Everyday Ham Podcast: Amateur Radio Conversations
Welcome to the Everyday Ham Podcast, where three friends dive into the world of amateur (ham) radio with a casual, lighthearted twist.
From discussing what we're working on, current events, and lessons learned to sharing our gripes and off-topic banter, we bring a mix of fun, relatable conversations and radio expertise.
Whether you’re a seasoned operator or new to the hobby, join us for engaging chats that celebrate the quirks, challenges, and joys of being on the air.
Everyday Ham Podcast: Amateur Radio Conversations
Is Yaesu Changing the Game? Exploring the New Mobile Lineup
As Yaesu navigates a shift in its mobile radio lineup, we're here to dissect the implications of these changes. From the unexpected discontinuation of older models to the buzz surrounding the anticipated FTX-1F release, we examine what this means for the future of mobile communication. Dive into the amateur radio community's reactions and ponder Yaesu's strategic moves with us. We'll discuss the groundbreaking advancements in audio signal processing, especially their potential to enhance emergency communications, and consider how these innovations could transform the market.
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All right, welcome everyone to Episode 2 of the Everyday Ham Podcast. This episode we're going to dive into Yaesu's latest mobile transceivers and we got a little bit of speculation, sort of, on where we think they're heading in the marketplace. I'm James Mills, k8jku. I'm joined here by Jim Davis, n8jrd, and Roy Locke, w8knx. So before we get into the formal topic, jim, what are you excited for currently in ham radio? What's on your mind?
Speaker 2:Yeah, very good and welcome everybody. Glad to do this for a second time. We'll see if we can make it work. I was excited to sit down tonight knowing that we were going to do a little chat here and a couple things going on in the last month. After Christmas I set up my FTDX101MP and I finally made it to FT8 with much goading from Rory over here W8KNX. So he told me Jim, you got to get that thing going on FT8. I've been having a lot of fun with it. I fully admit that I have not been a digital guy at all. I have only operated phone for the last six months, so I was dragging my feet pretty hard. But I set it up a couple of evenings ago and both James and Rory got on and we chit chatted about how to do it. We got it up and running and I've been having a whole bunch of fun with FT8.
Speaker 1:And my ham alert has not stopped since.
Speaker 2:That is exactly right.
Speaker 3:So there's a whole component missing there, that we're all repeater dwellers, we all like our local repeater. We like to call out when we're mobile, we like to call out when we're sitting at home bored. So there's a whole component missing that. I know, jim, that you enjoy and that's the person-to-person cue. So how does it feel doing ft8 with that aspect completely?
Speaker 2:not there. Yeah, it was very strange, I guess at first, and I won't I'm sure we could go into a whole episode about ft8. We're not going to. But I'll just say out loud that, uh, I expected it to be like okay, I expected it to be like watching paint dry, right, like, uh, that it was gonna be a really boring mode where I just clicked on a thing and things happened and then I got a cue, so right, and I think initially, when I started doing it, that's kind of what it was. But the more I began to understand how the transaction worked in FT8 and then pairing it along with GridTracker, that's very important Yep.
Speaker 2:It really makes it a more visual experience, right, I can see where my signal's going, I can see where I'm being heard, and that helps me understand the propagation that's happening at any given time. It's a lot more insightful than I thought it was going to be, and I'm having a lot of fun with it. I'm only on my second day and I've already lit up a number of DX locations that I would never have been able to get on my limited antenna setup here at the house so.
Speaker 2:I'm having a lot of fun with it, so that's what's got me fired up right now is a little bit of how limited of an antenna setup are you?
Speaker 3:I mean, come on, you have a place where you have antennas outside. I'm stuck with a fairly lousy NFET up in the attic, strung between whatever's up in the attic, so you're doing okay over there antenna-wise.
Speaker 1:This is true. I'm an HOA ham, basically as well.
Speaker 3:You're doing okay too.
Speaker 1:So we're envious of you.
Speaker 3:You guys are both doing okay with your outside HF antennas, I think, but that's excellent. I don't have any new things going on here. As we get through winter and all the things, I keep talking to people on the local machine, and you guys as well, and I keep dreaming about getting a new run of coax up to the attic to do some work with my 2 meter 440 antenna, and I'm also dreaming what I'm going to do in the spring, because there is a plan off the side of the building to get something up vertical in the little bit of real estate that I have available to me outside of the condo. So that's about it here, just dreaming mode in the middle of winter. How about you, james?
Speaker 1:You know, honestly, almost the same thing. While we were doing the FT8 demonstration with Jim. We were talking about well, I was talking about having you guys over in the summer for a barbecue and setting up a actual two meter antenna. Yeah, let's do it, get that up on the roof and actually get some local setups going. So I live geographically. I don't know how many miles it is, but it's a 30 minute drive. Like Michiganders will talk in how long the drive is how long is the?
Speaker 2:drive.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's about a 30 minute drive, so I'd like to. I'm jealous of all your local QSOs. You guys are getting and hitting the repeater, so I'd like to get that set up and then we'll talk about it probably one day in an episode as well. Jim and I have different opinions on one of our home antennas, which is the DX Commander Signature 9. So that will make for a good future episode. We'll share our opinions and maybe that will be a live recorded outdoor episode after we get off the roof mounting some antennas.
Speaker 2:I love it. The joy of ham friends.
Speaker 3:Jim's opinion of that antenna may change as he does more digital though too, because I think it's serving him pretty well with the FT8 mode.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's 100% true. I think that it is. We won't go into it. Let's keep it moving here, guys. I don't want to go into DX Commander. Let's keep it moving here, guys. I don't want to go into DX Commander too much, but I will agree, it's working fine for FT8. I've been set up so that I can run either that or my NFET Halfwave, which are my two outdoor antennas over here. So it definitely has worked out all right and I'm really impressed with FT8 and its ability to get out places that I would not have been able to get to on sideband by any means.
