Yaesu FTM-100DR present to myself

[CatSnoutSoup]

It is my birthday today and I have been setting aside some dough to treat myself to a couple of presents this year.

First on my list was a new dual band rig 2m/70cm with a display my aging eyes could easily read, I have been using my Yaesu HT (FT1DR) for a while now. I decided on an FTM-100DR so as to stick with Yaesu Fusion digital if for no other reason than I have that aforementioned HT.

I am going to say that detachable control heads have been around for well over 20 years now, and this is the first rig I have had with one. Pretty neat to have the control head separated and sitting right below my monitor in the center of my desk.

My operating is almost exclusively HF via CW -- I really do not operate VHF/UHF that often but I do use the rig to monitor repeaters and as a public service band scanner. So I did not need GPS, APRS, WIRES, but hey the radio was $302 at Ham Radio Outlet yesterday so why not. My wife and I took the casual route across RT119/113/111 to Salem NH to pick one up.

First impression is that I like it well enough and it seems a good value. Receiver has good sensitivity, although squelch tails are a bit fat when a signal ends. The display is bright and easy to read. The GPS is impressively able to get a relatively accurate location despite being indoors 5' from the front windows. Speaker tone is just a bit muddy, not terrible but I might try an external just the same.

But I did say I was buying myself a "couple" presents. Cannot use this one on the ham bands but I have been lusting after it for a while now and I finally ordered one on Friday...
Sig Sauer Emperor Scorpion 1911

:emoji_tiger:

 

[Scott7980]

Nice

 

[CatSnoutSoup]

Speaker tone is just a bit muddy, not terrible but I might try an external just the same.

Dug out an old Mirage AVS-200 satellite speaker that I have used as an external communications speaker in the past.
I have it wired with an 1/8" mono jack, plugged it into the FTM-100 and got a noticeable improvement in the intelligibility of the received audio compared to the internal speaker.
Needs the transceiver volume at about the halfway point to drive this speaker to a nice level, but that is understandably as its rated up to 15 or 20 Watts and the rig puts out 3 W max at 8 Ohms.

Unrelated, I should note that the receiver sensitivity is noticeably better than the FT1DR on the same antenna system, not leaps and bounds better but it is pulling the distant PD and FD transmissions with more quieting.

:emoji_satellite::emoji_tiger::emoji_satellite:

 

[Ink]

I have one of those radios! I love it. Programming is easy but make use of the available software and SD card. You'll thank me. I was using it as a moile unit. It's sitting now though after a vehicle change. Can't bring myself to cut up a 2018 vehicle

 

[CatSnoutSoup]

I have one of those radios! I love it. Programming is easy but make use of the available software and SD card. You'll thank me.

I will thank you now!

Actually I am familiar with the Yaesu's ADMS programing software as I used ADMS-6 with my FT1DR.
In fact I exported the memory channels from ADMS-6 as a .CSV file and imported them into ADMS-9 for the FTM-100.

I never got around to using the SD slot on the FT1DR.
And this time to start with I wrote directly to the FTM-100's internal memory, but I do have a 32GB SD card and yes that should add a level of flexibility.
Going to play with that today.

I have disliked the editing abilities of the ADMS-6 software and version 9 is no different. It is a very rudimentary spreadsheet with no logic, copying, pasting, clearing more then one item at a time is impossible and the toolbar cannot be customized to any degree for frequently used commands.

Also if you output a .CVS file from ADMS and then try and use MS Excel to edit it the file becomes corrupt in some manner that ADMS will load but not transfer to the rig

Has anyone here had experience comparing the Yaesu ADMS software to the after-market programming software from RT Systems?
RT Systems Radio Programming Software | Control & Cloning Software

I think it is essentially the same program and if I still had to go to each individual memory entry to clear or copy the contents then it is of no use to me for $25.

:emoji_tiger:

 

[Ink]

Yup. I use RT. Its decent, though it took me a couple of times to get it going correctly

 

[CatSnoutSoup]

So I am really liking the radio especially since I now have it situated for my shack setup.

The one draw back to the remote head operation as the rig ships from the factory is...
1.) Cable form the remote head to the transceiver is 9 feet long (that is cool).
2.) Coiled cable for the microphone is 18 inches (coiled) and attached to the transceiver not the control head, the point of operation (that is not cool).

This was solvable using a descent quality 4 foot twisted pair cable with RJ12 male connectors on each end plugged from the transceiver leading to a RJ12 female/female coupler as a splice to the microphone.
You have to make sure that the cable and connectors are 6 contact / 6 cable straight wired.

So I now have the transceiver sitting on a rack about 3 feet behind my desk with air circulation all around. The control head is sitting right in front of me atop an HF rig, there is enough slack in the cable that I can pick it up and manipulate the small buttons if needed.

The control head display did not show up in this photo, but there it is sitting on the 756 in front of the monitor, that is a navigator interface sitting behind the monitor and control head.

Yes my Windows desktop background image is a 1911.

:emoji_tiger: