New HT, FT-1DR
After some time with the FTM-100DR, I wanted to extend my C4FM System Fusion gear to a nice HT. Since I’ve been a Ham, I’ve used the Baofeng radios, which area great for lots of things. They are easy to program (with Chirp and cable, not through the interface!), they have lots of receive capability, some transmit outside of its type classification, and lots of cheap accessories. However, they are just analog FM, dual band HTs. They aren’t IPX rated, they aren’t super durable, but definitely cheap to replace.
Since I had already bought into Yaesu’s CF4M System Fusion I thought about getting into that with an HT. They offer lots of HTs and at $309, the FT-1DR is a really good deal. It has APRS, GPS, System Fusion, and is a dual band, dual receive, IPX5 HT. So far I’m very happy with its performance, on both analog and digital. The digital is like on the mobile, it works great until it doesn’t. Range is a bit less with the HT, but when I’m at home, I’m in a bit of a valley. Driving around town, I can get very good reception and transmit from my vehicle. All in all, very good, reasonably priced HT.
After some time with the FTM-100DR, I wanted to extend my C4FM System Fusion gear to a nice HT. Since I’ve been a Ham, I’ve used the Baofeng radios, which area great for lots of things. They are easy to program (with Chirp and cable, not through the interface!), they have lots of receive capability, some transmit outside of its type classification, and lots of cheap accessories. However, they are just analog FM, dual band HTs. They aren’t IPX rated, they aren’t super durable, but definitely cheap to replace.
Since I had already bought into Yaesu’s CF4M System Fusion I thought about getting into that with an HT. They offer lots of HTs and at $309, the FT-1DR is a really good deal. It has APRS, GPS, System Fusion, and is a dual band, dual receive, IPX5 HT. So far I’m very happy with its performance, on both analog and digital. The digital is like on the mobile, it works great until it doesn’t. Range is a bit less with the HT, but when I’m at home, I’m in a bit of a valley. Driving around town, I can get very good reception and transmit from my vehicle. All in all, very good, reasonably priced HT.