Anyone have one of these they never use anymore? I would like to purchase one. My group of folks are looking to go 2m and that one was recommended to me for some reason above my pay grade and knowledge base.
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Looking for a Yaesu 8800
- Thread starter CrackbottomLouis
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I don't know anything about the 8800 specifically. But here are some mobile rig reviews that might be helpful: eHam.net
Looking for that one or an 8900. Just posted on the off chance one of you folks had one gathering dust somewhere. I think any 2m mobil rig will do though.
When my Yaesu mobile crapped out a few years ago after MANY years, I bought one of these. I haven’t had any trouble with it, as you can see it’s a knock off of the Yaesu.
TYT
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0166EIFXW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_hL.7Eb85JD5VZ
TYT
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0166EIFXW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_hL.7Eb85JD5VZ
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Running it by my friend. Thanks for the recommendation. How long have you had it?
Are Chinese knock-offs sometimes good? I will have to look at that TYT when (if) I am ever in the market for a mobile. I don't have any experience with mobiles (new licensee).
I only have two handhelds: A Yaesu FT-60R and a Baofeng UV-5R (the Baofeng was received as a gift). The Yaesu runs circles around the Baofeng. Is the Yaesu made in China? Or is it Japan (or somewhere else?) Whatever, the Baofeng is definitely Chinese and no match for the Yaesu. You could replace the Baofeng with a brick having a stick taped to it (for the antenna) without much performance degradation over the original Baofeng. That piece of junk turned me off to the CCC (Cheap Chinese Crap) radios. But maybe some Chinese stuff is better. The FT-60R is an older Yaesu design. I have read that many of the newer Yaesu's are just Baofeng's in disguise (that's why they are so cheap). But I don't have any experience using the newer Yaesu handhelds.
I would hope that the Chinese mobiles might be significantly better than the Chinese handheld (Baofeng). Because the mobiles aren't trying to hit the Baofeng's $20 price point (you'll pay more than that for a decent handheld antenna). I will give the Baofeng credit in one regard, it feels pretty solid in the hand for a $20 item. It doesn't feel super cheap. But performance, at least for mine, is atrocious.
I only have two handhelds: A Yaesu FT-60R and a Baofeng UV-5R (the Baofeng was received as a gift). The Yaesu runs circles around the Baofeng. Is the Yaesu made in China? Or is it Japan (or somewhere else?) Whatever, the Baofeng is definitely Chinese and no match for the Yaesu. You could replace the Baofeng with a brick having a stick taped to it (for the antenna) without much performance degradation over the original Baofeng. That piece of junk turned me off to the CCC (Cheap Chinese Crap) radios. But maybe some Chinese stuff is better. The FT-60R is an older Yaesu design. I have read that many of the newer Yaesu's are just Baofeng's in disguise (that's why they are so cheap). But I don't have any experience using the newer Yaesu handhelds.
I would hope that the Chinese mobiles might be significantly better than the Chinese handheld (Baofeng). Because the mobiles aren't trying to hit the Baofeng's $20 price point (you'll pay more than that for a decent handheld antenna). I will give the Baofeng credit in one regard, it feels pretty solid in the hand for a $20 item. It doesn't feel super cheap. But performance, at least for mine, is atrocious.
It’s all about the price. I’ve never had a bad one. My first HT was a Kenwood that was the smallest one made at the time. After getting it modified from the dealer it was a little over $500. Was it a nice radio, yes. Was it worth being 25 times more than a Baofeng..... at the time I did not have that option.
About three years. I have it on all the time in the car running APRS, but I had to rig a special patch connection for it to work.
The thing has to at least work though. I tested my Baofeng side-by-side with my Yaesu. Both batteries fully charged. I hooked the better antenna to the Baofeng - a copper tubing J-Pole. The Yaesu was equipped with a whip antenna. I tested on 2 meters to my clubs repeater about 18 miles away. The Yaesu received beautifully - max signal strength shown on its meter, full quieting, very loud and clear audio. The Baofeng - nothing. It couldn't pick up anything. I manually held its squelch open to see if there was any signal at all buried in there. Nothing. On to the transmit test. Both radios set to 5 watts, antennas as described before. The Yaesu easily triggered the repeater, and I got reports that my signal was perfect. The Baofeng wouldn't even trip the repeater. I thought, "Hey, is there something wrong with my J-Pole?" So I swapped antennas between the radios. It wasn't the antenna. The Yaesu still performed perfectly. The Baofeng was still useless. A few days later I tested the Baofeng with a friend who was very close. Indeed, the Baofeng could receive and transmit. And it worked well with my friend only a few hundred feet away. So the Baofeng wasn't totally broken, it just didn't have the performance to accomplish anything useful for me. I can accept some performance loss for monetary savings. However, the Baofeng took that to the extreme ... to the point of being basically non-functional.
