TYT TH-9800 Quad Band 50W Cross-Band Mobile Car Ham Radio Black 5.5 x 1.58 x 8.35"

A few years ago 2 friends of mine each bought a Yaesu FT 8900. I had the opportunity to observe and also use the radio. I thought it was nice, but certainly priced too high to be worth the investment for me. Up until recently I had only ever used and needed a single band 2 meter or dual band VHF/UHF rig in the vehicle and that met my needs. 4 bands? Who really uses or needs 4 bands? I Thought to myself.In recent years I've been both more active on the ham radio and doing more on the road. Often times there were UHF repeaters that would lend themselves better to a particular situation but I only had 2 meters available. Or sometimes If I had dual band it was just a 5 watt HT hooked to a mobile antenna. It performed well but I needed more power and less clutter than having speakers, microphones, power cables and coax strung all over the car.It had been since I got my ticket in 2001 I last purchased a brand new mobile radio. Yes, I was definitely due for new mobile rig. I figured it may as well be the best mobile I can afford. But $400+ for a Yaesu quad bander? Still no way I could justify it. With lots of chatter amongst the locals about the new budget priced Chinese rigs I began to pay attention. A year before the TYT-TH9800 was even produced I found out it was in the design stages. I made a point to follow the progress and buy one if it turned out to be worthwhile.So was it worthwhile? Well, turns out my job is now sending me on road trips as much as 300 miles or more a day. Remote wilderness areas of upstate PA. No cell service dead zones. The HT had to go and I replaced it with the TH9800. Now I wonder how I ever got by on anything less. Paired with a tri-band Radio Shack "scanner" antenna this rig has been pure mobile operating bliss. Its powerful, reliable, and easy to operate.The hyper memories (A-F keys) are especially useful. As I travel to different regions of the state I can set and later recall a preset configuration for the radio to match the repeaters I use in that region. No need to scroll through hundreds of memories.I find myself using the dual receive all the time. As I'm beginning to fade on one repeater I can scan or look for another on the other side of the rig with a smooth as silk transition. I especially like that this radio, unlike the Yaesu version allows reception of CB. So I can have CB channel 19 on the left and 2 meters on the right. I squelch ch19 for only the important stuff and carry on my repeater rag chew as I put the interstate miles behind me.Audio reports have been fabulous, with quite a few saying "Where can I get one" in response to hearing the offerings of this radio. All 800 memories of this radio are full, thanks to ordering the USB Programming cable. Yes, it CAN be done in CHIRP, contrary to most of what you read on the web. CHIRP cannot upload and download to the radio yet but that's no big deal. You simply use the TYT software to capture a .dat file and open that in CHIRP. Then you can use all the neat options in CHIRP to download your frequencies and import them into the .dat file. Use the TYT to upload the .dat. Done! I have every 10/6/2/70 repeater in the state loaded into the radio with plenty of extra room. Outside of having a mobile all band/all mode I dont think it gets any better than this radio. Especially for this price!!*My version is the "Plus Upgraded" version. This version, according to the TYT representative that wrote me back,(great customer service) fixes several bugs in the firmware and makes the crossband repeat feature work better.

After researching several transceivers I decided this was the best for my needs... then clicked on the wrong one! Accidentally ordered the dual band version which is the same brand & model number; however this model has a "plus" after the model number. As soon as I saw the box I assumed someone else goofed. LOL. Then looked at my order & performed an appropriate face / palm. Easy return (pending) & I immediately ordered the correct "quad band model".It arrived Sunday morning! Wasn't expecting it until late Monday! Excited like a little kid Christmas morning I opened the box. The manual was right on top so I didn't need to dig for it. Surprisingly for a Chinese radio manual it was easily understandable. The radio menu is odd but if you read the manual first it's easy to adapt to. After becoming familiar with the features & controls I reopened the box.The radio looks nice! Apparently a copy of the Yaesu FT-8900R with nearly identical specs & features.Easy hookup on my radio bench, powered up then listened to each of the four bands. Audio was clear. I ordered the programming cable & software from another vendor & it hasn't arrived yet but was easily able to program in a few repeaters manually. Power levels were spot on with the specs as were the frequencies. Audio reports were excellent.I was a bit skeptical at first as I've never used 10 meter FM before but I like it! Several repeaters available as well. Much clearer than 10m AM! Sounds like 6 meter FM.Very nice radio that is going to get plenty of use. My intent is to mount it in my Jeep which will be going to all sorts of remote wilderness areas. Manual programming isn't difficult at all so if I need to add something out in the middle of nowhere, I can.To my surprise I like it so much I plan to buy another for the house.The only "bad" thing was the "beep" feature when programming manually. That got annoying really quick but it was easy to disable until I was done. That won't be as issue when programming via computer.The display is bright & clear with good layout. The controls are well placed & all have a good feel to them.I purchased the extended warranty but doubt I'll need it. I doubt I'll need the fire extinguisher or first aid kit I keep in my Jeep either but like the extended warranty, better to have it & not need it than the other obvious option.Bottom line... great radio at a fair price. A new Tech or veteran Extra Class ham wouldn't just be happy with it, they would be impressed. I highly recommend this radio.

Has been a great radio so far. Download the TYT software and use the password they give you to edit the frequency range (iykyk) then program on CHIRP. The only "issue" is that it will not support split tones so if you have a repeater that has a different RX and TX tone you will have to set up the radio to TX the tone an RX with no tone. The only way this is a problem is if you are in an area with a lot of simplex traffic on the same channel as the split tone repeater.Other than that it seems to have plenty of power. I have mine paired with an MXTA-26 antenna and easily hit a repeater over 40 miles away across rolling hills, with several towns between me and the tower. Scan function seems to be pretty quick, the remote head is nice. Incoming audio quality is pretty good and reports of my transmissions are always loud and really clear. I like that you can adjust the button beep volume and the screen brightness, and the dual watch, dual scan is nice. I programmed in the CB frequencies but I haven't tried to transmit on CB yet. I've heard that it doesn't actually transmit on AM, it only monitors AM even though the manual and program say it will. Either way, not a deal breaker for my use.