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Zastone KT8900, QYT KT-8900, QYT KT8900 136-174/400-480MHz Mini Mobile Radio Transceiver, Juentai JT-6188Zastone KT8900, QYT KT-8900, QYT KT8900 136-174/400-480MHz Mini Mobile Radio Transceiver, Juentai JT-6188 Mini (6188Mini)Waccom Mini-8900, SainSonic GT-890Waccom Mini-8900, SainSonic GT-890, TC-UV8900, BTECH MINI UV-2501 ''Also: Zastone MP300 20W MINI Moblie radio'' Value: $90 - $120 new==Review==[[Image:15star.png]] The KT8900 is rated at 20-25W. A 13.6VDC power supply used when not mobile. There is a defunct menu option for Audio Scrambler, the option does nothing. The radio comes with a full function keypad style microphone. Functions include: Menu, Up, Down, A/B, Exit, Reverse, Scan and Lock. The RJ-45 microphone jack has the same pin output as the Kenwood. For computer program it requires Prolific Driver 3.2.0.0 or compatible, it is a prolific chip cable, not a standard USB cable. Due to the fact that the Chinese suck at English translation, the Monitor button reads MOM, rather than MONI. Some other annoyances include a lack of an external Speaker jack. The port in rear is for a programming cable only. There is no 2.5 kHz stepping which makes entry of some UHF frequencies difficult.Some problems with the radio: Volume is very loud. The volume control is nearly useless. You turn slightly and the sound goes from deaf to blasting with little in between. The audio potentiometer is not a correct match. Signal lock after scan sometimes produces no audio. This is a glitch. Cannot connect an external speaker. Apparently, the audio jack in the rear is just for the programming cable and cannot be used for an external speaker.The sound quality is terrible. Receive audio seems distorted. The audio is also unstable while mobile due to vibrations from road travel probably as the result of poor solder joints internally. Looking inside the unit it is apparent that the soldering work inside is less than adequate. It is hard to understand what people are saying while traveling due to the poor sound quality. They really should have made it possible to attach an external speaker to this radio, a major shortcoming. Cross-band interference is a real problem with these. They are noisy radios. Driving by power lines causes monitor to break squelch and generate noise. Transmissions on nearby frequencies also bleeds though. It has a wide open front end with insufficient filtration.Some quick positives: It is very small, it seems pretty tough, and it is inexpensive. I use them as backup radios to quickly place in a vehicle while the main radio is being serviced. For the size they push pretty good transmit power and the microphone audio is loud.The quality from one unit to the next varies to some degree. Your experience with the sound quality might differ to some degree. And finally, with the lower end radios this is still much better than trying to use your HT in a car, even when the HT is connected to an outside antenna. Furthermore, if this radio is stolen from your car you will not suffer as much of a loss as you would had it been an expensive Japanese radio.==Overview==Illustrations of the radio and diagram.==Review====basic usage==Press [V/M] to toggle between VFO and Channel MemoryThe KT8900 is rated at 20-25W. A 13.6VDC power supply used when not mobile. There is a defunct menu option for Audio Scrambler, the option does nothing. The radio comes with a full function keypad style microphone. Functions include: Menu, Up, Down, A/B, Exit, Reverse, Scan and Lock. The RJ-45 microphone jack has the same pin output as the Kenwood. Press [MOM] to disable squelch, press again to enable. MOM = Monitor!For computer program it requires Prolific Driver 3.2.0.0 or compatible, it is a prolific chip cable, not a standard USB cable. Press [EXIT/AB] to toggle between top or bottom receive frequency.Due to the fact that the Chinese suck at English translation, the Monitor button reads MOM, rather than MONI. Some other annoyances include a lack of an external Speaker jack. The port in rear is for a programming cable only. There is no 2.5 kHz stepping which makes entry of some UHF frequencies difficult.On the hand mic press and hold [#/lock] to lock controls, press and hold again to unlock==Programming==The large left knob on these doesn't work well. Change freq or chan using hand mic UP and DOWN buttons. ==programming== Important Program Menu Items: 1. step 3. tx power 11. rx ctcss 13. tx ctcss 36. memory add 37. memory del 38. offset + - off 39. offset use 00.600 or 05.000 44. factory resetProgram instructions for repeater use:Here is a more simplified guide to entering repeater frequencies with offset into a channel memory: <big>'''Program Repeater into Memory'''set radio to VFO MODE by pressing [V/M] Press [Exit A/B] to put radio in Top or Bottom freq use top freq# In VFO set the top to the repeater frequencyas RX freq and Bottom Freq as TX freq.# In VFO set the bottom to the repeater offset 1 - push exit A/B XXX XXX (RX)# Return to top and press [MENU] + (3) and 2 - push exit A/B XXX XXX (TX)## set TX Power, (stay in menu...) 3 - push exit A/B back to top## then goto menu item (13) and set the CTCSS tone, (stay in menu...) 4 - [Menu] 1 step freq [menu] [up] to 25.00k [menu]## then goto menu item (36) select your memory channel number and save [EXIT/AB] 5 - [up]#13 T-CTCS [menu] [up] 131.8 [menu]# In VFO goto the bottom and press [MENU] + (3) and 6 - [up] #36 [menu] 001 (key 001 ) [menu]## verify TX Power, (stay in menu...) 7 - [up] #37 [menu] 199 (key 199 ) [menu]## then goto menu item (13) and verify the CTCSS tone, (stay in menu...) 8 - [up] #38 [menu] [up] + [menu] <------ this is your freq offset + - simplex area.## then goto menu item (36) and select THE SAME memory channel number and save [EXIT/AB]</big> 9 - [up] #39 [menu] key in 05000 [menu] 10 - [exit A/B] to exit the menu programing 11 - [exit A/B] lower TX freq (XXX XXX ) 12 - menu #39 [Menu] offset key in 05000[menu] 13 - [down] #38 [menu] [up] + [menu] <----- this is your freq offset + - simplex area. 14 - [down] #36 [menu] key in 001 for your channel [menu] 15 - [down] #13 [menu] make sure proper tone is there 131.8 16 [V/M] up down key to channel 1 and key up repeater ! this should work if not let me know citation: http://www.brickolore.com/2015/05/qyt-kt8900-dual-band-mobile.html''While in the menu item (36) if the channel you select is empty then just the channel number will be displayed, however, if a value is already present then you will see "CH-" ahead of the number. Your initial repeater frequency should go into an empty memory channel, and when you save the offset then the same memory channel should have the "CH-" present.''citation: http://www.miklor.com/KT8900/KT8900-Program.phpIt seems to be necessary to set or verify the CTCSS tone in both top and bottom VFO even though it is a TX CTCSS. By repeating the save, the second being the offset on bottom, stored in the same channel memory, this quirky little radio will now have the repeater freq and offset freq in memory along with any PL tone.