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Reviews For: QYT KT-8900D

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

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Review Summary For : QYT KT-8900D
Reviews: 29MSRP: 140
Description:
Compact 25 watt dual-bander with quad receive.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.qyt-cn.com/en/pro_info152.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00293.2
N4NYY Rating: 2017-11-09
Super portable analog 2M/440 Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Positives are size. Just a great portability. You can have it as a base and then just take it into the car as a mobile. Receive audio is outstanding. Programming was a breeze with chirp. Get great TX audio reports. $90 with programming cable.

The VFO is flaky. It skips, goes backwards, and so forth. However, you can move the freq or channel using the mic. Owner's manual is horrible. A very bad Chinese to English translation. Chirp bypasses most of what you need to know in the manual.

Saw this for the first time at Field Day. Fell in love with it then. Let's stop mocking the Chinese. Not the greatest quality, but a newer ham can get on the air with about $150 buying one of these and a Diamond base antenna. For $200, he can have this radio, a base and mobile antenna. You can't beat that.
ZS6SR Rating: 2017-06-13
Very Happy Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I picked up my QYT KT8900D about a week ago. I was impressed with the small size and robust construction of the case (I haven't looked inside). I was able to configure it using CHIRP on Linux using the latest daily chirp image. This identified the radio immediately without any fuss. I was able to setup all the repeaters and other settings I needed. I installed the device into my Land Rover Defender 110 using the cigarette lighter provided and had many complaints of "rain" and "hum" noise when transmitting. I took the unit out at home and decided to replace the power wires connected to the cigarette lighter with thicker gauge wires and instead of using the cigarette connector I connected directly to a small motorcycle 12V battery. After doing this I got very good audio reports. From the beginning receiving audio has been excellent. I am very happy with this device. The only comment I can add is that I would love to see these units coming out with a little better mic and amplification capabilities.
K8DXX Rating: 2017-03-30
Good for The Price Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought this radio and a 1/4 wave 2/440 mag mount when I found that my Baofeng HT didn't have the oomph to communicate here in Sebring, FL. This setup will also make the drive back to Michigan easier. After 3 days of use and ownership, I can say this radio is basically good. RX seems fine with good speaker volume (although there are few really strong signals here). Audio reports are good. Fit and finish seem nice. It is tiny and could be mounter anywhere. I plan to just hold it in my lap. Heating of the case doesn't seem to be a problem. It gets warm but not hot.

I'd like to share a few points I've learned in making this radio usable. As a foreign language major 45 years ago, I think the manual is horrible but what do you want for $85. Here goes:

- The radio's user interface is a lot like Baofeng and other Chinese HTs. You set the frequency and then proceed through 5 - 6 menus to set offset (not automatic), CTCS tone, etc. Very clumsy!
- The programming software provided did not work for me (Windows 10). CHIRP does, which is good news.
- It's far easier to program memories and radio functions (CHRP appears to cover all of them) through software. NOTE Timeout Timer (TOT) is set to 60 seconds. You can increase this value either at the radio or CHIRP.
- I found it easier to set the four "Quad Receive" memories "By Channel"... See CHIRP. Once you get the Q-R frequencies and names programmed, you still have to go through the setting of CTCS tone, offset, etc. using the radio, even though they're stored in memory.
- One scrolls through the Q-R positions using the EXIT/AB mic button (as in ABCD)
- Once you highlight a Q-R entry, you can move up or down by the programmed step by pressing UP/DN (if in VFO or frequency mode). Likewise, you can scroll through memory positions using the UP/DN buttons when in Channel or memory mode.
- There apparently is a mic button to change between VFO and Memory mode but I can't find it. To date, I'm still using the front panel V/M button.

Should you buy it? I see no reason not to. Unless you're a real V/UHF enthusiast (which I am not) it works about as good as a $300 I-K-Y rig. BTW, I got mine off Amazon for $85.88 including software and programming cable. My radio carries the TALKCOOP name (paper sticker) but it appears 100% QYT.

73
KA4SET Rating: 2017-03-21
Good for the money Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Only had it for a day, but seems good. Audio loud and clear. Doesn't feel cheap, except for the two knobs. Looks good. Got it for my mobile commute.
NC6J Rating: 2017-03-14
works well Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
At $85 on Amazon, I figured the low price was worth the risk of a little trouble.
Took it out of the box, powered it up, programmed by hand in about 5 min, (came with a decent English manual), and within 15 minutes had it running as the primary radio on my packet node. Works so well, I will replace the 2nd radio in my node with another 9800D this week.

Also, for it's size, as a mobile install it could easily fit in an ashtray slot.
KJ4FGI Rating: 2017-03-14
Very Nice Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have had no problems,it was cheaper than spending $209.00 on a Mirage BD-35 for my Yaesu FT-60r. I paid $89.00 new off eBay, I get very good audio reports, it sounds great and it's small , great for a go box. Vey easy to program without the software. I give it a thumbs up....
G1MQQ Rating: 2017-03-03
Rubbish Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Frequency change Hit and miss. Turn the knob too fast and it goes backwards!!
Totally Deaf. S6 signal on my FT3200 DM barely quietens this rig.
End stopping signal from local repeater registers about S5.
Incomprehensible manual.

If you're on a tight budget Spend you money on a used Yeasu Icom Kenwood etc.
MM0ZIF Rating: 2017-02-23
A great little rig Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
When are the big companies going to realise that these guys make their £500 handies look pathetic. I was looking for something that would sit on the dash and not take up a lot of real estate, this rig does exactly that. I programmed it by hand, which didn't take long (data cable coming separately)

Quad Watch is really useful, you'd be surprised how so, and 25w VHF and 20w UHF, at the price if you want a hundred watt output your still cheaper than a competitors handheld with a cheap linear thrown in. It makes no sense to buy big names when these are so robust. the best thing is I have it mounted on a suction cup, hanging from the windscreen (windsheild in the USA)
AD8B Rating: 2017-01-05
So far, so good. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've spent about 90 minutes with this rig, all of it programming. (This was my first venture with programming software.) I'm very pleased with the look and feel of the hardware. The QYT-CN programming software for the 8900D is okay. When Windows 10 complained that it already had a newer driver, I went ahead with the installation of the driver downloaded from QYT-CN since the USB cable I received was a Prolific variety. The radio automatically connected to the software when I started it up! I didn't even select the comm port. I'm glad I watched a few YouTube CHIRP videos last week so I knew about Prolific cables and the importance of first reading from the radio. My apprehension about a "cheap" radio and software from China was eased as I was able to feel my way around and program the eight channels I wanted. However, there certainly are quirks. For instance, when you write to the radio or save to disk, the spaces you placed in channel names disappear from the channels table. However, the spaces are still written to the rig. I was not able to figure out how to inhibit transmission on out of band frequencies so programming those is on hold for now. The FM broadcast receiver that drops out for ham activity is a nice idea but it is so much louder than the other activity it's unusable.

I've rated this as a 4 because it looks like it might be just the radio I need for the tiny spot in the pickup I want to use. Also, I am not in an urban environment. Hopefully, this will soon make it to the CHIRP supported list.