| KD6NIG |
Rating:  |
2005-10-19 | |
| Excellent radio-now have 3! |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I now own 3 of these radios.
Radio #1 is about a year old now, roughly. It currently is in my wifes car, which becomes the primary car on the weekends. It has been a solid performer. I have used it a few times for crossbanding when the car is nearby and it works great. This radio now gets daily work as my wife got her licence last month and is on there a goodly amount when commuting to and from work.
Radio #2 is about 4 months old. I use it in my home QTH. This radio does see more crossbanding than any of the others, as I will activate that when in the yard doing yardwork. (VX-2 works great for that!) I did notice the radio would get a little warm during sustained QSO so I attached a 4" fan to the heatsink on the bottom. With this, the radio stays very cool. It wasn't getting overly warm, to be honest, but why take any chances.
Radio #3 arrived yesterday as a surprise to me for my birthday from my wife. I installed it in my pickup which previously had a 7800R in it.
Suggestions:
1) Get the programming software. It has been stated a few times, but that definetely increases the enjoyment of this radio. Though you can program it manually, it can become tedious if you are programming more than a few memories. The programming only takes about 2 minutes, which allowed me to basically prep the radio for my truck in about 10 minutes for installation.
2) If you do more than a little crossbanding, I would maybe consider attaching another fan. Though the radio doesn't really get too warm, the fan on the back only runs for 30 seconds after you finish transmitting, and if you are heavy duty cycle on the crossband, even on low power it will slowly get warm. I don't do a lot, but crossbanding a repeater even to your HT in the yard is a pretty good duty cycle.
Gripes: Yes, the buttons are small and not backlit unlike the 7800, but I can understand why also-the radio would have had to have a bigger face. Luckily, programming software does get you around this issue. Still a complaint though, because it would be convienent to have buttons as big as on the 7800, and backlit.
Menu system for settings-again, 'fixable' with the software, but still can be interesting if you don't read the manual throughly.
Also, I found out that if you are using the DCS (digital coded squelch) on crossband and your battery voltage hits about 12.4v, the radio will sometimes hang on transmit (it will keep transmitting even though what it is crossbanding has dropped). But, I don't think that is the fault of the radio, it was the fault of me using it for too long and letting my battery get that low. It only did it once, and after that I've learned to start the car every hour or so for a few minutes if I'm using it in that fashion.
But, even with the cost of the radio WITH software, this radio is excellent, in my opinion. I believe that all 3 radios were purchased below the MSRP stated. I did consider the 8900, but figure I can get the other bands when I upgrade, and will probably go with something else for that.
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| N2FDU |
Rating: |
2005-07-07 | |
| Just what the doctor ordered! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
My previous dual band mobile, an older ICOM, was limited in that one side of the radio was dedicated to VHF frequencies, the other side to UHF ones. Mix and match was not possible.
The 8800R's mix and match capability is great, and was my primary reason for selecting this model.
The default beeping in scanning mode is an annoyance, as is the default set up for no mute on sub band. Fortunately, these parameters can be changed.
The receiver is hot, but not as hot as my old ICOM. Transmit audio is acceptable. The remote control microphone is a huge plus.
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| N1MCP |
Rating: |
2005-06-18 | |
| Great 'Lil' Radio |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Great radio for a great price. Been using as a base for a couple months now and it works flawlessly. Although as other posters have mentioned, the buttons are not backlit and kinda small, however, I don't find this a real problem. Receive is excellent and great reports on tx audio. I did expand the opening for the mike cartridge, it was kind of small. It would be nice if Yaesu included the faceplate kit but a phone cord wired straight through works just fine and you can get that at a computer shop for about $6. Other than that this is a nice little radio for the money.
