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Reviews For: Yaesu FT-8800R

Category: Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Base/Mobile (non hand-held)

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FT-8800R
Reviews: 173MSRP: 399.95
Description:
DUAL BAND RADIO
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001734.4
W7WIL Rating: 2011-12-03
Great Radio! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
My fist review on eHam.net. Can't say enough good about the FT-8800R. I also own a FT-7900R and an older, used FT-2400H. Also own a Wouxun(pronounced "OH-shing") dual band HT and a few other old radios. I love the 8800! Only had one issue, really. About 1 month after purchase, the transmit would intermittently not transmit. Over the next few months, it progressively got worse to the point where it was almost everyday and every other transmit. Sent to Yaesu and they found a burnt trace. Defect- all my antennas and coax are perfect 1:1 SWR. No problem fixing it under warranty. Only paid the shipping one way in the amount of $15. Otherwise, excellent, strong radio. Would DEFINITELY buy more, including the FT-8900R quad band!! Have had my 8800R in the base AND mobile. Works great no matter where I use it.
And I will probably never buy another radio without "HYPER MEMORIES"!! They are ABSOLUTELY INVALUABLE!! They are a lot like Kenwood's "Profiles", from what I've read and heard. They are also probably the #1 misunderstood and misled feature Yaesu has ever developed.

Soooooo......here's a quick discussion about the HYPER MEMORORIES, because everyday there seems to be another user of these radios(7800/7900/8800/8900) who don't understand the Hyper Memories. So why not add my 2 cents and help to the search engine results!?! Right?? RIGHT!!

So, for all those who are still confused/misled about what "HYPER MEMORIES" are and are NOT....AND....what they do and DON'T do(and don't feel bad, we all were at some point), here is an in-depth description. Sorry if it get's a little long, it really needs to be to fully explain, there's just that much you can do with it!!

FIRST AND FOREMOST......go into menu, find menu item #16- "HYPER"(this is for the FT-8800R. Not sure about the 8900) and make sure it is set to "MANUAL"(default)!!!!!!!! DO NOT set to "AUTO"!!!!!!!
Everyone who wonders why their Hyper Mems don't do anything is because they have theirs set to AUTO and every time they change a setting or bank or scan mode and then try to go back to that Hyper Mem, it's changed because that menu item #16 was set to AUTO. Make sure it's set to "MANUAL"!!!! That means once you change a setting in a certain Hyper Mem(scan or not scan/different bank/etc), you have to manually reset that Hyper Mem by holding it's button in for 2 seconds again but your Hyper Mems won't change on their own and make it seem like they do nothing.

Now....what those "HYPER MEMORIES" are and are NOT..... Hyper Memories ARE NOT channel memories! Hyper Memories DO NOT store channels or frequencies. Banks do that. Hyper memories store the over all, entire current setup of the radio including most or some menu settings(Dimmer/APO/etc), bank set up, which banks, bank linking, scan modes(Time or Busy), scan status(scanning or NOT scanning), which side is set to MAIN or SUB, starting(or current/active) channel/frequency, VFO band, VFO mode or Memory mode, etc. and DOES NOT include channel memory parameters like repeater offset, ctcss/dcs tones, repeater shift, power level, etc. Those are all stored by the actual channel memories and are not affected by Hyper Mems. Hyper Mems almost always rely on banks(just because that's how most people do it). Actually, there are 3 ways to scan and select certain channels out of all channels programmed. Those are...normal "SKIP"(like any radio/scanner), "Preferential Scan", or using "banks". Most people set up certain memory channels into certain banks. Like all FRS/GMRS(for listen only, of course) into bank 1, local repeaters into bank 2, police/fire into bank 3, MURS(listen only) into bank 4, etc.

At this point, let's also remember there are 2 bands(sides) to the radio and banks also have to be set independently per side, just like when programming channel memories. Most people, well SOME, will set up the same banks on both sides(or mirror them), some won't. Some people mirror all memory channels on each side, some won't. It's that versatile!

Let's say at times you like to listen to FRS/GMRS on the left bank(side) and local repeaters on the right side. Some times you like to listen to MURS on the right side and police/fire on the left. Let's say some times you like to listen to local repeaters on the left side and listen to AND SCAN police/fire on the right side. You can have Hyper Mem 1 set up for FRS/GMRS starting with GMRS ch15 on left side and local repeaters on the right side starting with channel 1 and then the right side as "MAIN". Set it up that way and then hold Hyper 1 button in for 2 seconds until you hear 4 beeps(**short, short, short, looong**). It's SET!!

