Yaesu FTM 500D 

Have faith, man.🤠

Too many hams are going for the cheap Chinese crap.

Me too

Kenwood is coming out with a new hand held Radio

If you know you definitely want the radio, do not wait for it to be shown as in-stock on the website. We fulfill all our back-orders before ever showing it in stock on the website. This means that people who have placed their orders will get their radio long before you even place an order.

@@HamRadioOutlet I was told that as soon as the radio comes in, the store will ship it to me. I'm on the list. It's already paid for.

Agree I have 3 ft891 Nice rig But I prefer the 857 includes 2m and 70 cm for same price

I was hoping to at least see SSB option for a $700 radio but no. I bought an icom 7100 last year I have no regrets.

I brought a 857d looking for another one

I have an FT8500 the infamous Mr. Potato Head. I can have the head detached and the microphone controls ALL radio function, never have to touch the head knobs Ie: volume and squelch. its 26 years old and can receive AM aviation freq

The price of living on the bleeding edge.

It does indeed have a ton of menu items... but, I think there are shortcuts to get where you need to be. I just didn't know how to get there. The good news is, the commonly used features are now front and center (either on buttons or top-level menu items), rather than buried deep in menu-after-menu-after-menu, like the predecessors. $650 is only $50 more than the FTM-400 when it was introduced 10 years ago. A lot has happened in 10 years - the price of literally everything has gone up. The $600 you spent 10 years ago gets you a lot less in 2023. For $650 today you'd be getting a much better radio.

Give me the noney

I am with Matt on this one. Way too much money for a radio. The BIG knob is just to change the freq and channels. (Page 19 of the manaul you can download.) I guess the up/down is too hard to work. I will wait for the FTM-500nbk. No Big Knob or AESS. I like the bigger screen. Hey Matt, on my FTM-200. You can configure a small set of menu items you like for easy access. I would think they carried it over to the 500. 73s KE6UPI

@@DavidS-iw4ei There are 50 sets of memories for programmable memory scan. You may think the smaller screen (compared to the FTM-400) is a deal breaker... but wait till you actually see it.

Nice looking radio but for me don't think the price of it is justified.

While I agree... how many times have you gone to the Repeater Book or other online database to find a repeater, only to find out the information is inaccurate? It might be quite frustrating to have the radio select repeaters that are inactive, or their information is incorrect. The Fusion data stream seems pretty slow, so it would take quite some time to get the list that way. If the Fusion repeaters always had only "known good" repeater information for other repeaters within, say 25 miles from its own location, maybe the idea would work. Then you have to deal with constantly changing memories in your radio. There are issues but I'm sure there must be a way around them.

It's $50 more than the introductory price of FTM-400 that was introduced 10 years ago.

In reality, the screen isn't much bigger on the FTM-400, and the screen on the FTM-500 is much better. The FTM-500 is a better radio than the FTM-400.

Are you sure bigger is better? 🤣🤣🤣🤣

I agree. The 400 has cross-band repeat capability, this one does not, as per DX Engineering’s stat sheet. For $650, that’s a dealbreaker for me.

@@HamRadioOutlet That’s subjective. “Better” is in the eye of the beholder.

@@BBaldwin I believe John Kruk from Yaesu said it has FM crossband repeat functionality.

I'm not sure that will happen. 220 is not a ham band in most countries, and even where it is it's really only the USA has the whole band. The manufacturer would be making your dream radio primarily for the USA market, which is relatively small.

@Ham Radio Outlet ya that does make sense. It would be nice to see something different. Thank you for your response. 73

The FTM-400 is gone. They can't get the parts. That's just the reality of it. The FTM-500 is the replacement, and it's a good radio.

Awesome! Enjoy your new radio!

It does sound different, that's for sure. It's also there, or it's not there. There's no fading in or out. But that is digital. I don't find it *so* different. I find C4FM easier to listen to than DMR. BTW, I know of no retailers that offer a 30 day trial run of a product.

Yes. It's like most modern dual band radios... Listen on one band while transmitting on another. If both VFOs are on the same band (EG. Both VFOs set to 440 band), reception on the receiving band may be disabled while actively transmitting on the same band on the other VFO The FTM-500 also has WX watch, so it'll flip to the selected weather channel every few seconds to check for the emergency tone.

It does APRS.

Yes, it's a great APRS platform.

@@scottgarvy Thnx Scott. ;)

@@DonzLockz You're welcome.

No.

Just age related vision issues? 😂

I liked it, but didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with it and discover all its new features (and quirks - I'm sure there will be some!). But firmware fixes many things, so I think it'll just get better.

