Global Digital Repeater Round Up: Our 1st Post COVID Analysis?

Each May and October going back to 2016, HVDN has analyzed repeaterbook.com data for digital amateur radio repeater deployments. 

Today being the 1st of June and now officially in the "End of COVID" era according to United States Center for Disease Control, lets have a look at the latest data to kick off summer time in many parts of the world. Lets celebrate with some pie of all digital flavors!

Yaesu Fusion - Still the 2nd most popular (by volume) digital repeater with an impressive 9.97% growth over the reporting period.  New radios like the FTM-300 and FTM-500 by the single manufacturer of Fusion equipment help drive reasons for more fusion repeaters around the world, with a total of 6 current production radios on the market. The least expensive Fusion capable radio is the FT-70 handheld for around $180 USD. 

Icom D-Star - The good news is that Kenwood has the TH-D75 handheld radio ready to go to market later this year and will support D-Stat much like its earlier relative, the TH-D74. However, Icom is still the only main supplier of D-Star handheld, mobile or base radios.  While the new Icom ID-50 handheld will also support D-Star, there are eight current or near production radios that support this digital mode and none of them cost under $200 USD.  Icom D-Star has remained flat for repeater deployments at 1.79% growth but its worth noting like all digital modes, the internet or a repeater is not needed for digital mode communications. 

DMR - How do we explain 12.46% period growth for DMR?  More radios offered by more vendors and full tier 2 compliant handheld radios sold for as low as $30 USD such as the COTRE series of radios found on Amazon.  While you do not need a repeater to use DMR or even the internet, the multi vendor ecosystem certainly is working for the adoption of DMR as the leading (by volume) driver of digital amateur repeaters.

P25 - Still a commercial standard and no inexpensive new radio equipment available, but digital repeater deployments are growing at 15.67% over the reporting period which shows promise.  As commercial users retire phase one P25 equipment, expect to see more digital repeaters be put on the air globally. If the license for the P25 was as loosely enforced like DMR, we could expect to see P25 really grow fast over the next few years unless the new open standard M17 finally gets into production grade equipment.

NXDN - Another commercial standard generally deployed for non-critical users, there continues to be some decent growth by CAGR and not by volume of this digital mode offered by companies like Icom, Kenwood and others.  There are still no very low cost radios available using NXDN, so expect this mode to just be a novelty in use across some pockets of amateur radio enthusiasts. 

Get a slice of : What did you say about M17?

The good news is that repeaterbook.com now shows a total of five total digital repeaters using this open source mode. Currently there are the following:

• N1KGN - Located at Bridgeport Hospital in Bridgeport, Connecticut (United States)
• WX5RC - Located at Rogers State University in Claremore, Oklahoma (United States)
• KC1AWV - Located in NHL Bruin's territory in Rockingham, New Hampshire (United States)

Its worth noting that two of these three repeaters are listed as multi-mode  and are not M17 full time. The only one likely as a dedicated M17 repeater is Steve KC1AWV's since he is part of the official M17 development team.

There are two international repeaters with the secret one in Poland in Nowy Dwor Mazoweicki operated by the inventor of M17, the infamous Woj SP5WWP and the multimode capable VK3RCQ repeater located in Junortoun Australia.

By October,  HVDN hopes to see a few more M17 repeaters on the air, but there are still no off the shelf M17 capable radios available for purchase which will continue to hold things back for M17.  

However, there are some exciting things happening in the M17 community which will be more clear in the next few months to come.  So, for now keep an eye on M17 but it will take a long time for this one to reach mainstream which is ok given there are no "current" commercial companies making available equipment to use M17. 

почта from Russia: Fixing the FT-897 Display

As the Hudson River Radio Relay event gets ever closer, I wanted to finally get around to fixing the "zebra stripes" on my Yaesu FT-897 display so that it would be easier to use again in the field while on Bannerman's Island as N2B on June 11th.

Replacement LCD display modules and controller sourcing for this 18+ year old radio has not been easy. Luckily, there is an enterprising amateur named Aleksey in Russia who has designed a replacement and it only cost around $60 USD.

When Yaesu designed the mobile FT-857 and the multi use FT-897 radios, roughly 10 years later many users started to suffer display issues like pictured below. Now my radio was ready for a facelift! 

Not all, but many Yaesu FT-857 and FT-897
have suffered from "zebra striping" on the LCD displays

The bad news is when I finally found out about the miracle replacement display,  there were some issues starting to take shape in February 2022 in the region, which I shall not yet name.

