Yaesu: Newbie looking at FT-60R vs FT-70DR

[SuperG900]

Best thing to do is to look at what is actually being used in your area. No point in buying a fusion radio if there are not any fusion repeaters. Search the online repeater databases and see what's out there and decide.

This. No sense in wasting money on something you can't use.

You'd think Albuquerque NM would have a fusion repeater on the crest -no dice. There are but 3 fusion repeaters in NM, none of them in ABQ. It's a DMR and DSTAR town. I'm doing DMR at the moment. I'll look into DSTAR once my wallet isn't looking so thin.

 

[belvdr]

Mobile rig in my truck is out of the question. There won't be any changing my mind on that front. Now if we ever decide to get a third vehicle to use as a "run around rig" then absolutely. But until then, any talk of a mobile rig is a waste of bandwidth.

As for radios, I've been doing nothing but reading and watching YouTube videos the last few days. The FT-60R is definitely the easiest, most affordable route to go and definitely seems to be well-respected, tried, and trued. The FT-70 also comes up a lot for just being a few dollars more and having the System Fusion capability if I decided to try that in the future. Then I've been seeing a LOT of stuff on the Anytone UV-878 DMR radio and everyone just raves about it. Seems similar to the FT-70 being that it can be used in analog while I'm still learning and also gives the option of DMR if I ever decided to try that in the future.

Sorry, I thought you were thinking about doing a mobile rig and had questions on antennas for that. I think you'll find out soon enough that an HT in a car is a waste of time. Even outside, they are fairly limited.

 

[LuckyPennyGS]

See post #27 where I say that I spend very little time in a vehicle, even less now with COVID. Not sure why all the talk about mobile rigs continues. Post #27 details pretty much what I do and how I plan on using a radio.

 

[K9DWB]

I think the aspect of mobile radios has come up to impart wisdom and lessons learned by people like myself. I didn't like the idea of drilling a hole in my car for an antenna. So I got the Yaesu FT3DR. Now it's a great radio as a handheld. And I can hear quite a bit of conversations. But I didn't buy it or get my license to listen. I can make contact if I sit in the room where I brought the coax in from the external vertical. The radio by itself doesn't give me the radio experience I'd thought. Others like me are passing on that you need to be very aware there's a a list of limitations with a handheld.

And having learned my own lesson the hard way, if I went back to redo the purchase, I'd have gotten the mobile, something like an Icom ID-5100 or Yaesu FTM-400XDR or something similar VHF/UHF dual bander. So no need to get upset. We're trying to help you not make the mistake others like myself made when buying a radio. I guess it's a bit of a head scratcher when you post to get advisement and then get bent out of shape when we answer your question. Do what you want then.

 

[belvdr]

See post #27 where I say that I spend very little time in a vehicle, even less now with COVID. Not sure why all the talk about mobile rigs continues. Post #27 details pretty much what I do and how I plan on using a radio.

I was simply apologizing. Good grief.

 

[LuckyPennyGS]

I'm not bent out of the shape, but it's a bit of a head scratcher to me when I explain that I spend very little time in a vehicle yet I keep getting recommendations for a mobile unit.

I'm not entirely sure I can even work out a base station setup. I live in a subdivision that has pretty strict rules. Homes can't have satellite TV dishes on their roof, so I'm pretty sure I couldn't put a radio antenna on my roof either. So right now, the HT is probably my best option. I can hit a local repeater that's 9 miles away from my house with my HT. I've been listening to a few nets on repeaters that are as far away as 15 miles. But because of my subdivision restrictions, I've been looking a little more closely at the DMR radios and a hotspot.

 

[belvdr]

I'm not bent out of the shape, but it's a bit of a head scratcher to me when I explain that

I missed that post. I don't know what else to say.

I spend very little time in a vehicle yet I keep getting recommendations for a mobile unit.

Because many are used outside of a vehicle. I'm only aware of one new VHF/UHF base station and it's pricey.

I'm not entirely sure I can even work out a base station setup. I live in a subdivision that has pretty strict rules. Homes can't have satellite TV dishes on their roof, so I'm pretty sure I couldn't put a radio antenna on my roof either. So right now, the HT is probably my best option. I can hit a local repeater that's 9 miles away from my house with my HT. I've been listening to a few nets on repeaters that are as far away as 15 miles. But because of my subdivision restrictions, I've been looking a little more closely at the DMR radios.

