There are a very few radios that I find around that are durable and can hold their own. The Wouxun KG-UV9D is one of them. Holding these in your hand will give you a feel that you are holding something solid in your hand. Something that is durable and can take a hit or five if needed. I have been using this radio since a while now and I really appreciate the fact that this thing has phenomenal range and is very well balanced.

The Walkie Talkie

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Design

The body seems to be made of solid plastic, but it is not the kind of plastic that would seem cheap. The in-hand feel is very good, and you can see good workmanship when you hold the device in your hands. It is small and light weight. I feel that the battery could last a little longer, but you will get a day’s worth of use easily, no sweat. If your radio is in Chinese, you could reset or transfer the language on setting panel.

The backlight on this is a little dimmer than usual, but there is a plus model of this device which solves this issue as well. The true dual receive feature is a nice addition. You can operate in either VFO or Channel mode and set up 10 scan ranges from your programmed memories.

The Downsides

This device does not support the chirp software or support a traditional programming cable. I am big on open source software, and having a proprietary software as a necessity in order to program this gives me a lot of pain.

In order to get this unit programmed you will need to pay money to buy the RTSystems software. In this way, for every model that you own, you will need to buy the application, which will set you back by a cool $50 and you will also need to purchase a unique programming cable, that does not work in the standard form. This sucks big time, considering how good this purchase is. Adding the extra fifty dollars gives a huge hit to the value for money of this device. If vendors were to put Wouxun to add support for CHIRP, it would be a major go, for me. Otherwise, you end up paying a lot more for this device then you are supposed to.

Sometimes, I have to really speak into the mic to be heard properly – this is definitely a big problem.

Features

One of the good things about this walkie talkie is that you can monitor two frequencies at the same time with this walkie talkie. For example, you can monitor a repeater that you have set up and another broadcasting site that you may be using.

We have talked about dual band radios in the past. However, this walkie talkie blows it out of the park with band support. There is not two, but seven band support pre-bundled with this radio!

The squelch on this device is very good as well. The range leaves me with no complaints as well. There are two antennas that come with this product. One of them is of high gain, and you can hear from most of your repeaters while using that. The other one will is having slightly lesser gain, so there is that.

This radio is what you might consider to be a pro radio. The speakers on this device are pretty solid, if you are low on hearing I would totally recommend you this. Otherwise, just turn the volume down.

On the KG-UV9D there is an S/RF meter which functions well. There is a stealth mode as well, where the blinking green status indicator also shuts down, so you can communicate in stealth. There is an FM Feature as well, if you want to tune in.

Audio Quality and Scan Speed

The biggest issue apart from the paid software on this device is that the scan speed is very slow. It is slower than the Baofengs that I own, and much much slower than the Yaesu FT-7800. However, this unit makes up for that with the audio quality. The audio on this unit is extremely clear. In some cases, I’d say I’m experiencing that the unit has clearer audio reception than the Yaesu that I also have, which is one of my all-time favourites.

I have been using an external mic with this walkie talkie, so I have not really faced the low mic sound issue. I would suggest you to get one as well, as that is more comfortable than speaking into the device.

Wouxun Software

the Wouxun band programming software doesn’t work at all. I have been using computers since years now, and I know a driver issue when I see one. This is not a case of missing drivers or improper connection or configuration. The band programming software provided by Wouxun simply does not work. They should have provided us with something that would have worked at least somewhat. This is a basic expectation from a company you are buying a product from. The result of this is that you have to buy more expensive software to program this device.

Frequency Ranges

I found these to be the frequency ranges supported on this device:

Frequency Range of the Wouxun KG-UV9D (suitable for different countries or areas)
A Area B Area
TX:136-174MHZ(FM) TX:136-174MHZ(FM)
400-512MHZ(FM) 400-512MHZ(FM)
RX:108-136MHZ(AM Band Receiving) RX:136-174MHZ(FM)
136-180MHZ(FM) 400-512MHZ(FM)
230-250MHZ(FM) 76-108MHz(FM Radio)
350-400MHZ(FM)
400-480 or 512MHZ(FM)
700-985MHZ(FM)

Conclusion

Barring the downsides, this product performs really really well. The range is exceptional and the device is sturdy and lasts really long. There are a lot of features as well, which make this a compelling purchase. However, there are a bunch of downsides as well, which really makes me want to consider my options again before buying this.