Thanks Josh. Now it's your turn!

@@HamRadioOutlet dibs after Josh 🤣

@@503Nick Hahaha! I think he's got to bring it back, on pain of death!

HRO - When will you be contacting us to finish our pre-orders? This looks awesome!

@@cobrajack-official It's an on-going process. The orders and reservations are processed in the order they were received. If you placed a reservation make sure you check your voicemail and email (including spam folder!).

There may well be shortcuts. I hadn't seen the manual.

I really don't know! I think many car stereo systems have different implementations of Bluethooth, so it might depend on the manufacturer as well as Yaesu's implementation. On the surface, I don't see why it wouldn't work... just the same as playing music on your car's stereo from a non-phone device.

I just run the audio into my Honda aux audio jack.

Thanks Scott. It's always interesting learning a new radio on camera! ;-)

VAT and import duty.

Bigger screen, touch screen, better UI, front and top buttons for common functions, better receiver, mic jack in head unit, speaker in head unit and body, AESS... ... It's a replacement for the discontinued FTM-400, not the currently still in production FTM-300. If you're happy with the FTM-300, get the FTM-300. If you want an FTM-400 but can't find one, the FTM-500 is for you.

@@HamRadioOutlet Will the same mounting bracket work for both the 300 and 500?

Memory banks sure seem to be important to some people... but maybe Yaesu's market research tends to think they're not that important to most? I really don't know. I usually hear a few people complaining about the lack of memory banks when a Yaesu radio is released without them, but not that many.

Memory banks are important to anyone that drives a vehicle regularly to different areas. Which I do a lot. I don't mind a rig not having them, but at 650 it's crazy it doesn't have the feature that older ones do.

@@K4AX my buddy is a big rig driver and you are 100% correct.

I have a sample size of one - my own FTM-400XDR that was in my car in Palm Springs last weekend. The inside temperature of my car was well above 120F. I stupidly left my iPad in the trunk and it completely shutdown due to the high temperature. The FTM-400XDR had no issues whatsoever when transmitting 50W on 2m and 440. So, assuming the FTM-500 works at least as well as the FTM-400, I'd say there is no problem.

I'll give the same answer I've given elsewhere: Can you give an example of a comparable radio at a lower price? How about the ID-52A, a 5W handheld that's only $50 cheaper. The 10 year old ID-5100 (probably the closest in specs - 2m/440/digital mode/D-APRS) is about $130 cheaper. The FTM-400 was introduced 10 years ago for $50 less. Prices always go up, unfortunately.

@@HamRadioOutlet if you’ve given this answer elsewhere, then clearly others believe it is overpriced. Again, it is a beautiful radio but it’s the same price as the open box icom 718 hf rig, sure it’s been out for years but it’s also a proven radio.

@@bobdillashaw4360 Yes... others have said it's over-priced. I'm just trying to put it into perspective. In the 10 years since the FTM-400 was released (which this radio replaces), the introductory price difference is $50. In those 10 years, we've had COVID-19, a world-wide microprocessor shortage (which is continuing and was directly responsible for the FTM-400's demise), the tripling of shipping costs, increased manufacturing costs, and inflation. I think comparing a new radio to a very old radio that was expensive for its time is unfair. Remember in 1997 when a 42" Fujitsu flat screen plasma TV sold for $15,000 (that's $28,000 in today's money)? It was great for its time, just very expensive. Now you can buy a 4K LCD TV for $300 at Costco. Is it fair to compare a 26 year old second-hand TV that might sell for $300 with a new LCD TV that also sells for $300 and say the new one should be cheaper because the old one sells for the same price? It's not an apples-to-apples comparison. Ultimately, it comes down to "Is the FTM-500 worth the price of admission, to ME". If the answer is yes, well, good news, they're here! If not, no worries. Wait for the next great thing. 🙂

It needs to be a DSTAR-equipped radio! It needs the hardware and firmware to support DSTAR. This radio does not use DSTAR, but Yaesu System Fusion (C4FM).

It's not inexpensive, but not way over-priced if it has the features you want. The FTM-400 was introduced 10 years ago and has older technology. The FTM-500 was introduced 10 years later, has newer technology and has been introduced at a price that's just $50 more than than the price at which the 10-year old FTM-400 was introduced. Considering all that's happened in the last 10 years... a global pandemic, global microprocessor shortages, inflation, etc... that $50 increase isn't bad. It's well known that prices tend to decrease after first introduction.

Yes, same thing. The last letter is the country code Yaesu uses. See the "Files" section on their website for the FTM-500D for further information.