Quickly, Aleksey rushed to the post office to hopefully get the package out of country before worse things could happen. After weeks of lead up, Russian military crossed the Ukrainian borders on February 24th. 

Display has arrived. Now what?

Amazingly, the two piece kit made it across the United States in only 3 days according to USPS after its 48 day customs event between Russia and the destination. Here is what arrived, well packed in bubble wrap. Thanks Aleksey R3ZI! 

The new LCD with attached ribbon cable along with the
new LCD controller on flexible PCB with connector thanks to R3ZI

After dissembling the front  of the FT-897 and separating it entirely from the radio body, all else was needed to remove the seemingly infinite number of screws holding the control board to the face.

It was rather easy to access the old LCD display and start preparing for surgery.

The old LCD display still set within the
white plastic holder prior to removal

Tilting the display up exposed the ribbon cable and the
connections which will need to be desoldered carefully 

I used a hot air SMD rework station to remove the old ribbon connections since I wanted to be careful to not lift off any of of the PCB traces on the main display board of the FT-897D.  I could have just as easily used a standard pencil iron, but when you have the means.....

Extraction was a success and a little clean up was needed to prepare for the new display controller to be attached.

A little more clean up was needed and what appears to be
a missing trace was intentionally blank.  Sigh of relief

I took some solder flux and solder paste and prepared the surface to receive the new flexible controller.

A quick wave of the hot air tool melted the solder into all the right places and the moment of truth in restoring display visibility was now one step closer.  

The new flexible PCB with controller is connected and now just waiting for the ribbon cable for the LCD to be attached and the radio to be reassembled. A thin bead of hot glue was put over the connections for extra security.

Pushing the power button

I was confident in my work and decided to just put everything back together and not try to do some sort of  "preliminary" power up test to see if everything worked the way it should.   

The moment after getting the radio fully re-assembled, applying power, connecting antenna and then taking a breath before pushing the power button was met with success as shown below. 

Thanks for reading and my goal was to NOT do some sort of step by step video or make it easy for you to find out where and from whom I sourced the display, but I promise you that this info is easy to find and is an easy project if you plan carefully.  

Hope to catch some of you from Bannerman's Island via this radio on June 11th.  Will be focusing on 17m SSB and 17m digital modes most likely as part of the N2B station.

K2GOG EOY 2021 Loose Ends #2: Battery Upgrade

 

With a few less days in 2021 remaining, I was hoping to upgrade the batteries in a pair of  "vintage" Yaesu VX-1R over the holiday break, but still find myself waiting on the replacement 14650 cells to arrive. 

So for now, this project is on hold while my batteries which were ordered on December 17th should have shipped today, but have not yet status updated! 

Memory Lane: The Yaesu VX-1R

All the back in 1997, this micro-miniature amateur radio came to market with its 500mW of RF output in the 2m and 70cm spectrum bands when using the internal battery. And, plugging the radio into an external DV 6 V source provides up to 1W of RF output.

With wide analog reception from 76 to 999 MHz with few gaps, this was an interesting radio, along with some experimental AM broadcast band coverage too.

This was also my third ever amateur radio handheld, so I have always had a fond memory of it and was glad to find two at reasonable price while at the NEARFEST in Deerfield, NH this past October.

Even today when compared side by side with a modern radio like the Alinco DJ-MD5XTG, its amazing how advanced the Yaesu VX-1R was almost 25 years ago for an analog only transceiver for its size.

Spending upwards of $30 USD today for a replacement battery in 2021 is a tough sell for an older radio like this which sells for about $50 to $75 used almost 25 years after its release.

The optional FBA-20 AA battery holder accessory has become harder to find, so the cheapest way to bring new life to these great little radios is by rebuilding the original battery.

The original Yaesu FNB-52LI battery is rated at 3.6v at 700 mAh and the inside of each battery has a charge controller and lithium 14650 cell. 

Versions of the 14650 are available today in 1100 mAh capacity, although some vendors boast of some with 1600 mAh which is not very believable.

After putting four old cells in the freezer for a few hours, I was able to use a hobby knife to slice down the side of each battery and reveal the insides.

A curious thing was that all four batteries on the outside appear identical, but one of them uses a slightly different charge controller as shown below.  

Functionally, they are probably all the same and the date codes all seem around the same manufacturer period but this was interesting to see.

So when the new 14650 batteries arrive, it will be a pretty easy replacement process by swapping the old cells for the new and reattaching the charge controller before stuffing it all back inside the original casings. Will probably print some nice new labels including date codes too while I am at it.

