KT-8900D Dual Band Mini Car Radio Mobile Transceiver VHF UHF Compact Design

Bought this May 2025. Works great! I looked at the 1 star reviews and I see people complaining that its hard to program? I plugged it to my computer, opened up Chirp, input the frequencies, and send to the radio. Zero problems. The speaker is nice and loud! Small size is great. You can fit this anywhere. I paired it with a HYS Long Range Pretuned Low-Profile UHF 17.7inchs Whip NMO 462-467Mhz https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CHYJFLXP and all transmissions are clear. Plus it receives transmission that my scanner doesn't. what I like best is that my 4 important channels are scanned at the same time and there is an indication of which station is receiving the transmission.

Nice and compact mobile transceiver. I like how tiny the unit is. Sound from the speaker is loud and clear. Sounds great on UHF and VHF. The display is nice and bright, you can change the colors. This one came with programming cable, it works with Windows 10, and Chirp free software supports this transceiver. This radio is easy to program. An excellent transceiver for the price.

The radio came shipped in the retail box with a shipping label slapped on it, and the flaps weren't sealed. I'm surprised it arrived at all. When I opened it and inspected it I found one of the mounting holes in the side of the radio had a broken screw (or tap) in it. I should have returned it at that point but I wanted to see how well it worked, so I connected the charging cable and attempted to program it with my standard CHIRP file. I couldn't get CHIRP to download an image from the radio, so I downloaded the factory software, but it wouldnt' communicate with the radio either. It was NOT a programming cable issue, as CHIRP would recognize the radio, but the radio wouldn't go into Clone mode. I tried CHIRP one more time and for some reason it finally connected and I was able to upload my CHIRP file with my local repeaters. The problem is I couldn't get (or hear) a response from the closest repeater that I have no trouble hitting with my Yaesu FT-7900. The repeater would respond but I couldn't hear the response on the QYT radio. When the repeater would automatically broadcast it's station ID, it would barely break squelch but all I could hear was static. The squelch settings seem to have very little to no effect. After trying all afternoon to make it work I've given up and I'm returning it. I really would like to find one of these small form factor, dual band radios that works but they all seem to be a huge crapshoot, and they're difficult to program, so I'll probably just get another Yaesu.

Great compact starter mobile radio. Very clear display even for it being small. Loud audio. Excellent mic. Lots of control options. CHIRP programmable and includes USB programing cable. Nice programmable color selection for the display. Manual programming is a bit difficult to learn but is do-able. Owners manual is poor (watch YouTube videos instead), and right side rubber knob comes off easily - going to use a little dab of silicon to see if that will secure it on the shaft. Overall for the price, this is an excellent deal for a very good basic compact mobile radio. I plan to purchase one or two more for other vehicles I own.

I just got this a few days ago and I have been playing with it, trying to get to know it. I am a total N00B at HAM so any Elmers can feel free to skip ahead. First, you will need to get the proper antenna for it. It's a brick until you have the antenna. Second, you'll need to get Chirp software to program it. It's FREE of charge. You can try manually entering channels or just scanning, but it's sort of a brick until you get it properly programmed. (I got a fill from my local HAM club with all the interesting local frequencies and repeaters.) Third, before you can program it, you'll probably have to get the correct driver for your included data cable. The cable included with the radio may or may not be a knockoff of another manufacturer's cable. When you plug it in, it attempts to install the most recent driver, which has been programmed by the manufacturer to prevent knockoff cables from functioning. You will need to go online, download the 2007-era driver, and replace the current driver in your Device Manager to get the cable to work. If you don't the radio is kind of a brick. Once you get the proper antenna, Chirp program (Did I mention it's free?), local channels list, and a functional cable to load the radio, you're in business. And it works. If you're a n00b like me, don't lose hope. Just keep reading or watching youboob vids and fiddling to figure it out. That being said, it works. I would rate it 3 out of 5 overall. It's closer to a 4 than a 2. I would give it 4 for function and 2 for user friendliness out of the box if you're not already an experienced HAMateur. Audio is decent. I might come back and up the vote in the future after I've played with it more.

For the money spent, this is a great little radio. It is a bit hard to program, but there are good instructions on YouTube that will step you through it. When programming splits for repeaters from the front of the unit, it’s important to remember to program all tones at the same time as the receive frequency… What had me stumped was even with the offset correct, I could not get into a repeater. Some research showed that you MUST also set the transmit frequency by going back to VFO, keying in the desired transmit, and saving to the same channel again. It appears the offset does not direct the radio to transmit on the desired offset without defining the frequency. (Mentioned in title)-Quad monitor is a great function I’ve not seen before Very useful if you need to monitor 2-4 frequencies at once, however unlike others in this price point, there is not a dual PTT. 25w max output is more than enough in most situations in my area, but with the antenna I’m using, I tend to find a lot of dead spots I normally wouldn’t find. As always, for best results, use a quality antenna and good mounting solution. My needs did not account for a better antenna mount. The radio tends to get hot if used for long periods, much hotter than most others I’ve used. Even with a computer fan on the heatsink (factory installed) the temperature on the outer case easily exceeds 100F. Finally, mic is very sensitive. Too far away and you are barely audible, too close and you overdrive the mic. All in all, a great radio for the price point… It’s not the quality of the big brands, but it fit my needs, and most importantly, it fit in my subcompact car without being in the way.

I like everything about this radio. I thought the menus were intuitive and the manual explained each function quite well. Unless you have to have more power than this one I think this radio is a tremendous value. It is less than half the cost of a radio that has more power. I plan on using it to communicate between Jeeps on the trails. This is everything I need. Probably wasn't necessary but I ran 16 gauge wire to a relay connected to the battery. The relay turns on with the key. I wanted to make sure the radio was getting all the current it needed without any voltage drop. The fuse is only 7 amps so it can't be using too much current.

This is a good little radio. Had this radio for a few months now and it’s working great, use it 5 days a week