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Reviews For: Kenwood TR-7800

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

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Review Summary For : Kenwood TR-7800
	Reviews: 4	MSRP: $365.00
	Description: Kenwood 25 watt 2 meter mobile/base transciever
	Product is not in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days	Avg. Rating last 180 days	Total reviews	Avg. overall rating
0	0	4	3.8

K2GAV	Rating:	2022-09-17
The old girl is FIXED!			Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Update 2: This radio is still going strong! It's now living in my new ham shack at my new QTH in NC. This radio still works like new, and rests comfortably in base station use connected to an 11 element 2m yagi on a 70 foot tower. Comparing it to a modern Icom 2730a, the unanimous opinion of several club members is that the old TR-7800 sounds better than the much newer Icom. Update 1: Thanks to the help of another ham who read and responded to my previous post, my one-owner TR-7800 is now fixed and working like new! Yes, as he said, the original Mitsubishi M57733 is replaceable by an available M57737. The price was reasonable, so I purchased one and, it works! I also installed a ComSpec SS-64 PL encoder, as no 2m radio is really useful these days without PL. Happily, many repeaters in Connecticut use 77.0 Hz, so the old girl is now hitting repeaters again! Maybe it wasn't worth the ~$85 it took to make it useful again, but hey, it was my first new ham radio, so nostalgia took over! ---------------------- Earlier 3-star review posted by K2GAV on 2012-01-11 I bought this new way back in, I think, 1980. I used it a lot and was quite satisfied. I added a mod to hear the touch tones, and to charge the memory batteries when connected to power, with NiCad batteries installed. The final PA module died just as it went out of warranty. Kenwood did send me a free replacement though, and I commend them for that. However about five years later the replacement also died, and since they are not available, it's now a parts donor. I'd love to restore it if I could only find a new final module.

KC4YLV	Rating:	2015-11-14
Idiosyncratic but solid starter rig			Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My first radio. Picked one up in '91 with the ink still wet on my Tech. Didn't have a high power capable PSU so I learned to FM on five watts. Boy that was a challenge! Ended up building a top notch 2 meter station around it. 24 years later, half a country away, the old 7800 long gone, I'm trolling the good part of the hamfest (the boxes under the tables) and spy one. "How much?" "Uhh, five bucks?" (I had my wallet out before he said "bucks"). There are a couple of caveats. The memory is OLD tech and sucks a lot of juice. Buy the Nicad batteries for backup as it'll go to straight 144.000 on everything even if you leave it plugged in. Tone switch toggles a +8 line next to an audio line inside - use your ingenuity and get a PL encoder in there if you like. True to ancient Kenwood form, the tuning knob only changes memory channels - if you want to spin the VFO you'll be whacking the mic up/down buttons. BTW, 6-pin mic plug on this one, though back in the day I retrofitted mine with an 8-pin. GREAT TX and RX audio, tight and sensitive receiver (144-148 only here), 5 or 25 watts, groovy old school LED display. Really lights up the shack nicely. Neat old radio, good for a first time kid, side simplex rig or for one-tone to hang out on your favorite repeater in the garage. $20, 30 bucks is my hamfest valuation? Make sure to power it up first though - the displays sometimes go.

KB1SBR	Rating:	2009-06-24
Excellent rig!			Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is my first radio I ever bought. One of my buddies let me borrrow his old Realistic HTX-202. Don't get me wrong, that was a nice solid, bullet proof radio, but I wanted something that I could call "mine". So I went on ebay, and I found this radio for $45. The only problem, was that the memory batteries were shot. Now that you know how I got the radio, I'll give my review of it. The radio itself, is kind of on the larger side, compared to the newer radios. Try to make sure you get the manual when you purchase the radio. I searched everywhere, and after about 2 weeks of searching, I eneded up paying $15-$20 for one. Everything is pretty simple to use. PROS- Good looking Functions well Cheap if you know where to look Awesome and fun to use CONS- Internal memory batteries tend to go If you're going to run it as a base, the cord where you connect it to the power supply is kind of on the small side Manuals are hard to come by

KC2BNX	Rating:	2006-10-21
Older quality 2m rig with the basics			Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Picked up this radio at a hamfest in CT. Was looking for a simple 2m packet radio for a fixed station and this one is perfect. Its built like a tank and handles like one too! Also follows the K.I.S.S. principle - no complicated, confusing, vague and obscure functions to memorize. I love the 80's design layout of this radio - RED LEDS! Pick it up and it feels like a solid brick - can't say its a small radio so you may have trouble fitting it in some places. It doesn't have pl tones and the design of the backup memory system isn't that great. If you leave the power off to the radio for a while you will loose all the memory contents but thats not too much of a problem for me I guess since I'm only using it for local packet operations. You can also put in a pl circuit to access your favorite repeaters so that shouldn't really be a problem if you'd like to have that in it. It does 25W on high, 5W on low and draws about 8.5 amps max for my particular unit. Also does the standard 2m splits for repeaters and I think it does do DTMF as well. If you're looking for a good 2m packet radio and find one of these for the right price then get it. It is a simple, no frils 2m rig that will serve you well for years to come. I would rate this radio a 4.5 because its still going strong after 20+ years of service but can only give it a 4 out of 5. - KC2BNX

Category:

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

Product:

Kenwood TR-7800

Summary:

Rating:	Time Owned:
Great! Good OK Needs Help Poor Awful!	0 - 3 Months 3 - 6 Months 6 - 12 Months More than 12 Months

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