Other battery projects

I think once I finish up the Yaesu VX-1R battery rebuilds, I will try and tackle the same idea for some other vintage radios from the late 1990's too, but those will require some more thinking as they all originally used NiCd or NiMH chemistry and I rather make everything run on lithium cells instead. 

Do you have any similar projects in mind?   Drop come comments below if you do.

SPECIAL EDITION: 10,000+ Digital Repeaters - October 2021 Global Digital Repeater Roundup

Major Digital Milestone Reached!

In May 2021, HVDN reported that we were creeping ever closer to that 10,000 digital repeater mark and as of our October survey of repeaterbook.com data this important date in amateur radio history is here with 10,035 digital amateur radio repeaters now tracked.  

Here is the latest data based on our semi annual collection efforts since 2016, but no data was collected in 2017.

Our first near casualty of  the digital evolution

Someone will really need to look hard at repeaterbook.com data to ensure accuracy of these D-Star tabulations since it appears that 21 less D-Star repeaters exist in October 2021 compared to May 2021.

It is pretty well documented by now thanks to HVDN and pretty much any radio amateur today that DMR is by far the most popular digital voice mode today with an impressive 155.35% increase over the last 5 years.  

Still don't believe you, my local 2m FM repeater is just fine! 

For those into more fancy math if we are talking about growth or declines, compound annual growth rates (CAGR) are often used in different industries to track growth over a certain period. Over the past five years, DMR is still leading the pack at 20.62% CAGR.

However,  beyond the two dedicated non-commercial amateur modes known as Yaesu Fusion and Icom D-Star, it certainly seems interesting that the commercial P25 standard is growing faster than DMR.  

Using repeaters to track the healthy growth of amateur radio is smart.  Repeaters are expensive and local people with radios are needed to create a need for them to exist or to influence what to purchase. This is why counting repeaters is a great proxy to measure growth and adoption trends.

However, some areas do not have many digital voice repeaters but users are purchasing certain digital radios to use with hotspots. Many of these additional digital adopters are likely learning towards DMR or Fusion as a "my first digital radio" rather than D-Star or the two commercial modes known as P25 and NXDN.

Our secret digital future is already here

We have seen new products brought to market by smaller commercial companies and entrepreneurs, such as the RFinder series of DMR smartphone radios thanks to Bob W2CYK.   

New networks run entirely by the radio amateur community like Brandmeister Network and its amazing development team have opened new doors to expand all digital voice modes, including an entirely new up-and-coming amateur created mode such as M17 thanks to Wojciech SP5WWP.

The community also even has other entirely open source network tools such as DV Switch,  HBlink plus the amazing MMDVM and Pi-Star projects that Andy MW0MWZ, Jonathan G4KLX, Andy CA6JAU and others created to let us use repeaters or hotspots and fanned the flames of the digital evolution fire probably the most.

And, how could I not mention the work that folks like Roger VK3KYY are doing with OpenGD77 plus the equally fine development around OpenRTX which both help create new ways to use existing radios for digital communications, such as the case with modifying the cult favorite TYT MD-380 DMR radio to be used as M17.

We should expect some exciting times ahead for amateur radio as we also cross the boundaries of generational differences for people born after 1980 who will be entering later career stages and will have even more time for amateur radio experimentation.

Maybe its popular somewhere else?

Different parts of the world are at a crossroads today when it comes to adopting or retiring certain types of equipment. 

This is something which HVDN will further track publicly going forward since as the below chart indicates the current split between North America and Rest of World digital voice repeater data.

With M17 Project starting to get more attention, especially with a large investment enabled by non-profit entities Amateur Radio Digital Communications and Open Research Institute it is just a matter of time before something groundbreaking grabs mass attention.

What is next?

Many people do not have the attention span to read articles like this, but they need to pay attention to what is being discussed here very closely if you care about your amateur radio hobby.

Here is my prediction for the next two years (2022 and 2023) for digital repeater counts

While spending time within the HF spectrum chasing rare stations or park activators is good fun and will only get easier as the 11 year sunspot cycle matures over the next few years, do not forget about next generation technology.  

Spending more time on SSB during a 20m contest or CW on 40m will not propel the hobby forward for the next generation. Same also with using local 2m analog only repeaters for casual morning gatherings.

Please, spend some time experimenting with different technologies, modes and new ways of thinking and challenge yourself to try and keep track of how much time you spend in different aspects of the hobby month by month or year by year.   

