FT2DR APRS setup

So, I picked up an FT-2DR this week 2016. I noticed some issues right away:

FT2DR C4FM 144/430 MHz Dual Band Digital Handheld Transceiver with 1.7" Touch Screen Display

This exciting leading edge Transceiver is designed with ease of use in mind now packing an oversized back-lit touch panel display. At 1.7-inches the high resolution touch screen display provides loads of information through an easily navigable interface, providing stress-free operability and a high level of on-screen visibility for the FT2DR operator.

The advanced FT2DR is loaded with various new features including: 700 mW of clear loud audio, Built-in High Sensitivity 66 ch GPS with antenna, 1200 bps / 9600 bps APRS® function, Dual watch (V/V, U/U/, V/U), Dual Monitor (C4FM Digital/C4FM Digital), GPS Logging/Recording capabilities, Water resistant (IPX5 Rating), microSD Card Slot, 2200mAh high capacity Li-Ion battery and Battery charger included as a standard supplied accessory.

• Contrary to what the manual states on Page 23, when the power is off, the battery charging graph never changes. It always displays a very small progress - about the width of the letter “N” in “Now Charging.” As a matter of fact, the graph remains as it appears on page 23 and never changes.

• Contrary to what the manual states, the LED is off during charging, not on and glowing RED.

• The Operating Manual contains essentially nothing on setting up and using APRS. The manual refers one to the APRS Manual, but none is included with the radio. The online version cannot be downloaded - I’ve tried several times to download it. 

• The implementation of tags is frankly abysmal and very disappointing. Few people that I know can recall specific frequencies of repeaters and prefer to be able to dial-in a town name or callsign. This cannot be done on the FT2DR. Only the frequency is displayed, and there is a VERY cumbersome and  awkward procedure for displaying a tag for a particular frequency.

see FT2DR APRS manual download ::


The FT2DR APRS manual downloads for me just fine.

http://www.yaesu.com/downloadFile.cfm?FileID=8832&FileCatID=151&FileName=FT2DR_APRS_1506-A0.pdf&FileContentType=application%2Fpdf

I have had my FT2DR for over a week now and really like it a lot. To me it is a big improvement over the FT1DR. I am not an APRS person so I cannot elaborate on that.


I am with Jeff.  I have had the FT2DR for over two weeks now and I am very pleased with all aspects of it.  It is a big leap from the FT1DR.  Yes, what you say about the charging is right but that is absolutely no big deal.  I use the CD-41 and it works as advertised.  I will try what Jeff said, and plug directly into the radio for my next charge and see what happens.

APRS works perfectly fine and I was able to download the manual (all of them) from the website.

I now have the RT Systems programmer for the FT2DR but before it became available, I was able to manually program the radio with no problems over than it being very time consuming.  I was able to name each channel.  My only issue was the "a/A" button did nothing.  That was a bit disappointing in that I had to go through all the options to get to the one I wanted, i.e., "abcABC" to get to a cap.  However, for me that is a none-issue now with RT Systems program.  I was able to cut and paste my memory channels from the FT1DR.  

I am pleased with the radio.  Hopefully, the short comings are fixable with software/firmware updates.