Nice rig. Good price: FT 7800R 2m/70cm

[KD8AQO]

This is just going to be a short little review.

Out of 10 stars I would have to give this radio an 9.

I love this little rig. I use it as a base at home. The current AES price is: $255.99.

This Dual bander has 50 watts on 2 meters and 40 watts on 70cm.


Pros:
Some of the nice things I really like about this radio is the Smart search feature. You can press the Smartscan button and it automatically stores the frequencies that are active temporarily in its own "file". So if your ever just looking for activity or your on the road...or your in a place you have never been before, this feature will certainly come in handy.

If you choose to put this rig in your car, the handy dandy DTMF microphone comes in great use. You can do everything from changing the power settings, to storing frequencies right from the microphone keypad! This comes in handy because you don't really have to touch the radio its self while your driving because you can control most of the radio right from the palm of your hand!

The LCD screen has a nice orange glow, so you can see it very well in the nighttime as well as the day time.

The instruction manual that comes with it is very easy to follow. I think anyone from smart to dumb will be able to program this radio!

This radio has AWESOME RX and from my audio reports they have I always have full quieting on TX.

Cons:
The only things I do not like about this radio is that everytime you TX, the fan starts. I guess that is good in a way to prevent overheating (but it does get annoying).

Another thing. When you first turn the rig on. It makes this loud beeping noise that you are not able to shut off or turn down. When you press any of the buttons they are at a default volume. That stinks for me because when i want to go on the radio at night. The whole house gets to hear the beeps in the beginning.


Overall I think this rig is great. Yaesu did a great job with this one!

If you have anymore questions about this rig feel free to PM me.

73,
KD8AQO

[N8BMB]

READ THE BOOK, DUDE! In the book it tells you how to turn the beeps on/off!!!!!

[va3css]

KD8AQO said:

That stinks for me because when i want to go on the radio at night. The whole house gets to hear the beeps in the beginning.

Paper walls stink, don't they?

There is one other major con with this rig: if you're in a downtown area that has a lot of external RF from pager systems and what not, this rig allows a lot of that interference in. So much so, that you'll tend to not even have it on most of the time.

That may not affect you, and so you haven't had to deal with it, but every other 7800 owner has told me the same thing.

It's also true of it's big brothers, the 8800 and 8900 quad-bander.

Great radios, but not for high RF areas.

[N8BMB]

- I don't know about that, Carlo - the few times I go downtown Detroit or across the river, I am IN that environement and have yet to date had that kind of problem!

[KD8AQO]

va3css said:

Paper walls stink, don't they?

There is one other major con with this rig: if you're in a downtown area that has a lot of external RF from pager systems and what not, this rig allows a lot of that interference in. So much so, that you'll tend to not even have it on most of the time.

That may not affect you, and so you haven't had to deal with it, but every other 7800 owner has told me the same thing.

It's also true of it's big brothers, the 8800 and 8900 quad-bander.

Great radios, but not for high RF areas.

I actually have noticed a little bit of interfierence at times. But I think you can adjust the RF squelch to get rid of it.

By the way thanks Dennis for the tip on the 'beep' thing.

[va3css]

n8bmb said:

- I don't know about that, Carlo - the few times I go downtown Detroit or across the river, I am IN that environement and have yet to date had that kind of problem!

You must have a bad antenna!

I get it within four blocks of downtown Windsor. Dunno about downtown Detroit, though. Intermod always seemed worse in Windsor than in Detroit.

[KD8AQO]

va3css said:

You must have a bad antenna!

I get it within four blocks of downtown Windsor. Dunno about downtown Detroit, though. Intermod always seemed worse in Windsor than in Detroit.

Do you also have this rig Carlo?

[va3css]

KD8AQO said:

Do you also have this rig Carlo?

I had the 7100 - virtually identical. But I was in the same vehicle with someone who had the 7800 and heard the same thing.