The more time spent on the future will secure our past and ensure amateur radio exists for the next 100 years. 

Feel free to share some comments below on this and check out our past articles to learn what we are doing which may inspire you to get involved with something new in the future of digital amateur radio.

 Awaiting your rotten tomatoes,

Steve K2GOG

Co-Founder HVDN

BREAKING NEWS: New C4FM radio coming soon - Yaesu FT-5DR

 

It has been a little while since a new main stream vendor introduced product to market, so lets focus on the new and upcoming latest amateur radio to offer Yaesu's proprietary C4FM based digital voice radio, model number FT-5DR.

As of August 16th, 2021 the Federal Communications Commission has awarded the FCC ID of K6620825X21 to this dual band (2m &70cm) small handheld radio.

Feature wise, nothing overly different compared to the FT-3D radio beyond a smaller size and more overlapping capability with the FTM-300DR  mobile radio. 

A listing of features is below and a suspected retail price in the Unites States upon a potential October 2021 availability should be about $449.99 USD.  

High Level HVDN Focused Overview

• This radio will support dual independent receivers, but will not be duplex which will not appeal to satellite enthusiasts. 

• Reception is just AM/FM/DV modes and not AM/SSB/CW even though it has a wideband 0.5 to 999 MHz tuning range.

• Access point mode via a USB cable can be made to create a hotspot when connected to a computer.

• Bluetooth headset for voice/PTT but not for wireless programming. 

• SD card for recording audio and side loading memory updates as needed.

• Will no function as a KISS TNC like the Kenwood TH-D74 when used for APRS

Less Important Details

• Compact Design and Reliable 5W RF Power Output (Selectable 5W / 2.5W / 1W / 0.3W)

• High Visibility Full-Color TFT Touch panel Display (*The color of the operating frequency may be selected from White, Blue or Red.)

• Dual band Simultaneous Receive (V+V / U+U / V+U / U+V) & C4FM/C4FM Standby - Advanced C4FM Digital Mode with AMS (Automatic Mode Select), DG-ID feature and Smart Navigation

• 1W (1000mW) of loud audio power with C4FM clear and crisp audio quality - Rugged Construction: Robust Rubber Protection / IPX7 Rating Water Protection

• TOUCH & GO Operation with Activity Monitor

• PMG (Primary Memory Group Activity Monitor)

• CAM (CH Activity Monitor)

• VFO Band Skip Function

• Memory Auto Grouping (MAG) Function

• High Speed Band Scope Function enables monitoring up to 79ch centered on the current VFO frequency (Selectable 79 / 39 / 19ch)

• Full-Flat back body provides excellent grasp / Quick Release Holster(SHB-26BK) Included

• Built-in 66ch High-Sensitivity GPS Receiver

• Built-in Bluetooth® unit and the VOX function support wireless and easy Hands-free operation

• WIRES-X Portable Digital Node compatible

• Dual Simultaneous AM/FM Broadcast Reception and 2-channel Monitoring

• 1200/9600bps APRS® Data Communication

• Recording Function

• Micro SD Card Slot (up to 32GB)

80's & 90's Flash Back Hand Held's

Jonathan KC2BNW gives an update on some vintage radios he enjoys using as part of his different SOTA and related outdoors adventures.

The Magical Military Tent Pole

Introduction

You've seen them for sale online, at some Hamfests, mentions of their for building antennas, I am talking about military tents poles repurposed and sold as military antenna masts. 

They come in heavy duty fiberglass, smooth-walled and ribbed aluminum. Camouflage netting supports being repurposed and sold as insulator top pieces for a vertical or base. They end up being re-usable building blocks for antenna experimentation.

I started using the heavy duty fiberglass poles a decade ago as end supports for dipoles on top of the Hotel Pennsylvania for HOPE Conferences that would occur every two years there. We would build 12 feet of fiberglass mast for each end and strap the masts to whatever structure that was anchored to the building as possible. 

Each conference they would be up there in the summer heat and winds for three days. The ends would be reinforced with duct tape. In eight years of use we hadn't had any structural failure with them but did started hearing some creaking in their last use.

Low Dipole atop Hotel Penn in NYC. Far mast just behind left corner of building

12 feet strapped to the side of an existing structure might have been secure enough, but what about when it comes to how high can you stack military masts safely in open space using guy rings and ropes?

Use case

Carrying the N2B load during HR3:2021

Is this a mast to serve as end point for a wire antenna, a mast for a beam or vertical, some combination? This adds up to how much load we are balancing at the top. 

