I recently purchased a Wouxun KG-UV9P handheld radio. I’d been looking for a new radio for a while to replace a series of dead Chinese radios and my Yaesu VX-3R. My non-negotiable, minimum criteria for the radio were as follows:
- Dual band 144/440 mhz bands
- At least 5 watts on 2 meters
- High quality build
- Capable of transmission on FRS/GMRS
- Reasonably priced – somewhere between the Baofeng and the Japanese Yaesu/Icom/Kenwood flagship HTs.
In fact I’d been keeping an eye on the latest Japanese radios. The HT I’ve owned that pleased me the most was a Yaesu VX-3R… while it lasted. I loved its shortwave and airband receive capabilities, its tiny profile, and FM radio. Then it started shorting on transmit, triggering the batteries’ internal protection circuit. The dismal response from Yaesu made me understand that they don’t stand by their products any more than the Chinese do… despite the roughly 10x price difference.
Also, I’d not been excited by the Japanese offerings. APRS is a great feature I’ve always wanted integrated into my HT. I’d waited for the FT-3 but reviews are not great. I love the TH-D74 but wouldn’t dare take such a delicate and expensive device around all day, it would last a week. I’ve thought about purchasing an FT-1D but based on my experience with Yaesu not being at all interested in servicing their old radios, that was out. The icom HTs haven’t seem to have changed in years. Also I have zero interest in talking into a hotspot across the room over the internet using System Fusion or D-Star. So I started looking elsewhere.
I spent some time watching the buzz around the Anytone D878UV DMR radio with GPS and APRS send. But I’m just not interested in DMR, and the lack of APRS receive was a problem for me. Also, people in the Facebook group seem to have quality problems with their radios. No thanks.
The Wouxun KG-UV9P
KG-UV9P Features:
- 9 watts VHF / 7 watts UHF (this is the claim on BuyTwoWayRadios.com. The Wouxun site rates it lower: UHF , H:6W , M:4W , L:1W; VHF , H:7W , M:5W , L:1W) – See note below under Transmit Power
- “dual band reception” – you can receive and hear two signals simultaneously on the same or different bands.
- You can even transmit on one band while you listen on the other – this is important for satellite work. I am looking forward to trying this out.
- Cross-band repeater (I have not used this function)
- AM Airband receive (108-136MHz)
- TX on 144-148MHz VHF (FM TX), 420-450MHz UHF (FM TX)
- When unlocked, TX on -36-174MHz VHF (FM TX), 400-512MHz UHF (FM TX).
- RX on 76-108MHz (FM broadcast), 136-180MHz (FM RX), 230-250MHz (FM RX), 350-400MHz (FM RX), 400-512MHz (FM RX), 700-985MHz (FM RX)
I bought the KH-UV9P from Buy TwoWayRadios.com. It arrived quickly. The price was $139.99 and included a Nagoya NA-701 rubber whip antenna. Shipment was prompt and free – ordered on a Saturday, radio arrived Wednesday.
First Impressions
- Great build quality. Radio is heavy and substantial.
- Screen is large and bright, I can read without my reading glasses.
- Battery life on the 3200mAh lithium ion battery is excellent. I left radio on all night on 146.52 (with occasional receive) and was still going strong this morning.
- Radio has sensitive signal strength meter for both receivers.
Programming the Radio
I was quickly able to “unlock” the frequency range to allow tx on the FRS/GMRS frequencies using the Wouxun software available for Windows on this site.
I was able to confirm that Chirp is able to program the radio using the KG-UV9D Plus profile.
For both, I used a Baofeng USB serial cable with the Prolific driver that I had lying around to program my Baofeng UV-5Rs, the last of which finally died.