Next, set up Hyper Mem 2 for Police/fire on left side and MURS on the right side and doesn't matter which side is MAIN because MURS and police/fire are all listen only(I hope! LOL!). Just pick a side for MAIN. Hold Hyper Mem2 button for 2 seconds(4 beeps!)....SET!

Now, set up Hyper 3 for local repeaters on the left side starting with your favorite one on channel 25 so channel 25 will be the active channel, and police/fire on the right, ALREADY actively scanning and the left side as MAIN because that's where you want to Tx. Now hold Hyper 3 button for 2 seconds, wait for the 4 beeps....SET! You can get the idea from here.

Now when you hit(not hold) Hyper 1 button, you will have FRS/GMRS on the left, starting at CH15....and local repeaters on the right, starting with CH1, AND the right side will be MAIN....and both sides will be stationary, not scanning. Now if you hit Hyper 3, you will have local repeaters on the left side, with CH25 as the stationary, active channel....and you will have police/fire on the right side automatically scanning!! I think you get the idea.

NOW.....let's say there are times when you want to monitor GMRS but NOT FRS and times when you want to monitor police, but NOT fire....AND you want BOTH to scan. OK, well you could just add all GMRS to another bank w/out FRS and make another bank just for police, w/out fire. But you can also use the same, existing banks you already made and just use "SKIP". This is where the programming software really comes in handy. There is a section for telling the software/radio which channels to set to "SKIP" and where(which Hyper Mems). You can take that same bank 1(GMRS/FRS) and put it on left side....and use the existing bank 3(police/fire) on the right side, now go through all banked channels, on both sides and set all the FRS to SKIP and all the FIRE to SKIP, leaving all the GMRS and POLICE to NOT skip. Now make both sides scan. Now hold Hyper Mem button 5 or 6 or 4(whichever you choose that's not being used) and hold it in for 2 seconds until you hear the 4 beeps(**short, short, short, looong**) Now, every time you tap that Hyper button, you will have FRS/GMRS on the left and POLICE/FIRE on the right, both sides automatically scanning, but all the FRS and FIRE will be skipped and NOT scanned. And of course, again, doesn't matter which side is "MAIN" because both sides are listen only. You could have also made a new bank with just GMRS and POLICE(together)...OR...you also could've done bank LINKING and had both those banks, with all FRS/FIRE skipped, already scanning(linked scanning), both on one side and then left the other side for another frequency or channel or VFO or whatever and then saved it into the Hyper Mem that way! SOOOO much you can do!!!

You can also set up "Preferential Scan"(which I interpret as just the opposite of SKIP except it requires a couple more button presses/holds to activate) and have it set up differently per Hyper Mem as well. And of course, there's also bank linking, which I mentioned a moment ago, that allows you to scan 2 or more banks in succession. That can be included in a Hyper Mem. And there's a few more things that can be included in the Hyper Mems. The only things that aren't defined by Hyper Mem, like I said, are actual memory channel parameters like repeater offset, Tx/Rx freqs, step, tone(ctcss/dcs), power level, channel NAME(alphanumeric), etc. If you change the power level on any channel in main memory or in any bank, from anywhere, from High to Low, and then save it by re-writing that memory channel, it will be changed in ALL banks and ALL hyper mems. But, you can have let's say channel #105 set to SKIP in Hyper Mems 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 and even if that channel shows up in all Hyper Mems through either a bank or "All Mem"(no bank), it will be skipped during scan in all Hyper Mems EXCEPT Hyper Mem 2. If you change the repeater offset from - to + on say channel #72(and re-save), it will change in ALL banks that hold ch #72 and in ALL Hyper Mems that hold those banks or "All Memory"(no bank), respectively.

One more quick note....when in the MENU's, some of the Menu item #'s will have a "B" or an "H" next to it. The "B" means that menu item will change a value independently per band(side). Example would be the Speaker output. You can have the left side internal speaker and right side external speaker, vice/verse, or one int/ext with one ext only, or int only, etc. Obviously that wouldn't work if that particular menu item changed both sides at the same time. The "H" character(which is why I brought it up) next to the menu item # in some of the menus means that menu item will change values for each Hyper Memory channel and both sides together(on some menu items).

