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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
WD8T Rating: 2009-04-13
1 year and dead... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Bought the FT-1802M new about a year ago and have been using it in my truck. It's seen very little actual "on time" and has not been abused. Turned it on yesterday and it was completely dead. I checked all the power connections and fuses and even tried it in the house on a power supply and verified it's "belly up". It worked ok for the time I had it. The controls are not intuitive at all. I ecpected more than a year out of this rig.
AB0RE Rating: 2008-10-06
Miserable Scan Speed Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I owned this radio for a few months. It was an okay radio, doing what any FM Mobile radio needs to do. The two complaints I had with it was the loose squelch (seemed like I had to have it turned very high all the time) and the slow scan speed (in comparison to other 2M mobiles I've owned). The scan speed reminded me of some of the older Kenwood and Alinco radios, which was a real surprise coming from Yaesu.

Those of you who are looking for a radio to double as a scanner, check out the Icom IC-2200H. It scans lightning fast, has linkable scan banks, and has the ability to globally (for all channels) turn the alpha tags on/off via the setup menu (great for checking programmed frequencies quickly). If you're looking for a basic 2M mobile and only plan the program a few frequencies in, the 1802 will fit the bill nicely. Other than that, the radio is nothing special.

73,
Dan / ab0re
K7JBQ Rating: 2008-09-06
great audio reports Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Finally replaced the old Kenwood TM-231A in mobile service when the finals croaked, and have nothing but great -- and unsolicited -- reports about how good the rig sounds.

Yes, it gets hot at full power, but I run at the 25 watt level most of the time and unless I get long-winded the heat is not an issue.

Great value for the price.

73,
Bill
K4SVE Rating: 2008-08-10
bad from the factory Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
won at a local hamfest, hooked up radio, right side of display not working, at least it was free
KI4WVW Rating: 2008-05-20
Nice little radio Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought this radio about a year ago, and it has never been down once. Some weird things happened, but it still runs fine.
The weird things;
It used to get really hot after running it on 50 watts. But now, it barely gets warm. It still puts 50 watts out according to my power meter.

The power across the 2 meter band is not very stable. on 145.000MHz, it is right at 50. At 146.000MHz it is around 55-60 watts, and at 147.000MHz, it is about 65 watts! Maybe all radios do this, but I hope something does not burn out from Txing too much power. I don't know very much about these things, so i just make those extra far contacts and enjoy my 60 watt version. :-)

I do suggest this radio to anyone who wants a very good mono band radio. It has a mic gain setting that most other radios don't have. As well as paging, password, CW training, Exelent receive, and turning on Narrow FM makes the signal come in a little bit better, and all those other features that make this radio great!
73's
Ki4wvw
KI6DKC Rating: 2008-02-27
LOVE THIS TRANCEIVER Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've had this rig for a little over two months and have not regretted it one bit. Was originally licensed as a Tech in 2006 but never really did anything with it until I got this unit and started making some contacts over the local repeaters. There are a few features which attracted me to the machine.

1. Simple. I'm not a real technical guy and have very little experience with doing this sort of thing. Being from the Nintendo generation I grew up thinking that everything had to come already installed and assembled. As such, I was concerned that my abilities as a young tech would not allow me to get this unit going. But this rig was easy to install, easy to use, and easy to program. I downloaded the manual before I purchased and found the instructions easy to understand with helped aleviate my concerns.

2. Price: I couldn't beat the price on this. If you are married then you know how it can be a challenge to convince the significant other to part with some money to buy yet another piece of Ham Radio equipment. I told the wife that this is what I wanted for Christmas and she gave the OK. The worst part was waiting until December 25th to get to open it. The price is low enough that you can pick one up without breaking the bank or having to work like a cigarette company lobbyist in Washington to close the deal with the spouse.

Installation was a snap, which was my big concern. I had never done anything like this before so I was worried that I might ruin my new radio. I got a Larson 5/8 Wave 2 Meter Whip and went to work. My simple craftsman multimeter and some simple hand tools that I already had were all I needed. The Larson came with the NMO fitting, coax, and PL 259 fitting and the radio had everything else. I only drilled on hole for the whole install which was nice. Not too long after that I had made my first contact. A thrill I will never forget.

Clarity: I drive a pickup and many of the roads I drive on are paved in a sense but are pretty rough. I was worried that I might not be able to hear with the little speaker on the radio but I have had no problems. Even weak signals are intelligible. I get strong signal reports from other hams even though I almost run 100% on the lowest power setting.

This radio almost single handedly got me excited about being a ham again. It gave me the confidence to try new things in the hobby. I have since passed my General Exam and purchased my first HF rig, something I had never considered trying before this radio. I'm even thinking of getting one of these radios for my wife's vehicle and trying to get her to become a ham.

I recommend this radio for anyone looking to get started in ham radio. It is a good starter rig and performs well. It installs easy and is easy to use.
VE6JJO Rating: 2008-02-13
Little Jewel Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The menu system is straightforward and logical and the manual explains everthing very well. Programming the memory is easy. The heatsink does get warm during long tranmissions - gee go figure huh?

This is a sweet little jewel of a radio, love the lighted mic and the receive audio quality. Good reports on the the transmit quality as well. For the price what more could you possibly want for an FM 2m rig?
KD8DNR Rating: 2008-02-11
Great Little Radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Excellent radio for a new technician licensee. I bought this radio a few weeks after receiving my license in May '06. I will say it does get a little hot to the touch but I've taken care of that issue by installing a small cooling fan on the back of the rig (Modeling the FT-7800.)

Go for it! :-)

KC0LRM Rating: 2008-02-07
MY COMMENTS Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The radio works great. It does get a little hot, but not a problem yet. My only gripe is intermod. I can't hardly drive by big buildings or certain areas without the radio squawking at me. It really gets annoying sometimes.
AC5PS Rating: 2008-02-05
they work for me Time Owned: more than 12 months.
SWDUNCAN Stole my thunder, I have had three of them in daily use for 1 year now with no trouble at all. Two are mobile and one in the house. The one in the house does do something strange. When turning the DC power supply on the radio lets out a couple of pop sounds out of its speaker before I turn the radio on? But works just fine.