TYT TH-9800 Plus Quad Band Mobile Two Way Radio

If you are finding yourself stuck between making this purchase or the Wouxun KG-UV980P, so yourself a favor -- buy the Wouxun -- I really wish that I did.

This radio doesn't support split tones, it doesn't support a Time-out timer in cross-band repeater mode (which is horrible since I bought it with this intention), it doesn't support memory channel groups even though it has 800 channels, has one of the flimsiest PTT handsets I have ever used (which, btw, it doesn't have a speaker in it), it sometimes gets hot and has shut down on me a couple of times while transmitting at full power in spite of having an antenna with an SWR between 1.1 to 1.3, I get complaints of coming in sometimes with static on a nearby repeater (after coming in crystal clear on my handheld), I get only 25 watts on UHF instead of the advertized 40 watts, it has very poor quality speaker jack that feels like it's going to break, the USB programming port is loose and works only if I tape it in place, and the LCD becomes very dim unless you have the screen tilted downward.

Two stars instead of one because it is a Superheterodyne radio, which is something I guess.

Maybe I'll just give this one to my kid or stick it in a box and save up for a different brand.

Look, if you're a hard-core HAM radio guy looking for some fancy feature packed radio, this probably isn't what you want. If you're looking for a compact radio that's easy to install in a vehicle with no space (Jeep Gladiator for me) to make some contacts over 70cm and 2M, plus hop over onto the GMRS bands so you can talk your off-road buddies all in one radio- this is the radio for you. I can comfortably hit all my local repeaters, program on the fly for simple channels, and love that I don't need a separate rig to also talk on GMRS. Install was clean and simple without any fancy power needs. The included remote cable was sufficiently long to install my faceplate where I wanted it, and I've so far found the internal speaker to be adequate for most contacts. I'd agree with others that it should be installed somewhere with lots of airflow to be safe. The reduction of one star is because the radio does feel "cheap" in the hand, especially the mic. I'll admit that I work in public safety, so top dollar Motorola stuff is my norm, but I would imagine things could have been a bit beefier to increase durability in a mobile installation application like an off-road vehicle. I also realize you get what you pay for, but the ability to do something with APRS would have been cool- however that's completely on me, not the radio.

Seems to be a great little radio with one quirk. If you're monitoring a frequency on one side of the radio and the other side is scanning, whenever the scanning side jumps to a different band, the radio makes a small noise almost like a barely audible "boing". It also makes an even less noticeable "click" as it scans through each frequency. I've only had my radio for a couple of weeks, but it has more than lived up to my expectations, which is important because I'm a ham on a budget. I can't afford to throw money at radios.

Very happy about the radio. Good quality.
About the seller i was surprise about the shipping taxe ans custom to france. It nearly double the price of the order. I am buying a lot of thing from us and the taxe and delivery rate off this seller is very expensives.
Otherwise the radio came in only one week. That is pretty good.

Great radio at a great price. Installed as mobile in my truck and it works great!

Very nice radio, easy to program manually or with the software. Get one.

This is my 2nd one, It is the only radio that allows you to use the NATO PLL code to communicate with vintage military radios in restored vehicles.

didnt want to program 300 channels after replacing the internal battery on my kenwood tribander and got this radio to try.
used chirp to set up the 800 channels and really like it , handles signal overload pretty well , tends to go a little deaf and not get all intermod'e on scanning... also a plus. support area on yahoo group's .

Great radio. So I placed an SWR meter on it and with no other work, came out 1.2 and worked right out of box. Not bad... Even at 10m and 6m... Very cool. I was like WOW!... Nice. OK, this babe going in my truck.
Since you're sold out, I plan on getting a few more... Get this radio but wait until I buy mine first.

The only question I have is that it sounds like the fan runs all the time is that normal

This is a nice little radio. Works great and price is good too. Got this for radio go box. Going to get one for car.

I was suprized when I went through some areas that would normally generate problems with RF and did not have any problems. Generally a decent rig. The beep on the scan when it stops on a frequency is loud and I got a complaint about the mike being too "hot" Had to adjust the bandwidth to middle bandwith...it picks up the blower on the air conditioning..other wise it is greatr

I bought this, and connected it to a homebrew UHF/VHF antenna from QST in the 80's, and now my signal is coming through loud and clear (according to my fellow amateurs). Easy to set up and use, powerful amp. Would buy again.

Ive had this radio for a few weeks now and I am very pleased. I use it on ham bands as well as gmrs. The output power is a few watts more than advertised which was unexpected but fine with me... hihi. I am going to buy another one for the xyl's vehicle. It is simple to program without software and easy to use.

This radio is feature packed, and small in size.

While this might not be the top quality of the major name brands, it has proved to be very versatile and dependable so far. This will be my second TH-9800. I have found that in addition to the VHF, UHF, 10M FM and 6M FM, it can operate very well on GMRS as well as other frequencies you might need depending on your occupation. It will also operate on FRS and MURS although it's minimum transmit power is 5w, a little more than allowed on those two bands. I have fabricated a bracket and wired up a 12V computer fan to aid in keeping mine cool when under heavy use and that seems to keep it happy. I have been pleased with this product.

I use on ham&fire band,s excellent on both bands!!!