See the attached file for supplemental information regarding the VX8, FT1, FT2, FT3, and FT5 series battery comparison discussed during the 13-Mar-2023 Fusion Technical Net. The discussion can be heard on the podcast Part One, Part Two.
Link to the high current (and cheaper) CD-41 replacement desktop charger: https://amzn.to/3G9fUCX
The file has been updated for the 3-Apr-2023 Fusion Technical Net.
The other day I was working my Fusion repeater with my FT70D. Since I was “DX” I had the HT on high power. Although it looked like I was getting into the repeater just fine, I couldn’t enter the WiRES-X control mode. However when I switched to low power I WAS able to control the repeater.
What gives? Why could I control the repeater (node) on high power, but not on low power?
Back at the house where my repeater is located, the problem still existed. I could use the WiRES-X control mode on low power but not on high power. Since I’m within 10 meters of the repeater, signal strength couldn’t be an issue.
Looking at the output spectrum of the FT70 revealed the problem. On high power there were some spurs that shouldn’t have been there. The spurs were much weaker on low power. Other radios didn’t exhibit the spurs. Click on the images to compare and see the details.
| Link | Site | Notes |
| https://time.is/ | Verify the time settting on your computer. Essestial for HF digital modes. | |
| http://www.thinkman.com/dimension4/ | Tool to automatically and accurately set your computer time. Essential for digital modes. | |
| http://www.timebie.com/std/utc.php | Calculate time zones. | |
| https://www.timeanddate.com/ | Outstanding and fun site for anything to do with dates and time. | |
| Site | Purpose | Notes |
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WSJT_(amateur_radio_software) | About the WSJT software | |
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Hooton_Taylor_Jr. | About the Author | |
| http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/wsjtx.html | Home Page | |
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WSJT_(amateur_radio_software) | Source Code | |
| http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/Moonbounce_at_Arecibo.pdf | Running Moonbouce! | |
| http://www.g4ilo.com/wspr.html | Article | |
| http://www.qrp-labs.com/ | WSPR kits and other cool stuff | |
| http://wsprnet.org/drupal/ | Montor WSPR signals around the world | |
| https://www.n1rwy.org/?p=157 | Set up the FT-991 to run digital modes. | |
| Date and Time | Check here for tools to set your PC’s time. Essential for these modes. |
Photos show the waveform capture from an FT5 during a MNWis net. Note that they are not symmetrical around zero. The 2nd image has more detail and you can see that the waveforms are not symmetrical. The clipping sound is heard when the audio level hits the limits even though it is still not at 100%. Odd.
I don’t know why Yaesu doesn’t make this public, but they don’t. You can download version 1.44 of the IMRS LAN firmware. This solves some problems with LAN connections constantly dropping.
During the Monday Night Fusion Technical Net, a comment was made that it was possible to use an FT5D to receive C4FM on 29.250. This started a conversation about other HT’s as well. Thanks to W4IOD, AD0MI, N0PXT, and N0OQL, we now have the definitive answer for most of the Yaesu Fusion radios.
Background
Using 29.250 for C4FM has become popular as 10 meter conditions have improved significantly. The Yaesu FT-991(A) is the only radio that is capable of Tx and Rx on 10 meters as well as operating in Group Mode (GM). When the band is open, you may see or hear C4FM traffic on this frequency.
One way to check 10 meter band conditions is to tune AM down to the CB frequencies near 27.195 MHz. If you hear a lot of racket, then 10 is probably open.
The ‘A’ band must be used since the ‘B’ band on all radios cannot tune 10 meters.
Analysis
Note that none of these radios can transmit on 29.250. In addition if 29.250 works, then six meters will work as well.
The following radios cannot receive 29.250 MHz since they don’t tune down that low, bummer:
Mobile Radios: FTM-100, FTM-200, FTM-300, FTM-400, FTM-3200, FTM-3207, FTM-7250
HT’s: FT-70D
The following HT’s tune 29.250 and DECODE C4FM (show callsign and switch between DN/VW)* but do not provide audio:
FT-1D (US version), FT-2D, and maybe FT-3D
*Must be set to Rx DN or VW.