73
Dave, N1MCP |
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| WF6O |
Rating: |
2005-05-18 | |
| Only one minor gripe |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I've had quite a few mobile rigs in my "career" with my previous favorite being a Yaesu FT-5100. What a wonderful rig... but it wasn't capable of being "seperated" for a nice mobile installation. My last ones were Yaesu FT-7100's, and yes, I said "ones" - I was dumb enough to buy TWO of them. After sending one of those back 3 times, I got two that actually worked - kind of! Audio continued to be a problem until I unloaded them at bargain basement prices. So, with some cash in hand, I bought a Yaesu FT-8800R and I LOVE it! Love it so much I bought another one for the home station. But, one gripe - the tiny, little buttons under the display for VFO/MEM, LOW, HOME, and SCAN are not backlit. The same problem with the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 buttons on either side of the display. If you have fat fingers like I do the buttons are a little too small for comfortable use. Other than those itty, bitty problems, it's a fabulous radio! One other word of caution for those of you considering a purchase of this radio. The manual programming can be a little difficult, so do consider software for programming. But do not, under any circumstances, get the ADMS-2I software by RT Systems. See my review of that program and the FTB8800 software. |
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| KG7DX |
Rating: |
2005-05-17 | |
| Fabulous radio - get the sofware tho! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
After working with an FT-857D in the truck for a year, the audio produced by this nifty little rig was deep, resonant and bold. Very readable, great quality with an external speaker (the radio is under the back seat, you see...).
I took a chance and tried the remote cable already in place for the FT-857D (too much QRN on the Ford F-150 -- don't buy one!) and it worked just fine. I only had to change the plastic head mounting bracket, plug in the head and radio, and I was back on the air!
NOW -- for another comment, for goodness sake spring for the $40 for the programming software! It can be a beast to program one freq at a time, but with the CT-62 cable and the software, it's only a matter of a few minutes until you're on the air again, with ALPHA TAGS if you check that box on the program. I imported the entire route from Cleveland to Dayton this weekend with the ARRL TravelPlus software directly into the software, and that worked fine.. and saved quite a bit of time entering the data one freq at a time.
All in all, I've owned quite a few 2M and 2/440 rigs over the past few years, and I like this one best of all (tho the Kenwood D-7000 was a close second for display size). You'll like this radio... cheers... Bob KG7DX Solon, OH |
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| N6BOA |
Rating: |
2005-04-23 | |
| I love mine! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I have had my Yaesu FT8800R in my truck for more than a year with absolutely no gliches or poor quality TX/RX. The programming is easy too. Now you can buy programming software for it so programming is even easier! |
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| K8LEC |
Rating: |
2005-04-23 | |
| Still Love Em...after 1 year |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
After more than a year, owning 2 8800R's, I am still very pleased with them. They haven't had any technical troubles and I'm very happy with them. I love the hyper buttons and even more that there are 6 of them!
I did purchase the programming software, FTB8800 by G4HFQ, which I highly recommend. Without it, it was difficult to enter each alpha character for the memories. With the software it's as easy as typing the information into a spreadsheet.
I have used the x-band ability quite a bit and really find that to be a great feature when you want to use an HT and low power. I still wish the buttons on the front were backlit, but that'a a minor thing.
You can read my original review a few pages back under my old call of KB8DLI.
73
K8LEC
Lars |
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| KB3HOZ |
Rating: |
2005-04-20 | |
| Another happy Yaesu experience! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I purchased this rig as a mobile unit for my car (Subaru Outback Sport) a few months ago, after reading reviews on as many similar products as I could find. I evaluated this, the FT-8900, the FT-7800, both of the ICOM dual-band offerings, and the Kenwood dual-band offerings. After taking everything into consideration, I chose this radio. I liked its size (my car is small-ish and doesn't have tons of room for mounting external equipment), the featureset was amazing, and the price was right. In addition, my previous mobile rig was an FT-1500M, so I had some user history with the Yaesu FM mobile line.
I have been quite the happy owner since I bought this radio. I figured that I would try it out for a week or two with it sitting on the passenger seat to see if I really liked it. I was convinced after just a few days of "daily" use that this was the radio I wanted to have in my car.
