MARS mod worked fine, verified TX out of band at low power just to confirm. just make sure you re-enter your callsign in the menu after because sometimes it resets.

i did the rx mod on mine years ago and tbh for casual shortwave listening its fine but the 817 front end is pretty easily overloaded once you open it up like that, especially near broadcast stations. ended up adding an attenuator inline for MW listening. still glad i did it but just managing your expectations here — its not gonna turn into an SDR or anything.