Author Topic: Yaesu FT2900  (Read 12877 times)

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JIM_DUNCAN

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Yaesu FT2900
« on: February 10, 2014, 07:35:11 PM »
I need some help with a couple of questions about my radio if anyone is familiar with this model.  If you are... give me a shout please... thanks

Tevin

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Re: Yaesu FT2900
« Reply #1 on: February 10, 2014, 08:43:50 PM »
I liked my 2900 so much, I bought two more!

Soooo...what ya need?

spacecase0

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Re: Yaesu FT2900
« Reply #2 on: February 10, 2014, 10:19:22 PM »
I have one,
and have a full schematic for it,
mine is messed up on receive only
I loved that radio lots, and use it all the time,
but now it can't receive worth anything...
likely just some small issue from storing in high humidity for a year...
great radio

PLA

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Re: Yaesu FT2900
« Reply #3 on: February 11, 2014, 07:41:49 AM »
Got 2 as well, ask away

JIM_DUNCAN

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Re: Yaesu FT2900
« Reply #4 on: February 11, 2014, 01:24:34 PM »
I knew you guys were out there... sweet.  Ok... just some basic items that I need to clear up because I purchased several radios at once and had to learn all of them and it got crazy. 

On the 2900 my first question is.... of the three main modes...  MR  VFO and HM.... besides MR channel....  will this radio transmit on the others?
I have repeaters programmed in ok and they work fine by the way.  But, I am trying to go simplex now and I am a bit confused.  So I will post this now and then carry on from there...   

AD

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Re: Yaesu FT2900
« Reply #5 on: February 11, 2014, 04:59:43 PM »
jim

To help you out, i will take a few of them off your hands, get up to speed on them and then give you instrictions on how to ise the new ones you would need to buy since these would be mine  :o
The only dumb question is the one that did not get asked!!

Tevin

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Re: Yaesu FT2900
« Reply #6 on: February 11, 2014, 06:15:25 PM »
I knew you guys were out there... sweet.  Ok... just some basic items that I need to clear up because I purchased several radios at once and had to learn all of them and it got crazy. 

On the 2900 my first question is.... of the three main modes...  MR  VFO and HM.... besides MR channel....  will this radio transmit on the others?
I have repeaters programmed in ok and they work fine by the way.  But, I am trying to go simplex now and I am a bit confused.  So I will post this now and then carry on from there...   

The 2900 will transmit anywhere in the ham bands. You can receive much more (such as the NOAA weather stations) and program non-ham frequencies in the memory, but it will only transmit on the ham frequencies.

Be aware that there are sections of the 2-meter band set aside for repeater operation and the 2900 will by default automatically apply the standard split (+ or - 600 khz) for that section of the band. You are not breaking any rules by operating simplex in these sub-bands, but you will have to manually disable the split. That may be part of your confusion.

On the other side, the 2900 will know when it is on a common simplex channel and will not automatically add the split. You can operate simplex on these frequencies without having to disable anything.

I've found that it's easier to just avoid running simplex in repeater sub bands to begin with. Problem solved.

Obviously, it helps to know where the repeater and simplex frequency ranges are when programming the radio. There is a table in the ARRL Repeater Directory or of course ask your know-it-all friend, google.


JIM_DUNCAN

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Re: Yaesu FT2900
« Reply #7 on: February 11, 2014, 07:10:52 PM »
The 2900 will transmit anywhere in the ham bands. You can receive much more (such as the NOAA weather stations) and program non-ham frequencies in the memory, but it will only transmit on the ham frequencies. Understood.

Be aware that there are sections of the 2-meter band set aside for repeater operation and the 2900 will by default automatically apply the standard split (+ or - 600 khz) for that section of the band. You are not breaking any rules by operating simplex in these sub-bands, but you will have to manually disable the split. That may be part of your confusion. Ok... now we are getting somewhere..... I wasn't sure if the 2900 would disable the split even on non-repeater bands. 

On the other side, the 2900 will know when it is on a common simplex channel and will not automatically add the split. You can operate simplex on these frequencies without having to disable anything.

I've found that it's easier to just avoid running simplex in repeater sub bands to begin with. Problem solved.

