Yaesu FTM-10R

[4S5RV]

Hello friends,

I am hoping to buy a Yaesu FTM-10R dual bander.Does any one has experience of it's performace,pluses & minuses of the rig.Is this product line has a set of case-history troubles? I may use it as a base stations cum mobile. I know there are "lemons" in all product lines.

The marketing brochure of this model says lot of good stories but I am counting on real personal experience.

73!
Ravi
colombo/Sri Lanka

[N5USR]

I have one, wanted to see how it would do as a bicycle-mobile radio. While it does have some nifty and unusual features, I'm still not completely sold on it.

Biggest gripes:

First and foremost, it's a ROYAL pain to program! I think I read if you get the DTMF mic for it, you can use it to enter frequencies, but even then the way it handles programming memory slots is just bizarre to me - certainly nothing like all my other Yaesu rigs. The lack of buttons also means most buttons do multiple things depending on which others you press first - hard to remember!

The mic in the control head is a neat idea for some applications, but it's no different from the mic element of a regular hand mic - so you really need to either put the control head on a cable, so you can hold it like a mic (then what's the point) or use the Bluetooth option. I recently got this, and it's pretty cool - although I think I'd rather use a cell-phone bluetooth headset instead of Yaesu's. Worst problem for my application is that the control head mic is no less sensitive to wind and other ambient noise so it's useless on my bicycle, and I can't understand their selling it for motorcycle / offroad use.

The display is a problem in bright sunlight. It's gorgeous (I like the blue on black!) and is WONDERFUL while I'm riding at night, but I can't see it at all if sunlight shines directly on it.


Now, I do like some things about it:

Being able to tune AM/FM broadcast radio is nice! Unfortunately, most of my antennas won't work with AM - you have to have the right kind of antenna (basically, one that doesn't have a matching network in the base, which rules out most high gain mobile antennas) or it won't hear AM. The thing will also let you listen to a radio station while "monitoring" a ham freq - as soon as the ham freq goes busy, it switches over.

Instead of broadcast radio, you can also use an MP3 player or something else via an external jack.

It's TINY and it has NO MOVING PARTS (fans). It is a bit heavy, as the body is one solid hunk of metal heatsink, but that's a fine tradeoff in my opinion to lose the fans!

The Bluetooth headset idea is really cool - and the range is great! I thought Bluetooth was much more limited, but I can wander all over my house with the headset on, using the rig sitting on my bench.

And there are a lot of other miscellaneous "nifty" things crammed in there... When I bought it I only gave the manual a cursory glance to get it running, lately I've been actually reading it and have been quite surprised by some of what it can do.


But would I use it for a primary radio? No, I'd say a more traditional one would be much easier to use. (Particularly the FT-8800 because I *love* having dual VFOs!) It does have its niche applications though. I think if I can find a Bluetooth headset that'll do okay in wind I'll grow to quite like it for bicycling.

[4S5RV]

Thanks very much my friend.Now I may think twice before I go for the rig.

Ravi

[KE6VFA]

Very informative review. I wonder if the lack of buttons is due by its design for better waterproofness; which also includes the mic. The AM/FM/aux audio feature sounds neat.

Well, I'm in a car, so I'm fine with my more traditional mobile rig.

[KF7AMY]

Got the radio by mail day before yesterday from HK, saved about $100 by waiting 4 more days compared to buy it from a US dealer, only way I could afford the DTMF Hand Microphone.
Good thing I did, it by far surpass the display mic.
The manual is confusing , at least for me being new to ham radio, and I farmed out the to my friend KE7DZZ....
Now I am learning to use it.
Measured output on 2m is 55W.
Did for some reason not measure 70cm output.

This is a motorcycle radio, and not meant for my use, in my truck. However, that's where it is, and I need the water/dust proofing when offroading, it would be a great radio in a Jeep Wrangler.
If you detach the control panel, the radio unit is no longer waterproof, but I wil solve that with grommets. Also I find the way the extension cable is attached inconvenient, and I will make a male/female cable and keep the short on the control head.
A HUGE minus is that I can not find a mic extension cable, so that limits where I can place the radio unit, that's plain stupid.
Even dumber is that there is no way to program via computer.

[KD3NE]

I had the 10R on my motorcycle for almost a year before it died on me.
Sent it back to Yaesu and they declared Water Damage and gave me a new one. I could not understand how water got into the RF deck so I asked. They (yaesu) were unable to tell me but gave me a new unit anyway.

Wanting to put it back on the bike and NOT knowing where the water entered the rig I had a dilema. Thanks to HRO for allowing me to take the 10SR in it's place. The 10SR is the Lower Powered unit but completely waterproof.

I use it on the motorcycle with a Bluetooth helmet setup.

I use it mainly to listen to broadcast radio, weather radio and some 2 meter contacts. For me the rig does many chores and on a motorcycle where you have limited real estate to install equipment having many features in one unit is nice.

Using bluetooth and making 2 meter contacts while in motion it has worked without problem for me. On occasion I have an issue with keying the transmit via the bluetooth PTT button. I attribute this to using a bluetooth headset that Yaesu said, may not work.

I will be installing the second bluetooth channel and a headset in my wifes helmet to test out the intercom feature soon.


I like the rig but working the buttons with heavy gloves on can prove to be a chore.