adding marine VHF channels to Yaesu FT-2900R

[Raven Tom]

Newbie here....can anyone give me a step-by-step concept of how to add the marine VHF channels to this new radio?
Sure be nice to be able to tune them in by channel number. I do have a list of the frequencies. Of course, scanning these will be the next project.

TIA and 73,
...Tom

 

[kd-5-bgt]

hiya and welcome to the board !!

Are you wanting to transmit on those frequencies or just listen?

If you are wanting to transmit there are mods that can be done.....at your own risk of course....there is a mods forum here,check there and see if that radio is listed

try this link for the mod on that radio

http://www.worldwidedx.com/yaesu/44185-yaesu-yaesu-2900r-frequency-modification-mars-mod.html

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Newbie here....can anyone give me a step-by-step concept of how to add the marine VHF channels to this new radio?
Sure be nice to be able to tune them in by channel number. I do have a list of the frequencies. Of course, scanning these will be the next project.

TIA and 73,
...Tom

That radio is already capable of receiving the VHF marine channels straight out of the box. There are no mods available that will allow you to display each channel as they are allocated to the marine service. Simply program them into memories and set the alphanumeric display to show something like "MAR-16" for channel 16 etc.


If you want to mod it to illegally transmit on those channels then that is another story.

 

[Qwazyone]

RT Systems software is about the easiest way to program any radio, I think they charge about $60 for the program and programming cable. I imagine that the 2900 is like the other Yaesu products where you can assign names to memory banks, so you could name the bank Marine and program in the freq and marine channel name . You could do the same manually for free. The RT systems software will not modify your rig to transmit out of band on the marine freqs, but it does make programming simple, I have used it with my VX6R and FT857D

 

[Raven Tom]

hiya and welcome to the board !!

Are you wanting to transmit on those frequencies or just listen?

If you are wanting to transmit there are mods that can be done.....at your own risk of course....there is a mods forum here,check there and see if that radio is listed

try this link for the mod on that radio

http://www.worldwidedx.com/yaesu/44185-yaesu-yaesu-2900r-frequency-modification-mars-mod.html

Thanks, found the mod and entered the frequencies but am now having trouble putting them into a memory bank. Yes, I'll need to transmit on those as well as the rest of 2m after I pass the license.

 

[packrat]

As others have hinted, it is illegal to transmit on the marine bands with that radio, or from land. Also, your ham license does not cover the marine bands. Just a friendly reminder.

 

[kd-5-bgt]

packrat is right,using a ham radio outside of the ham bands is a real nono!! If caught the FCC tends to raise a huge stink....