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Reviews For: TYT TH-9000 220MHz Mobile

Category: Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Base/Mobile (non hand-held)

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Review Summary For : TYT TH-9000 220MHz Mobile
Reviews: 33MSRP: 249.99
Description:
Frequency Range: 220-260MHz
Output Power: VHF: 10W/25W/60W

1750Hz Tone

CTCSS / DCS setting & scanning
0-9 SQL grade setting

Frequency/Channel scanning
High/Mid/Low power selectable

Voice compander
Repeater offset shift

Keypad lock function
Contact book

Battery voltage display
DTMF /2 tone/5 tone

ANI ID
Remote kill/ stun/ activate/ revive

EmergenCy alarm
Wide/Narrow band setting

TX inhibit
Busy Channel Lock-Out

Channel name editing
Reverse frequency

Talk around
Scrambler(Optional) subject to license

Voice prompt
Time-out Timer

Auto Power off
VFO step setting:5/6.25/10/12.5/20/25/50kHz

Product is in production
More Info: http://www.tyt888.com/en/products/Detail.asp?ID=2055
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00333.6
KN6PH Rating: 2022-09-17
Surprisingly good! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Our club owns a 220MHz repeater and was looking to add a new base station. This model was on sale so I figured it was worth a shot although I'm a bit leery of Chinese radios. In short: simple to use, really good audio, and I've received equally good signal reports. The software to program the radio is similar to Chirp and works fairly well - programming cable is included as well as a mobile bracket.

The radio has been in use for nearly two years are is a solid rig!
N4DBM Rating: 2022-01-25
Works fine for what it is Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I hate to hear all of the trouble that the most recent reviewers have had with this radio. Maybe I just got lucky. I have had mine for maybe 4 years now and for the most part I am satisfied. I go back to the Yaesu FT-311, Icom 38A, Kenwood and Icom 3AT days, so I know what to compare this one to. Once upon a time, ham radio manufacturers actually made 220 MHz radios, but not anymore, sadly.

The cons of this radio in my opinion are as follows: (1) poppy squelch closure. Some buffering in the audio chain would have been helpful but probably add a few more dollars. (2) the speaker jack does indeed break and fail. Anyone with a pair of needle-nose pliers and a soldering iron can fix this issue without removing the main board. I ran a pigtail out the back of mine so I could either jumper the internal speaker, or hook an external speaker up, either way. As a paying customer, I shouldn't have had to do this, but I did, and it's OK, as it works now. (3) The tactile switch for the mic PTT is starting to give trouble and I'll have to replace it. A few $ from NTE or Digikey and a half hour, I guess.

The "clicking" coming from the volume control is due to the nature of the control itself. It is a rotary digital encoder, not a potentiometer like most people are used to. It will easily outlast a wiper and winding-based potentiometer. Again, the "clicking" noise could have been eliminated with some extra circuitry, but then someone would have fussed about the cost. Go figure.

Otherwise, I don't have any complaints. Yes, the user interface and instructions are cumbersome (but not impossible) to interpret and maneuver. As of the date of this review, there are NO OTHER NEW 220 MHz FM monoband mobiles out there to be had unless I'm missing one. I was on the edge of ordering an Alinco DR235 and then, ding, they're discontinued. So, I turned to Bridgecom wanting to look at the BCM-220 and they, too, have disappointed with the discontinuing of that model.

You get what you pay for. I don't mind paying for quality but when nothing else is available, you buy what you can and make do. Trust me, I am a die-hard Motorola and GE fan to the core, but finding 220 MHz stuff made by them very difficult.

