2015-05-04
I will state up front: The knowledge I am about to lay down in print was imparted to me by Roger (GW4NOS). I am putting it here so that a) I can find it again; and b) the internet will archive it for future seekers of knowledge.
Like many people I bought a Yaesu FTdx-1200 and it works very well… except when using WSPR software, there seems to be no incantation that permits CAT control to work. Like the Reverend Mother told Paul Atreides:
It turns out, however, that the software can be made to work in a few simple steps.
Step 1: Select Yaesu FTdx-9000 on the WSPR software. Apparently that radio has the same CAT command set as the FTdx-1200.
Step 2: On the radio, menu 039 must match the setting in the WSPR software.
Step 3: On the radio, menu 040 must be 100 ms or greater. Apparently, the default of 10 ms is too speedy for the WSPR software.
Step 4: On the radio, menu 041 must be “DISABLE”. Nothing I have uses CTS/RTS flow control anyway.
Once that was done, everything worked perfectly!
2009-03-09
As noted in the previous post, I have a Yaesu VX-8R now and I thought I’d post some of my impressions in my standard review format…
The Good
This radio is top-notch in a number of areas:
The GPS unit works well, even from inside my house. It has a nice little display that gives all your position info.
The Bad
These are really snivels. There’s only one real issue with this radio as noted in the next section.
The Ugly
I have only one major complaint about this radio, and that it uses a complicated menu system. The main menu has something like 100 items. So many of the features of this radio are accessed from the menu, that there is a very steep learning curve. Sure, the basic functionality is straightforward, but if all you wanted was a couple of VFOs for talking, you would buy a much less expensive radio. I am certain that another row of front-panel keys could have reduced the menu complexity a bit and not added significantly to the size and weight of the radio. Even simple features like squelch are in the menu system, making them hard to use.
Whatever you do… DO NOT LOSE THE MANUAL! I guarantee you’ll need the manual often.
Summary
I am very pleased so far. I have some accessories on order (speaker-mic, GPS antenna). I may explore the Bluetooth board, although I am not convinced I want to use a bluetooth headset – mostly because I usually have such a headset for my telephone and don’t think I need two headsets on at the same time. I will be seeking that AA cell battery pack. That’s a must-have in my book.
The stock battery seems to have a lifetime of about 3 hours while using high power to talk on a repeater AND transmit an APRS beacon every two minutes. I haven’t decided if that is good, bad, or ugly. For most of my use, I don’t expect to use high power, so I would expect to get more battery life.