Speaker 3:How did you feel about getting Japan last night?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was extremely exciting, right? So I had not had a CUSO with Japan in any fashion at all. And so being able to get a tip from the club members here in the South Line Club and say, able to get a tip from the club members here in the South Line Club and say, hey, when Gray Line hits over in Japan, tune it up to 24 megahertz, 12 meter, and you'll probably hear some Japanese stations, and I was like, well, that'd be awesome. I visited Japan many years ago now and I had just a blast over there, and I've always, since I've gotten my radio fired back up, I've wanted to be able to talk or make cue.
Speaker 2:So to Japan and it was exciting to uh to get that and it wasn't uh, it wasn't hard at all. Uh, I did turn up the power a little bit. I won't lie. I know a lot of people run FTA to like 35 or 40 Watts. I had the power cranked up a little bit further than that Cause I wanted to guarantee a contact, but it happened.
Speaker 3:That's good. Yeah, I felt somehow I felt complete when I made that first contact over to Japan. That was pretty cool. All right, james, what's on your mind for the podcast today?
Speaker 1:So today we were going to dive a little bit into Yaesu. So, jim, you will talk a little bit about breaking news and we want to kind of speculate a little bit on where we think the market is heading specifically for the Yaesu. But maybe it is an indication for the larger market. So before we go into more of the formal discussion, let's talk about the models. That will probably be the focus of today's chat. So in November Yezu released three new mobile transceivers. All three radios feature SuperDX technology enhancing weak signal reception and audio signal processing, or ASP for Crystal Clear Audio.
Speaker 1:Crystal Clear, yeah, crystal Clear, first up is the FT3165 RASP, currently priced at $249.95 at DX Engineering, and this radio is a two-meter only radio if I remember correctly, single band, single band yep, yep.
Speaker 1:Next is the FT3185 RASP. It's also available for $274.95 at dxengineeringcom. This one steps up the power a little bit, so you're getting a little more features. You get 85-watt output and includes what they call primary memory group feature, allowing you to monitor up to five memory channels in real time. Now, last but not least, we're getting into their let's say big boy of the new models, the FTM-150 RSAP. They all roll off the tongue. That's one thing they got in common.
Speaker 2:This is the only one that excited me, so I'll just say that.
Speaker 1:Yep, it's also going to come with a little bit heavier price tag so $379.95 from currently dxengineeringcom. It is a dual band transceiver. It covers 144 megahertz and 430 megahertz with true, with true dual band functionality, independent vfos and a full dot matrix display that matrix yeah, now we're in the future with our dot matrix displays.
Speaker 3:That's a deal there, so at the time.
Speaker 1:Uh, the reason we even bring these up is at the time there was a little bit of confusion on the introduction of these three new radios. I know they had some new features, specifically looking at their audio processing, but there was some overlap in their lineup. Let's say so, jim, I think today you kind of announced, or you saw, some news breaks as well which I think maybe are important to talk about at the start.
Speaker 3:Yesu's making some moves. It sounds like. Sounds like it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's absolutely interesting to me. So when these launched, right, we were looking at what the current model line was, which was the FTM 200, which was a true it's a dual bander, but not a true dual bander, right, it was one that was limited and it basically played some tricks to allow you to hear two bands at once, but it wasn't a true dual-band UV, uu, vv type radio. They had the FTM-300, which was actually a pretty nice radio capable of a lot of things digital modes, aprs whether you love APRS or not and, of course, the FTM-500. So when we saw these three radios drop seemingly out of nowhere right from Yaesu, there was not much hype around these things coming, not much fanfare, and they didn't announce them at any major event release like a hamcation or hamvention.
Speaker 3:It was just sort of thrown out there. And it would seem like such an unusual move with bringing what we would consider lower tech radios onto the market too.
Speaker 2:Exactly so. When we saw these three things drop and then we saw the prices, it really became quite a confusing proposition, at least for me. I had at the time an FTM 300 in one of my vehicles and an FTM 500 in the other and I said who's buying these right? The FTM 300 I purchased from Ham Radio Outlet for $369 in the box it was an open box special, but $369, right. And I looked at the price of the FTM 150, which is the new RASP model, and it was well over that price. And even when the 300 was brand new in the box you were still able to get it around the $400 mark, depending on the sales. So we were asking are they competing with themselves and where do these fit? In the last week, ftm 200, completely discontinued, Confirmed by Yesu. They are no longer producing it. It has been moved to the Yesu archive, so gone is the FTM 200. And actually, although I didn't think the FTM 200 was a particularly great value, there were a lot of people that loved that rating.
Speaker 3:One of our friends, Blakey WSK, here in the club as well, he runs that. It was actually a gift from his wife, who was thrilled that he was getting into ham radio, which is an odd thing to happen. I think it was either a birthday or Christmas gift and he loves that radio. So you know, but that one is gone.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a lot of folks that said you know, the FTM 200 is going to be missed. It filled a very nice niche and it was very affordable for what you got, right, and so I guess I find it quite interesting, but they discontinued that. Then the picture started to make a little bit more sense. Right, we've got three new radios that dropped. They've discontinued one. Okay, the 300 and the 500 still exist at maybe the top end of what Yaesu is going to offer for mobile radios. Well, come to find out, questions continued to mount as 300 stocks sort of dried up, right, so if you go around the web today and today's date is February 5th 2025, it is impossible basically to find an FTM 300 new in the box at any of our major retailers DX Engineering, hro or GigaParts. Right, there are a few that are in stock at some of the smaller radio sites where they are probably sitting on the floor waiting to be sold, but the FTM 300 appears to have been discontinued as well. The interesting part about that, of course, is Yaesu has not yet confirmed that it's gone.
Speaker 2:There's been speculation by a couple of different channels on the YouTubes, the ham tubers. One was KB9MLI, who called up Ham Radio Outlet and said, hey, are you getting any more 300s? And they said, nope, no more, we're pulling it off the site, right? So just a really interesting sudden change in what Yaesu is offering in their product line, and I think that we'll dig into it more here.
