How it all started

First of all welcome to my site. My interest in radio and everything related to it started in 1974 when radio Veronica, a popular pirate station that broadcasted from the North Sea, was forced to quit. What kind of station was that, and were there more of such pirate stations?

In my then hometown, there turned out to be three pirate stations that broadcasted above 100 MHz on the FM band (that was still possible at the time). And I was amazed to hear that a neighbor of an aunt and uncle also had a transmitter. Unfortunately, my parents weren’t such a fan of that illegal stuff, so there was no way I could have my own transmitter.

On March 3, 1980, the MARC, the Machtiging Algemene Radio Communicatie, was approved, which allowed anyone to use the 27 MC band with approved equipment. One of my school friends got a Senfor Skyline SM-2008, and, because my parents again didn’t think it was a good idea, I was forced to spend a few hours behind the transceiver at my boyfriend’s house.

The weekly TV guide then had a special page highlighting all aspects of the 27MC. This included descriptions of new equipment. I learned about the existence of transceivers like the Atron CB307, Amroh CB007, Amroh CB707 De Luxe (which I really liked at the time), Audio Sonic MS-211, Hycom CB3000, Philips AP-369, and others. At that time, there was also a monthly magazine called Break Break, which I read many copies of.

The interest in pirate stations had not disappeared, and that is how I came to know about a magazine called Free Radio Magazine. I have bought many copies of that magazine that described everything about pirate stations and DIY.

But it would take until the end of the 80s before I would start experimenting with radio myself. I bought a 27 MC transceiver, the Midland 77-104, and came into contact someone who could make printed circuit boards himself. With the print layout for a Stentor, the first step was taken, and many hours of soldering and experimenting later, the first self-built FM transmitter was a fact. Let’s not talk about stability, but it did work.

But a couple of MRF 237s later, I decided I wanted something more powerful, so I started building a 50W FM stereo transmitter. I hadn’t read anything about SWR yet, so the power amplifier lasted precisely 2 minutes. And then the experiment stopped.

The same guy who provided me the PCB asked if I was interested in joining the local radio station, which I did. After several local radio stations, a lot of fun but also frustration I decided to end my career as a radio DJ and program maker.

From where I lived, I had a view of the antennas of the regional 70cm repeater PI2FLD, and I got interested again. So in 2006 I decided to go for the Novice license to start with. That worked, and I was able to work the amateur bands as PD0PRS.

About 5 years later, I decided to go for my Full license and took an exam. Unfortunately, I turned out to have made 1 mistake too much, but on closer inspection, there appeared to be an error in the exam, and I passed. However before that decision was communicated I had already re-taken the exam and passed. PD0PRS was switched into PG2P, which I held for over 10 years until I decided to change my callsign into PA2PR, a better-sounding callsign on the HF bands.

Welcome Yaesu FT-5DE and Jabra Talk 65

A few years ago I bought a new FT-3DE; The major advantages of this radio was that it could modulate and demodulate C4FM on both VFO’s and that it contained Bluetooth. 

The idea was that when I was at home in the evening, I could monitor my own reflector (XLX870) on VFO-A and listen to other signals on VFO-B via a Bluetooth headset. Now Yaesu is not known for their flawless Bluetooth implementation which is why many Bluetooth headsets do not work with this radio.

Unfortunately, the FT-3DE I purchased was from a series made in China that was missing parts (or at least 1 capacitor), resulting in noise in the TX audio. The radio could be repaired under warranty, but because of this false start I decided to quickly get rid of the radio.

A few years have passed and I have decided to spend some money on a Yaesu radio again. I recently purchased a new FT-5DE with the same underlying purpose as before. The good news is that the speaker has been improved, the bad news that there is still clearly audible background noise on C4FM and the Bluetooth implementation doesn’t seem to have changed. But despite these shortcomings, I think it is a nice handheld transceiver with many options (some of which I will not even use).

To return to the Bluetooth implementation; Yaesu states that the radio is only compatible with their own SSM-BT10. By only looking at a picture of the headset, I don’t get the impression that it is a sturdy construction. Reason enough not to purchase it.

In my car I use a BlueParrot headset. This is fine and works great, but at home it’s too sturdy. So I started looking around and ended up with the Jabra Talk 65. According to a comparison site, which compared the Jabra Talk 65 with the BlueParrot M300-XT, the Jabra was slightly better in terms of audio quality. According to the site, the disadvantage was that the Jabra would not have PTT, but I guess they are referring to a mute button which indeed is missing. But there is a PTT button available on the Jabra Talk 65; how else would you be able to respond to calls?

