Yaesu FT-5DR 5W C4FM/144/430MHz Dual Band Digital Handheld Transceiver
SKU:
ZYS-FT-5DR
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Customer Reviews
Overall
5
Great radio
Review by
AA8JI
Best hand held I have ever had. Dual Band hand held that delivers both FM and Digatal.
Overall
5
So far so good
Review by
KR4OCI
Works great, Has a bit of a learning curve but i'm getting the hang of things now and loving it.
Overall
4
Still getting used to it, but had some surprises.
Review by
Houdini NFO
I bought this HT because I wanted to switch out of DMR to C4FM. Very few where I live uses DMR, but we have several Fusion repeaters. The other feature I wanted was APRS. I use that to beacon my position in Search and Rescue into the Caltopo software, used by SAR teams. My old Chinese made DMR radio beaconed the APRS in background. This enabled me to monitor 2 frequencies at the same time while the position was being beaconed.
When I started learning about how the FT5DR does APRS, in it's separate manual, I discovered that the APRS uses the B channel for APRS transmission. In my humble opinion, this is a very poor design. First, I can no longer monitor both frequencies and now must carry another radio to monitor both primary and secondary frequencies. Second, if the beacon goes of the B channel and the channel is not locked, a inadvertent touch of the touch screen can cause you to beacon inadvertently on the wrong frequency. This might explain why for years I would occasionally hear digital burbs on repeater channels. Again, on my old radio, the frequency for APRS was set in the APRS menu in the code plug.
PMG is not like PMG on the FTM-150. You have to be looking at the screen to know another frequency has activity. Kind of defeats the point.
The rest of my issues I will just chalk up to a learning curve to a new radio. It is a good solid water proof radio. I've heard some say that the radio sound weak with the rubber duck antenna. If important, that is an easy fix. Most hams have better HT antennas.
When I started learning about how the FT5DR does APRS, in it's separate manual, I discovered that the APRS uses the B channel for APRS transmission. In my humble opinion, this is a very poor design. First, I can no longer monitor both frequencies and now must carry another radio to monitor both primary and secondary frequencies. Second, if the beacon goes of the B channel and the channel is not locked, a inadvertent touch of the touch screen can cause you to beacon inadvertently on the wrong frequency. This might explain why for years I would occasionally hear digital burbs on repeater channels. Again, on my old radio, the frequency for APRS was set in the APRS menu in the code plug.
PMG is not like PMG on the FTM-150. You have to be looking at the screen to know another frequency has activity. Kind of defeats the point.
The rest of my issues I will just chalk up to a learning curve to a new radio. It is a good solid water proof radio. I've heard some say that the radio sound weak with the rubber duck antenna. If important, that is an easy fix. Most hams have better HT antennas.
Overall
5
The Best HT I Own
Review by
W5KJD
This is the best HT I have, I’ve had it about a year now and it has not cracked like other people say theirs have, they must be very rough on their radios. Just an excellent radio.
Overall
5
Great little radio!
Review by
Charles
Steep price but well worth the money. To get all these features on an HT. Programmed and working very well. Have showed to some other guys and they have bought one and really like it. Thinking of buying another in the future.
Overall
1
Not A SOTA Radio!
Review by
Hank Stamper
I bought this radio to use on Summits On The Air (SOTA) activations mainly because of Yaesu's reputation for building rugged HTs. Perhaps that was true of the VX radios, but this radio is a hothouse flower that cannot withstand the rigors of hiking/backpacking. First the radio developed a crack in the case almost immediately near the PTT button. I sent the radio back to Yaesu and they did repair the case under warranty. However the shipping and insurance was expensive on top of the not inconsiderable purchase price. Shortly after that, the crack in the case reappeared. I decided that it wasn't worth paying for another round of shipping and hoped the defect was only cosmetic and no moisture or dirt wold compromise the electronics.
Then another crack developed in the case at the base the base. This caused the battery to fall off at the most inopportune times - like in the middle of a contact! I used the radio for a while with a rubber band around it, but that was too much and I cut my losses and dumped the rig.
In case you think that this was an issue of user misuse/abuse of the radio I still have my Icom IC-T7H purchased as my very first ham radio in 2002 that has gone with me on more trips than the FT-5DR ever did and I've never had any trouble with that radio.
Bottom line: this radio is not very robust and will not take normal use for outdoor activities. I was deeply disappointed in this one.
Then another crack developed in the case at the base the base. This caused the battery to fall off at the most inopportune times - like in the middle of a contact! I used the radio for a while with a rubber band around it, but that was too much and I cut my losses and dumped the rig.
In case you think that this was an issue of user misuse/abuse of the radio I still have my Icom IC-T7H purchased as my very first ham radio in 2002 that has gone with me on more trips than the FT-5DR ever did and I've never had any trouble with that radio.
Bottom line: this radio is not very robust and will not take normal use for outdoor activities. I was deeply disappointed in this one.
Overall
5
Excellent Radio
Review by
Tony Cigars
This radio is by far the best HT I have ever used, I don’t like the price but worth it nonetheless.
Overall
3
Not very impressive.
Review by
Mike
The gps is very slow to get a position and appears to never get gps lock when my Kenwood th-d75a does. The screen layout is not very intuitive. Needs a special cable to program and use digital features. No usb-c. If I had to choose again I would buy another Kenwood d75
Overall
4
Nice display, love wires-x and aprs, quality could be better.
Review by
spectre
I bought this radio last weekend at GigaParts. It has been five days since I purchased it and it is already showing the dreaded hairline case crack near the PTT button. This is common, known issues at this point and has been documented in several places and reviews. Very disappointed with that aspect.
That being said, the display is amazingly bright and vivid, even more so than my Icom 52a which I also purchased from GigaParts. The Wires-x is very nice and I really enjoy using the local repeater and the America Link room. But dang Yaesu, stand behind your products. There is definitely something off with their injection molding process. Quickly becoming a Icom fan, even though I really enjoyed my FT2D and FT-70. The FT2D is outdated but still kicking and the build quality is top notch.
That being said, the display is amazingly bright and vivid, even more so than my Icom 52a which I also purchased from GigaParts. The Wires-x is very nice and I really enjoy using the local repeater and the America Link room. But dang Yaesu, stand behind your products. There is definitely something off with their injection molding process. Quickly becoming a Icom fan, even though I really enjoyed my FT2D and FT-70. The FT2D is outdated but still kicking and the build quality is top notch.
Overall
4
Best HT for the money
Review by
David
I have a few other ht radios but the FT5DR is radio I reach for when I’m in the field or just taking a walk around the neighborhood. The FT5DR is very user friendly and has APRS. The only reason I didn’t give this radio (5) stars is because of the battery life and it would have been nice to have the desktop charger included.
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