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Reviews For: Yaesu FTM-400DR

Category: Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Base/Mobile (non hand-held)

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Review Summary For : Yaesu FTM-400DR
Reviews: 92MSRP: $699
Description:
The FTM-400DR uses C4FM FDMA (C4FM – 4-level FSK Modulation, FDMA –
Frequency Division Multiple Access), which has been developed for the
professional LMR communications. It uses this enhanced technology for a
lower BER (bit error rate), resulting in stable communications without
interruptions during mobile operations, even in a rapidly moving vehicle.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&ProdCatID=106&encProdID=227201D29C822AEFF8482F3367495319&DivisionID=65&isArchived=0
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00923.8
VE3JMR Rating: 2021-07-20
Excellent rig if you use C4FM/Fusion Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased my 400XDR new in 2019 from HRO. The radio works very well and to spec. I operate it mobile with the transceiver mounted in a custom go-box that is in the car's trunk.

I acquired the rig to use APRS. It operates on VFO B while I operate voice on VFO A. APRS works well when in range of sufficient infrastructure (digipeters & iGates). Regretfully in my area there is no infrastructure so I have to operate APRS at the max 50W to reach the digipeters.

The radio gets hot when operating at 50W and I solved for this my modifying the go-box so that there is sufficient air flow around the transceiver.

All of the other features appear to work well. The automatic switching from analog to digital and vis versa when someone initiates a QSO in the other mode is very smart. Kudos to Yaesu!

The touch screen is nice to have however it's not that easy to manipulate when driving so I usually don't use it. While driving I'm usually only changing power output or channel or manually switching to digital and all of that plus additional functions can be initiated from the mic.

Overall it's a very good rig, however, there are some noticeable engineering flaws, some of which are quite inexcusable on Yaesu's part.

My #1 pet peeve is the absence of channel banks, a popular feature that is on many of Yaesu's mobile and HT rigs. I use this feature on my FT60's and FT8900 primarily for travel. I found a work around that is OK but certainly not elegant. It involves using multiple microSD cards each with a different set of channels based on the area I'm travelling through. Frankly, it's most inconvenient having to pull the car over and swap cards. Further, I agree with G8FXC that the inability to pre-select and store a default mode for a given memory slot was not well thought out. While I have solved for quickly IDing a Fusion repeater by programming the repeater's callsign in lower case, it's too easy to miss and end up transmitting digital on an FM channel (very annoying to other users) or vis versa then wondering why there appears to be dead air. Also, I'm wondering why Yaesu would not taken the extra step of having the repeater identify the incoming signal as digital or analog and match the mode accordingly? While it has this feature, it's not fully implemented. That is, auto switching only occurs when entering a QSO with another station at which point the radio will match the repeater mode. I find it annoying having to manually switch to analog or digital on a Fusion repeater when I want to initiate a QSO.

Another pet peeve is that they did not include separation cables for the control head. It has a short cable that is sufficient for most shack desktop operations but not adequate for most mobile installations. Further, Yaesu didn't build mic or speaker jacks into the control head. Using this rig in remote configuration when the transceiver is at a distance from the head requires the purchase of a mic extension kit although for some odd reason Yaesu included a long speaker separation cable. I thought I could DYI a mic cable, however, after spending money at a parts store after a so-called electronics expert said it would work, there was no joy, and the store wouldn't take the parts back! I finally ordered a ready to go cable kit that included the control head and mic cables from hamradiocables.com Fortunately the kit was not expensive and the owner, N2RGA, even customized to make them a few feet longer! The kit shipped quickly and I had it in 2 business days!

Another HUGE pet peeve is the complicated process for doing a firmware update. The rig has a data port and included cable to connect to a PC so why does a user have to pull the transceiver apart and go through many steps for what should be a simple update? Even though I'm an IT tech, I refuse to spend more than an hour doing something that should take no more than 5 minutes. As such, I have never updated the firmware on my rig.

The only other annoyance which is relatively minor is that I'm not sure why they did not build two antenna inputs to the radio with the second input to be used for an optional receive only antenna that helps to eliminate picket fencing and digital artifacting in a moving vehicle. This is something common in digital radio and as far as I know only Icom has included this feature in some of their mobile rigs. I have one of them and it appears to work well even if it requires additional real estate and cabling for the car. For me this was minor as I have a second dual band antenna mounted on the trunk lip and it only requires a short coax connection to the trunk.

Given the same set of circumstances, would I buy this rig again? YES! Having said that, I'm about to sell my 400XDR. When I purchased, 4 new Fusion repeaters were deployed in my area, however, amazingly they are quiet most of the time. I guess the adage that you build something better and they will come didn't work out.

It's been a great radio and worked well for me. With few opportunities to use Fusion, even when travelling, I've decided to stay with analog and my Icom DStar rig which I get more use out of than Fusion.

