Yaesu: Yaesu FT-4XR
- Thread starter KD2FIQ
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I'll just pass along some ancient wisdom :
Buy more radio than you think you need or want ,as things change and you grow in the service and find new and different intrests ,you may very well be able to use a radio you already own,instead of having to go out and buy something completely new, its saved me a truckload of money ,at this point and time purchasing a radio that's analog only is a fools errand , because later on you may develope an intrest in digital or you might decide to sell the radio and get something else ,having it capable of one or more digital modes will command a higher price on the used market ,trust me dstar radios go for premium money because everytime they want to add a feature or function ,they discount the old model so dramaticly it's nuts (they want to dump the old model so that the new one can again command a high price for the addition of some feature).
So honestly in my experience buying analog only is a mistake ,using this simple wisdom has kept me ahead of the curve of buying new radios for over 30 years ,also save your boxes and manuals it adds value to the radio should you ever sell it .
Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk
Buy more radio than you think you need or want ,as things change and you grow in the service and find new and different intrests ,you may very well be able to use a radio you already own,instead of having to go out and buy something completely new, its saved me a truckload of money ,at this point and time purchasing a radio that's analog only is a fools errand , because later on you may develope an intrest in digital or you might decide to sell the radio and get something else ,having it capable of one or more digital modes will command a higher price on the used market ,trust me dstar radios go for premium money because everytime they want to add a feature or function ,they discount the old model so dramaticly it's nuts (they want to dump the old model so that the new one can again command a high price for the addition of some feature).
So honestly in my experience buying analog only is a mistake ,using this simple wisdom has kept me ahead of the curve of buying new radios for over 30 years ,also save your boxes and manuals it adds value to the radio should you ever sell it .
Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk
Thanks for responding. I already took a swing at DMR with an MD-380. I also have an IC-7100 with D-Star and a FT-991 with C4FM. So I have dabbled in the digital voice world. I just not interested in it at this time. Don't get me wrong, I wish a C4FM repeater would get on the air in my area and a bunch of locals would want to talk C4FM simplex but it just isn't happening unfortunately.
N4KVE
Member
Dont let the experience of owning a bottom of the barrel radio ruin the DMR experience for you.
N5TWB
Member
You must be in one of the few small pockets of the US amateur radio world where a club or clubs haven't jumped on the opportunity to get a brand new repeater from Yaesu at a very reasonable price. The option to not leave the analog-only operators behind while offering a digital taste for those who want to go there is a great advantage. There are multiple repeaters in my area in that mode and only one is operating exclusively digital. The clubs seem really happy with being able to replace some really old Moto gear that was becoming tough to keep on the air.
N4KVE
Member
Yaesu gave great deals on those repeaters hoping users would buy digital radios to use on the digital repeaters. Things didn’t quite work out that way. The repeaters around here are set to RX analog, & digital, but to transmit analog only, so all radios will still work. Very few users purchased digital radios to use with the new repeaters. But many clubs were able to get new repeaters for $500. Yaesu must have lost a bundle on that.
Folks, the topic of the thread is specifically the FT-4XR transceiver, not Yaesu System Fusion in general.
So I picked up the FT-4XR. It's real nice. Admittedly, I am coming from many years of CCR's so any real HT is an improvement!!! Speaker is very loud and clear. Programming is very easy from the radio. I wish that the numbered keys had quick menu access. So you could theoretically press "function" and the key 4 would double as a power level menu shortcut lets say. The CCR's have this. But then again, I hate programming those things from the radio!!! Size of the FT-4XR is nice. Small. Buttons are small as well. I think I may also pick up the FT-65R. It does not have dual VFO on the screen but can do a dual monitor. I think I like the dual VFO on an HT more in concept than actual practice.
I notice the drop in charging cradle takes 12V in from the plug in wall wart. I would really like to get another cord so I would pug into a 12V battery to charge or the car. Any thoughts on this? Don't see why it wouldn't work.
I notice the drop in charging cradle takes 12V in from the plug in wall wart. I would really like to get another cord so I would pug into a 12V battery to charge or the car. Any thoughts on this? Don't see why it wouldn't work.
N4KVE
Member
I have done this several times with different brands of radios where the wall wart supplies 12/13.8 volts. Just be sure to get a liter plug cable where the polarity of the plug for the charging stand matches the one supplied with the radio.
Dual independent VFO's are great, If you are randomly traveling , or want to monitor multiple channels .
Today's radio are more versatile than many people utilize .