Speaker 2:But it kind of blows my mind because you eliminated two of three radios in a product line that offer digital output for C4FM, so system fusion and you eliminated two radios that had nice color screens, had additional functionality built into them like APRS, gps, bluetooth, and now we've got the 3165 and the 3185 that appear to be straight up analog single band radios. I don't believe that these fill those niches, but the FTM-150 is interesting. So I think that I understand Yesu's story a little bit more. All that being said, but let's dive into it. That was late-breaking news this afternoon as I started to read, and it kind of is a real interesting shift and I'm curious if that means at Dayton we're going to find out that Yesu's got some fancy new mobile models on the way.
Speaker 3:I mean, there's this. Oh sorry, james go ahead.
Speaker 1:No, no, go ahead, Roy, no, no. I was going to say there's a gigantic hole there.
Speaker 3:Oh, you said, go ahead, and then you said I did.
Speaker 1:My bad.
Speaker 3:We're professionals.
Speaker 1:We know what we're doing.
Speaker 3:Now you go ahead, now I go ahead. Okay, good job. No, that's fine. So that leaves a gigantic hole because it's just the 500 is the only Fusion C4 FM capable mobile left, if I followed all that correctly from your update, and it definitely leaves a big gap. I don't know. I'm surprised they got rid of the 300. It seemed to be such a nice. I mean, I don't know that you really want to call it entry level, but easier to swallow purchase cost-wise into Fusion and C4FM. The 500, of course, is a bit more expensive, but maybe we'll see some adjustments on price with that here in the not-too-distant future.
Speaker 2:We'll have to wait and see and see and I'll put an asterisk on this right. What I'm seeing today is only based on stock availability at the major retailers and folks calling and asking are you getting more? And being told no, we don't believe that there is any more stock of the FTM 300 coming. So if you go to Yesu's website today, the 300 is not in the archive yet, but it certainly seems like it has one toe in the grave. As far as Yaesu is concerned, james, go ahead.
Speaker 1:No, I was going to say, and I think that we know it's hard to believe Yaesu is going to abandon their Fusion or digital in general. You still see an interest from people for APRS features. You obviously still see they put a lot of investment into clubs getting Fusion repeaters online. Absolutely so to your speculation. You already made this point but to further emphasize it, we have to probably anticipate that something is coming in the lineup. And you're right on their website the 200 is officially gone. If you look at their lineup, they have big, shiny new buttons next to the 3185, the 3165, and the 150. And then the 300 is still there, but it's all the way at the far right now. So you're right, it's setting up for some discontinuing, it looks like.
Speaker 2:I just think that it's a very interesting product move when I see radios that seemed more fully featured at similar price points being removed. And I will say, if we go just a hair deeper into the speculation before we get into facts again, it appears that there might be parts availability issues that Yaesu is running into as a result of deciding that it's time to end those two models right now.
Speaker 3:That was actually one of my first thoughts when they came out with this new line of the 3185, 3165, and 150 line. Did they have to make some changes because of what they could get and what was easy to source for parts and technology? That was actually one of the things I wondered If, deep down in the supply chain and in the manufacturing process, that that was something they had to consider. So the 400 went away. I mean, these are radios that have been around a while, but the 400 went away not that long ago and I feel like that was a fairly popular radio. Oh, absolutely. But hopefully you know, along with this transition that of them adding these new radios we might see something new that's Fusion and APRS capable. So I'm very happy with my 500. It's the newest radio in my fleet. I purchased basically under peer pressure just to see because I heard it was a cool radio and I wanted to dip into APRS. But certainly surprised to see these moves.
Speaker 2:I'll take credit for forcing you to buy yet another radio, Rory.
Speaker 3:That would be you, yeah, and.
Speaker 1:I'm just disappointed. None of these new radios have the one big knob feature that everyone seemed to love. But it is interesting, rory, to your point on supply chain availability. I mean we know the chip shortage and other electronic components have sort of, over the last few years, straightened itself out.
Speaker 1:But we are seeing more threat to the supply chain, not a political statement, but we look at some of the production footprint for electronics components based out of China and other Asia-Pacific regions. They could be trying to maybe batten down the hatches a little bit and having a more reliable parts supply, like a dot matrix display, for example. That's technology that's been around forever. It's reliable. And it's technology that's been around forever, it's reliable and it's probably available for multiple supply sources. So that could be part of the strategy as well.
Speaker 3:Because it's funny, the dot matrix thing. I mean that FTM-150, you look at that, that would have been at the top of my list in 2002 when I got licensed. That would have been a very attractive radio at that time. So a lot of radios looked that way. I had an icon, similar in screen display and so forth. But it's just an interesting move. I'm curious what they have up their sleeve. I feel like there's one more radio in this line that we haven't seen yet Something to bridge between the 500 and the 150?
Speaker 1:I think so In terms of function and appeal. I think so.
Speaker 2:There absolutely has to be. The 150 is so far removed from the 500 as far as functionality. There has to be a radio coming, and I know that we talked about the three major Japanese builders of radios having a cyclic release where they kind of made way for the next guy to release their radio ICOM one year, kenwood the next year, yaesu the next year.
Speaker 2:I almost wonder if Yaesu is saying we're going for it, right, kenwood has one coming. We know that. When is it coming? We don't know that yet. But I just wonder if Yaesu said we're looking at market right now and these radios are A not profitable and can't be built with the products, components we're getting, so we're going to revamp altogether. I have one thing that I'll say out loud here, and maybe it'll give us our transition the things you're losing in this current new launch. For the most part, you don't get GPS anymore that was in both of the other radios, right. You don't get a digital modem no C4 FM, no APRS, so no digital modem. You lose your color display. You're back to a monochrome or a segmented LCD and you lose all the WiresX capability if that was something that you were doing on the internet. So it really is a significant removal of features when we look at the pricing being very equivalent. So I don't know, let's jump into a 3165, maybe let's take a look Now.
Speaker 3:this one is the 2-meter 65-watt radio correct?
Speaker 2:That's right. Yep, the 3165 is 2, two meter, only 65 watts, and I think James quoted the price there being somewhere in the neighborhood of 249. I saw it as low this afternoon when I was doing a little research as 219. So they already are discounting these radios pretty significantly. So seeing it at about $220, that to me, that seems pretty approachable for a single bander with 65 watts. 65 watts, no slouch.