Will this installation be a semi-permanent setup at home or will this be part of a portable operation kit? For the latter weight, easy setup/teardown are considerations whether one or more people are involved. 

Let's start with portable operations. and the most precarious setup.

Fiberglass Mast as Center Support for Wire Antennas (Dipole/V/OCF)

Base

Let start with ensuring you are setting up on level ground and what are you using for your base. The Paddle base is what is commonly used for flat surfaces as well as portable locations where you need to leave the least foot print on nature.

Top is Paddle Base
Bottom is Swivel Base(photos goverticalusa.com)

The mast kits used to include Paddle Bases but have since started to include the more expensive swivel stakes. These are good where ground is soft enough to pound them down into the earth.

When it comes to re-purposing or making your own portable base, I have used a plastic Christmas tree stand. 

An item you could re-purpose for a base in a semi-permanent installation is a concrete block used for posts as sold by local home improvement stores. 

They are too heavy for frequent portable operations but

a consideration for infrequent long operations setups like Field Day

at easily accessible locations.

Guy Ropes

11.5 x 8 x 11.5 inch
Concrete Block

For a total mast height of 24 feet, run guy ropes at 12 feet and then again at 20 feet for a mast that is 24 to 28 feet tall given a top load that will support the center of a wire antenna and 2/70cm mobile antenna.

While advise against going higher than 28 feet with fiberglass poles, for a similarly loaded mast that is 32 feet high, run guy ropes at 12 feet and then again at 24 feet. 

To add some life to the fiberglass poles I've wrapped duct tape around the ends since when these poles fail it is often at those points.

Tripod base using six
 fiberglass poles

If you want to run only one set of guy ropes for heights above 20 feet and have six extra fiberglass poles may you want to build a tripod base using a tripod adapter from companies like GoVerticalUSA or fabricating your own if you have the tools and materials. With a tripod added you can run your guy ropes at 24 feet for mast heights up to 32 feet.

Aluminum Pole Use

For this use since there is little weight difference between the fiberglass and aluminum poles, I use fiberglass poles for the legs of the tripod and all but the top two sections of the vertical mast.  

With the top two sections fiberglass this reduces signal pattern impact to the wire antennas. while having a stronger support.

Aluminum Poles as a Portable Vertical

With tent poles being four feet in length, you and up lugging at least six poles for 24 feet to as much as eight for 32 feet. If you go with a tripod base you end up adding six poles to each configuration. Does not make for light carry for portable operation, just acceptable load for long operation setups.

So I got thinking about making an antenna out of the aluminum poles and cut a short section of fiberglass as a base. 

Portable Vertical - Blue taps first aluminum pole, green is counterpoise laying on ground

The diagram above is that idea as a 13 foot vertical. 'B" is a fiberglass section cut down to one and three aluminum poles stacked on top of it. A non-metallic guy ring with ropes is attached between sections '2' and '3' to keep the structure stable. A short wire is connected from the balun to bare aluminum using a metal hose clamp and a twenty foot wire is attached to the other end of the balun laid on the ground as a counterpoise.

While I have made a few FT8 contacts with it on 20 meters using a Yaesu FT-817 with a Z-11 tuner. 

I need to do some more experimentation to see how far I can improve it to be a viable alternative to the performance of windsock verticals. 

Will follow this article up at some point with results.

73,

- Joe, NE2Z

Great, another DMR radio? But, with real 220 MHz?

Alinco was the first main stream amateur radio vendor to offer a DMR radio way back in 2016 with its  DJ-MD40 UHF only radio.  Less than two years later, they came to market with the dual band DJ-MD5TGP which included a GPS and was roughly based on the same reference design as the popular Anytone D878UV. Main stream being defined as Alinco often being included alongside Icom, Kenwood and Yaesu.

With many other radios such as the TYT MD-UV380, Radioddity GD-77, Baofeng DM-1801 and Ailunce HD1 offering dual band spectrum coverage at various price and feature differences, it looks like Alinco is about to offer its second generation version of its 2018 released "MD5" radio for short and it will offer a few things not found elsewhere, including a third band for some markets! 

This now further cements that Alinco is only going to focus on DMR for the amateur market, Kenwood and Icom on D-Star and Yaesu on Fusion for the time being until hopefully the HVDN backed M17 project and its TR-9 open source radio finds a manufacturing partner in China or maybe with one of the main stream vendors to stop fragmentation with so many competing digital modes.

How many MD5 are there?

There has always been some confusion while looking at discussion boards on Facebook as to how many different MD5 radios are there and the answer has always been two.

