Yaesu FTM-350 APRS Review

[NY ESU]

I also emailed yaesu with these questions:

"How do you put the FTM-350 TNC into KISS mode for connecting to existing APRS software via the data connector?"

"Do you have any operating instructions for the TNC in the FTM-350"

This was the response:

"You do not. There are no TNC adjustments available for the FTM-350."

That was it. Their complete response.

 

[SR385]

"You do not. There are no TNC adjustments available for the FTM-350."

That was it. Their complete response.

Don't ya love responses like that....I always wonder if they didn't ^H^H^H 'stupid' off the end before sending.

Gotta love customer service in the modern era.

I can't help but wonder if it's an $8/hr office worker that just flipped through a manual doing the answering too. Would anyone technical give an answer like that?

 

[K3IRA]

Not sure if i should have started a new thread for this issue or not but oh well. Ive had my ftm-350r for almost 2 weeks now and im having an issue with the APRS, for the life of me i cant figure out what the problem is. i set up my callsign, turned the modem on, put in status messages and put in a fixed lat and long coordinates since i do not have the gps unit, but when i turn on auto beacon every 5 or 10 min it never tx a beacon, in fact when i go and push the manual tx bcn button it says "tx error". this is my first time ever dealing with APRS so im anxious to learn about it, is there something obvious that im missing?

 

[Happy_Hamer]

Is it possible you have the repeater offset set on negative instead of simplex? What I mean is since the APRS frequency is 144.390 so if you have a negative offset it will try to TX out of the amateur band hence the TX Error?

Let me know

Not sure if i should have started a new thread for this issue or not but oh well. Ive had my ftm-350r for almost 2 weeks now and im having an issue with the APRS, for the life of me i cant figure out what the problem is. i set up my callsign, turned the modem on, put in status messages and put in a fixed lat and long coordinates since i do not have the gps unit, but when i turn on auto beacon every 5 or 10 min it never tx a beacon, in fact when i go and push the manual tx bcn button it says "tx error". this is my first time ever dealing with APRS so im anxious to learn about it, is there something obvious that im missing?

 

[Moleculo]

Perhaps you have the APRS band set to the "other" band than you're operating on?

 

[K8WAW]

I have a quick question, I received my FTM-350 back from Yaesu Technical Support (CA) yesterday and everything works as advertised. I remember Mole saying in one of his posts that when his 350 was returned, the firmware revision number was still 1.0. I would like to see what mine is now but I have no idea of how to display the firmware revision number! Can someone tell me the button sequence needed to display the rev number?

My thanks in advance. . .

73 K8WAW

 

[jmz]

I just want to saw I love this thread on the FTM 350R! It is a great way for me to learn more about this radio. I am a newbie to APRS and a radio made this century, so my knowledge of the more modern radio operation is limited. I have set up most of the basic APRS functions. I am receiving APRS data....but what I am currently confused on and the manual does not make clear to me is where I'm supposed to have 144.39 Mhz programed into the radio for regular radio operation, like memory scan and monitoring while simultaneously receiving APRS data? Right now I have it programed into memory as one of the memories as if it was a repeater..I saw reference to the "SUB" band in the APRS manual but I am not sure what the SUB band refers to, and feel I am missing a crucial step in getting the APRS Rx/Tx set up. My internal GPS module is in route, so I am just tinkering with all the APRS right now until it arrives.

Thanks!
John KE4HGR

 

[Moleculo]

I have a quick question, I received my FTM-350 back from Yaesu Technical Support (CA) yesterday and everything works as advertised. I remember Mole saying in one of his posts that when his 350 was returned, the firmware revision number was still 1.0. I would like to see what mine is now but I have no idea of how to display the firmware revision number! Can someone tell me the button sequence needed to display the rev number?

My thanks in advance. . .

73 K8WAW

Turn the radio on into the "special function" menu by holding the button just to the left of the power button on while you press the power button. To the right of the menu, the version numbers are displayed.

 

[Moleculo]

I am receiving APRS data....but what I am currently confused on and the manual does not make clear to me is where I'm supposed to have 144.39 Mhz programed into the radio for regular radio operation, like memory scan and monitoring while simultaneously receiving APRS data? Right now I have it programed into memory as one of the memories as if it was a repeater..I saw reference to the "SUB" band in the APRS manual but I am not sure what the SUB band refers to, and feel I am missing a crucial step in getting the APRS Rx/Tx set up.

I think I understand the question, but I'm not entirely sure? By default, the radio is setup to use the "sub" band as the APRS band. "Sub" band means, whichever VFO you don't have active at the time. I didn't like it set this way because it makes the the APRS band switch between right and left depending on which side you made the "main" band. I changed it to be on the right side only by changing menu E16 - DATA BAND SELECT.

However you set it up, the side that you intend to use for APRS should generally be on 144.39 Mhz in North America. Some locations may use a different frequency for APRS, so you might have some variations. Then you can use the other VFO for whatever other radio operations you want.

Hope that helps.

 

[jmz]

Okay that's what I thought at first by default I would get data from having the APRS functions on. I had the A12 in the upper right side, but I did not seem to get the data from the other radios in the area, so as an experiment I placed 144.39 into a memory and left the radio on 144.39 and boom the data from other radios started coming across to my radio. My second experiment was to place the radio in scan mode, and it also received data from the other radios as it scanned by. When I had it set up without 144.39 in memory I was not receiving any data from other local radios that I am aware of. Perhaps I don't have all the settings in the APRS menu set correctly to Rx without having 144.39 in a memory. Is there a easy way to verify settings? Is it best to go through he manual and just make sure all settings are as they described?

Thanks!
John KE4HGR

 

[jmz]

Another issue I am having is when I make an attempt to perform a manual Tx for APRS I get a Tx Error. I have tried it with Auto Beaconing on and off and it doesn't seem to make a difference. I have read through the APRS manual twice and see no reference to transmit errors for trouble shooting issues, so I value the knowledge of the group and appreciate any help or ideas!!

Thanks!
John KE4HGR

 

[HRocks]

Make sure you're not scanning on the main band when you try to manual Tx on the APRS side.....

73, N4ROX

 

[jmz]

Aaahah? That solves that issue....Thank uyou kind Sir!!!

 

[Moleculo]

When I had it set up without 144.39 in memory I was not receiving any data from other local radios that I am aware of. Perhaps I don't have all the settings in the APRS menu set correctly to Rx without having 144.39 in a memory.

If you have APRS turned on and are using the "sub band" as the aprs band, if you have that band selected as the "main" band, it won't register any APRS data. It sounds to me like this is what you're doing?

 

[Skysho]

I also found E03 (Range Limit) filter set to 1-10 miles helpful. Now the screen doesn't get hammered with so many beacons. Obviously it can be opened up when necessary, but sitting here in Oregon I really didn't need to know some guy in an 18 wheeler was eastbound on 80 out of Reno doing 64mph. Of course reason I knew that was because I entered it in Google Maps APRS right after I recieved the beacon. I'm waiting for one to pop up and find out we're sitting at the same intersection though.