The Jabra Talk 65 has an 80% noise cancellation which inside would be more than enough. Some users report that the headset is too heavy and uncomfortable, but that doesn’t bother me at all. I just suspect that the FT-5DE together with the Talk 65 are a winning combination for me.

Goodbye FTM-300DE

After using the Yaesu FTM-300DE in the car for a long time, I began to wonder why I specifically needed a set with a dual VFO. Yes, on VFO-A I was continuously tuned to my hotspot frequency that was connected to my own XLX reflector, but VFO-B was actually where the action took place.

As soon as I got into the car I connected my Bluetooth headset to the FTM-300 and placed the microphone on the passenger seat. The microphone was connected via a long cable to the set in the trunk. The only reason it was still connected was to start scanning using the up/down keys.

I started to wonder if I could start scanning with the camera microphone and then connect it directly to the control head. But unfortunately, the camera microphone does not have up/down keys, so that would not work.

After some puzzle work I decided to replace the FTM-300DE with the FTM-200DE. That set has the option to start scanning from the Fast Menu, can do priority scan (which in my case checks once every 5 seconds whether there is activity on the hotspot frequency) and can, by means of an optional Bluetooth unit that needs to be placed in the control head, connect to the Blueparrot Bluetooth headset, which I use to my complete satisfaction.

I have been driving around with the FTM-200DE for a month now and I must say that I really like the set. Yes, the menu structure is not as nicely laid out as on the FTM-300DE, but that takes some getting used to.

The set offers the option of adding up to 8 frequently used menu items to the Fast Menu. I have the following items in the Fast Menu: Scan, TXPower, SQL, RPT-R, Tone and Mic Gain. And therefore I don’t have to connect an external microphone to start/stop scanning.

What strikes me is that the volume button remains in use when using a Bluetooth headset. In my case I have the volume fully turned up and I prefer to adjust the volume via the buttons on the headset itself, but it is something you have to be aware of. Otherwise, you might wonder if there’s something wrong with the Bluetooth unit, your headset, or the transceiver itself.

A miss in the FTM-300DE is just as present in the FTM-200DE. If you manually scroll through your programmed frequencies and you get to the last frequency, you have to go all the way back to get to the first frequency. So there is no option to go directly from the last programmed frequency to the first programmed frequency.

After having used the FTM-200DE for a month, my impression is good. If you are used to Yaesu transceivers, whether analogue or C4FM, then it is a straightforward transceiver that does what it is supposed to do.

DMR2Gateway

I have been running two MMVDM hotspots for the past year with Pi-Star connected to the same XLX reflector. One (Pi-Zero) was running on version 3.4 and was solely being used to be able to communicate in YSF mode to the XLX reflector. In contrast, the other one (Raspberry Pi 2B with MMDVM) acted as DMR2YSF connected to the same reflector.
This provides me a possibility to check whether or not the reflector which I administer works as expected.

Until recently, there was no option to upgrade to version 3.4 on the Pi-Zero since there was just no image available. But somehow, they managed to port a 4.1.5 version to Pi-Zero and provide it under the Beta section of the Pi-Star website. I immediately downloaded and copied it to a microSD card, booted the hotspot, and confirmed it to work as expected.

On the second hotspot, I was running a Spanish version; if I am correct, this was the version that provided switching between rooms. As it was not applicable with the reflector I administer, since there is only one room we all use, I have also decided to upgrade that hotspot. So I downloaded the 4.1.5 version, copied it to a microSD card, booted the hotspot, and confirmed it was not working. I couldn’t get DMR2YSF working (even with the correct TG setting) whatever I tried. So, in the end, I decided to upgrade to 4.1.6 to see whether or not that would make a difference, but the answer was no. (By the way, upgrading from 4.1.5 to 4.1.6 can be done by issuing a couple of commands directly on the command line or by clicking the upgrade button at the top of the screen when you’re in expert modus)

Then it came to my mind that the XLX reflector would, by default, be able to transcode the DMR signal to C4FM and the other way around. In other words, what would be the reason to transcode a signal from DMR to YSF on a hotspot with restricted hardware compared to the server the XLX reflector runs on? So I decided to switch from DMR2YSF to DMRGateway and thus send the data signal directly off to the XLX reflector.