In the days of limited volatile memorize the VFO was revolutionary , now with radios having so much memory ,i have every working active repeater and common simplex channels preprogrammed into memory .the Yaesu's are nice radios I own more than a few ( been licensed over 30 years) and not bash them but yaesu does not the best memory management )in a good radio for excelent memory management and great menus in my opinion look to Kenwood, there most inexpensive HT in there line currently is the 72 ,which costs more than the 65 but it has many features the 65 doesn't like a built in GPS & TNC so it can do APRS & Packet, but with it you can dial direct to memory bank you want ( if you set your rig up for different areas you can enable and disable independent banks of 100 channels in each bank) you can also go directly to any given channel. I dont have a 72 anymore i got a 74,and i realize its only august but unless the money is burning a hole in your pocket , the two times of the year to buy radios with the best discount are around Dayton ham fest and the Christmas/ Holiday season ,so unless you have a desperate need now for another radio ,play for time ,till the holidays , i will PM yoù a candy store that i have found that does some unique things ,and usually will beat any price anywhere else.
Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk
Today's radio are more versatile than many people utilize .
In the days of limited volatile memorize the VFO was revolutionary , now with radios having so much memory ,i have every working active repeater and common simplex channels preprogrammed into memory .the Yaesu's are nice radios I own more than a few ( been licensed over 30 years) and not bash them but yaesu does not the best memory management )in a good radio for excelent memory management and great menus in my opinion look to Kenwood, there most inexpensive HT in there line currently is the 72 ,which costs more than the 65 but it has many features the 65 doesn't like a built in GPS & TNC so it can do APRS & Packet, but with it you can dial direct to memory bank you want ( if you set your rig up for different areas you can enable and disable independent banks of 100 channels in each bank) you can also go directly to any given channel. I dont have a 72 anymore i got a 74,and i realize its only august but unless the money is burning a hole in your pocket , the two times of the year to buy radios with the best discount are around Dayton ham fest and the Christmas/ Holiday season ,so unless you have a desperate need now for another radio ,play for time ,till the holidays , i will PM yoù a candy store that i have found that does some unique things ,and usually will beat any price anywhere else.
Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk
And for everyone's information, I did make a 12V direct plug for the drop in charger. I found an extra wall wart and cord where the DC low voltage plug was a perfect match for the drop in charger. I cut off the wall wart side and installed Anderson Power Poles as this is my 12V power standard. Works 100%. I checked the output of the charging tabs with the digital multimeter and all values matched same as the provided Yaesu wall wart.
Wrath-thanks for the info. I'll take a look at the Kenwood HT's!
Wrath-thanks for the info. I'll take a look at the Kenwood HT's!
I've had mine for about a month now. My first Yaesu and my first "real" HT. I like it.
I purchase for size and battery composition, and it doesn't disappoint on those points. Very small and compact. Battery life is great, to the point I leave the backlighting on most of the time. Solid build and feel in hand. MARS/CAP mod is a key sequence-no internal mods necessary. Menu is pretty straight forward and easy to program. RX audio is good.
Cons:
No key/PTT lock while scanning.
The free programing software from Yaesu is lacking. The software shows things selected that aren't really selected when you download from your radio.
TX audio on one local repeater is very low. I don't know if its the particular repeater or radio wide. No mic gain to adjust.
Like most HTs, stock antenna is no good. As Yaesu's "Baofeng Killer", the radio uses a Baofeng type connection. I purchased a Diamond SRJF10 "Stubby Duck" and am very surprised with the performance. I also purchased a Diamond SRJ77CA and while pleased with the performance, I'm not sure if the center conductor is making the best connection.
Having said that, It'll take a Baofeng antenna, but not a Baofeng speaker mic. It looks like a Baofeng speaker mic connection, but its not. The pins are much closer together.
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As a simple, compact, no frills HT with great battery life and around $100, I'd say its a good buy and I have no buyers remorse. However, to really put the crush on the chinese radios, Yaesu could have added some firmware features (e.g lock while scan) and it wouldn't have cost them any more time or effort.
I purchase for size and battery composition, and it doesn't disappoint on those points. Very small and compact. Battery life is great, to the point I leave the backlighting on most of the time. Solid build and feel in hand. MARS/CAP mod is a key sequence-no internal mods necessary. Menu is pretty straight forward and easy to program. RX audio is good.
Cons:
No key/PTT lock while scanning.
The free programing software from Yaesu is lacking. The software shows things selected that aren't really selected when you download from your radio.
TX audio on one local repeater is very low. I don't know if its the particular repeater or radio wide. No mic gain to adjust.
Like most HTs, stock antenna is no good. As Yaesu's "Baofeng Killer", the radio uses a Baofeng type connection. I purchased a Diamond SRJF10 "Stubby Duck" and am very surprised with the performance. I also purchased a Diamond SRJ77CA and while pleased with the performance, I'm not sure if the center conductor is making the best connection.
Having said that, It'll take a Baofeng antenna, but not a Baofeng speaker mic. It looks like a Baofeng speaker mic connection, but its not. The pins are much closer together.
