I purchased the radio new in May of 2015. I’m writing this in July 2015. It came with Firmware version 1.9. At this time, you can only go to 1.8 from Yaesu’s website, but if your radio breaks and you send it in for repair, they will return it to you with 1.9 firmware. Yes, there are rumors going around claiming that Yaesu is quietly doing hardware improvements in 1.9 firmware units; some say better cooling of the finals, others say better GPS performance, and others are claiming both. I have no idea if true.
I’m using the unit as a base station in my house. I don’t use APRS and have not tested it.
The bad: (minus 1 point):
The two new fusion models (FTM-100DR and FT2DR) advertise “built in high sensitivity 66 channel GPS”, while this model advertises “built in GPS”. For the money, this radio should have come with that better GPS. This radio’s GPS takes about 30 seconds to achieve lock at the first power up of the day, and about 5 seconds if the radio has only been off a few hours. This is acceptable GPS performance from inside my house, but be aware that many other people are complaining about prolonged GPS lock time. I am concerned that this GPS might not perform well if I have to relocate the radio.
The good:
Excellent TX audio reports, and I have a recording of myself talking in a group. This radio sounds great to me. Excellent receive sensitivity and selectivity. Digital sound quality exceeded my expectations; it definitely sounds better to me than the DSTAR mobile radio I heard.
The touch screen is a delight to use. I have not had to re-read the manual yet.
I transmit on high power quite often, and the radio only gets mildly warm to the touch; that fan can move some air! The fan is not too loud like some radios I have had in the past.
Scanning is quick and works great in FM or digital, and you can scan all memory channels that you don’t have locked out, or scan “select memory” channels only. You can specify that a memory is a “select memory” channel when you program it in.
Both VHF and UHF frequencies can be used on either VFO. Each VFO has its own separate 500 memory channels. You can listen to V/V, U/U, or V/U frequencies at the same time. Only VFO A can do digital, and you can listen to a digital station on VFO A at the same time you are listening to an FM station on VFO B. I have programmed all memory channels the same on both VFO’s, e.g. whatever memory 4 is on VFO A, memory 4 on VFO B is the same thing.
There are 5 mic gain settings, min, low, normal, high, and max. I sound best on high.
This radio is definitely a keeper.
Tip 1: Try and verify that you are getting a 1.9 firmware radio if buying new. I’ve heard that a few 1.8’s are still on some shelves.
Tip 2: Turn on your CTCSS when in AMS mode if your local Fusion repeater provides a PL tone out; most do. This will keep you from being switched from auto digital to auto FM unnecessarily.
Tip 3: Buy a micro SD card, put it in the slot, format it, then after all of your memory channels are programmed in and you have all of your settings the way you like, do both a MEMORY ONLY, then an ALL backup. That way, if you want to reset the radio settings to default, but re-load memory channels only, you can. If you only do an ALL backup, a MEMORY ONLY restore will not be available.
