Setup Your Yaesu FTM-400XDR APRS

[@jamespuckett6457]

This has to be the best video I’ve seen describing APRS set up on the FTM-400. Thanks!

[@WJ6FRadio]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and the comment! It is greatly appreciated.

[@timking2194]

One of the best on aprs had to come back to it

[@WJ6FRadio]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and the comment! It is greatly appreciated.

[@Signedpeach]

Fantastic, great help, all set up now.

[@WJ6FRadio]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and the comment! It is greatly appreciated.

[@applejacks971]

Holy cow! I was 3rd ID as well, 90-92. HHC 3/64 AR BN, Conn Barracks. I was in with a guy named Steele, Chris or John I think, I don't remember. I can't recall where he was from. You spend much time downtown at the Green Goose? Wohoo! Man, it was Megadrome on Saturdays, Club Miami Park in Miennegan (E Germany), Abrams Club on Thursdays (don't remember where it was other than an hour south of Schweinny), and the Goose and Hard Rock on Friday's. Our Plt Ldr's wife managed the theater on Ledward. Good times!! I've been Marned, Home of the broken tv lol! 73's K0ACS

[@WJ6FRadio]

What a small damn world! I was on Conn with 3rd Spt BN attached to 3/64 AR BN from 1987-1990, and that is my last name, but am sure I wasn't the only one there with that name. Our shop was near the gym, and small PX by Burger King (if memory serves). I use to go to Maggies, some times to Green Goose and out to a bar out in Forst.

[@applejacks971]

@@WJ6FRadio Heck yaeh! I was a 19k, but was in Spt Plt. I headed up most of the fuel runs and all of the cargo runs over to 3rd Spt! My main contact there was a petite lil E-4, first name was Katie. 3rd Spt was a riot, great peeps over there! I'm thinking your barracks were north of ours, between us an 3/4 Cav. I was bldg 28E, south side of the parade field and little snack shack. Yup, the lil px was there by the Burger King, barber shop (remember Wolfgang? No matter what you wanted, he shaved it lol!!) and the atm. I spent some time up in the rec center, pretty decent sound room with the drums. Wow, good times. We prolly ran in to each other and didn't even know it. I had my pov shipped over so I spent most my weekends out of town. It was a real treat to get out in the back country and small towns of 2-500 people, they were the nicest they could be. I really miss it over there, I had a lot of German friends that I hung out with, spend entire weekends with, did the Christmas with a German family for 5 days straight. What a blast! Then I got to Ft Riley, ugh...fortunately it was only 5 hours from where I lived, so that was my wknds! HHC 2BDE in Riley, I drove for the Old Man, really cush gig! I shoulda stayed in and followed him around, he retired as an 4 Star, who'da thunk! Jesse James said for his sake, 4 things that he wanted to take. Bicycle tricycle E-6 rank, Cav Scouts wife on an M1 tank! HUA!!!!!

[@WJ6FRadio]

@@applejacks971 I was in B Co and we were an interesting group especially since most of us were attached to other battalions. I was always thankful that I didn't get stuck with 2/64 AR. I do. not recall anyone with the name of Katie.

[@MWDAdventures]

I am hoping for a black friday deal on this radio. This is a great setup video when I get my new radio. thanks for sharing.

[@MysterPynk]

Did you find? I bought one at a local shop for the same black Friday pricing I found on line.

[@WJ6FRadio]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and the comment! It is greatly appreciated.

[@joecraft4409]

Well this vidoe will be saved so I can program the 400 when it gets here. Thx for doing this for the FTM 400 👍

[@WJ6FRadio]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and the comment! It is greatly appreciated. Glad this video has been helpful!

[@MysterPynk]

Why cant all radio model videos be like this? Please do more like this for other functions of this FTM-400XDR radio like WiresX and others.

[@WJ6FRadio]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and the comment! It is greatly appreciated. I do have more videos for this radio in the works.

[@GhostRider1974]

Great video. One key point with APRS MUTE.... if it is on, you will not hear audio on other stations if you scan or change to different frequencies on Band B.... it acts almost like a sub-band mute.

[@WJ6FRadio]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and the comment! It is greatly appreciated.

[@timking2194]

Awesome helped me make two changes on mine. Thanks K7tdk

[@WJ6FRadio]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and the comment! It is greatly appreciated.

[@michaelo6003]

Thanks for this. Very helpful. I need to set mine up for use at an off-grid cabin, so I'll need to input the manual GPS coordinates. I know what those are, but what is the setting in parentheses? The manual refers to this as 1/100" setting.

[@WJ6FRadio]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and the comment! It is greatly appreciated. I will have to dig a bit deeper on the 1/100" setting.

