Versus Mobile units (Open to other options)

[WQWI871]

I wanted opinions in case I'm missing some benefits of one radio over the other to help me decide. Sometimes It's not as simple as reading through specifications and making decisions by that. And although I know some enthusiasts would choose the more popular, what I'm looking for is simply benefits over the other (and other options) to make my decision.

My budget is +/- a little $ around the specified radios. My wants and needs are the basic's of each specified radio (50w, dual band) Any other wants or needs or how it will be rigged is either not relevant to me, or, I already have it taken care of. So, does anyone have any thoughts of these radios having benefits over each other aside from them all being duel band and 50w? (UV-50x3 is Tri Band, 9800 and 8900 Quad)

 

Btech UV-5001

Btech UV-50x2 (Newer Model of the UV-5001)

Btech UV-50x3 (Tri Band)

TYT TH-7800

TYT TH-9800 (Quad Band)

Yaesu FT-8900 (Quad Band)

Kenwood TM-V71A

Icom IC-2730A

[n4gix]

Personally of all those listed, I'd choose the Kenwood TM-V71A. It is the younger brother of the venerable TM-V7a which I've now owned for over twenty years. Unfortunately, the display went funky on mine so use it now mostly to monitor a single frequency.

 

An inexpensive radio with nearly all of the same features is the TYT-7800. I own two of them; one for my shack and the other for my car. They are currently $196.99 at Amazon.

[WQWI871]

For the TYT-7800, have you personally checked the power on UHF to see how accurate the advertised 35w is? The TYT-9800 is also in my budget. Quad band.

[n4gix]

For the TYT-7800, have you personally checked the power on UHF to see how accurate the advertised 35w is? The TYT-9800 is also in my budget. Quad band.

I actually keep an SX-144/430 dual-needle wattmeter inline all the time to monitor my power and VSWR. Yes, at full power I'm getting a full 45 watts out of the TH-7800 per specs. I rarely ever run at hi power however except on the rare occasions I work simplex.

[WQWI871]

Okay, thank you. I'll keep that in mind for the list.

[Logan5]

Still many users will lower their output according to what is needed. blaring 45 watts to a repeater or a base station with proper A.S.S., is seldom necessary.

[WQWI871]

Yes. The minimum power necessary to carry out the communication.

[WQWI871]

Does the 7800 RX 11m band like the 9800?

[n4gix]

No. The 7800 is 2m/70cm only. I does have true "dual receivers" and allows cross-band repeat. The only real improvement that could be done via a firmware update would be the ability to automatically "skip" whatever channel the opposite side is monitoring whenever scanning on one side.

For example, I'm currently monitoring my club's main 2m repeater on the "A" side, and scanning memories on the "B" side. Whenever the club repeater is active, the "B" side will stop on the same memory channel and I'll wind up with double the volume!

 

Alternatively, if they would have set memory management similar to my "antique" Kenwood TM-V7a where the entire pool could be divided between the two sides. With this arrangement the user could designate channels 1 - 399 to one side, and the remaining channels 400 - 799 to the other side, thereby being able to set up two totally separate scanning scenarios.

[WQWI871]

I thought the 7800 had wide receive support out of the transmit bands? Although I have seen a couple reviews stating they had locked units.

[WQWI871]

I thought the 7800 had wide receive support out of the transmit bands? Although I have seen a couple reviews stating they had locked units.

 

I think I got my answer for that. (Apparently the 9800 does, 7800 doesn't) I don't really like the microphone, though. Although I try to not be picky, that's just an odd mic. And being able to adjust the brightness or toggle the backlight would be nice. I'm so use to the baofeng radios having purple standby backlight, blue receive backlight and orange transmit backlight, swapable, and, toggling off and timer.

[n4gix]

There are two switches on the right side. The top one locks the keypad numbers. The lower one controls the backlight.

[WQWI871]

Sorry. The backlight comment was about the display.

[mainehazmt]

Does the 7800 RX 11m band like the 9800?

that 11 meter band on the 9800 is fm though... no use there .. but kinda like my 9800 though I haven't thoroughly used mine to full potential..

[WQWI871]

that 11 meter band on the 9800 is fm though... no use there .. but kinda like my 9800 though I haven't thoroughly used mine to full potential..