Speaker 3:Yeah, to have a few extra watts over 50 is always good, I mean, it's certainly not a bad thing to have a bit more power. But for me, I mean a two meter only radio almost isn't even an option. I work a fair amount of 440 locally and I work a fair amount of 440 using some of my All-Star hotspots and so forth. So to have the loss of 440, this guy's not even a contender for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for me it also is not a contender. I actually just a few months ago sold my FT-1900, which was a single-band, 2-meter 50-watt rig. It reminds me a lot of the 3165 RASP. Now we haven't talked at all about the audio processing yet.
Speaker 1:I was about to say Now, the big new feature for them is Now. We should also maybe mention backup for one second. All three of us have not physically held or operated one of these radios.
Speaker 1:So we are basing a lot of this on what we've read, our kind of past knowledge of yeezy products and some other things. However, uh, one of the big features was their audio signal processing, and the reviews of that have been phenomenal. Uh, from everything I've seen of the users that it is a breakthrough in how things are cleaned up and how you can take the incoming and make it work some magic on the signal processing side, and we've speculated also that With that technology, maybe this is one of their proving grounds. So get it into some mobile transceivers, get the functionality out there, get people used to it and then start to branch into other radios, so HF transceivers or even possibly their update to the 891, extremely popular HF transceiver mobile line radio, to see what they could do with that product and make this part of their new marketing tool or feature set to really boost their lineup in the future.
Speaker 2:It almost ties back to what we talked about in our first episode a little bit. I know that this is not an AI processor by any means, but we were talking about the importance of being able to clean up audio in a really meaningful way, and it looks like ASUS unlocked that code with the uh SPU one, which is what is built into these machines. So, um, if you visit any of your favorite ham tubers, we can, you know, pick your, pick your poison. Uh, all of them have run their tests and, uh, I personally love ham radio. Crash course. Josh over there did a test on one of these and showed rasp on versus off I'm sorry, asp, on versus off with the SDX function, and it was pretty impressive to see how well it was able to clean up the audio and make it very, very readable, intelligible audio from signals that were pretty rough otherwise to listen to Noticeably different.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he pulled in some very weak 2-meter Simplex conversations. I probably watched the same video you're referring to and it cleaned it up. I mean he discussed whether or not it sounded like there was a little bit of an underwater sound to it. But I think you kind of get a little bit of different audio processing when you do these things. You're going to have a sound that's not natural to your ear. But the difference between a weak signal versus one that's being processed by ASP there is phenomenal, and if there's times that you're at the fringe of a repeater or you're just going up and down hills or you're in an area where it might be weak to be able to pop that on and clean it up and not miss anything is is is tremendous.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you and I. I went across town we're in Metro Detroit, the everyday ham podcast is and I went across town. On the West side of town, rory and I were chit chatting on the repeater as I was cruising along on the freeway and he said I think you're at the like, superdx is going to be a boon, right, it'll buy you an extra CUSO or two so that you can find your next strategy to make sure that you're getting connected, and I like that idea of it. Right, you're not going to use it all the time. The processing probably is something that sounds a bit unnatural to the ear, but I do love that. It gives you the ability, when you're at the close end of that ability to hear a signal, to turn it on, say what you need to say and then maybe you QSY to another radio, another repeater right, another rig where you can get reconnected with that person. And I think that becomes extremely important when we're talking about MCOM, right.
Speaker 1:And that's what I think, these rigs. I was about to say that, okay, there we go, james, take it away. No, no, no, I didn't want to steal your thunder there. No, no, no, I didn't want to steal your thunder there. But I was about to say that You're looking at some radios that are very basic, that two meter only, for example, with a very simple dot matrix display and some audio signal enhancements.
Speaker 1:You're talking about a very effective MCOM radio where, if you're on the fringe of signals, receiving that signal is important and that becomes a very affordable use case for a lot of people in terms of having that option. Yep.
Speaker 3:And there are still a lot of areas, a lot of metro areas, that there isn't a huge 440 presence. So there are people who would see no problem in not having a 440-capable radio. I didn't even consider the emergency communication standpoint. I didn't even consider the emergency communication standpoint. There are times where and I'm sure we can look at there was a whole ton of emergency communications done in the eastern Tennessee flooding there.
Speaker 3:I'm sure there were a ton of people trying to make contacts that if they could press a magic button and hear the message that was being passed just a little bit better, it would have made a huge difference. So that is definitely a key component.
Speaker 2:I look at the emergency situations, as you're always in a difficult climate to use radio. Right, it's going to be in the mountains, it's going to be in a situation like we have out in LA where there are fires. There is just a number of challenges, and if there's an easy button that can help me have a more effective way to communicate, I love that. That is as easy as hit me super DX. I got that message. Now we can keep this thing moving forward.
Speaker 3:And here's another emergency thought If you're in an emergency and you're running backup power, perhaps you only want to be running five watts and if you're in a series of people where you've got your radio turned down to five watts and you can turn on the processor, and here are the people just fine, at five watts, that could make the difference of your radio lasting a couple days versus a few hours. So there's a lot in play there that I really hadn't thought about until we started talking about the emergency aspect.
Speaker 1:The other thing. On the HF side, we're seeing the emergence of QRP radios. Obviously that's becoming more and more popular. It always was so, not to say it's becoming more popular, but there's always that segment of QRP. But you're seeing the ICOM and now the Yaesu FTX1F.
Speaker 2:I believe it is Yep you're correct.
Speaker 1:Which is going to compete? I mean, that's a QRP all-mode radio with sound card has the same aesthetic or design aesthetic of the 500 mobile radio. So maybe you're seeing them push more of the design aesthetic fusion, digital sound card into more of that HF mobile rig, qrp and, as you said, maybe they're becoming more of a practical lineup for everyday purposes on their their mobile market. From a standpoint of that, I mean it's an interesting philosophy you have your big boy expensive radios and then you have your, your more affordable mobile rigs I don't.