[@jyunte]

APRS MUTE mutes everything on the band... In other words, if you switch away from the APRS channel to a regular voice channel, you won't hear anything on the B band. If you turn off APRS MUTE, you'll hear the activity. It's easier just to turn APRS MUTE off and turn the volume down. Don't forget to turn off beaconing when you change frequencies or you'll beacon on a repeater! What I do, is set the APRS channel in a memory and set CTCSS Decode on with an unusual CTCSS code. That way the channel remains totally silent, since CTCSS isn't used for APRS. The radio still receives and decodes the APRS signals. When you switch to another memory, your audio is back and you can leave the volume up all the time!

[@WJ6FRadio]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and the comment! It is greatly appreciated.

[@applejacks971]

6:28 How did you get the S. List to display on the VFO screen? I just got my new 400xdr a couple days ago, and mine has a 'Scope' tab. Kinda neat because its a waterfall, but I'd rather have S. List. To get that, I have to hit the F/M/W button, then on that screen press the S List option. Good vid!

[@WJ6FRadio]

I believe this is how you would change SCOPE for S. LIST: 1 Touch [SCOPE] for 4 or more seconds 2. Touch [S. LIST] The touch key [SCOPE] will change to [S. LIST] 3. Touch the touch key [S. LIST] The display will return to the previous screen. [SCOPE] will become operable in the function menu display when [F/MW] is pressed. Hope this helps.

[@applejacks971]

@@WJ6FRadio Much appreciated, I'm gonna give it a try! I've only had the rig a few days and haven't jumped in the book too deep yet. Instruction? Who needs instructions lol!

[@WJ6FRadio]

@@applejacks971 If we read instruction manuals we wouldn't have wound up in Schweinfurt!

[@applejacks971]

@@WJ6FRadio Right! 'You failed to follow the proper steps in the presented block of instruction. You are a no go at this station' lol!

[@WJ6FRadio]

@@applejacks971 Oh damn! Those are words that still haunt us all!! LOL!!!

[@Lymitliss]

Does APRS automatically share which frequency you're on with others, or do you have to type that into the status so they know?

[@jamesbrickert1301]

Thanks for the video! Have just ordered the FTM-400XDR. I was wondering if there was a way to see real time APRS activity on my computer screen since the radio does have PC connectivity. Again, great video.

[@WJ6FRadio]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and the comment! It is greatly appreciated. If I understand what you are looking for go to the website APRS.fi

[@thed8229]

I had no idea about the "range limit". Some items like that are hidden "below". Probably in the manual / whatever. Good vid, thank you. K0ATV

[@WJ6FRadio]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and the comment! It is greatly appreciated.

[@midnightcaller200]

could you explain more about the QSY feature? for some reason it dose not want to work on my radio ,and can I run a PL-tone of 100htz??? so people could talk to me I heard I could set it up that way. and for some reason not everybody pops up on my screen, like the TMD-710G

[@WJ6FRadio]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and the comment! It is greatly appreciated. Excellent question! I will be working on a video for it tomorrow to release this coming week.

[@N4EJM]

Great video, I really want that 400 for my F-150.

[@WJ6FRadio]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and the comment! It is greatly appreciated. That would be a great addition to the F-150!

[@TheOpinionatedYouTuber]

Why did you completely omit SmartBeaconing? That is an extremely valuable feature for using APRS in any vehicle.

[@WJ6FRadio]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and the comment! It is greatly appreciated. Probably because I just might be going senile. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

[@TheOpinionatedYouTuber]

WJ6F No worries! SmartBeaconing actually really helps with keeping network congestion at a minimum. It is especially useful for a very congested area for APRS such as Southern California. Maybe you can do a follow-up with the feature set of SmartBeaconing. If there’s anything I can do to help or support you, I’m happy to lend a hand.

[@WJ6FRadio]

@@TheOpinionatedKZbinr I greatly appreciate the offer! I will certainly look in to making a video on Smart Beaconing.

[@McCoymiked]

Is there a way the ftm-400 can put those beacons on a map without the use of the internet? Seems like it could populate a pre-Download map on your phone with the Bluetooth module.

[@WJ6FRadio]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and the comment! It is greatly appreciated. Not that I am aware of.

[@tedspence5047]

Thanks for this video, it makes my life a little easier as I learn this hobby. ke0mwn

[@WJ6FRadio]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and the comment! It is greatly appreciated. Glad this video was helpful!

[@Photoeye65]

Nice Video! Helped me tremendously... Just to clarify for me, the APRS freq, 144.390 must be set into Band B and that VFO should be tuned to 144.390, correct.....? N1JWW

[@WJ6FRadio]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and the comment! It is greatly appreciated. Yes, you are correct for the frequency. However, if you go to DATA > DATA BAND SELECT (Menu 2) You can choose Main Band / Sub Band / A - Band Fix / B- Band Fix (Factory setting) / A=Tx/B=Rx / A=Rx/B=Tx

[@1967plymgtx]

Well done...I really enjoyed your video. Thanks for sharing! 73 de W4ISZ

[@WJ6FRadio]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and the comment! It is greatly appreciated.

[@johnratcliffe6438]

And subbed!