-----------------
As a simple, compact, no frills HT with great battery life and around $100, I'd say its a good buy and I have no buyers remorse. However, to really put the crush on the chinese radios, Yaesu could have added some firmware features (e.g lock while scan) and it wouldn't have cost them any more time or effort.
Good point about the antenna connection style. I had purchased a handful of Nagoya antennas for the CCRs and they all work with the FT-4XR. Yes the external speaker much connection is different. I actually like this one better as the speaker portion is a 1/8" mono mini plug. Makes for using standard earbuds very easy. I have a little 1/8" mono male to 1/8" stereo female adapter that helps this work.
Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
wd9ewk
Member
Hi!
I bought an FT-4XR a few weeks ago. It is a basic dual-band FM HT, and does that well. The frequency ranges make it look very much like a Baofeng UV-5R type of radio (136-174 and 400-480 MHz RX, plus the broadcast FM receive). The Yaesu battery packs can be recharged in the drop-in chargers for the UV-5R, and UV-5R battery packs can be recharged in the FT-4XR's drop-in charger (also used with the FT-4VR, FT-25R, and FT-65R).
The speaker-mic is like those for Motorola low-end business and GMRS/FRS HTs - two pins, speaker audio on the larger 3.5mm socket, and a smaller gap between the two pins than with the two-pin speaker/mic connectors for many other HTs. It is a small radio, but doesn't feel "cheap". It seems like it can take a bit of a beating, more than I'd expect with a UV-5R.
The antenna connector on the HT is a male SMA, and worked fine with the same BNC adapter I use with my UV-5R. I have yet to try the antenna that came with the FT-4XR, which - by the way - is the same antenna that comes with the 2m FT-4VR.
Yaesu has a programming cable for the radio, SCU-35, that's not as obnoxiously priced as accessories for many other HTs at around $20, along with free software to program the radio. I also found that the M lead (mostly used with Motorola radios) from a programming cable set I already had:
https://www.amazon.com/KENMAX-Program-Programming-Talkies-Motorola/dp/B01466PL7U/
worked fine with the FT-4XR. In fact, the driver for the Yaesu SCU-35, for a Prolific chipset, also works fine with the KENMAX cable I have. If you prefer RT Systems, there is a programming package from them that supports the FT-4XR and 2m FT-4VR HTs. There is also a speaker/mic that is around $20-$25.
One advantage in the FT-4XR over the similar FT-65R (larger dual-band HT, but the internals are very similar to the FT-4XR, and by extension Baofeng UV-5Rs) is that the memory channels in the FT-4XR can accept independent transmit and receive frequencies. The receive and transmit frequencies don't have to be in the same band. Whether using a cross-band repeater or an FM satellite, the FT-4XR is easier to use with those systems than an FT-65R, whose memory channels can accept a receive frequency and an offset size/direction, where the offset size stays in the same band as the receive frequency.
This radio may not have the wide-band receiver like the older FT-60R or VX-3R, but the value of a wide-band receiver in an FM-only HT is diminishing with the march to digital voice in the non-ham spectrum. Even encrypting analog FM makes the wide-band receiver less useful. For just under $100, I'd go with the FT-4XR over the similarly-priced Alinco DJ-500T for a dual-band HT from one of the traditional manufacturers in that price range.
I have not disassembled my FT-4XR, but would be curious to see if it uses a transceiver-on-a-chip like the Baofeng radios. I would also like to see the inside of an FT-4VR, to see how similar it is to an FT-4XR. I wonder if these two radios are more similar on the inside, to help cut down on production costs in Yaesu's Chinese factory for these HTs. Yaesu requested that the FCC not post photos of the internals of these radios on its equipment authorization database, so I can't use that to answer my curiosity about the FT-4XR being similar to a UV-5R (other than I expect the FT-4XR would meet all techinical requirements in FCC Part 97). I may open mine up, but not today.
73!
I bought an FT-4XR a few weeks ago. It is a basic dual-band FM HT, and does that well. The frequency ranges make it look very much like a Baofeng UV-5R type of radio (136-174 and 400-480 MHz RX, plus the broadcast FM receive). The Yaesu battery packs can be recharged in the drop-in chargers for the UV-5R, and UV-5R battery packs can be recharged in the FT-4XR's drop-in charger (also used with the FT-4VR, FT-25R, and FT-65R).
The speaker-mic is like those for Motorola low-end business and GMRS/FRS HTs - two pins, speaker audio on the larger 3.5mm socket, and a smaller gap between the two pins than with the two-pin speaker/mic connectors for many other HTs. It is a small radio, but doesn't feel "cheap". It seems like it can take a bit of a beating, more than I'd expect with a UV-5R.
The antenna connector on the HT is a male SMA, and worked fine with the same BNC adapter I use with my UV-5R. I have yet to try the antenna that came with the FT-4XR, which - by the way - is the same antenna that comes with the 2m FT-4VR.