The DJ-MD5TGP has been the more expensive version and included a GPS.  The slightly lower cost DJ-MD5T is identical, but does not have the GPS and typically sells for $20 less.  Both versions are covered under the FCC ID of PH3DJ-MD5. The earlier DJ-MD40 can be found under FCC ID PH3DJ-MD5. 

The new, but not yet FCC certified Alinco DJ-MD5XT is going to likely require its own FCC ID as early documentation shows that this will be the first true tri-band DMR radio which will cover the 2m, 70cm and 1.25m amateur radio bands, plus extended receive above and below the VHF and UHF bands as usual. 

Looking in the just released computer programming software available on the Remtronix website, it clearly shows an option under MHF for 220 to 225 MHz.

Hackers are already salivating....

When it was discovered that certain band combinations would allow reception and transmission above 480 MHz just like in the Anytone D878UV and BTECH 6X2, Alinco was quick to issue new firmware to prevent this, but was easily bypassed with a 3rd party software tool to enable 480 to 520 MHz coverage. 

These extra frequencies are sought after in countries like Australia where there are UHF CB channels and in the United States where first responders such as New York City Police and Fire user channels above 480 MHz. 

Without spending time attempting to get an Alinco MD-5TGP with or without the patched 1.13c or 1.10 firmware to work with the CPS 1.09a meant for the new Alinco DJ-MD5XT, it would likely appear that the new Alinco DJ-MDXT due to having a band option meant for 1.25m should suggest there is different hardware inside that will offer safe operation of the 220 MHz band.

While many radios mentioned in this article can be "hacked" to give the impression they will work on the 1.25 band, it is not suggested to transmit as it will ruin the RF power amplifier and filtering in the radio since it is not designed for that spectrum.  Hopefully the Alinco DJ-MD5XT will support this great and underutilized band available only in the United States and few other countries globally. 

Related Reading

• FLASH NEWS!: Alinco MD-5 Series Cleared by FCC (Published Sept 20th 2018)

• The Official "NOT" Review of the Alinco MD-5 Series (Published Oct 4th 2018)

• Review: Alinco DJ-MD5T Series DMR Radio (Published Nov 7th 2018)

• Teardown: Expanded Alinco DJ-MD5TGP Review (Published Nov 18th 2018)

• Frequency Expansion: Alinco DJ-MD5TGP (Published March 7th 2019)

May 2020 Global Digital Repeater Roundup

Two times each year, HVDN tracks the total growth of digital voice repeaters.  Since 2016, there has been a tremendous increase of repeaters that support DMR, P25, NXDN, Fusion and D-Star digital voice amateur communication. 

Much has happened in the world since October 2019 and it does not seem like repeater growth trends have been drastically affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic after looking at the May 2020 data.  

All data pulled for this update was done on May 29th 2020 at 3:00 PM Eastern US time.

May 2020 Global Digital Voice Repeater Roundup

The data source used to compile this information is repeaterbook.com which is often very reliable and accurate.  

There are no major surprises across the top 3 adopted digital voice modes other than that D-Star continues to trend towards stagnation with a measly 0.74% growth in new repeater deployments globally in the last 9 months.  

For comparison, Fusion has grown 2.7% in the same period and DMR has an impressive 7.7% increase since our last update.

The only networks seeing more traffic on them are those that are driven by DMR.  Spending time in different virtual rooms in Fusion and D-Star have not seen much change, but DMR is a different story with Brandmeister, TGIF and DMR+ being just three networks enabled by DMR with many more users.

While Yaesu Fusion (C4FM) and Icom D-Star (GFSK) are the only "amateur only" digital modes, DMR (TDMA) thanks to its open standard is more unique and is why its the most popular with equipment vendors. Different products on the market drive more interest and purchases, which also drives reason behind repeaters for being around in the first place.

A blend of both commercial and amateur grade hand held and mobile radio DMR products create a wider multi-vendor ecosystem for users to select equipment from which helps the demand for additional repeaters.

Comparing Modes (Commercial & Amateur)

In comparison,  NXDN and P25 only have commercial products to chose from since they are directed at professional users. These are often only adopted by the amateur radio community as second hand or used products mainly due to original high costs.  

While limited ranges of attainable equipment for NXDN and P25 inhibits wide scale adoption by radio amateurs, it is interesting to see that P25 has a 6.7% growth of digital repeaters in the last 9 months which may be due to commercial equipment coming out of service and finding an immediate second life in the amateur radio community. 

