NYECOGunsmith, as the resident Yaesu expert, where do you stand on their new System Fusion radios/repeaters?
I'm in the market for a mobile and APRS built in to the radio looks like a neat deal. APRS seems very handy for off-roading applications. For mobiles, that limits me to an aging Kenwood or bleeding edge Yaesu FTM-400DR. (or running a secondary system which I'd prefer to avoid)
I'm not terribly excited about a brand new digital standard though. I doubt there any repeaters in S NV now and it seems like a gamble on a standard in a format war.
And the radio seems to have some shortcomings that "could" potentially be fixed with firmware updates. The most annoying seem to be the that you can't lock on a station and navigate to it. It looks like the 350 has had at least a few firmware updates. (and it could also do this from what I read)
In reverse order, yes, the FT350AR would do what you want, and they are firmware upgradeable.
But you can't lock onto a station and navigate to it, although you can do that I believe with the VX8DR handheld that has APRS in it, plus GPS.
If all you want is a APRS transponder, check out the Micro Trak
http://www.byonics.com/microtrak/mtaio.php
You can operate either digital or analog with the FTM400DR, however as you noted there are no digital repeaters in S NV as far as I know at this time.
While you can't navigate to another APRS transmitter with it, if you were 4 wheeling in a group and you were running drag, and the guy at the lead had a FTM 400DR as well, every time you transmit to him or receive a transmission from you, the GPS in the two rigs will tell both of you how far apart you are.
That's a bit better than using APRS as the beacon rate on them is usually set to 2 minutes or more, so the distance you are apart would be related to how long ago the beacon transmitted and your rate of closure or departure.
the FTM400DR lacks the cross band repeater function, but ONLY in the digital mode, it DOES have cross band repeat capability in analog mode, which can be handy when 4 wheeling and camping in the boonies.
On the plus side, with a USB port on the side, you can hook it up to a tablet, laptop, etc. and use the GPS function of the radio along with a navigation program to navigate streets, highways and off road. It also has a Micro SD card slot so you can up and down load info to it that way.
As for the System Fusion radios/repeaters, they were just announced in late September, and released first week or so of this month, I haven't seen any information on them beyond the announcement data, so I really can't comment on them for you. They are backward compatible (can do analog repeating as well as digital) which is a plus, but I don't much care for the quality of digital voice comms to begin with, so I won't be purchasing any digital rig in the near future.
The ones I have heard so far all sound pinched, and the audio quality is not as good as analog FM in sound quality, not to my ears anyway.