Interesting. I thought satellite dishes were not allowed to be banned. Transmitting isn't generally an issue. You could do what I do and put a 2m/440 antenna in the attic. Much better operation and it's hidden. You can even connect to an HT.

 

[LuckyPennyGS]

You can have satellite TV dishes, they just have to be mounted on a pole in your yard and not from your roof and the pole has to be lower than the lowest point of your roof edge.

I'll have to think about the attic suggestion. My main level has all vaulted ceilings, so I don't have attic space except for over my garage and I can't imagine a way to run a coax line from my attic over my garage then down and over numerous walls to get to my home office. In the future I'm sure I could set up a base station in my garage, but I'm not ready for that yet plus I don't spend a lot of time out there when it's cold anyway.

 

[K9DWB]

Just trying to help, when you say hitting the repeater, is that just listening or transmitting? Because if you base your results on being able to receive, your transmit results will likely be different, due to the repeater transmit being much more powerful than an HT transmit, even on an external antenna like mine.

I have an external antenna on a tripod. I'm not saying my solution is best but it makes it doable.

I'll attach an image of what I did. Tripod is a speaker PA type tripod extending to 9'3" and an 8' Tram 1480 dual band from Home Depot with 50' LMR400UF coax. It's just there temporarily. But figured I'd share it. This just makes it to repeaters 12 miles out.

 

[LuckyPennyGS]

I can both transmit and receive on the repeater that is 9 miles away from my house. I tried using the little UV-5R and the gentleman that answered my call said I was coming in clearly. I can only receive on the repeater that is 15 miles away.

Might look further into the tripod antenna. I'm assuming you don't leave it out all the time? I'd think it might be susceptible to being blown over by wind.

 

[K9DWB]

Call me lazy but I've left it out for 2 months. I'm also mobility disabled so it's not easy for me to do much with moving it around. Getting sandbags of some sort is still on the wish list. It's been tipped into the shrub once already due to winds that funnel between the houses.

Oh the tripod is branded Ultimate Support 110B and weighs in at about 20 plus pounds. If you look closely at the image working down from the middle where the 3 radials are and the double clamp, there's a height handle that can assist in collapsing the top section. There's an air charged cylinder to make raising it almost too easy. It can collapse down to about 6' and the tripod legs do fold via sliding a lockable collar.

 

[SuperG900]

Call me lazy but I've left it out for 2 months. I'm also mobility disabled so it's not easy for me to do much with moving it around. Getting sandbags of some sort is still on the wish list. It's been tipped into the shrub once already due to winds that funnel between the houses.

Oh the tripod is branded Ultimate Support 110B and weighs in at about 20 plus pounds. If you look closely at the image working down from the middle where the 3 radials are and the double clamp, there's a height handle that can assist in collapsing the top section. There's an air charged cylinder to make raising it almost too easy. It can collapse down to about 6' and the tripod legs do fold via sliding a lockable collar.

Hey - that looks like some I could use some times. I've got a Sweetwater catalog.... Nice.

 

[K9DWB]

Mine was an eBay sale, open box saved $15-20 as I recall. Mine came from some sound store in Winchester, VA about an hour south of my QTH. Again it's an Ultimate Support model 110B. I think it's the tallest they've got. Credit @prcguy for suggesting it as a tripod for this specific use.

 

[zog1977]

i would love an ft-70. I hear it has terrible battery life

 

[LuckyPennyGS]

I'm thinking now that I might get the Anytone 878 and a hotspot first. Then I can keep an eye out for a used FT-60 for a good analog HT.

 

[LuckyPennyGS]

Just ordered the Anyone 878 non-Bluetooth model from BridgeCom. I'll be spending a lot of time watching their university videos on this radio in the new few days. Thanks to everyone who has helped me and gave me lots of good advice.

 

[sallen07]

Just ordered the Anyone 878 non-Bluetooth model from BridgeCom. I'll be spending a lot of time watching their university videos on this radio in the new few days. Thanks to everyone who has helped me and gave me lots of good advice.

The Anytone should do fine for you on analog as well; it's not just a DMR radio.

 

[tweiss3]

Just don't put it in "Band Mode 01" because it forces FMN (12.5kHz) on everything. That's not a problem with DMR, but analog will have issues.

 

[LuckyPennyGS]

Just don't put it in "Band Mode 01" because it forces FMN (12.5kHz) on everything. That's not a problem with DMR, but analog will have issues.

I guess I don't know what that means or how I would or wouldn't put the radio in that mode.

 

[tweiss3]

I guess I don't know what that means or how I would or wouldn't put the radio in that mode.

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