Seriously? Every review and website says It's AM and can listen to the CB. Hmm but, this is generally why I try ask around than to go by reviews or descriptions.  I actually found two YouTube video's that were implying it can transmit on those bands as well, but, I only see receive.

[n4gix]

Sorry. The backlight comment was about the display.

Oh, in that case look in the manual on page #139 for instructions on how to adjust the display brightness. Menu #6 is the backlight brightness adjustment. Default is "DIM 3". I've set both my radios to "DIM 4" (highest).

[WQWI871]

Oh, in that case look in the manual on page #139 for instructions on how to adjust the display brightness. Menu #6 is the backlight brightness adjustment. Default is "DIM 3". I've set both my radios to "DIM 4" (highest).

Oh okay, that's good to know. Thanks. I see there's also an Off for the backlight, that's nice. I didn't see any option for timed backlight, though. I kind of prefer the backlight to activate while pressing buttons and then remain active for a defined time then go inactive again. It's no big deal, I just don't often need the lights being used in a base station. I'm going to decide on a radio by the end of next month. (Birthday present)

[mainehazmt]

Gonna make me look for it now huh. Lol. I will get back to you but the tyt9800 is fm only.

[WQWI871]

Okay I checked the manual. Menu number 36 I think is to enable and disable AM mode on receive. No SSB or transmit.

[Guest spd641]

I tell you what I like and it is cheaper than the Kenwood and it is a Yaesu FTM 100DR,it is analong and digital both and you can program the receive out of the amateur bands and it is a well built radio for the money and digital is great but if you do not have anything digital it makes one good analog radio and has  APRS built in .

[WQWI871]

That does seem nice.

[n4gix]

The "digital mode" of C4FM is only useful if there's a Fusion system in your area of operations. Such are few and far between in the U.S. and Canada.

[WQWI871]

So here's my decision. I went with the TYT TH-9800. The $20 difference between that and the 7800 doesn't feel worth the compromise. And, even if I don't transmit on 6M or 10M much, the 9800 is more suitable as a scanner than the 7800 with It's wider receive. However, there seems to be far more complaints about the longevity of the 9800 and other issues than the 7800. So, if I notice anything off, I'm exchanging for the 7800. If I notice anything off about 7800, I'm either going with the Yaesu 8900, Kenwood V71, or, a Baofeng. I only plan on using low power mostly and it won't be powered on very long. But, even though value is important to me, I can't have a radio that craps out with light use within a year. The new "Plus" version of the 9800, seems to be upgraded, though. I'd rather take the chance and hope I get a good one to last a bit than to pay about $340 initially, excluding a few Baofeng's that are about $150 or less depending on the model. I could be wrong, but, from what I see, the Baofeng 50x3 has a non attachable face. That's a big turn off for me.

[WQWI871]

So, after playing around with the 9800, it can receive on CB AM, tested with my CB. Oddly, though, the 9800 was also able to be received on my CB. My CB picks it up slightly scrambled, but, clear enough. I wasn't expecting that, just thought I'd key up anyways. On Low. It seems fine so far. I can't figure how to use single receive. I like to keep NOAA on one band and just use the other, I rarely need dual receive. But, when I enable single receive, the non main band which is usually NOAA, still receives. And, it locks me from swapping back to that band until I toggle single receive off again. At the moment, I just keep the volume on that band down, no big deal. I keep the backlight off, considering there's no display timer. Although there's four programmable keypad mic buttons, I can't seem to find a way to program the menu or a "select/enter", although I can use the keypad for navigating the menu. I'm not use to mounting the mic off of radios, but, didn't want to drill holes in the radio, yet. So, I mounted next to it. No complaints, just sharing my findings and feelings. Hmm I thought the 9800 had FM broadcast support?

[stonecrest]

I'm using the Yaesu FTM-400 XDR .  Reason is because the digital radio reception is more resistant to interference and eliminates many imperfections of analog radio transmission and reception. There may be some interference to digital radio signals, however, in areas that are distant from a station's transmitter. FM digital radio can provide clear sound comparable in quality to CDs, and AM digital radio can provide sound quality equivalent to that of standard analog FM. APRS and GPS are included with the radio. Although it does give me a headache reading all these instructions. Boggles the mind. After the third factory reset I'm starting to get the hang of it. lol