TYT TH 9800 Quad Band Mobile

[Wire Weasel]

I did a search and didn't see any recent posts on this one so I thought I'd start a fresh one. By choice I'd gone all my ham life since 1993 having only 2 meters as a base or mobile. I figured I'd have all the talking I wanted to do on 2M and dual band radios cost twice as much and the antennas are a bit more as well. I have a good local friend who has a 440 machine and decided I'd finally upgrade. Went with the TYT TH 9800 Quad Band mobile for $200. The specs seemed impressive and you can't beat the price. They did quite a bit of copying of the Japan designs. Physically it's the same size as the Icom 2300 I was using. Used the same quick connect power cable so didn't have to change the cable half coming off my power supply. The width and screw holes of the mobile mounting bracket were exactly the same as the 2300 and the 2300's bracket sits the radio better on my setup so put the 2300's bracket on the 9800. Is 50W VHF and 40W UHF in 4 steps. Is ham bands only out of the box but will have a buddy coming over with a PC laptop to perform the Expansions via software download. Came with the programming cable. This thing has every programmable feature you could ask for plus some more. Audio quality is excellent in & out. Has a cooling fan on rear heat sink. 800 Memory chs in all kinds of configurations.
After mods will:
RX 26-33 AM/FM & TX FM
RX & TX AM/FM 47-54
RX 108-136 AM
RX & TX FM 136-180
RX & TX FM 320-512
RX FM 750-950
.
Can program memories with Chirp but I went ahead and manually programmed my usual list as Chirp wasn't available to me on the spot. Very decently written large-size manual that was easy enough to follow. Like any new radio there's the learning curve to go through the manual but I didn't find it that difficult.
This radio is a scream for a lousy $200 bucks
.
Have the Diamond X510 17' dual band base antenna coming Friday. Is 3x5/8 on 2M and 8x5/8 on 440. Can't wait to see how much better that works then the 2x5/8 2M ant. I have now.

 

[Blackcat630]

I don't have experience with the 9800 but ran a 7800 for a few years. I almost bought the 9800 but saw no need for FM only 10/6 meters. We have no repeaters locally on those bands and lf the bands are that open I have other radio options for FM work.

I really like the yeasu knock off design of the 7800. My first dual-band mobiles were the yaesu 8000 and later the 8800. I still have a 8800 in the closet. Great radio. I always received great audio reports on the TYT and power output was as advertised.

Now with that said, the thing I didn't like about the 7800 was the receive. It had good sensitivity but terrible selectivity. I call it the "barn door" front end that most Chinese vhf/uhf radios suffer from. Fortunately I live in a more rural area so it wasn't a huge issue for me. I think this lack of filtering is the price you pay ($ you save) by going the Chinese route.

My 7800 had many hours of long winded rag chews and held up fine. It has since been replaced by a Kenwood V71 but I keep the 7800 for another spare dual-bander. I've also run the TYT 9000 mono band 220 rig for years with great results.

I just wanted to share my experience with the TYT stuff. Best of luck with your setup and let us know your impressions of the new rig and antenna setup.

 

[Wire Weasel]

Thanks Blackcat. I am in a rural area also and never get any intermod from anything. I only went with the 9800 as they were the same price as the dual band 7900.