Hello! If you are not familiar with me, then welcome! My name is Jackson Gunter. My call sign is KJ5APW, and I hold a technician class amateur radio license (as of February 2024). In this article, I would like to briefly discuss my opinions and some facts about the main radio I use, the TYT TH-9800.
Because I live with my parents, and they aren’t too fond of cables everywhere, my primary station is my car. Here you can see that I simply mounted the TYT TH-9800 on my dash using some Velcro strips. This is the easiest way of mounting in my opinion and has worked the best for me so far. If you want a more permanent solution, Lido Radio has some options for this radio. (I’m not sponsored.)
Specifications of the TYT TH-9800:
This radio is a quad-band transceiver, meaning that it is capable of operation on the 10m, 6m, 2m, and 70cm bands. It can also receive AM airband. It is FM transmit only, so techs like me do not have access to transmit on the 10M band. Everything else is fair game! I enjoy this feature of the radio because it gives me more options and theoretical range.
On the topic of range, the TYT TH-9800 has a transmit power of 50 watts on VHF and 40 on UHF with steps at 20w,10w, and 5w in between. For some reason, I am unable to find information about the transmit power on HF, but it seems to be 50w as well. This radio has cross-band repeat. However I have never used it, so I do not know how to use it or how well it works.
I use the Diamond Original CR8900A (closest antenna in image). It came from the factory tuned correctly for 6m, 2m, and 70cm. However it was not correct for 10m, and I have yet to fix it. It has been a good antenna in my experience, and I have been able to talk to people dozens of miles away from my location.
The Review:
As far as Price-to-Performance goes, I would highly recommend this radio for any new ham because the radio and the antenna are only about $350 for both. In my experience, I have noticed that I only need 20 watts for most use anyway, but the ability to go upwards of 40 watts is very handy in a pinch.
The menus are quite easy to navigate, and it is easy to program with some quick referencing of the manual. You can also program it with a Windows computer and the right cable/program combo, but I have never tried.
Overall, if you are on the fence about buying this radio I would highly recommend it. For $200, I can certainly say this is a really great radio for anyone interested.