I would rate this rig 5 stars if it had channel banks, one "included" long separation cable for everything - control, mic, speaker audio (better yet - mic and speaker jack on the control head) and a user friendly process for firmware updates.
N3TU Rating: 2021-01-10
Rating Revison Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought the radio back in 2015 and which had problems shortly after. I sent it back to Yaesu and they repaired it for free. They made good on the situation. Now it's 2021, and I am not having any problems with it. I would buy another one if I needed one in one of the cars.
KK8ZZ Rating: 2020-10-28
Best VHF/UHF Radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Rugged radio, display very easy to read and you can change the colors, controls mostly either push buttons on the front panel or one layer deep in the menu system. I find mine easy to use on the road. Good signal reports and dual receivers make it fun to use local repeaters on channel A and set Channel B for satellites. I've not used it in digital mode yet but two of our local repeaters are working up their C4FM capability so we'll soon be learning how to access that. Highly recommended as one of the best VHF/UHF radios I've ever owned.
K4FIL Rating: 2020-05-16
Reduced power output Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Radio serves my purpose BUT has reduced power output, bought 2 units 6-18-19 use one mobile and one in the shack. Was alerted to the power issue by a local operator who sent his in to Yaesu for repairs, turns out 3 people within 20 miles of me with the same issue.

Tested with a bird meter and dummy load
Mobile: L- 5 watts M- 19 watts H- 44 watts
Shack: L- 2 watts M- 8 watts H - 19 watts

The previous comment of possibly being in heat mobile may be the cause doesn't work in my case , also it cost $400+ and is a MOBILE radio.

Most frustrating fact of dealing with this issue is the same old Yaesu response we all have gotten is " never heard of that problem" which seems mis-leading as I know 2 others near me are at Yaesu right now being repaired ( got to be many others) and mine
will be sent in shortly.

Have been working through vendor in Atlanta and treated very well as always , however denial there is a problem with the 400 from Yaesu.

Yaesu has sent me a form to send in with my radio but no acknowledgement of issue or will discuss what is replaced or upgraded , get the response send it in if needs repair it will be repaired.

Unsure how long before the mobile unit will experience power reduction but feel its a matter of time !
KF4HR Rating: 2020-05-13
Great rig! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I own two FTM-400DR transceivers, and planning on picking up a third one soon. Currently I have one in my shack connected to the Wires-X VoIP unit, the other in one of my vehicles. (I also use a use a SMB-201 fan assembly for the unit in my shack.) I haven't had a moments problem out of either of my 400DR's. In fact, I have nothing but praise for this equipment. My shack mounted 400DR and Wires-X unit function as my own personal Wires-X repeater which works beautifully, either with my standard FM portable or mobile equipment, my other FTM-400DR (in analog or digital modes), and I recently added a FT2DR HT which opened up many other digital control features. I also use another popular amateur DV mode but I've always been put off by its poor audio quality (talking in a barrel). Fusion audio quality is considerably better, plus it offers FM or Digital switching capabilities and easy video still frame picture transfer. My hat is off to Yaesu for providing equipment with so much flexibility.

Update:

After several years using several FTM-400's (DR's and XDR's) my only two complaints are, some of my 400's do not keep keep time when power is removed (possibly internal battery issue?), and only the upper portion of the display can be changed to the DN or VW digital modes; the lower portion is FM only. From what I understand the new FTM-300DR allows both the upper and lower portions of the display to run the digital modes, although for me that added option is a trade-off because I much prefer the larger display on the 400 models. But overall - the 400DR/XDR's are really nice rigs. I especially enjoy their large display while operating mobile.
G8FXC Rating: 2020-05-13
Good - but could be better.... Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I needed a dual band VHF/UHF base station radio and I really wanted something capable of full duplex operation and Fusion - which left the field very small! I bought the FTM-400 specifically to run in the shack and it has been pretty successful. Mine is now over a year old and still puts out the rated power more or less according to a basic meter in the coax.

The ergonomics are good in most respects with that large, colour touch screen although the organisation of some of the menus is not as intuitive as I would like - I still have to refer to the manual for some of the less commonly used functions.

My main criticism is the way that memories have been implemented. Why on earth did they not store the mode in the memory slot? I'm flipping through the local repeaters and having to pause at each one to ask myself "is this an FM or a Fusion repeater" and switch to the correct mode. I know that the radio implements auto mode switching, but that just matches the mode of the radio to the received signal - if the repeater is idle when you switch to it, you can easily end up transmitting a loud buzz into an FM repeater - or FM into a digital-only repeater.

I also question the value of putting multiple hundreds of memory slots into a radio without also implementing memory banks. When I first received the radio, I programmed in all the repeaters in southern England - only to find that the result was close to useless. Within a week, I had done a factory reset and it now has just the nearest half a dozen repeaters programmed in. It's not that Yaesu don't understand how to implement memory management - my little FT-70DR implements multiple memory banks and I have one programmed with repeaters that are close to my house, another with repeaters close to our boat and a third programmed up with the maritime VHF channels.

