Wayfarer

I've since bought three DB-20-Gs, two from Amazon and one direct from Radioddity, for use on the farm and mobile for offroad/backcountry use. All the DB20s work great. So my batting average with chinese radios is improving. The DB20's seem to be good little radios. The TYT-7800/9800 and other Yaesu clones on the other hand, I'd stay away from. If you get good radios, then you won't ever have to deal with customer service. I got a Yaesu FTM-150RASP for home use, and it too works great. Broke the bank on that one - I can buy 4 DB20's for the cost of one FTM-150 - so that one stays home safe in the shack. Can't recommend this radio highly enough, but be prepared to pay up for the 'privilege' of operating a Japanese superheterodyne radio. HRO will do the MARS mod for an extra $35 if that's your thing. No further word still from Retrevis. As part of the return process, they had me open the radio and take a photo of the internal PCB. I had to order the special T6 torx tool to open the radio, which I did, and sent Retrevis the photo they requested. Since I sent them the photo now almost two weeks ago, crickets. So after jumping through all their hoops, now apparently they've ghosted me. It seems they would prefer to send their buyers on a wild goose chase and prevent any returns of defective radios, or maybe its just incompetence. Either way, if you get a defective radio, there isn't much of a recourse from Retevis, at least in my experience. So in the end: Radioddity GOOD (with a lot of prodding) and Retrevis BAD (with even more prodding but still unable to return the defective radio). Buyer beware and hope you get a good radio.

@WRYS709 I think I see your point, that I shouldn't have worded my title with "Do not buy direct" with my post instead suggesting people buy from Amazon. People don't like to be "told" what to do, especially based on one person's limited experience. I get that. Thanks for the extra explanation. I've edited the title, again, to delete that language. As for the rest of your criticisms, I'm not sure I understand, since you have no personal experience with their return process. I acknowledge you've always gotten good radios from Radioddity and that your buying experience has been better than mine. And Retevis is still giving me the runaround, no resolution there. ------------------- I received my DB20-G (from Amazon) and it works great. That one went into the truck, but I plan order two more for my Jeep and for farm base station use. But I won't be ordering anymore TYT-9800/7800s anytime soon.

That the return process is broken is a true statement and my post contains accurate information that may be helpful to other members here. I came back within an hour of getting the email from Radioddity to update my post and title and put that at the top of my post. I’m not sure what you’re wanting me to do?

The return process is indeed broken. It took weeks of pestering to get it resolved. I updated my post right at the very top, so I think I've done my duty to paint the full picture. I totally agree it's misleading and inconsiderate when original posters don't circle back when an issue is resolved.

I wouldn't paint chinese radios as all bad or junk. It's hit or miss, some people get a good radio and it works out for them, others, get a bad radio and then a subset of them have a bad return experience. I'm in the latter group. Following the suggestion of several on this forum, I bought a TYT-7800 and it too was defective, but luckily I bought it from a reputable US-based ham shop and the return was seamless. So that's 3 out of 4 chinese radios that were DOA. In 30 years of being a ham and buying dozens of radios, I never got one that was DOA until this experience. Take it for what it's worth, your experience may be different. In fairness to Radioddity, I did have a good experience with them last year, having bought a QT80 direct from them, and it works great. So I thought I'd give the VHF/UHF radios a try. Maybe the HF radios run off a different assembly line. I've decided on a Yaesu FTM-150 but am waiting for the spring hamfest deals to come around first. I'm swearing off chinese radios until they work out the quality control issues.

It was actually more expensive by a few bucks direct from them than through Amazon. I ordered direct from them as a courtesy to save *them* a couple bucks of not having it go through Amazon.