Yaesu has a programming cable for the radio, SCU-35, that's not as obnoxiously priced as accessories for many other HTs at around $20, along with free software to program the radio. I also found that the M lead (mostly used with Motorola radios) from a programming cable set I already had:
https://www.amazon.com/KENMAX-Program-Programming-Talkies-Motorola/dp/B01466PL7U/
worked fine with the FT-4XR. In fact, the driver for the Yaesu SCU-35, for a Prolific chipset, also works fine with the KENMAX cable I have. If you prefer RT Systems, there is a programming package from them that supports the FT-4XR and 2m FT-4VR HTs. There is also a speaker/mic that is around $20-$25.
One advantage in the FT-4XR over the similar FT-65R (larger dual-band HT, but the internals are very similar to the FT-4XR, and by extension Baofeng UV-5Rs) is that the memory channels in the FT-4XR can accept independent transmit and receive frequencies. The receive and transmit frequencies don't have to be in the same band. Whether using a cross-band repeater or an FM satellite, the FT-4XR is easier to use with those systems than an FT-65R, whose memory channels can accept a receive frequency and an offset size/direction, where the offset size stays in the same band as the receive frequency.
This radio may not have the wide-band receiver like the older FT-60R or VX-3R, but the value of a wide-band receiver in an FM-only HT is diminishing with the march to digital voice in the non-ham spectrum. Even encrypting analog FM makes the wide-band receiver less useful. For just under $100, I'd go with the FT-4XR over the similarly-priced Alinco DJ-500T for a dual-band HT from one of the traditional manufacturers in that price range.
I have not disassembled my FT-4XR, but would be curious to see if it uses a transceiver-on-a-chip like the Baofeng radios. I would also like to see the inside of an FT-4VR, to see how similar it is to an FT-4XR. I wonder if these two radios are more similar on the inside, to help cut down on production costs in Yaesu's Chinese factory for these HTs. Yaesu requested that the FCC not post photos of the internals of these radios on its equipment authorization database, so I can't use that to answer my curiosity about the FT-4XR being similar to a UV-5R (other than I expect the FT-4XR would meet all techinical requirements in FCC Part 97). I may open mine up, but not today.
73!
One thing which is not explained very clearly is that some menus have sub menus. Specifically the tone selection. You need to select from TX and from RX. But you don't know there is an option to see the other selection. I believe you need to press V/M to toggle between the sub menus. I did pick up the FT-65R. It's nice as well. Very similar. Note the Yaesu programming software is different for each radio! I had to create two memory files from scratch. Still think this is a real nice radio and I am happy to retire the Baofengs.
HRO Labor Day sale, FT-4XR $89.95
I found one slightly (very slightly) annoyance with the 4XR (65R has the same issue). The HT can tune to broadcast FM. That's a feature I really like. But, it cuts out too easily. The signal doesn't become weak with static, it cuts out completely. I wish it had a squelch setting for the FM radio receive!
KN0JI
Member
IMO, the Yaesu FT-4XR is a cute, little radio that sounds great, but is pretty much a duplicate of the Baofeng UV-6R, give or take. Still, because of the features of the Baofeng, the Baofeng (UV-5X3, actually) is our family's choice of a go-bag radio, rather than the FT-4XR. The Baofeng will let you transmit on non-amateur frequencies in a real emergency, has a flashlight, displays dual-watch, and can be fitted with an alkaline sled. Granted, the FT-4XR might be too new to have a sled available, so I'll give it time. BUT unlike the Baofeng, the FT-4XR has ARS, just like the FT-60R, a huge plus for the FT-4XR.
However, at four times the price, for fewer features, I'm not sure the FT-4XR is worth it. The FT-4XR is a little easier to program than the Baofeng, but a little more difficult than the FT-60R. And it's a little lighter than the FT-60R. Sure wish the FT-4XR had a squelch knob, something I really like about the FT-60R. Don't have a spectrum analyzer handy to test the spectral purity of the FT-4XR, but we know both the FT-60R and the Baofeng UV-6R are borderline -60 dB on 2 meters, from the last hamfest, where we tested a bunch of HTs. (BTW, the Motorolas gave the flattest out-of-band spectral results.)
However, at four times the price, for fewer features, I'm not sure the FT-4XR is worth it. The FT-4XR is a little easier to program than the Baofeng, but a little more difficult than the FT-60R. And it's a little lighter than the FT-60R. Sure wish the FT-4XR had a squelch knob, something I really like about the FT-60R. Don't have a spectrum analyzer handy to test the spectral purity of the FT-4XR, but we know both the FT-60R and the Baofeng UV-6R are borderline -60 dB on 2 meters, from the last hamfest, where we tested a bunch of HTs. (BTW, the Motorolas gave the flattest out-of-band spectral results.)
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