TYT TH-7800 Review

TYT TH-7800

Why?

I bought a TYT TH-7800 in May of 2016 to use as a base unit.  It had all the features that I wanted, seemed to get good reviews, and was priced very reasonably.  Here's a list of the features that I wanted:

• Dual VFO - ability to listen to two stations at once.
• Ability to tune HAM, and GMRS frequencies.
• Good power output
• Good audio quality
• Cross-band repeater

After owning some cheap Baofeng radios and two more expensive radios, I've come to appreciate true Dual VFO capability.  The UV-5R and UV82L I own appear to support two frequencies simultaneously, but they do not.  Instead, when in dual frequency mode, they quickly toggle back and forth between the two frequencies they're set to.  The moment they detect a signal on one of the two frequencies, they lock into that signal until it stops, ignoring the other frequency completely.

Cheaper radios only have a single receiver chip inside them and it's impossible for them to actually watch two frequencies at the same time.  They often call the ability to work two frequencies Dual Watch.  This mode makes the most of a limited budget and is helpful at times, but it can be lacking in some situations.  It isn't as flexible as Dual VFO.

HAM purists will probably balk at the mention of GMRS, but it has its place.  I plan to use the TH-7800 as a family base station for communications in an area where cell phones are almost useless.  A $60 GMRS license enables grandparents, parents and children to all use the radio without any exams.  The one or two of us in the group that have our HAM license can also use the radio for 2m/70cm communication.  The TH-7800 has no problem tuning to GMRS frequencies out of the box. 

Good audio is self explanatory.  I tire of yelling into my Baofeng radios.  The TH-7800 has a sensitive mic and good speaker.  I'm not sure if I'll use the cross-band repeater functionality much, but it seems like a potentially useful feature.

There are cheaper radios, but they lack features like Dual VFO, Cross-band, and have lower power capability.  The TH-7800 seemed like a good intersection of features, quality, and price.

Pros:

• Good audio reports
• Easy to use most features
• Switching between bands super easy
• Separate volume and squelch nobs nice
• Programmable buttons on mic are great.  Wish there were more!
• Menu system similar to Baofeng.  Fairly simple.
• Programming channels is fairly easy.  Can program channel names without a computer.
• Hyper buttons are a great feature.
• Priced reasonably.

Cons:

• LCD works great for numbers, but letters are difficult to read.
• 6 letters for channel names is not enough.
• TYT software is very limited and awkward to use.
• No easy way to open squelch to check for weak signals or test volume level.

My Review

The basic operation of this radio is very intuitive and convenient.  Separate channel, volume, and squelch nobs for each VFO mean the fundamental control of this radio is very convenience.  The ergonomics and aesthetics are also pleasing.  Audio quality is rock solid when operating in Dual VFO mode.  Changing the active VFO, tuning a new frequency, and setting repeater parameters is also easy and intuitive.  Even programming a channel memory is pretty easy.  You can set an alphanumeric tag for your channel memories from the radio, too.  You won't need a computer for that.

Setting alphanumeric tags is still much easier using a computer keyboard.  The menu system requires users to turn a dial through the entire set of letters and numbers to select each and every character; a painful process to be sure.  T9 dialing on the mic keypad would be a much quicker alternative.

I did notice right off the radio beeps quite loudly.  The loudness of the beep can't be adjusted with the volume control or any other menu setting.  It was too much for me, so I turned it off.

One other slight audio glitch is that my radio sometimes produces a slight high pitch squeal when in single VFO mode.  This only happens for short periods of time if the left VFO is selected, and only while the radio is receiving a signal.  The right VFO never does this, and dual VFO mode is completely clean.  I'm curious if other TH-7800 owners experience this or not.

There are no voice prompts to speak of, so those of you with visual impairments may want to keep looking for a different radio.  The indicator beeps do change depending on the action you're performing, but not in a way that seemed overly helpful to me.  You might be able to realize where you are by sound and "feel" with a little practice.  Why haven't radio manufacturers turned to morse code for feedback of some things?

A potential bug in the radio firmware: the step setting seemed to return to 12.5KHZ no matter what I did.  I like to use 5KHZ in my area.

You'll encounter a major user-interface-misstep if you try to manually save a channel to a high memory location.  If you are trying to skip a hundred memories from your last channel, for example, you are in for a long session of turning the channel dial.  With 800 channel memories, it can really take a long time to find the slot you desire if it's not where TYT engineers envisioned for you.  Here again, using the mic keypad to enter the channel number would be a huge boon.

While on the topic of programming, the TYT software is quite poor.  It only works for Windows, is a little tricky to install, does not support cut-n-paste for any fields, and is quite clunky in a number of other ways.  I didn't notice any way to import or export settings.

I thought CHIRP would work with this radio, but there's no support for it at this time.  I was able to make some changes to the TH-9800 driver to get my radio working.  Maybe I can get my code merged into the mainline release by the time you read this and programming software will be a non-issue.

The programmable buttons on the mic keypad are very convenient.  TYT, can we have one or two more please?  I'd like to put the "Rev" key and squelch control on the mic in addition to the ones you've programmed by default.

The ARS (Automatic Repeater Shift) feature is nice and seems to work well.  This seems like a simple, yet convenient feature for a radio.  Thank you for including it TYT.

I wish there was a simple way to change channel memories from displaying "name" or "frequency".  The setting is per channel.  You can make the change from within the menu or a long press on the "lo" button on the front panel.  I really enjoy the ability to change it with a long press of a button.

I like to use a manual squelch button to check for weak signals and especially test the current volume level.  It took me a second to realize that there is a separate squelch control for each VFO next to the volume nob.  This gives quick control and is a great design decision.  You can also configure one of the programmable mic keys to open the squelch also.

The scanning features are solid on this radio.  Scanning speed seems respectable.  I found the operation quite intuitive as well.  So far I haven't run into a radio that's easier to run here, though I am a relatively green HAM.

The home channel is a cool option: simply press a button on the front panel to tune to a home channel for each band.  I definitely have a go-to frequency or two I programmed into the home channel button.

One last feature I'd like to call out is the Hyper Memory Keys on the front panel, which are labelled A-F.  This feature lets you set both sides of your radio to a channel memory, VFO, or whatever and save the complete setup.  Simply long hold one of the keys to save the current configuration into that Hyper Memory.  You can press that button again later to return your radio to the exact setting you saved.  This feature should come in handy for less technical users.  With the press of one button, users can put the radio into a mode they're familiar with.  All they need to know is which Hyper Memory to use and how the PTT button works.

Online reviews:

Here are some other reviews you may find helpful.  I tried not to replicate the info they've provided, so check them out if you want a more comprehensive look.

• Ham Radio 2.0: Episode 11 - TYT TH-7800 Debut
• eHAM.net TH-7800 Review