I have no way of knowing if it's worth it to you. I know it's worth it to several hundred people who already bought it! I liked the radio quite a lot, especially as far as every day use is concerned, where most commonly used functions are quickly available, not buried in menus.

@@HamRadioOutlet thats a great thing👍

Right. You would need to buy one of their 220 radios, not their 2m/440 dual banders. The 220 band is not a band used around the world, so the market is small.

Sweet! Enjoy!

Hahaha! I hope it arrives soon!

😂 Rip off

@@martinryan5069 Yeah. So you said. I say again, show us a comparable radio at a significantly lower price.

Not at all.

Is it though? Can you give an example of a comparable radio at a lower price? How about the ID-52A, a 5W handheld that's only $50 cheaper. The 10 year old ID-5100 (probably the closest in specs - 2m/440/digital model/D-APRS) is about $130 cheaper. The FTM-400 was introduced 10 years ago for $50 less. Prices always go up, unfortunately.

Yes... and they're unfounded. If there was a recall, Yaesu would not have shipped them, or told us not to deliver them.

I do not have the answer to that question.

It does APRS out of the box. You can send your position, receive other people's position, use digipeaters, and send and receive messages all via APRS and with no other hardware required. It certainly does have an internal GPS, and it does update your position. You may have switched yours to use the external GPS input (Func - Menu 38 GPS - Select "Internal" - Power cycle the radio). It's not a cheap radio, that's true, but find an alternative that does all the FTM-500 does at a cheaper price (FM, Fusion, VHF, UHF, 50 watts, remote mountable, dual speakers [one in the head, one in the body], GPS, APRS).

Yes.

@@HamRadioOutlet what if I don't have one 😅

@@KirwanMedia Then this radio is not for you. If you don't have an FCC ham radio license, there's CB, GMRS, MURS, and FRS radios which don't require passing a test, and any licenses required are simply purchased from the FCC.

Yeah? Show me a comparable radio at a significantly lower price.

@@HamRadioOutlet Ok remove the AESS and the big knob. Oh wait thats the FTM-300. If it any more. Just buy the FT-991a.

@@DavidS-iw4ei The FTM-300 and FTM-500 are very different radios... as is the FT-991A

Thanks. It was a journey of discovery! LOL

Or maybe that was a design decision based on other design decisions?

The FTM-400 is a nice radio.... but after the short time I had with the FTM-500, I think I'd have no issues swapping my FTM-400 out for the FTM-500.

Yes.

The Japanese 2m ham band ends at 146.000 MHz. That's why you can't transmit at 146.500 MHz.

@@HamRadioOutlet Hello, do you provide any update or file that can open TX? That you can sell to me. Regards.

@@Serpaneto2009No. The Japanese version is made for the Japanese market. It cannot be converted to the US market version.

I believe that in essence, it is a pre-amp, but I believe that it also does some signal processing to make weak signals sound better.

Interesting. I wonder if screen size played a part in the case of the FTM-200 and FT5DR? I don't know if distance is displayed on the FTM-500. It could be a menu item, or distance information might not pass through repeaters unless they are configured to pass it, etc.

Distance and heading are displayed on the FTM-500. See: fb.watch/k-p6rwOfTf/

@@HamRadioOutlet No that isn't the same as the FTM400. The FTM400 and the older FTM100 display distance without accessing other screens.

@@mikeg1zrn896 It's a different radio, so things are done differently, but the information is still there and available.

@@HamRadioOutlet Then it's a backward step, suppose to be a mobile radio, you can't be looking for information when driving that should be displayed as per the older FTM400 & FTM100.

Yes you can hear both frequencies on each tuner simultaneously

@@HamRadioOutlet thanks for the response, but I am getting different answers, because some people says you can hear both frequencies at the same time, & some people says you can't., only one which you choose.

@@Hassan-Alnajjar Direct from page 1 of the manual: "Simultaneous reception of two separate frequencies, on different bands, or within the same band (V+V/U+U/V+U/U+V)."

Thank you.

You are required to put in your callsign on first boot, same as the FTM-400.

@@HamRadioOutlet why?

So if you want to listen till you get your tech lic.your out of luck?

I believe it is. But I was wrong once before! 🙂

John Kruk says yes.

I bought it for APRS.

I'm confused. You're using a 2m/440 radio on a 15m-40m end-fed antenna? You're using a VHF/UHF radio on on an HF antenna? If so, please stop or you will destroy the amplifier in the radio, which will not be covered by warranty! You need either a dedicated 2m antenna and a dedicated 70cm antenna, or a dual-band 2m/70cm antenna. Not many mobile 2m/400 dual band radios have a meter that displays power/voltage/SWR. It is assumed that they are connected to a 12V source and a resonant antenna, so voltage and SWR are not really required. Power output is, of course, shown on the meter.