Speaker 2:By the way, I will say I don't believe the ftx1f is ever going to be an affordable rig, but I do believe that that these rigs that we're looking at tonight are definitely in that affordable category, under $300, giving you significant power, allowing you to communicate pretty decent distance. One final thing before we transition, in the interest of making sure we talk about each of these the FT-3165 RASP apparently, for me, steals the design aesthetic from a 1990s squad car radio, if you haven't seen the 3165, it's a wide, narrow.
Speaker 2:It's a wide chassis, uh, narrow height. Uh radio that looks like it came right out of your mother's cadillac in 1995 it also.
Speaker 3:It you got. I got a flashback of something completely different. Uh, vertexex Standard, who Yezu acquired at some point, had a series of commercial radios, the VX4200 series, to which I have a VHF-only 4204 that looks a lot like the 3165 now that I'm really thinking about it. I actually have a couple of those. I hope to put them into portable repeater service at some point, but that's a project for another day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this radio looks dated right out of the gate.
Speaker 3:That's all I wanted to say about it.
Speaker 2:It's really interesting that they launched a radio in 2025 that looks like this radio. For me, the display is dated, the controls are dated, the case is dated. I do wonder if they're borrowing components from an existing product line to build this.
Speaker 1:It looks, as you said, dated. It also looks cheap. There we go Dated is one thing. I'm good with some throwback aesthetics but, to me it also looks cheap. That grill, the plastic, a lot of plastic. That speaker grill looks old-fashioned and and chunky plastic I'm sure it's well crafted and molded. We haven't again touched any of these radios, uh I'm looking forward to yeah, yeah, me too. Um, but when I visually lay eyes on it, I think oof that uh that's a lot of money for what you're getting.
Speaker 3:That's a decision. I won't be any more impressed by it if I can touch it and see it in person.
Speaker 2:The neighborhood skepticism here.
Speaker 3:I love it. I love it.
Speaker 2:I agree with you. Let's talk a little bit about the 3185 RASP. Sure, and I think that we've already touched a lot on what we're going to talk about with 3185, because what you've got here is a more modern case and 20 more watts of power. It looks like a beefy heat sink.
Speaker 1:On the case for low power output.
Speaker 3:Well, 85 watts in a small package like that, you're going to start generating a lot of heat real quick.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you will, it's designed.
Speaker 2:If we look at this radio right, the 3165 and the 3185, very similar functionally right. Single band or again. You get a little bit more power, you get a more modern-looking radio and you get a better display. That's about it for the 3185.
Speaker 1:You get that primary memory group as well. Oh, but you get primary memory group yeah, which is an interesting feature, so you can monitor what is it. Five channels. Yep simultaneously You're right. Again, if you're looking at MCOM or a club radio or something to have out of field day as your club radio, I mean that's an interesting feature.
Speaker 3:I mean, as I sit here at my desk, I have the capability of listening to four frequencies on three different radios, and there are times I have them all cranked up, so that actually did catch my attention. The PMG functionality, because I am someone who does like to monitor several things simultaneously.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm glad that you corrected me there, because for me when I was looking at that, I did not even register the PMG as being a value-add feature at this level. Right, it's a couple more bucks, but I looked a lot at the radio and it kind of ate it with my eyes. I didn't, actually I didn't consider it PMG, and PMG for emergency comms certainly does make sense here.
Speaker 1:And I'm clearly looking at the stat here real quick. I was curious on what the feature has to offer, but transmit is automatically moved to the received channel as well. So again, if you're looking at an MCOM radio or you're in your car driving and you're monitoring a lot of repeaters or stations. That's an interesting feature to have repeaters or stations.
Speaker 2:that's an interesting feature to have. Okay, so it basically gives me an ability to monitor many channels in a more effective way than I would if I was just scanning on a rotation with a standard machine.
Speaker 1:You'd just be lurking out there just monitoring and lurking and waiting to pounce. Is that what you're saying.
Speaker 3:Is that what you're saying? I do with my listening?
Speaker 1:No, not at all. I see, yeah, I see.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I'm always. Anyone who's on a couple of repeaters around here know I'm always lurking. The 85 watts is interesting. And that's another one of those things where there's probably a use case scenario for people that are in more rural areas, or need to regularly hit something that's that little stretch away, that 50 watts isn't going to do it.
Speaker 3:I think there's probably a call for that being interesting. I listen semi-regularly in the mornings to Northern Michigan Net. I listen through All-Star. The West Branch Michigan repeater has a morning roundtable and I a couple of days a week and some of those guys are close enough to the repeater that they can get in on a good condition morning. But if it's a bad two meter condition morning they can't get in. And you know up there there's not that much going on for repeaters. So to be able to get into this round table is a big deal to a lot of them. So having that extra, you know, to be able to push 85 watts on a bad day, I think someone in those situations might be interested in this. So it's one of those things. It's another item that could be attractive to the right person.
Speaker 1:Well, and I was trying to see if I could find the size dimensions and I'm sorry I didn't look this up beforehand, but it's also as you said, and I got my models confused there at the end with all the rasps and the beautiful numbers, but for the size it is a pretty petite package for 85 watts, and that is very attractive and again, I was trying to see if I could find the exact dimensions.
Speaker 1:I'm sure if you have them, someone you know, go ahead and put them in the comments when you're listening to this and you can be angry at me, but it is, it's definitely I see where this radio belongs in the lineup from a function and beauty standpoint.
Speaker 2:Let me build on that idea, because I think that when these all launched, there was a lot of like well, why? Right, a lot of like well, why? But there was also a pretty loud crowd that said thank you, Yesu, for bringing something that's simpler back to the market. There are folks that don't want all those bells and whistles, that just want to click the key and have a rag chew, and these models absolutely are that type of radio for me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for me, if you look at it and I'm a big fan of this radio and I've talked about it the FT-891. It is my go-to HF transceiver. We mentioned before in the first episode, but just to restate it here, all of us enjoy POTA a lot and I've put that in my suitcase. I've traveled with it. It gets me 100 watts out and I enjoy the fact that the setup and the interface okay, no waterfall. I understand that as sort of a feature set that a lot of people enjoy, but I don't have to worry about it breaking as much.