Maybe my Baofeng is just a dog and other peoples specimens are better. That is certainly possible. Manufacturing quality control is not going to be stellar when you're talking about a $20 CCC product. I have found that the Baofeng can receive the NOAA weather broadcast frequency well enough inside my house, even with its OEM rubber ducky antenna. So the Baofeng is now a dedicated weather radio for me, not a ham radio.
Anyway, the original discussion was about mobiles, not handhelds. That TYT looks interesting for the price. I'm pretty sure it's Chinese. I mentioned my Chinese vs. other experience with handhelds only because that's the only experience I have. But I'm interested in hearing how the various mobiles perform (both Chinese and other countries models). Someday, I may mount my J-Pole up on the roof and get a mobile plus power supply 2 meter rig for use in my house. We have too many cars that I switch between for it to make sense for me to set up a rig there. I'd either need a bunch of rigs, or one that I'd constantly be moving from vehicle to vehicle. I don't drive around much anyway. And it's usually short trips where I wouldn't be getting on the radio.
If it's mission critical, I prefer the big brands ( Icom, Kenwood Yaesu ), they perform well and consistently. For casual use, the "off brands" often work ok, but I dont think the overall quality is there. I've got a "B-Tech" triband mounted in the car, it's fine for driving around and hitting repeaters. The "go Box" is set up for a Kenwood TM-281 and a Yaesu FT-60. Not much use around here for 440, too many hills, and not enough well placed repeaters.
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Wow, didn't realize these are now "old models", and the price of the new ones, another wow. We have one, but not ready to part with it.
I have some Kenwood TMD 700s thatvhave been excellent performers. They may have a replacement model by now. I would stick with Kenwood, icon or yeasu for annual band rig. I also recommend getting a model that allows cross band repeat. I didnt use that a lot, but its invaluable when u need it.
One major feature of the Yaesu FT-8800 is it has cross-band repeater functionality built-in. That means the radio itself can act as a repeater between VHF and UHF (as opposed to conventional repeaters that stay on the same band).
There are a bunch of mobile rigs available now that also do that. The TYT mentioned above does, as does the B-Tech UV-50x3. HT's like the Baofeng are cross-band capable - their offsets can be huge which permit using a cross-band repeater. My Kenwood TH-F6a isn't capable of doing this.
There are a bunch of mobile rigs available now that also do that. The TYT mentioned above does, as does the B-Tech UV-50x3. HT's like the Baofeng are cross-band capable - their offsets can be huge which permit using a cross-band repeater. My Kenwood TH-F6a isn't capable of doing this.
I actually found one. Been a bit busy of late but got a friend that's gonna help me get set up.
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Be aware that a 2m\ 440 /75cm (440/75cm same freq. Just two popular ways to identify it) are line of sight comm freq. They do not bounce and anyone over the horizon (the distance to the horizon on flat is approximately 13 miles)cannot receive your transmission without a separate repeater located between. As far as I know privately owned separate repeaters do not "chain link" transmissions. In other words you can enter a 2m repeater tower area and enter the freq and offset and it will relay any transmission to anyone in its operating area only.
Dang! I'm one of the few that should be listening to the chatter between real Americans instead of propaganda spewed by monsters.
On occasion, some repeaters use "echo link" or other methods to chain repeaters together, but they are few and far between. Introducing EchoLink. http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Technology/tis/info/pdf/voip.pdf
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My rig only goes up to 6m so considering that I will need to buy another unit the 8800 will be a good choice.
One other possible option if you already have an HF rig is to set up an NVIS antenna. They're essentially perfectly horizontal - no slopes at all. Your signal will go straight up then bounce roughly straight down. Coverage can be pretty large - as big or bigger than a 2m/70cm repeater network. It also helps people who live in a basin or valley. They might have serious problems reaching a line-of-site repeater, but an HF signal comes right down on top of them.
