I switched to 107ft and 85ft random wires and still wasn't having any luck. I switched out to a new controller cables, added a lot of Mix 31 ferrite rods, and added a second ground rod wired to AC service entry ground, I added a few more counterpoise without success - no go. The FT-897D just went into tuning mode for a second and then displayed HSWR.
I switch my FT-897D power supply from a FP-30B internal to a FP-1030A external, so I could go portable, and the FC-40 is now working from 6m - 40m. It takes a few seconds to tune, and only indicated HSWR on 80M and 160m, which is no surprise.Switching out between the FP-30B and FP-1030A again, I can confirm that the FC-40 works with the external but not the internal PS. Very odd...