Transmit Power
Mark Lindsey from BetterSafeRadio.com tested the power out on the KG-UV9P and had this to say:
Actually, I’m starting to test all of my radios because so many of the Chinese manufacturers inflate their numbers, especially their battery mAh numbers, but all the power. I believe my meter runs a little low (need to have it calibrated again), but here’s what I got on my first pass, into a 50W dummy load:
446MHz L 2.16 M 4.46 H 6.24
146MHz L 1.25 M 4.29 H 6.71
I was also surprised to see the 9W on the B2W site – thought maybe they had secured a different version, but I’m pretty tight with Wouxun, so I don’t think that radio exists. I know that many dealers will inflate their numbers also, just for more sales, and because most people don’t really test their gear. 🙁 I’ve seen this on many other radios also, unfortunately.
In any event, assuming my numbers are a worst case (or what the radio will be doing after the battery pack has run down a little), nearly 7W on VHF is pretty nice (don’t want much more than that next to your head anyway), and having a radio that does over 5W (over 6W actually) on UHF is great.
Using the Radio
I will post more after a few days of using this radio.
Cross-Band Repeater, Satellite and MURS Information
Hey Pat,
I can verify that the KG-UV9 does work as a cross-band repeater. It was flown on a high altitude balloon and got to about 20 miles high. At that altitude it had a 400 mile footprint. It was listening on VHF and sending on UHF at a half watt.
VHF out desenses the UHF input on full duplex and repeater. That means it’ll work U/v operation for AO-85, AO-91, AO-92, and Fox-1Cliff but not V/u satellites.
I addition to FRS/GMRS it can do MURS. I am the radio lead for my friendly local CERT. I have been recommending dual band radios so that we can use MURS in peace.
73 de W6MRR
Photos
Backlit buttons and screen with call sign and phone number. Nagoya 771 antenna. With Nagoya NA-701 2m/70cm Dual Band Antenna (SMA Male) Radio back and 3200 mAh battery back Stock antenna Radio’s SMA Female and Antenna SMA male In the charger Mike and speaker jacks PTT, 2nd band PTT, and two programmable buttons Stock antenna (SMA Male) with radio (SMA Female)
8 thoughts on “Wouxun KG-UV9P”
Patrick, Thanks for previewing this radio. I have an older Wouxun KG-UV3D and like it except for two things. First, the manual programming seems unnecessarily challenging, especially with the timeout on data entry at only a few seconds. I’d love to find a radio with more intuitive and easy manual programming. The other think I’d like in a radio is the simultaneous display of the channel name and frequency. In your evaluation, did you come across radios that satisfied either or both of these requirements?
John,
The 9P doesn’t seem to have that issue (quick timeout on programming). I haven’t seen a radio that shows both the channel name and frequency- but I think I’ve seen radios that show the frequency on transmit. I’ll keep my eye out.
Thanks for reading. 73 de AC3K
Great. And I look forward to more about your new HT!
Great review and I look forward to the next installment. It should be noted for the record though, however, that this radio is not type-accepted for Tx on GMRS, FRS, or MURS, and using it for such goes against FCC rules. In a SHTF situation though, many agree that all bets are off, so there’s that. 🙂 I sell a version of the 9P (and 9D(Plus)) that comes pre-programmed for SHTF (Tx on Ham bands only), for those that don’t want to bother with the initial programming. The 9P is a great radio and because of the AM AIR Band receive and extra power, it’s now my main carry radio also, replacing my 9D(Plus). I only wish it was better than IP55, but there are other radios that offer such for not much more (or less).
Any chance youd be willing to guide me through the expanding freq. mod?
Hello Patrick,
I have purchased this radio after reading your blog. Awesome radio. But I can’t figure out how to unlock it. I see in your post it says :
“When unlocked, TX on -36-174MHz VHF (FM TX), 400-512MHz UHF (FM TX).”
How did you go about unlocking it?
Interesting review.
I would recommend using it only within our bands, as we don’t need unnecessary attention from the FCC.
Easy enough to do.
I would hate to lose all these nice radio priveladges we enjoy
So how does one install the software located on the HamFiles website? Files appear to be a .rar file type and I’m not sure how to install those onto the radio.