For this to be working:
– enter your 7-digit CCS7/DMR ID under general configuration
– only enable DMR mode
– toggle the Brandmeister Network Enable and DMR+ Network Enable switches to off
– set the XLX master to the correct XLX reflector
– set the XLX module to the suitable module on the reflector
– toggle the XLX Master Enable control to on
– make sure you have the DMR CC set to one that matches your HT
– don’t forget to apply the changes
– verify under Expert modus / DMR GW the settings for Slot and TG so this matches with the settings on your HT

And that should be sufficient. By the way, if you don’t like the voice notification “Connected to XLX reflector…” you can disable this under Expert modus / DMR GW / Voice by modifying Enable 1 to Enable 0

Yaesu FTM-300DE

As soon as Yaesu released the FTM-300DE on the European market, I decided to get one. As I used to own an FTM-400 and was still in possession of an FT-1XDE, FT-2DE, FT3-DE, FT-70, and FTM-100DE, I was used to C4FM. And as of today, I’m still happy with C4FM…

So what about the new set? That’s a question you might expect when you buy a model that’s just hit the market. And is it for me? That last question is a bit more challenging to answer because it strongly depends on the requirements/wishes you have for a new transceiver.

After playing around with the FTM-300DE for a few days, I think the audio sounds nice. In addition, I believe that the fan does not start as quickly and is a lot quieter than the FTM-100DE or FTM-400(X)DE. The redesigned air funnel apparently does do its job.

It takes some getting used to doing without a touch screen, but once you get the hang of it, you can use it quickly, especially if you’re used to the FT-3DE two-way radio. In my opinion, everything is “hidden” in a logical place in the menu (compared to the other sets).

Since the release, Yaesu had released new firmware two days before I received the transceiver. And so the first thing I did upon receipt was initiating a firmware upgrade. The upgrade consists of two parts, a MAIN and DISP. Only for the MAIN upgrade you have to toggle a mini switch, which for convenience, is now placed in an accessible place (behind the display on the main body). The whole process takes less than fifteen minutes.

Then I tried to load memories from the FTM-100 or FTM-400 with the ADMS software. The software says you can import files, but all options were greyed out and unusable. After some testing, I imported a file from the FT-3 and wrote it to the SD card (which was pre-formatted in the transceiver). In no time, the memory channels appeared on the screen, and I was able to write the changes to the SD card and read them into the set.

The question is whether this is a good mobile set or whether it is better to use it in the shack. My idea is that if you don’t want to change too many settings on the road and remain “stuck” on a frequency or repeater, you have a great companion with the FTM-300DE. And if you do want to make a lot of adjustments while you’re behind the wheel, I recommend an FTM-400XDE. The screen of the 300, although easy to read, is still reasonably small. In addition, the fast functions are hidden behind the F key. Still, there is an extra menu layer in between, unlike, for example, with the FT-3.

Memory channel management is a different kind of thing. It is time-consuming to select the channels and assign them to a memory group unless you use the ADMS software.

Another point to note is that there is no direct jump from the last memory channel to the first memory when you turn the DIAL key to the right.

One of Yaesus’ best decisions is to implement Bluetooth by default. Though Yeasu does not allow you to use headsets with a different Pincode than 0000. So the older BH-1 and BH-2 are unusable. A big plus is that the standard PTT toggle works, so you have to press the PTT button once to start transmitting and once to stop transmitting.

In short, the FTM-300DE is a nice set, but there are plenty of areas for improvement that can quickly be addressed with a firmware update.

While using a Bluetooth headset, it might be convenient to be able to initiate memory scanning from the control panel. But since this can only be accomplished with the UP/DOWN buttons on the original handmike, Yaesu is missing the point here.

Programming can be done with an optional programming cable which is not supplied by default; the cable delivered is only for firmware upgrades. Another option to program the transceiver is by using an SD card. If you’re used to ADMS software, this version will not bring you any surprise. The software can be downloaded for free from the Yaesu site.

One word of caution with respect to running the transceiver as Wires-X node. For a couple of weeks I’ve been using the FTM-300DE as a node with the HRI-200; unlike the FTM-100DE, the 300 gets less warm. The transceiver could still be touched in a normal way, the fan has not made much noise and in that respect I am satisfied with the performance. But there is a big but…

If you start the set in Wires-X mode and start the software on your PC, you have the option to dim the display in 7 different steps. Even with the display mostly dimmed, the display lights up and the frequency set in the Wires-X remains vaguely visible in the background. With the active VFO you don’t have such a problem because the display of the frequency is bright enough, but with the inactive VFO you can vaguely see the frequency used in the Wires-X software.

So you cannot completely switch off the display. So be careful with this!