UPDATE: I just got an email and Radioddity has made good on both of the radios, the DB20-G and the TYT-9800. Apparently, the TYT-9800 got lost in the warehouse and they just found it. It took three weeks, but hey, that's a lot better than never. And they are refunding me for the returned-to-sender DB20-G, even though it got lost by USPS. Now I feel like a bit of a heel for posting the rant below. But this has been dragging on for weeks with no apparent movement, and then tonight I got an email out of the blue saying both issues have been resolved in my favor. To the poster below who suggested I keep pestering them with emails and they will eventually fix it, you were right, at least regarding Radioddity. The Retevis radio is still an open question, but the return issues with Radioddity have been fully resolved. Still, I would have preferred avoiding the whole hassle by having radios that weren't DOA. At least Radioddity customer service did right. In fact, I celebrated by buying a DB20-G ... from Amazon. .................................................... A bit of a rant here. I recently decided to give cheap chinese radios a try and bought three radios, two from Radioddity and one from Retevis. After I ordered the first one, a DB20-G, I decided to splurge and get their nicer dual band, the TYT-9800, so I refused and returned to sender the DB20-G. Well, it turned out the TYT-9800 was defective and I returned it (separate thread on here with me working through that problem). Well, now no one at Radioddity can find the radio and apparently it was lost in their warehouse, despite my RMA# being on the label and written prominently on the box. I've tossed the shipping receipt and no one at Radioddity has the tracking number for the return. Consequently, they are refusing to refund the purchase. As for the DB20-G that I refused and returned to sender, the shipment made it all the way back to the USPS City of Industry distribution center, and no further. It was scanned in there 7 weeks ago and after that disappeared. USPS won't let me initiate a trace because I never took possession of the package, only the shipper, Radioddity, can initiate the trace. So it appears this shipment was probably swiped at the distribution center. Well, Radioddity won't refund my money for that shipment either. (Edit: isn't the loss in shipping on Radioddity since I never took possession of the package?) Third time's a charm, right? Well, I ordered a Retevis RA86 and it was also defective, with a loud popping during scan and receive (a known problem with the RA86 it turns out). I requested a return the day after I received the radio and have been getting a run around ever since. First, they had "to check with their tech team," then after several days, they told me to reset the radio, which I did already. Then a week later, they told me to open the radio and send them a photo of the board revision. Problem is, the case screws are a mini-sized torx (apparently, it's so small I can't be sure without a microscope) screw. I have three torx bit sets and several mini screwdriver sets and none of them fit the screws. I even went to to the local hardware store and they didn't have a torx bit that small. So my only option is to special order a mini-torx bit set online. Of course now it's been over 30 days since I placed the order. I'm not sure I'm going to go through the trouble of finding the right mini-torx bit online and am thinking of just tossing the radio to save myself further hassle. I live in the boonies, and driving to and from the nearest town with a post office and hardware store is a half-day affair. I've had over two dozen emails back and forth to both companies, with seemingly nice customer service people. I feel sorry for the customer service people having to deal with shoddy warehouse procedures and company policies that won't accept a return of a defective product. All told, I'm now out $450 on three chinese radios. I've never had so much frustration buying radios, first with the defective radios themselves, and then with the returns. My advice, if you're going to buy a radio from either of these two companies, do it through Amazon which has an easy and efficient return procedure. Better still, avoid these cheap chinese radios altogether and buy a Yaesu, Kenwood, or Icom from a reputable ham radio dealer.

I would buy a Yaesu 8900 in a heartbeat of they were still offered new, or if I could find a used one that wasn't beat up or priced at $450++ However, your suggestion did lead me to a new radio Yaesu just released, the FTM-150RASP, an analog-only 2m/440 rig. AT $379, that looks like a good option.

Seems like it's just luck of the draw. This is why I don't go to Vegas.

Update: I received the TH-7800 and it was DOA. Out of the box, it continuously bleeped madly, loudly and randomly every few seconds, even with all the beep sounds turned off and the volume all the way down. The receiver would go full scale with each "bleep." I worked with the dealer and nothing we tried worked. Master reset, testing on a dummy load, etc.. So it's defective and on its way back to the dealer. Excellent customer service from them, btw. Now I'm 0 for 2. I have the second new TH-9800 still sitting in its unopened box here in my shack, but I'm getting rapidly turned off on Chinese radios. I'm contemplating just sending the TH-9800 back before I even crack the seal on the box, and starting over with a Yaesu/Icom/Kenwood. This aggravation of dealing with defective radios is not worth the savings over a Japanese radio. Even if the 9800 works initially, I have no confidence now that it will keep working for very long. Not sure I want to take a $230 gamble on this 9800 and would rather spend the extra $150 for peace of mind. It's too bad these Chinese radios have such horrible QC. Outwardly, they seem well made and have tons of nice features. Hopefully in a few years they get their manufacturing problems sorted.