@@HamRadioOutlet I check the antenna before using. I wanted a temporary connection while I program. SWR was great across the entire 70cm band but not on low end of the 2m band. Highest SWR at low frequency end of 2m was right at 3. Been into radios since 1976 and never had one to fail. Still use my realistic CB I got in 1976. I know to take precautions.

@@TridentMissileTech SWR is only a small part of the story. A dummy load has an SWR of 1:1, but it barely transmits any signal at all, by design. Your HF end-fed is not designed or made to transmit VHF and UHF. Your FTM-500 is not designed to transmit on an HF antenna. Your original comment stated you were unhappy with the FTM-500's performance and that it couldn't hit as many repeaters as your old radio. If you put it on an antenna that is designed and made to transmit on 2m and 440, instead of an HF antenna that isn't, it will perform better, unless you've already damaged the radio's finals. But, it's your radio, you do what you want with it! 🙂

@@HamRadioOutlet antenna load is impedance match. While it may be a compromised a antenna and not being vertical affects the propagation, it does no presents a danger to damaging the radio. No way no how. Just like the radio on a dummy load doesn’t know it is not an antenna. The radio doesn’t know it is an endfed or vertical. The radio sees close to a matched impedance.

Thank you for watching!

Thank you.

Sounds like a plan. Don't forget the check in the envelope! LOL

Why not now? We've been selling them since this video was released! www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-018368

@@HamRadioOutlet Yep I got mine from HRO and it's nice. I heard there were some problems with the head separation cable, is this true?

@@vandela177What kind of problems? It's a cable! If you use the Yaesu cable, it'll work. If you make up your own cable, then who knows!

No, it really isn't. This is a 2m/440/C4FM/APRS mobile radio. Probably its closest rival is the IC-5100A, which is a 10 year old 2m/440/DSTAR/D-APRS mobile radio.

nope

Not the one that comes standard in the box. I don't know if the camera mic that is available for other Yaesu mobile C4FM radios is compatible.

@@HamRadioOutlet thanks for responding to me appreciate that. 73 de KD8AAK

@@josephvandyke2150 More than welcome! 73.

No. See the video description, or the link to the radio, also listed in the description (bit.ly/3LB3Xtp). This is a mobile FM and C4FM radio, not an all mode radio. It is the replacement for the FTM-400 that was discontinued due to parts availability problems.

@@HamRadioOutlet Already saw the description before my comment. Just hoping the SSB mode could be added to such a great rig.

@@MrGoodSkills Ah, ok. I do not believe there is any way that this rig will ever do SSB. It was designed from the outset to replace the FTM-400 that could no longer be produced due to the microprocessors used in the FTM-400 being unavailable.

Another 500 dollars per person

Huh?

@@HamRadioOutlet have they set a date to release this radio? I know it was mid March then mid April. I assume it must be getting close if they sent you a radio.

The FTM-500 is being shipped to those who pre-ordered it. The web page will be updated to show current inventory when all the pre-orders have been shipped. Customers are still ordering them all the time, so we can't say how many radios we have left. The website will show none in stock until we have some left to actually put on the shelves! ...but they have arrived at our stores.

People who purchased them are already getting them.

@@HamRadioOutlet you guys are awesome. Milwaukee store guys are a huge help.

@@WisconsinGabe Thank you, sir!

@@HamRadioOutlet just got the email, mine has shipped! Thanks again HRO you guys are the best!

@@WisconsinGabe Woohoo! Enjoy the new radio!

C4FM is simple to use. You press a button to get into C4FM mode and you press a button to search for "rooms" (think: Talk group) or enter the name of the room directly and connect. That's it. You don't need to program anything, other than the repeater frequency/offset/tone like any other radio. Yaesu made this radio to replace the FTM-400 which was discontinued due to difficulty getting components.

@@HamRadioOutlet that makes sense thanks for the information hro

@@MrD308 At this time, I don't now the radio well enough to give you a knowledgeable answer, sorry. However, this is how their other radios have done it: At 65mph you would likely be changing memories or programming repeaters regularly and, assuming each repeater is a C4FM repeater with access the same room, then reconnecting is pretty simple - Push the button to connect to the C4FM repeater that's currently programmed into the radio and the radio remembers the last room it was connected to... so push the on screen button to connect to that room again.