Speaker 3:It's a durable radio.
Speaker 1:I know where the buttons are. I can operate it without even looking at it. Pretty much I can just feel over with my hand and change the dial and adjust the filter and anything else I want to do. And that's a big feature set for me. And maybe this is Yaesu recognizing a little bit that the 891 is a form factor that people enjoy and this is them bringing again into a different lineup. It's, it's a good, I think, a good move.
Speaker 1:Honestly, I I think the eight 91 has been a very big success and you know, we heard a lot of criticism you mentioned it a lot of criticism on the uh 500 when it came out with the big knob and the screen and it's hard to hit the touch screen to make changes and small.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hit the touch screen to make changes. And small, yeah, I didn't even realize it was a touch screen the first month I had it. That's how much I. That's how small the screen is on the 500. It is true, rory said we're talking on the radio and I said rory, just touch the screen. He's like what do you mean? Touch the screen? Didn't realize that when you can.
Speaker 3:You can do everything you want with rotating the dial, which is fine, but uh, yeah, the you the touching of the screen. That is a small screen to be a touch screen, so I justify my error with that. So the 3185 is Boy, I just had it here and now I'm.
Speaker 1:I had the dimensions up on the screen. The dimensions elude us.
Speaker 3:Yet again 6.3 inches wide, 2 inches tall and 7.3 inches wide. 2 inches tall and 7.3 inches deep, so it's a small radio for what it's doing.
Speaker 2:I have a tape measure in front of me, so I'm actually measuring as we're saying these things.
Speaker 1:Of course you do, yes.
Speaker 3:Shocking. You know you mentioned, Jim, something that I didn't consider easy either is the ease of use of the radio and people wanting something simpler, and that was something that was mentioned, I think, on Josh's from Ham Radio Crash Course video. I think that was the one I watched. He took a fair amount of time to go through the menus of these radios.
Speaker 3:He did yeah of time to go through the menus of these radios, and the menus are fairly simple. Um, the the font, the menus are in large print. You're turning the dial. You know exactly what's going to happen when you turn the dial and it's, it seems, very intuitive to get through those menus, versus some of yezu's other stuff, which a lot of people will describe as menu hell, which the 891 is kind of in that category as much as I enjoy my 891 as well.
Speaker 3:If you're not familiar with it, the 891 has a tough menu-driven radio, as most Yezus do. You look at even my older one, the 897 that sits on the counter here, that I've been using primarily for slow-scan TV and packet lately, but that radio is extremely menu-driven. So to have a series of radios here with easier menus, that could be attractive as well, yeah, I love that For my money, guys.
Speaker 2:I'm buying the 3185. Hands down For $60 more. I'm buying the 3185 over the 3165.
Speaker 3:I would agree. It gives you the extra power if you want it. It's visually more appealing. The screen is larger, not to make an old person here, but when you're trying to look at a screen when you're driving 50, 60, 70, 90 miles an hour down the road you want to be able to see it. That's a big deal there.
Speaker 1:Again, these are mobile radios. That is a key feature with that full dot matrix display there.
Speaker 2:All right, let's talk about the FTM-150, which is by far the most interesting model. And again, before we go on 3185, it still gets the SPU-1, which means it still gets Super DX, just like the 3165, so you can still push the button. It's still going to do the awesome stuff. All three of these radios get that. But let's talk about the FTM-150, the most interesting one of these, right, it is a true dual-band radio. It has the ability to operate in a cross-band repeater mode. If you want to do that, right, it's hidden in some menus, you've got to hold some buttons, but you can do that, and it offers pretty much what I would consider to be a quintessential FM mobile radio experience in a pretty nice-looking package and an extremely high-contrast display. So FTM-150. Let's talk a little bit about it. It comes in at $379, right? So now we're right up there with what is starting to feel like a premium radio. Icom's offering the ID5100, which is a long-running, very popular rig that can operate basically duplex, right, it operates both bands for $429.
Speaker 2:So we're getting up to that point where it's in premium radio category, close to $400.
Speaker 1:I mean, it is a premium radio. I think so I mean you're getting in a couple features you didn't mention as well. You're getting the detachable faceplate, so you gain a lot in mounting options within your vehicle. As Rory said, having a large screen in a place that is convenient to see is important, and I think a detachable faceplate says it. You also have Bluetooth, which I would say is definitely a premium feature in amateur radio.
Speaker 1:Maybe, not in other markets for electronics, but it is definitely for us as well, and that's all included in that package. So you are looking at something with a more simpler form factor that starts to compete with that 500. And you can now make a decision as a consumer on what are the important features to you and I think that's an important marketplace, I think.
Speaker 3:So this one. They have the case size split into two and, jim, you have your tape measure ready over there. All right, I'm going to pull it out again. The radio unit itself 5.5 inches wide, smaller than the previous, 1.66 tall, smaller also, and 5.23 deep. That's the radio unit itself. They call out the controller separately at 5.82 wide, 2.2 tall and 2.2 deep. So your total depth, if you had the controller on the front, would be 7.4 roughly. So that would give you the depth, and then 5.8 wide with the control unit mounted on the front. So it's a small radio. Now, I know someone called it out in one of the videos or something I read. It appears it's the same body as something else that they make. Was it the 300 or the?
Speaker 2:I've got you here. The 300 and the 500 body size are almost identical, so this appears to adopt the same chassis that the 300 and the 500 use for the main radio box, the brain box if you will, Yep.
Speaker 3:So having the 500 that sits under the seat in my Jeep, it's small. I mean it's a nice compact radio unit to have to tuck away under a seat.
