KG-UV9G

[WRHS218]

I purchased the Wouxun KG-UV9G Pro (SHTF) radio at the beginning of June and received it July 16. I had a couple of days to play around with it and change the programming a little before leaving on a long road trip.

I have seen some comments asking why anyone would want all of the channels programmed with the Pro model. I am in California and live in the area of the Creek Fire last year. While CalFire does a great job, we don't get a whole lot of information when we need it. I had programmed a scanner with all of the Fire frequencies, all local and state LEO freqs, County public works, Utility company, Air, and Cal DOT freqs. During the fire (over two months) I kept the scanner on and my HAM radios on listen to local repeaters. I could hear the pilots of the helos and fixed wing aircraft that were making water and retardant drops as well as the pilot of the air control plane that was flying overhead and directing the drops as well as ground units. Many times I could information from what I was hearing before it was made public during two daily briefings. We were evacuated from our home for a week during which I could listen to see if the fire was near the house. We were some of the lucky ones who did not lose our house. When we returned I kept listening. The more frequencies you have to listen to the more information you can get.

On to the radio. Obviously I appreciate the scan functions and the scan types. I scanned all GMRS simplex and repeater channels plus some repeaters I had added to the programming during my trip. I had it sitting next to my KG-905G which was scanning the same frequencies just to test the two radios. When we swapped drivers I would scan the raildraod  frequencies that came programmed and heard a lot near large rail yards. I enjoy listening to that type of thing. The UV9G comes with AM Air frequencies programmed but I couldn't get anything on the radio even when I was in a hotel near the end of a runway of a major airport. I didn't take time to look up and program other known airliner frequencies. I will do that later and try again. I did scan all 800+ channels that were programmed at times and didn't hear much. As a GMRS radio the RX and TX are good. I need to do a little more testing but on simplex it seems almost as good as my KG-905G. I was able to hit the same repeaters on the UV9G as I could get on the 905G. Audio reports were good. I really like the level of water  and dust resistance. The menus are somewhat complicated with a slightly steep learning curve to learn what the abbreviations mean but it is the same convention as the 905G so I already knew most of it. I like the size of the radio as it isn't too big or too small. The supplied antenna seems to work well. The 3200 mHa battery that came with the radio as well as the extra 3200 mHa battery I purchased both had no issues with the belt clip installation as reported with some of the batteries. I scanned for over 70 hours with about a half hour of TX on my trip and never had to change batteries. Some of the pre-programmed channels are probably not needed, but then again, when there is an emergency or the SHTF you don't really know where you will get good info.  I purchased the radio and spare battery from BetterSafeRadio.com and they were great to work with. On their homepage they kept a running message of what order range they were working on which was much appreciated. Five weeks after I ordered the radio I went ahead and ordered the spare battery and after talking to them via email they made sure both orders were in one box so I would get it all together in time for my trip. The Wouxun programming software is minimal for the KG-UV9G like the software for the KG-905G but is sufficient. The same programming cable works for both radios. I am very pleased with the radio and BetterSafeRadio. For my needs/wants it is definitely worth the price I paid.

Sean