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Reviews For: Wilson Electronics WE-800 2 Meter FM Transceiver

Category: Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Hand-held

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Review Summary For : Wilson Electronics WE-800 2 Meter FM Transceiver
Reviews: 2MSRP: 695.00
Description:
New for 1977, the WE-800 was a milestone in hand portable 2 meter FM transceivers. Fully synthesized and diode matrix programmed for 5 channels, 600 up, down, and simplex. 1 watt on the internal AA batteries and 10 watts on external power. The Wilson 800 is a classic and a rare find today.
Product is in production
More Info: http://wilsonelectronics.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0025
KQ4UV Rating: 2009-07-06
I dispute the rarity Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought my WE-800 in late 1978, I was kinda talked into buying it because the dealer couldn’t sell them so he knocked 100$ of the price, but I’m glad I did, It came out when 2M rigs were have more features with the same price, I have used mine so much that I wore out the speaker mike then used it for packet for a year in the early 90’s installed a speaker, What came in handy is the front BNC connector, Now it sits on the shelf working a way right above my HF rig, I just bought a working partsWE-800 for $25 bucks, And still see them for sale from time to time, More then a Icom or a Spectrum or even a Genave But I have to tell you, it’s a REAL WORKHORSE! Gave me great service.
AH6GI Rating: 2007-11-02
Breakthrough Design Time Owned: more than 12 months.
From the era of the crystal locked Drake TR-22 and the KLM Multi-2700, the Wilson 800 was a landmark product and years before the state of the art. Fully synthesized with "800" channels on 2 meters, it was battery powered and hand portable but also had 5 optional programmable channels. Programmable with diodes and solder, that is.

On the internal batteries, the WE-800 was a 1 watt HT but on external power, it included a 10 watt amplifier.

There were some strange features too. The heavy duty, almost industrial case has a speaker grill molded into it but no speaker. Perhaps they ran out of space. The speaker is in the hand mike.

There are two antenna connections, a BNC on the front panel and a UHF on the rear. These are switch selectable as is the amplifier.

The WE-800 has good sounding FM on transmit and receive and all the ergonomics of thumbwheel programming, similar to and well before the ICOM IC2AT.

At 30 years of age, this one's a classic but should be approached from the nostalgia perspective. It does not scan (there is a mod to add scanning), no autopatch (another mod), no PL either.

Originally priced at 2 to 3 times the larger, more CB-look, Drake TR-22, Wilson did not sell very many WE-800's.

The WE-800 has a sleek, mil-spec look with expensive chromed micro-toggle switches on the front, a black surround and gray, Collins-style textured control panel but cheap looking, plastic slide switches on the back. The big speaker-mike dwarfs the radio.

This is a fine addition to a retro-shack. I have mine next to the Signal/One.