For the price and availability of the TH-9000 220 MHz model, I am overall satisfied with the performance thus far.
N7RSN Rating: 2021-03-27
Ultimately proves itself to be everything I had suspected Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had this radio for a couple of years and having been reasonably contented with it declined to write a positive review; you don't learn much from positive fawning reviews. Initially having had my suspicions regarding Chinese made radios I opted for BridgeCom's 220 mobile radio predicated solely on its uniformly excellent reviews here. Mine however was clearly problematic, receive sensitivity was terrible. Rather than choosing to believe that I got the one bad one I purchased the TYT-9000 and with an antenna switch ran side by side comparisons. Full scale signals on the TYT were not more than 1/2 to 1/3 strength on the BridgeCom. Having relieved myself of the BridgeCom my home based 220 activity was confined to the TYT; my first and most definitely last foray into the world of Chinese made radios. The first hint received indicating that I made a monumental mistake was a defective DTMF pad on the microphone with one row of four buttons totally unresponsive. Parenthetically Amazon whom I contacted for a replacement insisted that I first buy another mic. at which point upon receiving the defective original back would issue a refund. Irritating in view of them having been the seller but it beat the hell out of trying to contact TYT directly. When I ultimately got the radio on the air I was astonished at how completely unintuitive it is; top and front panel buttons give no indication whatsoever as to what their respective functions are necessitating my having had to make a written cheat sheet. My TS-990 is easier to navigate without reading. The TYT manual borders on being virtually incomprehensible requiring a crash course in Berlitz to adequately decipher. The volume level control makes an odd scratching sound when adjusted which is something I believe other reviewers have pointed out. Nevertheless I learned to live with these issues as the availability of non Chinese made 220 mobile/base radios seems to be limited to Alinco's DR-235, the radio I should have opted for at first and would have had it not been for its meager 25w output.
Yesterday after receiving the latest repeater directory I attempted to enter some newly listed 220 machines at which point the radio went haywire; menu settings not remaining as set, loss of settings when switching between VFO and memory mode.....etc. I spent 11 hours yesterday assuming that perhaps the fault lay with me rather than the radio but after initiating four full factory resets and experiencing the same results it was incontrovertible that the radio had gone south at which point I ordered the Alinco 235 and will content myself with 25w max output though there is a 220 amp. made for HTs which I can likely drive QRP from the Alinco and hopefully get 50 or so watts output. I'm fortunate in that I'm able to access VHF/UHF machines in four nearby states with high gain verticals so even at 25w I don't anticipate any problems.
One need only to download the manual or look at the box in which the TH-9000 arrives to get an idea of the lack of quality control and overt cheapness of this and presumably other TYT radios; the internet viewed manual was poorly and thoughtlessly photocopied (blurred slanted images) while the box in which this unit arrives is the company's generic box for their three VHF/UHF radios, distinguishable only by a small label indicating which one is in a given box. On the plus side the radio was fairly inexpensive so the year or two I got out of it I suppose justified its cost....maybe.
It seems like the old chicken or egg which came first conundrum; relatively few amateurs are on 220 mhz. so few if any "decent" radios are made. Thus the absence of availability of decent radios is the reason so few of us are on the band. This TYT abomination is what others and now myself are calling "Chinese junk".

3/26/21
By way of an adjunct to the above....since the appearance of this review a couple of days back there is now to be found on the internet a legible, carefully produced upload of the manual. Not one to put much stock in coincidence I can thus conclude that someone with the ability to make the change took my none too subtle hint. Presuming this to be the case and that the likelihood that someone at TYT might give this a look as well I can now state specifically what went wrong my particular TH-9000; it no longer recognized any change to the programmed repeater offset. On initial startup the pre-programmed offset is 600 khz. obviously an indication that the base logic for their three monoband VHF/UHF radios is predicated on the 2m version. I'd be willing to conjecture that the offset for the 70cm version is likewise configured for 600 khz. After manually resetting it to the correct 1.6 mhz. all seemed to have been corrected. That is until I attempted the unthinkable....changing memory channels and/or switching between memory mode and the VFO at which point the radio ceases transmitting. A look back into the menu indicates that the repeater offset has shifted to 16.000 mhz. rather than the 1.6 I had reestablished. The radio had never done this previously and thus I did several more factory resets to make certain that the fault lay with the radio and not with me. The results each time were identical; 16.000 mhz. I read a review from a similarly delighted customer in which he stated that TYT would repair his radio (having a different issue) gratis if he would pay to send it back to TYT in China. It got me to wondering just how many more single use Chinese radios could be had for what it would cost to send this item back home. I relegated it to the trash and am now awaiting my Alinco DR 235, the radio I should have opted for initially before the BridgeCom and now this current fiasco. What the pejorative term "made in Japan" meant at one time as far as amateur radio equipment and much else was concerned is no longer the case; China has now assumed that mantle.
N2AYM Rating: 2020-05-20
TX Direction Offset Problem Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I decided to pick one up for a good price(NIB) never used so i could experiment with it - Big Mistake! This radio is pure garbage and wasted parts. The control head electronics is bozo bizzare. When you setup a minus TX offset it actually transmits plus. I got so frustrated i nearly sent it to the crusher. Later i found out that the controller TX direction electronics must be wired up backwards. After changing the direction to plus the TX offset actually goes minus and I documented this with a video but I do not know where on the internet I can download it to so other hams can see it.
KE3JH Rating: 2020-04-16
better than nothing Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I used an external speaker on 3 of these radios andwhen i unpluged them all internal speakers didnt work. I emailed the company with the question why never got any answers. So needs an external speaker only and has crappy audio. Tried 4 differant speakers all sounded like crap. Pot in a headphone jack so now using headphones to under stand everyone. Spend the bucks for another 220.
VA1WV Rating: 2019-07-27
junk Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Good radio but lasted less then a year and locked up. I not jumping through the TYT loops to get it fixed, just not worth it. Will not by another TYT product. I hate to say it but YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR! Buyer beware.