In regards to NXDN, there is a much smaller set of data is available with more than 70% less NXDN repeaters compared to P25. 

The growth of NXDN repeaters has been a crazy 52.4% growth since HVDN started tracking the data four years ago, but at 126 repeaters globally, you have limited options compared to other modes.

Why does DMR keep growing?

If there is one thing that has been made clear in past articles, the main reason why DMR continues to see wide adoption is cheap equipment.   

First, lets look at Icom and the D-Star ecosystem.  Late 2016 is when the first non-Icom branded D-Star radio came to market since 2004.  

The Kenwood TH-D74 marked a momentous occasion for D-Star enthusiasts, but at over $500 USD, only very picky amateurs have purchased this radio and many of them buying it for the total sum of all other features and not just D-Star.

In comparison to the pricey Kenwood TH-D74 which has been reviewed here on HVDN as well as used to demonstrate satellite communications at public events, the Icom ID-51A Plus 2 model up until recently retailed for $349.95 USD as the only other dual band D-Star capable hand held radio. 

The Anytone D878 is considered the current "flagship" DMR dual band handheld at only $209 USD for comparison.

Icom: Cause and effect

Icom has decided to discontinue this radio and blames the inability to source components for it thanks to supply chain disruptions in China during the Corona Virus situation.  

This honestly sounds like an excuse to either let D-Star finally die off or for them to reboot Icom around a lower cost range of equipment like what Yaesu has done to propel its Fusion ecosystem to new heights.

The real curious thing right now about Icom without a dual band digital voice D-Star handheld radio is that its upcoming but also delayed portable HF/VHF/UHF IC-705 radio was to use the same battery pack as the ID-51 series.  

If Icom will turn the corner and be relevant in a post COVID world, they need to release the IC-705 and also put out battery compatible hand held radios to drive an Icom lifestyle ecosystem.  

The strategy they hinted at in building an ecosystem around a common accessory such as a battery would have been genius, but now it looks like many are confused as to what is going on with that company.

Feeling the Fusion with Yaesu

Its not worth spending much time talking about Yaesu as they launched a number of mono and dual band fusion capable radios at affordable prices and this seems to have worked well for them if we go on the growth of repeaters when most mobile users depend on reliable communication infrastructure to communicate through.  

The FT-3200DR 2m only Fusion mobile though was just discontinued after a short life on the market, but the identical FTM-3207DR for 70cm use is still an active product at less than $180 for a 55 W UHF only radio. 

Right now it appears the new FTM-300DR (pictured below) dual band mobile for under $500 will be a popular new radio as a slightly less expensive option compared to the $100+ more expensive FTM-400XDR.  

But, for those looking for a dual band fusion mobile on a budget, the FTM-7250DR at less than $220 is a tough deal to beat and for even Icom to compete with in the mobile category.

Yaesu even seems to have worked out the strategy for hand held radios by offering its FT-70 dual band Fusion radio for around $170 USD and as low as $130 USD on sale.  They also have the higher end and feature packed FT-3DR for $389.99 USD.  

Essentially with Yaesu Fusion, for under $400 in total, you could buy at FT-70 handheld plus an FTM-7250 mobile and that is hard to beat even compared to any DMR or D-Star combination of both categories.

The change of Yaesu's portfolio and pricing tiers started in 2018, for technology that rolled out in 2013.  Prior to 2018, Fusion seemed to be on life support much like D-Star has been for at least the last ten years. It is good to see Yaesu leveraging the supply chain and listening to customers to drive its business.

If anyone caught reference to using a bonsai tree as the banner image for this article, its pretty clear that one of the two Japanese vendors has intentionally stunted growth for its digital voice strategy for the foreseeable future. 

HVDN does hope this near term three step backward approach from Icom may take them five steps forward via the IC-705 and possibly some new D-Star equipment offered by Icom or maybe another vendor like Kenwood, which has also dwarfed its product portfolio in recent years. Both vendors may surprise the community if they have been watching Yaesu, Anytone and others with competing digital voice offerings. 

China:  Land of the DMR radio vendor

In our October 2019 update, we mentioned the Anytone D578 pictured below which is the first true dual band, dual receive DMR radio available on the market. 

This, plus the popular CSI, TYT and a few other products give the community more choice for use in a car or fixed location where higher transmit power is sought after as compared to the vendor lock in strategy employed by Yaesu and Icom.

