Yaesu FTM-350 APRS Review

[K8WAW]

Thanks Moleculo for the firmware version number information. I checked mine and it is version 1 for both radio and panel.

73 K8WAW

 

[jmz]

Thank you all! I'm starting understand how some of the deeper functions work, with your help. I might get lucky and get my internal GPS unit installed tomorrow after UPS comes....Is anyone using the bluetooth or the voice module on the FTM350R, and how do you like them?

 

[Whale]

Learned something today

Yesterday I had my radio set up with 144.390 on the right hand side and autobeacon turned on. I had the left hand side set to one of our local UHF repeaters, and had been talking on it. This morning I got a call from someone in the club saying they were receiving packets on the UHF repeater from my radio. Took me a while but I found out that I had apparently pressed the right hand button, switching the selection triangle to the right hand side. I listened to the UHF repeater freq. on my HT and found that when I pressed Beacon-TX the beacon went out on the UHF freq programed in the left hand side rather than 144.390 which was programmed in the right hand side. It had apparently been autobeaconing on the repeater frequency for the few hours it was on after I quit talking. People were not happy. When I pressed the left button to reselect that side everything worked correctly again.

It was almost like it was crossbanding the beacon. I don't know enough about APRS or the radio to know, but was this a bug, a normal operation with those settings or some kind of a new feature?

 

[Skysho]

You need to change E16 Data Band Select, the default is to send the APRS out over the sub-band (the one where the triangle isn't). So if you select the R-Band Fix, it will transmit only on the right side. Hope that helps, I aggravated a noon time net for two days until I realized net control was talking bad about me. Fortunately he didn't know it was me, he was thinking it was someone who had just attended a night before class on packet radio. Once its on the fixed band selection, be sure to turn the beaconing off if you change over to monitor another frequency on the fixed side because you'll send your APRS beacon out loud and clear where you don't want it.

 

[Wise87]

I don’t know if anyone else is having this problem but APRS beaconing is hit or miss with my 350. I followed all the instructions that everyone has posted and my unit will not beacon when it is scheduled too. I tried intervals, smart-beaconing and even manual mode. Sometime I will get TX errors but most times when I hit B-TX, I don’t get the 3 beeps to indicate that it was successful. When I have smart-beaconing set to certain settings like speed and turn degrees, it doesn’t beacon. I’ve tried this on the left side and had a little more success. Not sure what is going on. When I hit B-TX it should TX.

 

[Skysho]

I've noticed that when it happens to be receiving a transmission, you'll receive a TX Error. So it'll skip the scheduled beacon and fire off on the next one, provide you're not recieving. Especially when the radio is set for RX/TX on the same bank (R or L). I set my radio to only receive signals within a 10 mile radius. Prior to that setting I had beacons pounding non-stop. My 2 cents.

 

[panflute]

New 350R arriving tomorrow

Yes, my new 350R is arriving from HRO Atlanta tomorrow. I am very much looking forward to playing with it and learning it. I know i am going to love it. I can also say I am totally in the dark, confused, and bewildered at this point since I have no clue what you guys are saying in most of this thread. Time for APRS 101. Well at least my VX-8R will have a big brother to play with now.

Abe
W4FTL
Fort Lauderdale

 

[Skysho]

Panflute, be sure to read all the different threads on this radio. Moleculo and others have put up some very enlightening discussions, advice, and reviews. It is by far one of the most enjoyable radios I've had to date. Its hard to avoid using all its features while shooting down the interstate, but I don't mind at all sitting in the truck while the wifes in the mall.

 

[Moleculo]

Time for APRS 101

If you want, start an "APRS 101" thread in the digital modes discussion section. There is a lot of info already on the net, but I'm sure a few of us could boil it down to the basics for you.

 

[SR385]

APRS: Automatic Packet Reporting System

 

[n8wrl]

Blinking A12

This is an impressive little radio! I'm happily receiving APRS packets. With the modem on, 'A12' blinks. Is there any way to stop the blink? I guess I could get used to it...

-Brian n8wrl

 

[Ghost]

Yes, you can turn the APRS Mute, E06, to off.

Of course, that might be worse than the blinking, but you can turn the volume down all the way.

 

[n8wrl]

Yes, you can turn the APRS Mute, E06, to off.

Of course, that might be worse than the blinking, but you can turn the volume down all the way.

Ah - blink == mute.

Ok I can put up with the blinking.

Thanks!

-Brian n8wrl

 

[n1lul]

Pop-ups

I am still having pop-up problems. The S-list will populate normally, but the pop-ups are very sporadic. I clear the S-list frequently (like every 15 min.) and I have done a reset twice. The tech at Yaesu was very nice, but not a lot of help. His answer was "just play with it and see what happens"

This is the crazy part: I get a flood of pop-ups when I stop, they will go non-stop for about 30 seconds then seem to go back to normal. I have tried two different antennas with the same result.

All I want is to get a pop-up display for each good packet I receive. Am I asking too much?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[K4MCK]

APRS manual pinout error

The last item in the APRS manual is a pinout diagram of the data port. The version 1.1 of this manual has some of the pins mislabeled. Those of you who are experienced with mini-dins probably noticed and ignored the bad info. The rest of us will struggle and not understand why our data cable doesn't work.

The APRS manual version 1.2 issed last week is corrected. The attached file shows the correction.

73,
K4MCK