Speaker 2:Even if you had to mount it somewhere, it's not that big tuck away under a seat, even if you had to mount it somewhere. It's not that big and I think that this radio is highly unlikely to be mounted in anyone's mobile rig. With the head connected to the brain, with the head connected to the main radio body, this radio intends you to mount the head remotely, and I'll tell you what I love about this. Yesu listened to everyone and said the FTM 500 did it right. You can connect the hand mic to the head and you can listen to the audio from the head. This has a speaker in the head. It has a speaker in the body. You can use the AESS system to get better quality audio by prioritizing the frequencies out of each of the speakers, and it gives the flexibility of mounting it in challenging mounting situations. And that's why I love the 500 as the premium radio, but I love that they're bringing that feature down to the FTM 150.
Speaker 3:Yeah, having used various radios that have detachable face plates, detachable heads, the ability to just run one cable from the chassis to the control head is a big convenience. I have in my mobile. I have both the ID5100 ICOM and I have the FTM500 Yaesu right now. The Yaesu is simply one cord up to the control head and the microphone attaches there. The ICOM5100, I've got a remote speaker bouncing around in the back seat I have an extra extension cord for the mic between the seats. You know that's a huge deal and having a nice, clean install to just have to run one cable.
Speaker 1:That was always one of the drawbacks of the very popular FTM 400 was where you had to have an external speaker and where you're going to run it to, and the hand mic is connected to the main body and you usually put that under a seat or in the back, so you're running an additional cable. So it is for Yezu's point, or Jim, your point, I guess, but for Yezu's credit. It is a very nice design to keep going with and they're doing a good job with that as well.
Speaker 2:It's a well-packaged radio. That's what I saw as soon as I saw it, and with the other two models apparently being no longer able to be bought the 200 and 300, this makes sense to me now, much more than it did when it first launched, aside of those other two models. Now it does lack a couple of things here that make it interesting, right. Like again, where did C4FM go? Yaesu has been pushing it for years. Uh, they're subsidizing repeaters, so clubs install them and we have c4 fm at our fingertips. Uh, where did c4 fm go? When I look at this radio, what would it have taken, at 389 dollars, to put the c4 fm chip in right, unless there's something on the horizon that is a dramatic shift away from that particular technology for Yaesu. That confuses me a bit and that, for me, is a really interesting omission from this radio at this price point.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I start to think that in pure speculation.
Speaker 2:In my opinion, I think you start to Sure we're wild speculation right now. Yeah, it's, a whole thing is speculation at this point.
Speaker 1:No, I think you are seeing and we talked about it a little bit earlier you're seeing them maybe split into two distinct product lines. You also see it in the handhelds, which we haven't talked about either, in how these radios and the aesthetics tie into some of their more popular handhelds, like the what is it 70DR radio FG70.
Speaker 2:DR radio FG70,.
Speaker 1:yeah, same exact design aesthetic. So it's Kevin there, and then obviously the 500 ties into their other more modern handheld Jim, you'll know the.
Speaker 3:That is true, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So maybe they're splitting. Point is, maybe they're splitting into two distinct product lines. I want basic functionality with some advanced features. I want to have some of those more premium things in the design, like the one cable to the face plates, and then maybe you're going to see a more advanced product line come out that is going to have the fusion and all those other features sound cards and built-in functionality, aprs, gps, all those things that some people want, some people don't. So maybe they're splitting. We'll have one market for the more premium radios that want APRS, gprs, digital and we'll have one more for basic functionality, mcom, basic mobile setups, etc. And it would be an interesting choice because you're going to have two productions going. But maybe the market's there, maybe they see it.
Speaker 2:I think that if you listen to, I always laugh. I watch some of the ham tubers and they say Reddit are articles. But Reddit's not articles. It's user opinions on products. It's user opinions on amateur radio in general.
Speaker 2:I like Reddit, don't get me wrong. So I read a lot of Reddit and I do read a lot of folks that say I'm never going to use system fusion. I have no interest in it being in my radio and if it makes it cheaper to emit it, by all means emit it right. The interesting thing is that fusion I think it gets paired often with the other digital stuff like APRS, right? Yep, I don't know if they're sharing a chip there or what, but it appears that when the digital modem is present, both of those things are present, and I'm a big APRS guy.
Speaker 2:I like APRS, I enjoy using it. I send it out from all the cars while I'm driving about. I've used it with Rory to send messages back and forth. I've joined APRS Thursday. I've done all the APRS things. I enjoy it. It works well in Metro Detroit. I understand where other folks say you know what, it doesn't work where I'm at and that's totally fair. But anyway I digress. Here's an interesting stat for you guys. Digest this for a moment. There are only four digital radios left in Yesu's lineup that are actively being produced right now the FTM 500, the FT5D, which is their flagship handheld, the-991A, which I argue is not long for this world. The FT-991A is their shack in a box. It will be replaced, I guarantee, in the FT-70DR. So there's four rigs in Yesu's lineup, if we're not counting the 300DR, because we speculate that that's being discontinued. That is curious to me.
Speaker 3:There's a certain reduction that we're seeing in fusion. Go ahead, rory. I think you have a thought. The question I was going to pose next is what do we think Is the ASP technology going to start popping up in a handheld? What are they going to do with their handheld line? I wonder Because think about it that way when you're running portable with a handheld, there's a lot of times you need just a little extra to hear something, so we'll see what happens. I think a big tell will be whatever the next radio is that disappears or appears from their line, and we'll see what it is and what it has. Because they're making some interesting moves. I know Hamcation's coming up in Florida. I haven't heard any speculation of any big news, anything being announced by any of the manufacturers down there. So I would assume the next big move we see will be Dayton. But who knows, we might get a surprise before then.
Speaker 1:Well, and what's interesting is, these radios didn't get the splash release like the 500 did right, I mean the 500 was a flagship release. They, they all the pomp and circumstance a new mobile radio deserves was given to it, and these ones were just sort of here's a press release, and it was even down to the point where people were, you know, doubting if it was a real release or not or some, some sort of fake messaging, so it makes you think again, as you pointed out, those interesting stats about how
Speaker 3:many digital cable radios they have left in their lineup.