With the current economic and political situations influenced by COVID-19,  there could be a huge opportunity for Icom to ditch D-Star or introduce a dual D-Star/DMR product that would be a total game changer, especially if it incorporates AX.25 based APRS plus D-APRS along with the D-RATS capability. 

This is just wishful thinking now and it should be interesting to see what is new on the market in October 2020 and how repeater deployments trend through the rest of this and into next year.

Yaesu FTM-300DR: What the Anytone D578 could have been....

Salivating for a new radio?

The soon to be available Yaesu  FTM-300DR provides stable and reliable RF power output of 50 watts.on both the 2m and 70cm bands for those interested in analog FM voice, 1200/9600 baud APRS/AX.25 and Yaesu's own proprietary Fusion digital voice mode based on C4FM technology.

This new mobile radio which includes a remote head option also has dual independent receivers capable of V+V, U+U, V+U and U+V operation modes. It also permits monitoring of Fusion on either band at the same time too. 

Does it have a remote head?

While the Anytone D578 series of radio and its open standard based DMR, which is the most popular digital voice mode today, lacks the remote head feature, most of the same basic features are similar with a few exceptions. Yaesu clearly listened to the market based on the excitement and disappointment generated by the Anytone D578 DMR radio.

Like most Yaesu mobile radios, wide extended receive has been standard from the 118-400 MHz VHF band includes AM aircraft reception and FM also.   Reception from 480 to 1 GHz is only in FM and YSF mode

Does it have bluetooth and remote PTT for safe driving?

The Yaesu FTM-300DR also includes built-in Bluetooth communication. This allows hands-free operation with the YAESU SSMBT10 or other commercially available headsets. The SSM-BT10 is equipped with a PTT button and is also compatible with VOX operation. Using the new USB charger cable - SCU-41 with the FTM-300DR controller, the SSM-BT10 can be easily charged. The SSM-BT10 works for approximately 20 hours on a single charge.

Is it FCC certified?

The Yaesu FTM-300DR has the FCC ID of K6620715X40 and was submitted on January 27th 2020.  This does not mean it is certified for amateur radio use, but its likely no drama will result after its release much like we saw from Anytone with its "Pro" version compared to the "amateur radio" version.

How much will the FTM-300DR cost?

This radio will start out at $499.99 USD and will compete with the DMR focused Anytone D578, the D-Star capable Icom ID-5100A which are all roughly around the same cost.  The Yaesu FTM-400XDR is currently at the same price of the latest Fusion radio we are talking about here, so expect this radio to drop in price.


Where can I talk about this radio?

HVDN was an early advocate behind the Northstar Digital Net which meets on talk group 31630 on the Brandmeister Network at 8:00 PM Eastern US time every Tuesday.   The "STEM" talk group is cross linked to All-Star and Echolink and makes it possible for anyone with a similar All-Star to Fusion bridge to cross connect.

Interesting Links

• Giga Parts Yaesu FTM-300DR Sales Reservation

• FCC OET website 

• North Star Digital Net

• HVDN Activity Calendar

FCC Update: Yaesu FT-3 cleared for launch

On May 26th 2019, the Yaesu FT-3 radio received the FCC ID of K6620725X20. This covers both the radio itself and also the Bluetooth module for hands free operation and possibly other functions too.

Based on news from Yaesu at the 2019 Hamvention, they expect this radio to be available in the June 2019 time frame. It is common with the FCC while requesting an FCC ID to provide test data along with pre-release copy of device photos and instruction manuals.

The above detail found on the FCC OET website shows that a date of July 10th is when this material will be made available to the public through the FCC.

This latest digital voice radio for the amateur community will incorporate Yaesu Fusion C4FM alongside analog FM and AX.25 packet communication. The FT-3 will replace the FT-2 as the flagship handheld radio offered by Yaesu and will compete with the D-Star capable Kenwood TH-D74 for current "most expensive" amateur handheld radio.

HVDN will likely provide a side by side review of the FT-3 against the TH-D74, so be sure to check back later this summer.

The big questions so far are:

• Will the FT-3's dual receiver have desense on receive while operating FM satellites?

• Will the FT-3 allow for Falconsat3 APRS split band 9600 baud?

• How well will the audio record function work?

• Will it be possible to wirelessly pair the radio to a computer for programming like the Kenwood?

• Would AM mode reception be possible in the military aircraft band?

• How easy will it be to program by hand?

• Will the spectrum scope be useful of a novelty?

• Are some of the new Fusion features reminiscent of various 1990 era analog radios?

Sign up for updates below or send in your own questions in the comment section or the Facebook group for this radio.