[@WJ6FRadio]

Thanks for he Sub!

[@johnratcliffe6438]

What's the point of APRS? I'm not sure I 'get it'.

[@WJ6FRadio]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and the comment! It is greatly appreciated. For me, I use APRS so when I am out of town. When camping, for example, she can see where I am at and should something happen and she is unable to get a hold of me she will know where to send help to look for me. I hope this helps.

[@johnratcliffe6438]

@@WJ6FRadio It does, thank you. As a new operator, I am trying to get my head around the digital side of the hobby. There's a bewildering amount to learn! Thanks for the upload :)

[@WJ6FRadio]

@@johnratcliffe6438 I know what you mean. I am still a bit baffled by the whole DMR side of things. I have used Fusion (Yaesu), D-STAR (Icom) and DMR. I like and have had the best luck with Fusion.

[@johnratcliffe6438]

@@WJ6FRadio That's useful, thanks. I wish Yaesu or Kenwood made a dedicated 2m/70cms/23cms *only - no HF* base station like the IC9700 - hopefully soon! The FTM-400XDR appeals because I can use it for analogue FM locally, as well as Fusion. It's not expensive either in the grand scheme of things.

[@WJ6FRadio]

@@johnratcliffe6438 I have thoroughly enjoyed the FTM-400. I have used FTM-7250, Kenwood's TM-D710A & TM-V71A, Icom 5100 (D-STAR), Yaesu FT-2900 and 2980 (both 2m only), but I always return to the FTM-400 as my go to mobile radio.

[@pipesmokercowboychris]

How do you like the radio? At some point I'll have to get a new radio. My city doesn't have any digital, but I want digital capabilities for traveling. Also do storm spotting, RACES, ARES, and EMCOMM.. Great and informative video.

[@WJ6FRadio]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and the comment! It is greatly appreciated. I think this is a great radio! In fact it is my second one. I have had the Icom ID-5100, but found DSTAR to be Dead STAR. The FTM-400 is easy to use and program. When I am in an area that doesn't have any digital repeaters I use my ZumSpot.

[@seaningram4434]

@@WJ6FRadioI have put in an order for an FTM 400 XDR :)

[@WJ6FRadio]

Sean Ingram cool deal!! It is a great radio! Hopefully it arrives quickly!

[@applejacks971]

You can always run digital on Simplex :)

[@gregmacklem]

I followed your video to the letter (I have the same radio) and it doesn't work for me. I am using B band with the 144.390 frequency. All the right icons are showing on the main screen to show that the APRS is on. I hit the Beacon TX button, it seems to transmit, but I don't see my position on aprs.fi. It doesn't show any raw packets either. Any ideas on what might be going wrong? I live just outside Atlanta so I would think I can hit an APRS repeater from here.

[@kd9axo]

I'm having the same issue here too and I know there is a digi repeater around here because everyone else is posting, and just the other day a truck driver past by down the interstate and his path was on aprs.fi. I have also followed every step on this video and others. Did you ever get yours figured out?

[@WJ6FRadio]

For some reason I do not see mine on APRS.fi about 80% of the time either. I am not sure why. I used to. I have heard that APRS.fi favors the stronger, more powerful, stations

[@WJ6FRadio]

I have heard that APRS.fi favors the stronger, more powerful, stations

[@applejacks971]

Try pressing the 'SQL' tab...this will give a little, and I mean LITTLE rectangle box between the VFO freqs. In this box, it will cycle through T-TX, TX-REV, TX OFF, and one or 2 other things. It has to be set to T-TX, otherwise it won't transmit. Just a lil thing to make sure is correct, it might be your issue? Good luck!

[@applejacks971]

@@kd9axo Try pressing the 'SQL' tab...this will give a little, and I mean LITTLE rectangle box between the VFO freqs. In this box, it will cycle through T-TX, TX-REV, TX OFF, and one or 2 other things. It has to be set to T-TX, otherwise it won't transmit. Just a lil thing to make sure is correct, it might be your issue? Good luck!

[@applejacks971]

I downloaded the APRS manual from the Yaesu site...96 pages. Yikes!!!

[@WJ6FRadio]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and the comment! It is greatly appreciated. The manual can be a bit daunting that's for sure. Reads like War & Peace!

[@WJ6FRadio]

@applejacks971 The QSY Feature video will premier on Monday at 4:42pm Pacific Time. Thank you again for taking the time to watch and comment!

[@applejacks971]

@@WJ6FRadio Very nice! I put the 96 page pdf file on to a flash drive and took it in to Office Max. For $16 the printed it out ad made me a nice spiral bound booklet. I keep one in the Suburban and the other in the semi. Well worth the $32 for 2 booklets!

[@chuckpotter1209]

Decent video but the background music is super distracting and unnecessary.

[@WJ6FRadio]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and the comment! It is greatly appreciated. I agree. I have since stoped adding music to my videos for the reason you mentioned.