Speaker 1:I have to believe they're queuing up for something to have a more pomp and circumstance launch for some new radios that go into the digital route. I can't imagine they're abandoning Fusion. It's still a popular feature. I can't imagine they're abandoning Fusion. It's still a popular feature. I can't imagine they're abandoning APRS. It's still a feature used. A lot of people have opinions on it, but it's still a feature used.
Speaker 2:I thought you were going to say it was a popular feature and I was going to enjoy that love.
Speaker 3:I look forward to an in-depth conversation about APRS, because I have become a fan as well.
Speaker 1:I think there's a use case for it. So again, I don't think they're going to abandon that functionality. I think they're just getting ready. Here's our basic lineup. Here's some of our new technology, and hold on, because something else is coming in the future.
Speaker 2:Couple more quick hits for you here. Ftm 500 released just under two years ago, so it's only been out for 22 months, the FTM 500. It is a fairly new rig by by radio standards.
Speaker 1:Radio standards.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a baby Under two years old, is a very young rig.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:FTM 300, which we speculate is being discontinued, close to five years old at this point, and that to me that's not old, Knowing that, though, it makes a little more sense because I thought the 300 was a little newer than five years. But you're right, five years. How long has ICOM run the ID5100? Rory probably knows this.
Speaker 3:I don't know, but I think didn't we look it up? I want to say it was 2015,. Was it? Or was I having a conversation with someone else? Because I know I purchased my previous vehicle in 2014, and I installed one when they were brand new. I paid top dollar for my first 5100, and that was not a cheap radio, but I have it and I still have it in the current vehicle. But I believe that one came out in 2015.
Speaker 2:Gosh. So yeah, the 5100 basically stalwart when it comes to high-quality mobile radios at this point, and I'm very excited to see what ICOM could do. But that's a whole other conversation here. What are we at? Time-wise James, I know we've gone long.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're getting close. But maybe one last point as well. So we know that the FTX-1F, their QRP radio, that's probably going to get a lot of fanfare at. Hamvention here in May.
Speaker 1:We don't know the exact release date yet, but reservations are out there. So any of the major retailers $35, I believe, to hold your spot in line to get one now. So I know I'm the one that said, hey, they're probably going to have something else at Hamvention, and maybe they do, but it's interesting that they haven't even launched one of their new flagship radios and we're talking about something else coming in the pipeline.
Speaker 1:For amateur radios in general. That is maybe an odd step for one manufacturer to do, but again, if they're going to go, try to make a splash and all eyes are on that FTX1F, because I'm sure a lot of people want to get their hands on it. And invention when it rolls around. Put some other radios in the display. I'm sure you'll get a lot of foot traffic and you can get a lot of good marketing from that as well.
Speaker 2:And maybe there is some speculation there on when they'll release it Very, very interesting and the FTX 1F is what I think folks are now considering to feel a bit late because they were teasing it when they brought it to Tokyo Ham Show for early 2025. And most folks read that as Q1 2025. We're in the second month of three here and there still seems to be no indication of availability yet.
Speaker 2:And a lot of folks are asking like where is it, when is it coming? And you make a good point. To have a couple more irons in the fire seems very I don't want to say interesting, a bit curious for a company like Yesu. Right, it feels like the FTX One is going to draw a bunch of attention and I wonder if you are right. Maybe they're trying to piggyback on some of that high level of interest we're going to see in Dayton Because everybody's going to be in the booth poking the buttons on the FTX One app. I know I will I have a reservation Whether I buy it or not. I don't know yet.
Speaker 1:But I am very interested to go touch the radio, I mean the other interesting point there. I like to believe that is what's happening. The other interesting point though to. Rory earlier mentioning supply chain issues. It's a real possibility that that's why they haven't released it yet, because oh, there could be a delay there, for sure. And we already know they missed a key market Christmas time.
Speaker 1:They said first half of 2025, and you know they wanted to get that out in December, if possible, to catch that Christmas money. So maybe now they're just going to be patient and time the release with something else and fingers crossed that is what it is. So, okay, I think we're about at time. From my side, again, I want to thank everyone for tuning in to episode two and for those that listened to episode one. Got some decent traffic, so thank you out there for everyone. If you've listened to that one, you're listening to this one. If you're first time listening to one, thank you for being here as well. Absolutely.
Speaker 1:We'll do some formal sign-offs here in a second, but maybe, if anyone is interested, you can always follow us at wwweverydayhamcom. We do have a YouTube channel as well at Everyday Ham if you search that, and then our Instagram is at Everyday Ham Podcast. So our primary format is going to be a podcast format, so audio, but we do record some video as well and we'll put that out there. So if anyone wants to see these pretty faces, they'll be available to you, they'll be available to you out there.
Speaker 1:The audio version's probably going to be your preference after you get a view of us, but you know viewer's choice.
Speaker 3:We're radio guys who wants to look at us. That's for sure.
Speaker 2:I watch a lot of HamTubers. I think we stack up guys.
Speaker 3:We're fine, we're doing okay. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1:I put on my finest sweater today for this.
Speaker 2:I put on a new vest because I didn't want to look the same. This is a blue vest instead of my brown vest today.
Speaker 3:I threw on a hoodie. I'm glad we all did something. We all put in the work Putting in the work.
Speaker 1:So with that, thank you everyone.
Speaker 2:As a reminder, this will be a monthly podcast format, so we'll try to get in the habit of actually teasing the next show in these episodes, just so if you're curious what's coming up. But again, we're pretty new at this, so thank you for your patience. Listen, I would love to hear folks' feedback as far as what topics we might discuss next, but I do think we have a couple more exciting ones that are on the docket and I do think that we have a little special thing coming for you during Hamvention Absolutely.
Speaker 2:That should be pretty exciting, so over to Rory. Pretty exciting, so over to Rory.
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely tune. You know, give us a shout if you have an idea that you want our everyday opinion on, because I'll tell you. You know I might not have a whole lot to say on some of these things, but there's a few things you can get me started on and I'll give you plenty of my opinions.
Speaker 1:So with that 73 from W8KNX.
Speaker 3:73 from InnateJRD.
Speaker 1:Yep and 73 from KJKU Stay.
