Yaesu FTM400

[mbuckner 208]

My dual band Kenwood 700 crashed after 20+ years and many OHV miles.

 

Does anyone in the group have experience with a Yaesu FTM400?

 

Comments and opinions welcomed.

 

Regards, 

 

Mike

[theksmith 5,778]

not personally, however i saw that even though Yaesu is usually a solid choice, that model only gets mediocre ratings on eHam: https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-product?id=11323

Edited December 24, 2022 by theksmith

[mbuckner 208]

Thanks for the link

[4WLNRN 774]

I have one in my rig that I got from my dad for my birthday after I passed my HAM exam.  I love it, just haven't had a chance to fully play with it yet.

[4WLNRN 774]

1 minute ago, AZRNintheJeep242 said:

I have one in my rig that I got from my dad for my birthday after I passed my HAM exam.  I love it, just haven't had a chance to fully play with it yet.

OOps...I have the model below this one, my bad.

[mbuckner 208]

Yaesu announced end of production flr the FTM400 and FT818 do to lack of components being available. 

 

So, if you had your eye on buying one of these models, better do it quick.

 

Regards, 

 

 

[theksmith 5,778]

2 hours ago, mbuckner said:

Yaesu announced end of production flr the FTM400 and FT818 do to lack of components being available. 

 

So, if you had your eye on buying one of these models, better do it quick.

 

Regards, 

 

 

 

what did you decide to go with Mike?

[mbuckner 208]

Yaesu FTM400 xdr ... I watched announcement on YouTube and place an order immediately.   Should arrive by 4-Jan.

Edited December 31, 2022 by mbuckner

[SonoranWanderer 715]

I just noticed this thread. I have three FTM-400 units cross our Jeep "fleet". Feel free to fire away with any questions. Obviously anyone wanting one now and doesn't have one may have a harder time since the unit is discontinued.

 

I like the radio overall. I do think the upcoming FTM-500 will improve on a few aspects, but sadly be not as good on a few others. I will not be in any hurry to update any of my 400s to a 500.

 

I use the RT Systems software and 32GB SD cards to manage the configuration of my 400 radios. The radios will not accept/use any cards larger than 32GB.

 

I have also applied the MARS/CAP mod to all three of my radios. (opening up transmit on GMRS frequencies)

Edited February 10, 2023 by SonoranWanderer

[SonoranWanderer 715]

A few more notes on the FTM-400:

• Do not use CHIRP to manage the radio config if you want to be able to return the radio for (free) warranty repair. CHIRP has been known to brick the occasional Yaesu.
• I would update your firmware if it's not already the latest release before you invest too much time building the radio config. Major firmware updates completely reset your radio and invalidate any existing radio config backups you may have
• The MARS/CAP mod (removing one resistor) behaves like a major firmware update and invalidates any config backups you have

 

Building a computer managed config using either Yaesu's ADMS or RT-Systems requires starting with a radio backup. The backup structure changes for MARS/CAP and major firmware updates, hence having to start all over. This is true for all Yaesu digital radios I have worked with so far (FTM-400, FT-2D, FT-5D). Fortunately these restart occasions are few.

 

I find the 400's built-in speaker fairly anemic in volume (especially in a Jeep) and use an external Yaesu MLS-200-M10. If you want to use a non-Yaesu speaker, you need that "headphone adaptor" that came in the box to not damage the radio's audio amplifier. I do appreciate that the upcoming FTM-500 attempts to fix this by putting a loud speaker in the head unit.