The following HT’s will receive C4FM on 29.250 but cannot engage GM. GM is handy for seeing the callsigns of stations that are beaconing.
FT-1D (Japan version) Interesting! Maybe the JP versions of other HT’s will do this as well.
The FT1D and FT2D can enter GM using the following process:
The following HT’s can receive 29.250 and can enter GM. Note that they display the GM information but do not beacon:
FT-5D
Bottom line
The FT-5D has more C4FM capability since it allows reception wherever it tunes while other radios do not.
Some thoughts about Fusion, digital modes, and the future.
Fusion uses the lower layers of the P-25 architecture. Modulation, transport, framing, etc. The primary differences revolve around what’s in the packet. For example: The use of call signs instead of unit IDs. So Fusion shares most of P-25. FWIW, Fusion is also very similar to DMR. The primary difference is that it doesn’t use TDMA – jamming two separate channels into the space of one.
P-25, DMR, NXDN(Kenwood), IDAS (Icom), and Fusion use the same vocoder. D* uses a much older and obsolete vocoder.
Fusion and D* have been optimized, although differently, for Amateur Radio. DMR, NXDN, and IDAS have been optimized for commercial services, like taxi cabs. P-25 has been optimized for government services, like police departments.
Fusion was actually designed by Motorola in that period of time that Motorola owned Yaesu. This benefits Fusion since the vocoder and the signal processing firmware are pretty much the same as what Motorola uses in their radios. (Believe me, not all signal processing firmware is designed the same!) Thus, the performance of Fusion is pretty darn good. Add to that an additional layer for FEC provided by Yaesu’s modification to P-25, and the performance of Fusion is better than all the others. (D* is substantially worse than the other protocols.)
What we see from this is that most of the communication industry has evolved around the same technologies even though the systems are not directly compatible with one another. This is why it is so easy for a hotspot to translate between DMR, P-25, NXDN, IDAS, and Fusion. But is this the best we can do?
No. Digital performance could be much better. C4FM already blows away FM with superior range and capability, but it was intentionally limited – to work with FM/PSK transmitters and receivers like those used with FM.
FM is a non-linear system thus it does not transmit all the information it could in the available bandwidth. Linear systems, such as OFDM, can provide higher bit rates lower error rates, better resistance to fading and multipath, amongst other things. The problem is OFDM requires linear amplifiers and thus is not compatible with all the FM/PSK transmitter and receiver designs.
Personally, I’d like to see OFDM as an option for digital’s future.
But all digital systems could be made better by some enhancements at the repeater site. The use of multiple, diversity receivers incorporating very low-level discrimination could improve receiver sensitivity by as much as 10 dB. That means HT would perform almost as well as a mobile rig with no changes required of the user. Having multiple diversity receivers at various locations around a city could mean that a low power HT would work virtually anywhere in that city. Sadly, there doesn’t seem to be a market for doing such things. (This technology is well understood and used by your cell phone.)
One last note. Several attempts have been made to build multi-protocol radios incorporating DMR, Fusion, D*, FM, and others into a single unit. Should be simple, right? But we have yet to see such radios on the market. If we did, they wouldn’t do Fusion as well as Yaesu, or D* as well as Icom, or DMR as well as Motorola. Why? Protocols are damn hard to get right. They are even harder to get working really, really well where they take into account all the things that can go wrong with data transmission. (Hotspots try to do the conversion, but never work as well as going “native”.)
I would argue that the amateur community should focus on those systems designed for Amateur Radio. Ultimately those will be easier to use and better suited for the job. (Police departments and taxi cabs should not use Fusion!) A good user experience is critical if digital, any digital, is to become generally accepted.
One last note: Nothing prevents Icom from building a Fusion radio. Every last little detail about Fusion is public information, particularly since most of it comes from P-25 – for which Icom builds radios. The only proprietary aspects of Yaesu’s system are WiRES-X and IMRS.
