| KC1LUU |
Rating:  |
2021-08-21 | |
| Wouxun KG-UV9P |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Unable to see screen in daylight. I should've come here for reviews. |
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| KK4LQV |
Rating:  |
2021-02-20 | |
| I dont know |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I had the 9d+ but sent it back because I too couldnt see it in day light. Replaced it with the 9tP Worked great for a day. Still couldnt see it but I was going to give it a chance. But now It has locked up I cant program it cant put in freq by hand cant switch to channel mode. I have ono idea what happened
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| KD8NV |
Rating: |
2021-02-19 | |
| Cannot See Display Outside |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Have had the KG-UV9D Plus for abt a week now, purchased it because of the VHF am receive trying to locate RFI in the area I operate HF, Most if not all articles I have read claim to FIND RFI you must have a receiver that does AM in the VHF area. Ok here is the Wouxun with airBAND receive great. Now that I am about ready to use I discover one cannot SEE the display if you are outside even in the shade it is difficult to see with the display turned up to full brightness. If you go out in the sunlight you cannot see it at all. A $25.00 BaoFeng can be used in full sunlight the display is visible.. This is not a Base Unit to be used indoors it is an HT... Did I mention that The DISPLAY IS CRAP! |
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| AD0AR |
Rating: |
2021-02-01 | |
| (NOT any more) Impressive, almost perfect! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Update: Premature failure. RX PLL unlock No schematics available. RX light always on with both vfo's indicating 2 bars on each s/rf meter with no sound.
I opened the case for a visual inspection and saw nothing bad out of the ordinary.
Unit never abused, kept in a desk drawer and used when needed to report bad weather at the QTH on the ARES net.
I do not recommend a radio when the battery outlasts the radio.
After owning the KG-UVD1P and the KG-UV8D, I can really observe the performance difference, especially with an emphasis on the RX.
RX is FANTASTIC! TX has no harmonic spurs that I can see on the bandscope of my IC-7000.
It does have TRUE DUAL SCANNING RECEIVERS! This is totally BALLER!!!!
If you are hard of hearing, this thing is for you! This is quite unfortunate for other innocent bystanders in the room as they will be soon hard of hearing from listening to it.
Do yourself a favor and make sure you shut it down when sleeping because if the volume is up and you nap with it next to you, I lost about 5 years of my life when this thing jumped to life around 2am when an operator was letting the world know he was monitoring.
Once again the scanning speed is mediocre.
Radioshack had hyperscanning in 1999 at a speed of 50 channels a second and this thing flips through channels slower than a 7 year old counting their fingers! Come on!
I wish there were independent volume controls for each of the receivers too. That would be a nice touch.
No Cross band repeat on this radio, but Wouxun already heard us silently saying WHAT??? in our heads and came out with the KG-UV9D Plus
to cover that aspect.
The backlight does stay on ever so dimly but once again the Plus version addresses that concern and has a mode that even stops the blinking green status indicator for you stalkers that need that extra level of stealth.
Battery life is quite decent and here's another thingy dingy I thought I'd point out. It actually has a somewhat functioning S/RF meter!
I have actually seen it move! I swear!
After seeing more than one of these Chinese radios where the S/RF meter appears to be a single triangular segment that blinks with reception I actually can see this one go up and down.
The charger has a separate wall wart but the 8D and 9D can share chargers as mine appear to be compatible.
I know you all are waiting to hear how well it works with the satellites, but I have to disappoint you and leave you hanging as I haven't gotten my ELK Log Periodic out of the attic yet to find out. Come spring and I sure will follow up! Ciao!
In God we trust, all others we monitor AD0AR |
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| W0RHN |
Rating: |
2021-01-04 | |
| Not bad, but has some problems |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
Update 210104: After sitting unused for a few months, both of my KG-UV9D units would not turn on. Yes it was a case of dead batteries, but why? The KG-UV9D has a physical switch. There should be no current drain when the unit is off (which is why a Baofeng UV-5R makes such a good emergency radio). I haven't done an 'off' current-drain test, but I suspect that it is something other than zero, at least within the capabilities of my DVMs.
Original Post: I have a number of HTs from Yaesu and Baofeng. I bought this KG-UV9D+ through HRO for doing satellite. Haven't had the time to do that, but I have programmed channels and used for some general HT comms. The KG-UV9D+ comes with two antennae: a short one and a longer "high gain" antenna. Build construction is excellent. I do wish they had recessed the display, since it's nearly flush with the front of the unit and will likely be scratched. The enclosed earphone is nearly useless, so expect to pay for something better if you plan to work quietly.