Regarding the failure of output power that some have experienced, I do wonder if that is related to having it installed in a vehicle? I think it is quite clear that the cooling of the rig is a bit marginal and the inside of a car does get quite hot from time to time compared with most shacks. The efficiency of blown air cooling is very dependent on the ambient temperature of the air being drawn in - power up in a hot car and those finals might find themselves running a lot hotter than they would with the same rig sitting on the desk in a nice, cool (and, possibly, air conditioned) shack!
KC4IUL Rating: 2020-05-13
Great Radio But Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased my 1st FTM 400XDR in Nov of 2018. Great radio and enjoy it. I still haven't used it to all of it's potential. A few months ago I noticed I wasn't getting into the repeater as good as I used to. I checked the antenna and coax SWR and everything you could imagine. A friend of mine told me that he had the problem with his radio also. He check his and the power levels were all low. I checked mine and low was 4 watts mid 6 and high was 8 watts total. This unit was used mobile so 8 watts doesn't get too far.

I also purchased my 2nd one in March of 2019 I checked it and my power levels are low 4 mid 18 and high 38 watts I use it as my base unit and mostly run it on low so it works for me with my set up. I'll be keeping a check on it and see what happens to it in the months to come.

I love the radio and I have no issues with anything else just the power output.

I sent my older unit off to Yaesu still under warranty ( I wonder if they knew this radio had problems and that is the reason for the 3 year warranty) what happens after 3 years? When I get my older unit back I might just go ahead and send the newer one in to have the repairs on it up dated also.

When I called Yaesu they acted like they didn't know about any problem with the radios. I know of at least 2 other friends that have the same issues with theirs and are sending them in for repairs also.

Over all I love the radio and all it's features. It serves my purpose.

I did see where one ham talked about the heat sink being too small. I agree it should be much bigger. I would say take the FTM 400XDR and put it in the chassis of the FT 2900 or the new 2980.
WI2Q Rating: 2019-10-08
Bad hum on 70 cm transmit Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Got this radio last week and received it without a power cord? After waiting for the cord to be shipped to me I was finally able to give it a play. Great receiver. Beautiful display. Awesome touch screen. However, the radio has a hum in the transmit signal ( very dirty ) on 70cm. Two meters is fine. Thought it might be the power supply but problem is still there when connected to a battery. Will call dealer tomorrow to get exchange.... I hope.
VE7EA Rating: 2019-06-17
Wow, huge potential, small package Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Disclaimer: only used for one week, replacing a TYT TH-9800 and no previous experience of Fusion or APRS.

Despite above I would recommend this radio. It is very well built from quality materials. It does not suffer from serious intermod problems which plagued my TYT TH-9800 (esp. on VHF) and to which my older IC-2100H also suffered, but not quite as badly. The filtering in this baby is obviously really good.

If you are not familiar with Fusion, APRS and WIRES-X then be prepared to do a lot of reading and experimenting. There are 5 (yes, 5) manuals to get through and that does not include learning the software (so make that 6!). That is how capable this little beauty of a radio is. However, the menu settings screens are reasonably navigable so once you've learned all the concepts and try them a couple of times you can really use this powerful radio to its abilities.
M6XXO Rating: 2019-04-20
Some room for improvement Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Let's get the bad bits out of the way.

-The standard Yaesu software did not work no matter what I did, come on, whereas the RT systems £20 software did !
Even the micro SD card wouldn't work, regardless of the version of the ADMS software. I spent hours trying, using 3 different computers !
-only 500 x2 memories
-only 1 camera option for the non standard usb input.
-Lots of manuals, you have to download APRS and GM ones
-No moving GPS map display/overlay
-if you want bluetooth or voice guide, you will need to buy 2 more modules.
-firmware updates mean unscrewing the radio case. really, Yaesu ?
-slow initial GPS fix(us system only) on the earlier models, fixed on the XDR series.
-no auto dimming screen function which would really help rather than going in and out of the setup

Good bits.

+Dual band, VHF/UHF 2m/70cm
+108-999Mhz extended receive,
+Nice colour touchscreen
+Cross band repeater ability, useful for
emergencies.
+Good loudspeaker.
+APRS modem, and data, messaging and you can
navigate towards someone in GM. That's pretty
cool.
+Group Mode (just exploring that, but have read
the manual and wow!)
+Huge unused features, quite interesting that
the 2019 update expanded connectivity.
+Good audio on both modes.
+Wires X
+External GPS input
+Lots of FTM 400 groups and information
+You can open up the TX to cover non-ham frequencies, which is essential for emergency use and commercial licence use.

It sounds like a lot of nit picking, but these are the things that I've found in my first couple of weeks.
This is a hell of a radio, there is so much it can do, could do, should do.
I'm certainly going to see how easy an auto adjustable circuit is for the screen, that'll make my life much better !
I guess I was spoiled by some DMR handies that come with voice guide and faster GPS built in, but they aren't Fusion or cross band capable. That said the small 500x2 memories seems a bit mean, given that there is a micro SD card slot, my ht500d has 3000 channels, which is needed because of all the different DMR repeater talkgroups that each can have.

With out a doubt this is the best amateur radio I own, and I know it can go in a vehicle or a shack, and it's going to last.
If not this then maybe a quad band mobile, or D-star as I've got DMR covered.