TYT TH-9800 clicking noise on 2m transmit

[Wayfarer]

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

[GrouserPad]

I was told by the amature operators on our local gmrs repeater that you aren’t allowed to use that type of radio on gmrs. 

[SteveShannon]

10 minutes ago, GrouserPad said:

I was told by the amature operators on our local gmrs repeater that you aren’t allowed to use that type of radio on gmrs. 

He never said that he did.  He is a longtime ham (second sentence) and describes the radio’s power under 2 meters and 70 centimeters. But even if he does use it on GMRS it wouldn’t upset me.

[GrouserPad]

1 minute ago, SteveShannon said:

He never said that he did.  He is a longtime ham (second sentence) and describes the radio’s power under 2 meters and 70 centimeters. But even if he does use it on GMRS it wouldn’t upset me.

Doesn’t upset me a bit either. Wish him the best with his radio and I hope he figures out the issue. 

[WRTC928]

I have the same radio, but I've never noticed that. It's possible mine does it but it's so quiet that I haven't noticed it yet. Next time I'm in the car, I'll check and see.

[LeeBo]

Is it the heat sink fan running? That fan runs anytime the PTT button is pressed and does make a “clicking” sound.


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[Wayfarer]

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.  

[SteveShannon]

I haven’t got a clue what the sound is but I would open the case and listen to see if I could see or hear the source. 

[Wayfarer]

3 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

I haven’t got a clue what the sound is but I would open the case and listen to see if I could see or hear the source. 

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.

[SteveShannon]

29 minutes ago, Wayfarer said:

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.

I would register a complaint with the manufacturer. They might recognize the symptom. I think you said it’s only a couple days old. Make them replace it. You’ll have more peace of mind. 

[Wayfarer]

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.

[WRTC928]

16 hours ago, Wayfarer said:

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. 

Interesting. I have noticed that on RadioReference, hardly anyone wants to admit to having one, but on a couple of Facebook groups I belong to, a lot of the members have them as well as various Baofengs. I don't think I've ever keyed my TYT up on GMRS. There's very little GMRS activity around me, and I don't have "radio dork" friends or family near me to converse with. I do get a lot of use out of it on one of the local ham repeaters. It's a very friendly group of people and if you announce that you're mobile and listening, usually someone will have a conversation with you.

[Wayfarer]

4 hours ago, WRTC928 said:

Interesting. I have noticed that on RadioReference, hardly anyone wants to admit to having one, but on a couple of Facebook groups I belong to, a lot of the members have them as well as various Baofengs. I don't think I've ever keyed my TYT up on GMRS. There's very little GMRS activity around me, and I don't have "radio dork" friends or family near me to converse with. I do get a lot of use out of it on one of the local ham repeaters. It's a very friendly group of people and if you announce that you're mobile and listening, usually someone will have a conversation with you.

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.  

[AdmiralCochrane]

No hardware change needed, it's just a software change done on startup.

I only use my 9800 on 2m and 70cm

[WRTC928]

54 minutes ago, AdmiralCochrane said:

I only use my 9800 on 2m and 70cm

Me too. There's essentially no 6m activity around here and the antenna for 6m is impractically long.

[WRYZ926]

The TH-7800 and TH-9800 use the same password unlock to open them up. Though you must use the official TYT programming software to do so. 

I went with the TH-7800 dual band since there is no 6m or 10m FM repeaters near me and the fact that a 6m and/or 10m antenna would be way to big to drive around with all of the time.

I have one TH-7800 in the vehicle and the other is setup in a go box for Winlink. I have not noticed any clicking noises like @Wayfarer has with my TH-7800's so maybe it is something with the TH-9800's. 

[Wayfarer]

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.

[SteveShannon]

3 hours ago, WRYZ926 said:

The TH-7800 and TH-9800 use the same password unlock to open them up. Though you must use the official TYT programming software to do so. 

I went with the TH-7800 dual band since there is no 6m or 10m FM repeaters near me and the fact that a 6m and/or 10m antenna would be way to big to drive around with all of the time.

I have one TH-7800 in the vehicle and the other is setup in a go box for Winlink. I have not noticed any clicking noises like @Wayfarer has with my TH-7800's so maybe it is something with the TH-9800's. 

A ham friend has a 9800 that doesn’t click. 

[WRYZ926]

1 hour ago, SteveShannon said:

A ham friend has a 9800 that doesn’t click. 

The clicking is not normal. I'm curious to see what is causing it.

[WRTC928]

15 hours ago, WRYZ926 said:

The TH-7800 and TH-9800 use the same password unlock to open them up. Though you must use the official TYT programming software to do so. 

I went with the TH-7800 dual band since there is no 6m or 10m FM repeaters near me and the fact that a 6m and/or 10m antenna would be way to big to drive around with all of the time.

I have one TH-7800 in the vehicle and the other is setup in a go box for Winlink. I have not noticed any clicking noises like @Wayfarer has with my TH-7800's so maybe it is something with the TH-9800's. 

Interestingly, although I have read that the newer ones can't be opened up to the additional range, the one I bought a few months ago came out of the box with those frequencies already open. My original thought was that I'd move it from the vehicle to the house, so I wanted the 6m and 10m capabilities. I have it set up so I can install or remove it in the vehicle very quickly, but it's still kind of a pain to replace the faceplate, carry it into the house, hook it up, etc. so I don't actually do that. As you say, the 6m/10m antennas are too long to be practical while driving, but I might put one in the vehicle just in case I want to use it while stationary. Comet makes a quad band UHV-4 that's "only" 54" long, which isn't too long to carry in the car, although I wouldn't want it on top while driving. 

[Shortarms]

On 2/4/2025 at 9:35 AM, SteveShannon said:

He never said that he did.  He is a longtime ham (second sentence) and describes the radio’s power under 2 meters and 70 centimeters. But even if he does use it on GMRS it wouldn’t upset me.

it makes me very upset lol his radio doesn't work like mine 

[Shortarms]

i love my 9800 so far 

[Lscott]

5 hours ago, WRTC928 said:

Comet makes a quad band UHV-4 that's "only" 54" long, which isn't too long to carry in the car,

I found one at a Ham swap fairly cheap so I took it home. I set it up on a home made portable antenna mount with ground radials and did some frequency sweeps. You can judge the results for your self. It's stored in the basement. Never tried to use it mobile.

Antenna Scan Results (UHV-4 2M).pdf Antenna Scan Results (UHV-4 6M).pdf Antenna Scan Results (UHV-4 10M).pdf Antenna Scan Results (UHV-4 70cm).pdf

[AdmiralCochrane]

My 9800 doesn't click that I can hear, but something in my vehicle sends a click to those receiving. It isn't the alternator, it does it even without the engine running.  Haven't tried ferrites or any other suppression yet.

[Wayfarer]

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.  

[LeeBo]

My 9800 doesn't click that I can hear, but something in my vehicle sends a click to those receiving. It isn't the alternator, it does it even without the engine running.  Haven't tried ferrites or any other suppression yet.

A simple ground wire from the radio chassis to the vehicle ground may resolve that.


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