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Earlier 0-star review posted by VA3WV on 2015-07-11

This came with a Chinese manual and programming software. I then had to download a photo copy of the English instructions which are as useless as the Chinese. So now it isn't programmable it's stuck with a minus offset yet won't transit the - offset, it won't restore it's self because the instruction are wrong. IT'S JUNK and going back to China. STAY away from these radios they are a huge was of time and completely frustrating! DO not waste your time, because that's what I'm doing right now and not very happy after I spent time and money to get on 220. I've had it 2 days and spent oh 10 hours of nothing but frustration on it.
WA4DOU Rating: 2017-07-01
Very Good Value! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
After a lifetime working as a land mobile radio tech, I discovered the Chinese radios and their oftentimes very low cost. Succumbing to curiosity, I eventually bought a couple different brands of dual band portables (2m/220) and a TH-9000 (220). After a year of TH-9000 ownership/experience, I gave it to my son as an incentive to get licensed, and I purchased the TH-9000D, which was the current offering. Having now developed several years experience with TYT, I would rank this brand high among the Chinese manufacturers. I programmed both versions through the keypad/front controls until recently, and the instructions are written better than many of the Chinese vendors. Some sloppy advertising attributes the 220 versions with output power of 65 watts but it's actually 50 watts and mine and others all seem to meet that spec. Medium power is 22 watts and low power is 8-9 watts. Receiver performance is quite good. I use mine with a 9 element yagi at 22 ft. high and with band enhancement, I've worked out to the 150-250 mile range. I've had no trouble at all with mine and I think it represents a great price point for 220 entry level. Have seen pricing from $98-$150.
W4KQB Rating: 2017-04-25
Good radio for the price Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Have had for two years-works very well-was simple to program local repeaters. Great audio reports. Would buy another.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by W4KQB on 2014-05-30

Have had now about 2 months-paid 150$ and had in my hand in 5 days. Have all good reports on audio. No glitter or anything , but, for what I needed for a mono band and not costing a bunch, works out just fine.

Good audio reports and using in the mobile, all is working fine , only wish it had a detachable control head. Would recommend to others.
KD8SII Rating: 2016-05-15
There is no documentation for this radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The manual is VERY poorly written (such bad grammar that I often can't even decipher what they even meant to say). The sentences that are grammatically correct tend to contain no useful information- for instance, it says that the P1 button is "call" ... but gives no hint as to what "call" does (if you press P1, the word "clone" appears in the display and the device stops responding to anything else until power-cycled). Just for an example.

As another example, by default it is set for a negative offset and there is (as another reviewer pointed out) no documented way to change that- you can change the offset but not whether plus or minus, and the offset cannot be disabled. Supposedly it's possible to make the radio usable via a programming cable, but all of my computers run non-windows OSs so no help there.

It does make an excellent brick, and could probably double as a hammer, but as a radio it has been a painfully bad experience. I can't even sell it (it would be unethical) as it would just cause someone else problems.

Stay away from this radio.
N9SSU Rating: 2016-01-14
Receive Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have bought 3 of the original 9000 models and 5 of the 9000D.

The 9000 original was flawless, ran cooler even on longer ragchews than the 9000D. After a few years, they are still working.

The 9000D which followed up the original 9000 is REALLY an overall failure. Bad QC.

The main issue is, as another poster below has pointed out, they will drop out receive for 1/2 to 2 seconds, randomly. It is NOT a mic, squelch or other modifiable issue. It is in the firmware, software defined instructions itself or some hardware failure. I have returned the last 3 from the same supplier and have washed my hands of this model. Other problems are a noisy volume potentiometer, run so hot you can burn yourself and the 65watts output is not even close, with 35 to 40 watts being more realistic on a Bird when the radio is COLD, even less when it heats up.

I have tested the Jetstream JT-222M which looks the same but uses a different wired/programmed microphone, buttons and hardware. It is reportedly a re-badged Anytone. I will review it shortly, but it does NOT have the RX dropout, mute, fade or whatever you want to call it problem. Your experience might be different, I hope it is, but it seems like others are reporting this problem too.

73
N9SSU