First, the manual that comes with the KG-UV9D+ is somewhere between bad and terrible. It took awhile to figure out some basics. Also, the PDF coding is so bad that you can't search on words. I tried doing OCR with my Acrobat Pro, but it couldn't process the file. Second, the select knob is great. Much quicker than Baofeng for switching a frequency or channel. Third, the programming cable and free software are not very good. CHIRP doesn't appear to support all the settings, so I sprung for the RTSystems software. I did find a couple of nits in the RTSystems program, but I contacted them and fully expect they will fix those. I wouldn't expect any improvements for the free software. Fourth, the SMA-F antenna connector on the unit is slightly out of spec. How else do you explain that I cannot mount an Amphenol 132360 50ohm terminator? And the terminators I tried are treated with CAIG GN5, which also acts as a lubricant. (I keep terminators mounted on all my HTs when not in use. They protect the connectors from dust or bumps, and provide a load should you accidentally key the unit.) From what I can tell, the inside diameter of the SMA-F barrel is too small. I've also had trouble mounting SMA cables from reputable manufacturers to the HT. Some barely work (when lubed), some won't work at all. Wouxun really screwed up on this part.
Fifth and of most concern is that, under similar receive circumstances, the Wouxun does not outperform a UV-5R. This was a big surprise when I noticed that yes, I was using the "high gain" antenna on the KG-UV9D+. The difference in quieting on a distant repeater was small but noticeable. With the included small duck, the Wouxun did not perform nearly as well as my UV-5R on weak signals.
Conclusion: If you need the special features of the KG-UV9D, get one. If you need a general purpose VHF/UHF HT, get something else. |
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| N4MU |
Rating: |
2020-04-06 | |
| So far GREAT. Better than the U/V8 |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Have just completed initial check out tests and the 9D Plus (not sure what the "Plus" is about) and seems to be working great. Had a bit of a problem with programming software and the included instruction manual but after downloading current software and current (latest) instruction manual from the Wouxun website all is well. All features are as described and quite in spec. Rx is very good and Tx audio/power is also right where it's supposed to be and reported great. Bought (with a bit of trepidation) from a dealer via Amazon but everything was as described. Have not used on cross band duplex yet (for satellites) but can report no noticeable desensing on U/V mode (not tried V/U yet), Included: radio, battery, charger, mobile DC charging cable, VOX mic/earphone assy, external mic/spkr, programming cable, software disc, and three antennas (stubby, longer "all band" duckie type and extendable whip type)...all for $175. So far it's a "10"...with 5 stars. Will follow up if any problems show up. |
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| WB8MAT |
Rating: |
2017-12-24 | |
| Great radio |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I bought the plus model. As others have noted, the receive capability is quite good. I can clearly receive weak signals that my Baofeng UV5R cannot hear even when it has a better antenna. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the signal strength meters do actually work as intended. The radio has the look and feel of a high quality Japanese radio. The programming software worked with no problem. I have an older cable so I simply chose the older driver as instructed and it works fine with Windows 10. |
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| VK5JKS |
Rating: |
2017-09-11 | |
| KG UV9D+ quite good but ... |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I got the UV9D+ with two batteries and two antennae. After transmitting for about 30 seconds, my unit begins to break up into our repeater. If you let the unit cool down, it is ok again for a few seconds but then does the same thing. Someone said it might be the battery but the problem occurs with both batteries. Either both batteries are problematic or it is a design defect. Also, the longer of the two stock antennas stopped working after about a year, it seems like it had an internal break or something. I've tried other antennae like the Diamond SRH-771 but the radio still seems to gradually lose power (I thought the shorter stock antenna may have played a part in the fault). Besides these issues, it has been a great radio for the past year or so. If not for these defects I would have given it a 5. |
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| PB5X |
Rating: |
2015-08-28 | |
| Great Hand held for a reasonable price |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I own the KG-UV9D now for over 2 months and i can say that i am verry happy with this purchase. Besides the cosmetic appearance of this handheld it is a great TRX. With the help of another HAM we found the software to program all QRG's. So with this program and the programcable it is verry easy to put your desired QRG's in the memory. In my case i got all the VHF/UHF repeaters from my country and +/- 150 airband channels programmed. So easy to do.
I also compared this KG-UV9D with a Kenwood TH-F7E. The result was that the Wouxun is slight better in RX than the Kenwood. I can RX repeaters from 50Km away without any problem.
So its strange to say beacuse i am a real Kenwood lover hihi ...
So for the price you will get verry good, small, double VFO, colordisplay, etc... handheld what includes the AIRband aswell.
What do you want more .....
73
Roberto - PB5X |
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| KC3TOM |
Rating: |
2015-08-26 | |
| So far So good |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I've had the radio for a little over a month. It is my first radio. It's been fine. It is a true dual band, I can receive on both bands at the same time. I was getting a little addicted to listening to the county police/fire/ems frequencies. Each bank of 100 channels is scan bank. The FM feature is nice, but I really haven't used it much. After programming about 20 channels I broke down and bought the programming cable. I live in a high elevation area. I'm reaching repeaters 15 miles away without any trouble with the included high gain antenna. It comes with a stubby antenna, which I haven't even tried. With a roll up j-pole antenna I bought from N9TAX I'm reaching repeaters 30 miles away and receiving ones beyond that. Audio sounds great. Battery life seems really good. Maybe an experienced ham would understand it better, but I had to research what some of the features even do, as the manual is really brief. Radio seems well built. The screen is bright. If I had one complaint if might be the RX led on the top of the radio is really bright. While driving at night it light up the whole interior of my vehicle and can be really annoying, black electrical tape to the rescue. |
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