I had a db20g for a few weeks and returned it because of the squelch problem. I like to scan and the db20g after it stops on traffic but the traffic ends, it would remain squelch open on that channel. Even running the squelch all the way up to 9 (max, iirc) in the menu wouldn’t reengage the squelch. It would just sit on the channel listening to static as if the monitor was on. You have to restart the scan to get it working again. That was a dealbreaker for me. Otherwise the radio is awesome in all respects. The squelch issue seems like it would be an easy firmware fix.

Wart & Admiral, good data points. My right side was defective out of the box, 2025 new radio purchase. And it had the defective left side relay, also out of the box. It seems they didn't fully address these problems with the currently new radios. Evidently, it's luck of the draw with these radios. Based on multiple recommendations here in this thread (thanks gentlemen), I ordered a TH-7800 from R&L today, not wanting to take any more chances. Still have the other new 9800 on its way that I bought before I discovered the first one was faulty, so I'll have both the 7800 and the 9800 here by the end of the week operating side by side. Wish me luck, seems I'm going to need it.

Where'd you buy yours from? I got mine from a well-known Chinese company with a small U.S. presence that is known for good service. I plan to call/email them tomorrow and start the exchange process. Good luck with your radio.

I'll try the TH-7800. When I bought the 9800 I didn't even know there was a 7800. I only need 2m/440, so the 7800 would be just fine. My buddies said I'd be frustrated with defects and questionable performance, especially coming from the Big 3 Japanese radios. It was worth a try to find out for myself. If the 7800 is more reliable, then that'll be my next experiment with Chinese radios. Kicking myself for selling my Kenwood V71A several years ago. I'm primarily an HF guy and never used that Kenwood. But now that I'm becoming more active in our local club, I'm doing more VHF/UHF now and wish I had my old Kenwood back. I'd buy another but the used prices are ridiculous, way higher than the new price was just a few years ago. The Icom 2730A looks good too, but once you add in the cost of all the brackets, separation cables, control head mounts, etc., it's as much as a V71A and I refuse to participate in the Icom accessories customer fleecing model. Let's hope the TH-7800 works out. Edit: Looking for a TH-7800, I see that there is actually a newer model, the TH-7900. Any reason not to go with the newer model? Sorry for the thread drift.

Yep, have to agree. Looks like a classic case of infant mortality. This is the first time in 30 years of hamming that I got a new radio that was defective out of the box. I wish I could get back all the time I wasted on this thinking it was somehow operator error. My ham buddies are going to be telling me a lot of "I told you so" for buying a Chinese radio.

I just discovered another problem with my 9800. The right side of the radio is almost deaf. I discovered this last night on our way to our local club meeting when I could not receive our local 2m repeater until I was practically underneath it and then I was still only getting a weak signal. I had the repeater on the right side. But when I switched to the repeater on the left side, it suddenly came in full scale and full quieting. I double checked the programming to make sure I didn't fat finger something - at first I thought I may have entered the frequency off by 5 kHz or something - but it was all good. I had the right side of the radio on scan the last few days since I got it and was wondering why there was absolutely no traffic on any local repeaters or frequencies. Now I think I know why. The right side of the radio is deaf. Without an RF gain control, is there anything I can adjust to restore the receive on the right side of the radio? Any other possible user error I am overlooking? Plus, the relay on the left side has started clattering almost continuously now on receive. I'm starting to think the radio I got is a dud and that it's soon going to be going back for an exchange.