Anyway, I know this is reaaaaally long winded but I also know there are still tons and tons of new people everyday who don't understand the "HYPER MEMORIES" that Yaesu provides simply because Yaesu couldn't make a decent enough manual that explains it good enough. Sorry this is so long!!! Hope my very, VERY detailed description of Yaesu's Hyper Memories will help most people understand it better. Again, sorry so long!!!!

And as I stated above, it's a really solid, hard working, great, "TANK" of a radio!!!! I would recommend it to everyone and definitely buy more!!!!

73
-Jeff
N5KWK Rating: 2011-10-23
yes and no... Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
i just got around to installing this last week, had bought it 6 months ago. well, something i didn't expect from this quality of radio is that the button and knobs - non are back-lite. in the dark, you can't see a dang thing for where the buttons are. i think the radio is an ok radio, thou i've now ordered the software to program the friggin thing. i have like 4 freq's entered, and quit. and what is this Hyper scan they talk about? i haven't managed to grasp what it is all about yet.
N5IKG Rating: 2011-04-17
too many bells and whistels Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This radio was not made for the technically inept like me. One has to keep the manual close at hand. Example: The other nite I tuned in to a new frequency on simplex but somehow a tone and dial tone preceeded my transmission that I had not programmed. Where did it come from, mystery. Seems like if you touch the volume button on the left it goes into an internet mode. The letters INT show up on the screen. Only after rereading the manual did I find out that bumping into that button changes things.
Yaesus 6 pin sockets are also tricky as plugs do not seat well without extra care.
If you are not as inept as I am, probably a good radio for you.
PD2JPD Rating: 2011-04-14
Very good radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
If you want a real dual bander, stop looking and buy this very good and sensitive radio, with xtra a crossband repeater inside.
AE2K Rating: 2011-01-05
Great Radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned this Yaesu Ft-8800 for a few years. I purchased this radio based on the reviews on this site. I have used this radio in two separate cars as well as using it as a base and it has performed every time. I have used it to cross band repeat and it worked great. I just wish the lower button area would be illuminated as it is difficult to see the buttons.
VK3ZT Rating: 2010-11-05
Great mobile Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This review is for predominately for VK and small city users the size of Melbourne Australia. I have had this radio for around two years.

My concern when purchasing this radio was with pager interference, which I am pleased to report has been almost nothing. There has been the occasional break-through when travelling outside the Burnley Tunnel, Melbourne and on the road towards the Tullamarine Airport. There has also been localised break through at two UHF sites in Tecoma and Belgrave which use beam antennas for some UHF service. All in all a great mobile radio. Pager break through once in a blue moon when I travel through the city. For the suburbs a great rig.

I would recommend buying the software for programming.

Highly recommended.

73's

Paul
AE7DO Rating: 2010-07-13
Good Radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had the radio for almost two years and have been very happy with it. The one drawback, as has already been mentioned, is the lack of backlighting on the buttons. Other than that it's as solid as a workhorse.
VK5ALX Rating: 2010-02-11
band linking disappointment Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Being a satellite enthusiast I bought this one for the car because of its full duplex ability and a "feature" called band linking which allows you to control both main and sub VFOs with one knob, just like on my IC910.
What the Yaesu engineers fail to understand is that as the satellite uplink frequency increases then the downlink frequency goes down. On this radio they both track the same way making it of no value for satellite use.

Apart from that it is a nice performer although the buttons could be a little bigger to better suit my chunky fingers.
KJ4IDH Rating: 2009-12-08
Great Little Radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Have owned an 8800R for over a year. Like a few other reviews, the volume knob is very sensitive.
I only have one real complaint with the radio, I wish the buttons were backlit. Bought it for mobile use, but moved it indoors after 2 days. Very difficult to use the buttons in the dark. Went with FT-7800R in both mobiles.
The cross band repeater feature is a big plus and works very well. Programming is simple and straight forward, as long as you are familar with Yaesu's typical menus.
I will also advise anyone that will be programing this rig via PC to go to a local computer store and purchase a standard PS2 mouse/keyboard extention cable( 3 or 4 bucks). You can then leave the cable in the rig at all times.
K7CID Rating: 2009-11-09
Best radio for the money! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Works well in my van. I really like the ability to monitor two frequencies at the same time. Talk on one, listen to the other. Built like a tank. I would definitely recommend.