[amsat-bb] Re: Yaesu FT-8800

[Ari Kosonen]

2011/1/12 Ernie Howard <w8eh.ernie at gmail.com>

> I have three of the FT-8800 mobiles. They work great for satellite.


I have FT-8900 in my car (which is pretty much the same radio, except with
2 additional bands, 28 and 50 MHz).
I am quite happy with the sensitivity of the radio, no problems hearing
AO-51
and having few QSOs with suitable passes with Diamond NR770 mobile whip
in the tailgate of my vehicle. Usually passes rising not higher than ~60
degs
are quite good but the whip is not that good in higher elevations.

What I particularily like (besides the sat-capability) is that normally I am
using
the left side of the radio for monitoring the local repeaters while right
side acts
as an APRS transmitter (with TinyTrak attached).

What I don't like is the wobbly and fragile feeling of knobs of the radio.

The first FT-8900 I bought was DOA right out of the box, but after it got
replaced with another one, the current unit has served few years flawlessly.

73 de Ari OH3KAV
Tampere, Finland (grid: KP11)