Rated 4 out of 5
Wouxun KG-UV9GX GMRS Two-Way Radio & SHTF Scanner ($219.99 Original price was: $219.99.$179.00Current price is: $179.00.)
reviewed by Norm Waldroop
Nice little HT.
It’s good for my intended use mostly indoors in case of SHTF. Glad I bought it, but it’s not perfect…
PROs: Output power is advertised as “5+ watts”, but mine only measures around 4 watts max, total forward plus reflected power. (In fairness, my meter is at the low edge of its 1-100W operating range; accuracy might not be great there.) Having said that, I’m surprised with its range. With a Nagoya NA-771G antenna, I can talk on my local repeater (unknown antenna elevation up a 100’ MOL tower) from 12 miles. At that distance, radio checks say my TX is “good” and “easily readable”, but with some static.
[BSR: GMRS radios are rated in ERP (Effective Radiated Power) per the FCC, and as the antenna has some gain, your ERP rating will be higher than the direct PEP (Peak Envelope Power) output. Indeed, there's also a good chance your meter is off by a Watt or more, as the radio usually puts out an average of 5.35 Watts PEP. The performance difference of a Watt or so is minuscule on UHF anyway, so this really is splitting hairs in either case. :) ]
It's very miserly with power. I can scan all day (but…see below) on a fraction of battery capacity.
I’m surprised how small it is!
The SHTF pre-programming makes up for the cons.
CONS: Number 1 problem: the screen is VERY dim even on the brightest setting. Outside in bright sun, this isn’t a cover-the-screen-with-your-cupped-hand dim, it’s a throw-a-towel-over-your-head dim.
[BSR: This is the case with many color TFT displays, but I am working on improving this in a future version.]
The radio comes with 4 pages (two loose sheets of paper front and back) of a more-or-less quick start guide, but not a detailed manual. Users familiar with HTs will have no problem. Newbies like myself will need some background from other sources (what are RX-CTC, TX-CTC, RX-DCS, TX-DCS, OFFSET, PTT-ID, ANI-ID, RING, S-TONE, etc, etc?)
[BSR: You can download the parent radio's (KG-UV9P) full manual from the product page, which is all that Wouxun offers.]
The radio turns itself off after some period of non-use, even while scanning. It’s somewhere around 1 or 1.5 hours, but I don’t know the exact time because you don’t know when it happens. There is no beep, flashing LED or other prior/post warning and I see no way to disable that…feature. To reset, the radio must be turned off and back on. That’s not a good thing for those hiking, skiing, shopping, bike riding, etc. with others they are trying to stay in contact with.
[BSR: This is the APO (Auto Power-Off) feature, which is set to a default of 120 minutes when shipped. You can simply increase or turn this feature off in the radio's Function Menu if desired. See the list of Menu Functions in the Quick-Start Guide for the Menu # and options.]
Menu item 1 allows screen blanking to be turned off so that the screen is always on, but the button backlights are together with the screen. If the screen is always on, the buttons are, too. It would be useful to have a power save option that leaves the screen on while the buttons are off.
[BSR: The display backlight takes way more power to stay lit than the keypad backlight, so such a feature would make an infinitesimal difference in battery life but would add complexity of operation and there's n more MCU memory left to add any more functions to this radio platform without removing something else.]
The “Stealth” screen option is dark red characters over a black screen, I guess for those running around in the dark trying not to be seen. However, the green receive LED is very bright in all screen modes and would kind of defeat the purpose. :)
[BSR: Most people either use a Sharpie or a small piece of black paper tape to "cover" the status LEDs.]
I’ve yet to figure out how to tone scan. Menu 51 SCN-CD has two options: CTCSS and DCS. If you select one, you are exited from the menu, and then….nothing. No help from the quick start guide.
[BSR: Actually, the Function Menu list in the Quick-Start Guide mentions using the feature "on active signals," which is how the feature works, so engage the feature when there's an active signal to search for a CTCSS tone or DCS code.]
The dust flap over the headphone/mic port folds over for headphone attachment, but doesn’t want to stay closed afterward. Better to remove the flap, but the little screw isn’t captive and is easily dropped and lost.
[BSR: If you press the area over the lower audio jack hole, and then rock your thumb up to press the area over the upper audio jack hole, the audio jack cover should stay in unless you have severely deformed/worn it.]
Reception in the RX-only bands isn’t quite as clear as it could be. I’m only two miles from the outer marker on the local ILS. Aircraft transmissions are fuzzier than they should be so close, as is the local NOAA weather broadcast and all FM reception.
[BSR: The AM Air Band RX does have slightly less sensitivity as the normal UV bands. You might consider using an after-market antenna tuned better for the Air Band to increase the RX. Your NOAA reception should be almost as good as 2m band RX, and FM Broadcast RX should be nearly as good also. If not, you may have a faulty receiver. Please contact me if you would like to troubleshoot this.]
Even some cheap competitor HTs have a USB-C or round plug charging option for use in a car. This unit has to be in the charging cradle. The optional cigarette lighter plug with the big adapter that fits in the battery slot costs extra and is not optimum.
[BSR: This is an older radio line (which is why it's so stable and revered) that came out before USB-C existed. There is however a new BLO-033 USB-C chargeable battery available for all UV9-Series radios, which you can purchase as a spare, or have swapped in instead of the standard BLO-012 with your radio (if requested during checkout or via email before an order is processed). The BLO-033 can be charged directly via USB-C or in the desk charger included with the radio.]
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