After reading a few other user comments, I decided to build my own "separation kit" (as I work in computers and electronics, I have access to all sorts of RJ-style crimpers and cable). The fact that it was this easy to build a separation cable for the rig was another significant factor in my original purchase decision, and I'm happy to say that it worked perfectly. I mounted the radio by attaching the bracket bolts to the unit and using natural friction to mount in a rigid-foam tray in the trunk area of the car. I cut notches to run the control and speaker cables towards the front of the vehicle, and another notch to run DC power towards a lighter socket in the rear. I used some additional friction techniques, a bit of double-sided tape, and an RJ-45 pass-through to mount the face plate in an open spot on the dash with the mic connected to the RJ-45 pass-through for strain relief. I left the short control cable pigtail attached to the radio with another pass-through.
I've been quite happy with the rig's performance on both bands and using its wideband receive for police and railroad monitoring. I usually travel with the left side as my "ham" side and the right side as a scanner or additional monitor, depending on the situation (on long trips, I often like to monitor some known repeaters and 146.520 at the same time).
As with any multi-band with wide receive, this radio certainly appears to be more susceptible to intermod than the FT-1500M it is replacing. That is the price that I paid for going with this type of radio, though, and I'm not sorry that I did it. If I were spending lots of time in busier areas, I might install notch filters for the appropriate bands. I haven't felt any need to do that in my circumstance, though.
I rated this rig as a 4/5 for a few relatively minor reasons. First, I really wish the buttons at the bottom were back-lit or had screen-based graphics that were lit. It is quite irritating to have to feel-around to get the right button (though it is second-nature now). Second, I wish that the four multi-function buttons on the mic were back-lit so that I didn't have to feel-around for those. Third, I wish that the ABCD buttons on the mic mapped to the four buttons on the radio like they did on the FT-1500M. THAT was an extremely convenient feature, and would make the mic more flexible as the four programmable buttons could be set to other functions. Lastly, I wish that the radio could be set so that the right-hand multi knob was the data knob for whichever side is listed as "main". I haven't seen that as an option (yet), but I'd love it if it was there. I hate the fact that my vision of the screen is blocked while driving and trying to adjust something on the left band. I usually end up resorting to the mic up/down buttons, but that can get irritating sometimes, too.
All in all, relatively minor peeves with this rig. I wouldn't consider replacing it with anything else. |
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| KC9AYN |
Rating: |
2005-04-09 | |
| DEPENDABLE |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I HAVE OWNED TWO OF THESE RADIOS FOR ALMOST A YEAR.CAN NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT RECEIVE OR THE TRANSMIT QUALITIES. CROSS BANDING IS QUITE SIMPLE TO SET UP.
ONLY COMPLAINT, THE BUTTONS ON THE BOTTON NEED TO BE BIGGER AND BACKLIT JUST LIKE THE 7800. USE ONE IN THE HOUSE AND ONE IN MY CAR, BEST DAMN DUAL BANDER ON THE MARKET FOR WHAT IT DOES.
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Earlier 4-star review posted by KC9AYN on 2003-07-02
BOUGHT THE VERY FIRST ONE THAT CAME INTO THE STORE YESTERDAY.PROGRAMMING IS SIMPLE AND I HAVE HAD NO INTERMOD AT ALL !! I RETURNED BOTH MY 2720 UNITS AND I AM VERY HAPPY WITH THE RESULTS SO FAR. THE DISPLAY CAN BE HARD TO SEE IN BRIGHT SUNLIGHT IN THE CAR BUT I PLAN ON BUYING THE SEPERATION KIT AND PUT THE REMOTE ON MY VISOR. RECEIVE IS CRISP AND CLEAR, TRANSMIT I HAVE HAD PEOPLE TELL ME IT SOUNDS GREAT EVEN AT 20 WATTS !
HAS FOUR POWER SETTINGS AND I WILL REPORT BACK AT THE END OF JULY TO LET EVERYONE KNOW IF I STILL WILL OWN IT |
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| W9ULK |
Rating: |
2005-04-07 | |
| Ditto on great radio! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| I agree with all of the comments of the two previous reviews. Very good signal reports - very good scanning. I say yea Yaesu! |
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