Obviously, it helps to know where the repeater and simplex frequency ranges are when programming the radio. There is a table in the ARRL Repeater Directory or of course ask your know-it-all friend, google.  I have them already printed out.... so far so good
[/color]

What started all of this confusion is I finally got around to trying simplex... and not having anyone around on that channel to talk to or verify my transmission.... was thinking it was not actually transmitting.  I programmed 146.480 which should be a simplex channel?    Anyway this helps a great deal.... I will get out the FT-60 HT and see if it is working that way.  It did pick up my Baofeng transmitting on the same channel but the Baofeng did not pick up the FT2900... it lit up the UV-5RA's led's but no sound at all.  It might be the Baofeng not configured properly for simplex instead of the FT-2900.  That will be another can of worms.  Anyway so far so good.  Thanks for the info.  It is working the way I thought it should be... and it's probably the UV-5RA.  Oh wait... I sent the FT-60 to AD.... rats
« Last Edit: February 11, 2014, 07:50:40 PM by JIM_DUNCAN »

AD

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Re: Yaesu FT2900
« Reply #8 on: February 11, 2014, 07:31:03 PM »
Jim

Already got a FT-60 so send something i ain't got  ::)
The only dumb question is the one that did not get asked!!

PLA

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Re: Yaesu FT2900
« Reply #9 on: February 11, 2014, 08:55:32 PM »
Dont listen to him, he's to picky and ungrateful.

On the other hand, I have more vehicle than I do radios, so another 2900 would go great here.

JIM_DUNCAN

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Re: Yaesu FT2900
« Reply #10 on: February 11, 2014, 09:51:14 PM »
At least I know this radio is popular.  To update this mess, I unpacked the FT-60 and redid my experiment on 146.48 and it worked just fine.  The Chinese heathen radio is the problem.  I will work on that Baofeng tomorrow after I get some sleep.  Thanks to all for their interest and help.  I'm sure I will be back as I work a bit deeper into the FT-2900.  For informational purposes, this radio is on the bench in my mancave and not mobile yet. 

On the Baofeng... I'm currently using CHIRP to try to get it to recognize and or talk to FRS radios.  I have the frequencies installed but need to be able to set the FM to narrow without changing all of my UHF/VHF settings globally with CHIRP.  I am assuming that for UHF/VHF Ham channels it needs to be set to FM Wide.  They are and works fine.  So if anyone has been here and done this....  send me a shout.  Cheers!

Tempstar

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Re: Yaesu FT2900
« Reply #11 on: February 12, 2014, 05:02:40 AM »
You can set the Boafeng to NFM or WFM globally, but not individually. FRS is WFM though.
"Preparedness is a lot more than just buying stuff"

JIM_DUNCAN

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Re: Yaesu FT2900
« Reply #12 on: February 12, 2014, 08:58:43 AM »
You can set the Boafeng to NFM or WFM globally, but not individually. FRS is WFM though.

Hmmm... that makes sense... I was told it would technically be illegal to use the wide FM for FRS... but that was a friend from a friend.....  so I will live it all Wide and see if I can communicate with any FRS today.  One small step for Jim...  one less step for Jim....     Thank you!

spacecase0

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Re: Yaesu FT2900
« Reply #13 on: February 12, 2014, 09:46:04 PM »
it is not legal to use the Boafeng on FRS (mainly due to the removable antenna)
I set my Boafeng to NFM or WFM for each memory and it seems to work
also FRS is NFM and not WFM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Radio_Service

JIM_DUNCAN

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Re: Yaesu FT2900
« Reply #14 on: February 13, 2014, 09:46:57 AM »
it is not legal to use the Boafeng on FRS (mainly due to the removable antenna)
I set my Boafeng to NFM or WFM for each memory and it seems to work
also FRS is NFM and not WFM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Radio_Service

If I manually program the FRS frequency it will round off the last digit as FRS uses 7 places.  So you will be able to receive but you will be mostly unintelligible on the other end.  Is what I am being told.  Someone is working on a way to combine CHIRP and Baofeng programming software to enable this and has reported success with it...  evidently CHIRP does not allow you to adjust the full range of Baofeng options.  However I am unable to download Baofeng programming software due to it being in a .RAR file which I can't open.  So I may just give up on this project.