Update: I went ahead an ordered a second TH-9800 since I was planning to buy a second one for the truck anyway, replacing my tried and true 2m-only Icom. I should get it in the next week, well within the 30 day return period for defective radios (I bought directly from Radioddity), and I can see for myself if the noise is normal or not and exchange the radio if necessary. I'll report back after I have the two radios side by side. Interesting aside, just in the 10 days since I bought the first one, the price of the radio has gone up $40, I assume to reflect the new tariffs. Even Amazon's price is suddenly up by $35. I hope our supply of Chinese radios doesn't start drying up.

Thanks for the tips on the frequency modification. If it's just software, I'll probably go ahead and do that just in case of an emergency in the backcountry. I never use 6 or 10 meter FM, so I guess I could've gotten by with the 7800 which looks identical minus 6 & 10 meters. I might put a 7800 in my Jeep. These are great little radios with conventional operation that I am familiar with from using other VHF/UHF radios from the Big 3, so it was intuitive with an easy learning curve. Much easier to me than the other Chinese radios I've seen with the color screens. Good stuff. Thanks again.

Very little gmrs activity here too. But a decent amount of 2m traffic. I'm a member of our local club here and we use three 2m repeaters to keep in touch, especially when up in the back country. My TH-9800 doesn't even transmit on gmrs channels, I assume there must be a diode to clip to make it work there. But it is nice to be able to receive GMRS channels. We have an off-road club that comes up from Boise now and again that uses gmrs out on the trail and it's useful to listen to them give reports on road conditions, for instance. My ham buddies were right, I got a lot more friendly help here on mygmrs than I did on the ham forums.

OK, I just sent a support request to TYT asking about the clicking noise inside the radio and if that's normal or indicative of a defect. I also found out on their website, the warranty is only 6 months, not the 1-year that I had thought. Let's see what happens. Thanks again.

Good suggestion. I found the schematics online but can't find a parts list. Ideally, I'd find the defective relay and replace it. My torx bit set doesn't go small enough (almost, just one more size smaller and I would have had it), so I've decided I'm just going to use the crap out of the radio and see if it fails during the warranty period. If not, I guess it was nothing to worry about after all if it makes it through the next year of heavy use. I'll just live with the sound. My Flex radios all have similar sounding relay clicking on transmit, so it's something I know I can learn to live with. Thanks for the help. I'll report back if the radio blows up.

Yes, the heat sink fan runs as normal on both 2m and 70cm. Just to make sure that wasn't the sound. I held the fan motionless with a pencil eraser and didn't make a difference. Ironically, I was sent here from my ham groups who told me most people use that radio on gmrs, not ham, and I would have better luck checking with a gmrs forum. Thanks for the quick replies. Doesn't sound like this is normal then. I'm pretty sure it's a relay. It's loud enough to hear in the shack, but probably not enough to hear in a mobile. Might just run the radio until it fails hopefully while still under warranty. The radio is a day old, so there's still 364 days of warranty remaining. I plan to use the radio heavily this summer in the Idaho backcountry, so it'll get a good workout/stress test. But I'm thinking I'd better bring a backup radio with me.

Hi all, New member here. Longtime ham but new to GMRS. I just got a new TH-9800 and so far it's great. Nice simple controls, easy to program, wideband coverage, seems to be well made. One oddity though. On 2m, the radio emits an audible chirpy clicking noise when the PTT is pushed and then another chirp/click when the PTT is released. The sound is not coming from the speaker, it's coming from some component inside the radio, likely a relay. It's loud enough to be objectionable in the shack, where I plan to use this radio. 440 transmit is quiet, no chirping noise, it's just on 2m. This happens on both my 2m/440 antenna and a dummy load, both under 1.2:1 SWR and at all TX power levels. Is this normal for this radio and not something I should worry about? In the back of my mind, I'm worried it might be a defective relay that will completely fail at some point. But this is also my first experience with Chinese radios and so maybe this is normal. I would think if this was normal relay noise, it'd be present on both 2m and 440. I've never had this on any other VHF/UHF radio I've had, but those have been Kenwood and Icom, so maybe the Chinese radios are different. The radio is brand new. Thanks, Darren WRMU706