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Reviews For: Yaesu FT-1802M

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

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FT-1802M
Reviews: 87MSRP: 199
Description:
The Yaesu FT-1802M is a ruggedly-built 2 meter transceiver with 50 watts of RF output. It features extended receive from 136 to 174 MHz. It has illuminated front panel keys and boasts 221 memories. There is also a 10 channel NOAA weather bank. You get CTCSS and DCS Encoder and Decoder circuits. The FT-1802M even has a unique a CW trainer to practice Morse Code. It also supports one-touch access to Yaesu's renowned WiRES-II Internet Linking System. There is a security password to help prevent unauthorized use.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.yaesu.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
14874.1
NI4JM Rating: 2010-05-07
CRAP in mobile service. Time Owned: N.A.
Used as a base rig for 2 years. It worked fine on the local repeaters and on simplex. I recently installed it in my mobile. I took it out a day later. The receiver is garbage. It picks up everything and anything. I have to set the squelch very tight to shut it up which kills RX sensitivity when you are nearing weak signal territory. The power lines here in Tampa are very noisy all over the place. This radio opens squelch on power line noise! I have never had a radio do that in mobile operation. On the other hand, I have an 8800 and a 7800 in mobile use and love both radios. The 1802 was "Made in China" and the other two were "Made in Japan". Go figure!
VK1FH Rating: 2010-04-23
Great little radio for the price Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had one of thes and am sorry i sold it will look out for another one only problem does run a little hot at full power advice run at 25 watts
AD7JR Rating: 2010-02-07
Good Radio Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I am new to 2 meters and to high tech radios, so the 1802 was a new experience for me. It's not hard to program once you read the manual, it has a lot of features that I will probably never use. Mine doesn't get particularly hot, warm after a lengthy transmission at 50 watts, but it's well ventilated and SWR is minimal. I don't like the plastic mic connector and the manual is not as explicit as it could be. My radio changed over time. I noticed I was receiving less stations with more noise. Checked antenna, coax: Nothing. Set radio to narrow bandwidth and what a difference!! Never could figure out why the change in reception. Nice radio for the money.
KK2DOG Rating: 2009-08-26
Good Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Prior to this rig, I ran an Icom IC-2200H in my truck. The Yaesu is easier to navigate menu-wise, and I truly do love it's microphone gain
capabilities. You generally don't find that on a mono-band VHF radio. But...
the FT-1802M picks up way more intermod than the Icom ever did, and the power switch for some strange reason isn't illuminated. All in all,
not a bad rig, and it does WIRES too. If it wasn't for the intermod issue, I'd give it a five. But a nice radio otherwise.

Mike KK2DOG
www.hamwave.com
AC8AZ Rating: 2009-08-19
Fine radio Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Had my set for a year. I talk on it an hour per day mobile. It scans and receives weather and public service frequencies. It does get hot when using full power. At the price I paid (129$) it is a super radio!!!

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Earlier 5-star review posted by AC8AZ on 2008-10-06

Nice solid rig. I use it in my car at least 30 minutes a day. I like the scanning and use it to scan police and rescue freq. a lot. It does get warm but I seldom run more than 20 watts anyway. Pretty hard to beat for the price!
WV1K Rating: 2009-07-11
Steal mine, please. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Volume knob went in the 13th month. Of course we all know a 120 buck rig is disposable, but after 13 months ? Where did the corporate responsibility of this company go ? Radio scares the snot out of anyone now with blasting, intermittent audio, and that's after having t fiddle with it when the audio simply cuts out. Glad I only have one and it's not in my personal vehicle. If you had to graph the QC at Yaesu you'd get sea sick starting with the good MP to the MK Vs with lemon displays to the Fields and MK Vs with apparently good QC in 2005 or so, to the lemon final boards that caused the FT-817ND to emerge, to the nice FT-7800R, then this lemon...

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Earlier 5-star review posted by WV1K on 2007-05-15

This radio is great. My father has one and I have three for various uses such as APRS, the DX Cluster and Echolink. The full backlit buttons are a long overdue feature on ALL mobile radios whether you use them at home or in the car.

The radio is sensitive enough that with a Diamond quarter wave dual band antenna on a hatch mount, my father can use only two repeaters to drive from Cape Cod to Connecticut.

I did see a new Yaesu coming soon that adds Bluetooth for 100 dollars more than the FT-7800R sells for. The FT-7800R is another great rig. Yet it appears there is no true dual band receive in the to be released Yaesu ?

That's scalping if that's the case. We all have a BCB radio in our cars. And almost all cells come with Bluetooth and a headset is usually free when you buy it. If not it's 20 bucks.

I hope that's not the next stunt for 2m only radios. There are no laws mandating hands free hams, nor do we have to "prepare" for them since we never put the audio to our ear to begin with.

And as an aside, a company CAN make a good radio for more than two years. That's the way it is with HF radios. Why do you go back to buy a good rig and 6 months later it's gone ?...
WD8RWI Rating: 2009-07-11
Don't waste your money Time Owned: more than 12 months.
On the surface the FT 1802M seems to be a decent rig for the price, but it has one fatal flaw. Instead of some kind of reasonable mike connector, Yaesu chose to use a cheap, crappy and fragile phone type plug. This plug lasted just about 15 minutes after I put it in a vehicle. After that it was continually coming unplugged and when I thought I was talking to the net control while doing a public service event, I wasn't even keying the radio. Prior to putting it in a vehicle, I had been using it in my shack just to access a local repeater so there where no bounces or shakes or other disturbances. But, like I said, once it was put in a vehicle, junk city! I would strongly urge anybody looking for a low priced mobile to buy anything but this junker.
K3SI Rating: 2009-06-11
Dead Audio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Had mine a few months and the receive audio went out,audio was ok on the cw practice and the beep tone but could hardly hear any received signals.The rig was only used in the shack never mobile. Returned to factory under warrenty and got it fixed. An audio amp chip out. It then worked long enough to get out of warrenty and then the audio went out again, same problem. Scrapped it and bought an icom.

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Earlier 2-star review posted by K3SI on 2007-11-24

Worked ok in the shack for about 5 months and then had no audio on receive signals, beep and cw practice sounded good but could hear nothing of incoming signals despite good signal strength. Got repaired at Yaesu and returned only to quit again after 3 days. Now awaitng second repair trip.
M3GNM Rating: 2009-05-23
Fantastic value for money Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought mine from Chris at ML&S and cannot praise the radio highly enough. Fantasic audio reports both simplex and through the repeaters. First contact was simplex (mobile) through Reading town center. Great reports given and received. In fact the other station I was speaking to was also using the same radio. Considering that the DTMF mic on its own would cost £38 - this radio is really excellent value. The build quality is excellent and would suit most peoples need for mobile use. I'm running mine though the aux port on my stereo system so all audio comes through the car spreaker system - brilliant! Couldn't have asked for better. Well done Yaesu! Its a pity some of the other makers cant't seem to do the same. Bravo!
GM4ULS Rating: 2009-04-13
Good for what it is Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I use it for the following:

1. Interfaced to a PC for a local internet gateway. It works fine but runs hot, so I have a fan mounted behind it.

2. Reading the GB2RS news broadcast. Ditto hot running. I use a Watson WM-308 desk mic for that - good reports.

3. Occasional simplex contacts, and through the local repeater.

4. The built in morse generator - great fun!

Overall it does what I ask of it.