Purchasing amateur radios that do digital help support the future of digital by encouraging companies to develop more and better digital features. Buying commercial Chinese radios just helps the Chinese economy.
DG-ID is like a CTCSS tone, but for digital. It filters out signals with different DGID’s as well as having the ability to do split DG-ID’s (like split CTCSS). DG-ID can be in a state of Rx & TX (DG-ID), Rx Only, Tx Only, and Split Rx & Tx (different DG-ID).
DG-ID servers as a means of selective signaling for access to a repeater or for a WiRES-X node. For the repeater it has a couple of different applications (IMRS and access purposes) while with WiRES-X it offers control of voice and control access.
DG-ID’s cannot be reused within the same configuration or network. For a repeater that means the DG-ID can only be in the LOCAL, RPT GROUP, or GROUP. There will be issues if in an IMRS network has anything with the same DG-ID.
LOCAL DG-ID: There are two factors:
1) The DG-ID it will not be sent down IMRS links and only allow access to the local repeater.
2) In an IMRS set-up, you will always hear the status beeps: One for end conversation; Two for link drop/end; and three for a repeater is not connecting with the DG-ID/IMRS group.
RPT GROUP DG-ID: This offers the ability for an IMRS link to be established in a one-way direction. The DG-ID used is the LOCAL DG-ID of the other repeater that you are calling. If users are using DG-ID Tx AND RX they will not hear beeps the confirmation beeps (see above).
San Diego Repeater – Local 1 Los Angeles Repeater – Local 2, RPT GROUP 1
San Diego users using DG-ID 1 stay on San Diego for usage; Los Angeles users use DG-ID 2 stay on Los Angeles for usage. Los Angeles users who use DG-ID 1 will establish a one-way link to San Diego and will communicate with one another until the IMRS TOT is reached. Once the link drops it is reestablished by someone using DG-ID 1 on the Los Angeles repeater group as San Diego cannot establish the link as it is not a RPT GROUP.
GROUP DG-ID: offers the ability for an IMRS link to be established in either direction by any of the repeaters that have it programmed into IMRS. If users are using DG-ID Tx AND Rx they will NOT hear the confirmation beeps.
San Diego – Local 1, GROUP 10 Los Angeles Repeater – Local 2, GROUP 10
San Diego users use DG-ID 1 only stay on San Diego for usage. Los Angeles users use DG-ID 2 only stay on Los Angeles for usage. San Diego or Los Angeles users that use DG-ID 10 will connect to one another via IMRS and stay connected till the IMRS TOT times out.
San Diego – LOCAL 1 – RPT GROUP (blank), GROUP 10
Los Angeles – LOCAL 2 – RPT GROUP 1 – GROUP 10
San Diego: DG-ID 1 talks locally, using DG-ID 10 talks between San Diego and Los Angeles
Los Angeles: DG-ID 2 talks locally, using DG-ID 10 talks between San Diego and Los Angeles. DG-ID 1 establishes a link between San Diego and Los Angeles.
Using WiRES-X with a DG-ID, it is not recommended to use the LOCAL DG-ID if you have an IMRS setup with a DG-ID. Here’s why: WiRES-X will hear all the confirmation beeps from IMRS (argh!). Also WiRES-X will hear everyone but only talk locally since a LOCAL DG-ID is being used.
In this setting the users can do the following, per repeater, with the DG-ID’s.
San Diego:
Los Angeles:
Chicago:
Once an IMRS link is established ALL the DG-ID’s in the repeater can be used to keep the link active. If in the San Diego example a link is established, then DG-ID’s 1, 10, 20, and 99 can all be used to keep the link alive. DG-ID that established the link is the only one that will be transmitted by San Diego.
If a link established by DG-ID 10 on the San Diego repeater, the repeater will Rx DG-ID’s 1, 10, 20, and 99 but will only transmit back DG-ID 10. Therefore, if you have DG-ID 99 set-up in your radio for Tx & Rx you will be able to talk down the link but you will not hear anything because the repeater is Tx DG-ID 10.
Information from N9UPC.