FTM 400XDR Install

[day1player]

I do have a question though, what antenna(s) should I get for this? I’m taking my HAM test on the 19th so I can’t use it for a while anyways.

 

[Romer]

Just saw the question, sorry

I am running a
Comet SBB-5NMO 2M/70cm Dual Band Mobile Antenna

 

[Romer]

I really like this Radio. I haven't played with it anymore as of yet to use APRS for other folks wheeling and seeing them on a map, But one of the main reasons was so people at home could follow along and it is doing that well. Here is my track today on aprs.fi. This is all simply from my radio being on

 

[Romer]

Finally got some time to make the APRS work on my Samsung without the internet. For some reason the standard serial port out of the Radio packets are not formatted to work with APRS droid, But if you blue tooth them in, it will work

I followed this video

I ordered the parts discussed when you open the text portion below (select more)

I only had one issue, since I have multiple Bluetooth items paired on my tablet, I had to on the APRS connection tab where you select Bluetooth SPP demonstrated in the video, you have to go down 2 spots to "TNC Bluetooth device" and tell it which paired device to talk to

It worked pretty well.

I prefer Gaii, but this only works with Back country navigator. What I am talking about is showing other APRS rigs on your topo map along with the trail

Quick shots in my garage of APRSdroid and also Backcountry Navigator while sitting in my garage

 

[DaveInDenver]

It looks like you're using the Google Store version of APRSdroid.

There's a version that works offline with OSM maps in Mapsforge format, so that the app won't need to be connected to the Interwebz.

https://www.aprsdroid.org/osm/

You have to manually load the apk, it's not available through the Store.

There's a huge 2GB+ map of the whole USA for APRSdroid floating around that Sean, KS9N, compiled a couple of years ago. If you (or anyone) wants it and can't find it I have it stashed.

It's an OK map but I personally use maps from here: https://www.openandromaps.org

 

[Romer]

Dave I followed your advise on the OSM version and your recommendation for maps. I have downloaded the Colorado/Utah twice and it cuts off the bottom of the state so I dont see Ouray or telluride. Cuts off at the edge of Blue Mesa Res. Does your Map do that?

 

[DaveInDenver]

I'm running APRSdroid 1.5.0-49-g379bdb8 2018-11-18 (found in upper right menu under "About"). The updated the maps 6/26/2019 so they were the versions current then. Not sure how else to check versions.

Here's the Four Corners screenshot. It appear the CO/UT I got from OpenAndroidMaps has a lower right corner 36.900°, -101.850° and the upper left is 42.100°, -114.150°.

The 4 corners of Colorado are technically defined as:

SW: 37°, -109.04667°
SE: 37°, -102.04667°
NE: 41°, -102.04667°
NW: 41°, -109.04667°

That puts the map coverage a few miles beyond CO and UT into Oklahoma, Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas, Wyoming, Nevada, etc.

ETA: Looking closer at the northern part it does appear to have a notch of detail cut out that follows the actual corner of CO/UT so that only a sliver of Wyoming is included and not the whole degree of latitude to Utah's northern edge (which is 42°).

But it does extend beyond the Northern Colorado border. I see Sydney, NE, and Cheyenne, for example. If I was to estimate it appears the northern edge above Colorado follows a soft cut off at 41.15° that extends to -110.8°.

 

[Romer]

Is this the same link you download the map from? https://www.openandromaps.org/en/downloads/usa_en

I download Utah_Colorado

 

[DaveInDenver]

Yes, that's where I download them from and the "Utah_Colorado" is exactly the one I use. I'm stumped, not sure why it wouldn't work. But it wasn't super smooth when TJ was getting his APRS going recently, either.

Just saw this under coverage.

 

[Romer]

Hmm for some reason it works now

 

[Romer]

I Really prefer Gaia over Backcountry Navigator. It would seem with the downloaded maps, you could toggle between them if you want to know others position rather than just using Backcountry Navigator. I'll have to play with it on my next trip

Using blue tooth, I see my own Beacon on the map, just haven't seen any others even though my radio sees them. Could be none are close enough. No one at the meeting last night had APRS working to let me test it, so will play with that in Ouray at the end of the month

 

[DaveInDenver]

The hang up is that Gaia has had several features requests over the years but they seem to have any interest in compiling in APRS features. It's their loss I suppose but doesn't seem to impact the number of users.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Hmm for some reason it works now

I'm running a pretty old phone and it does sometimes take a while for the map to fully render, particularly when you're zoomed out and it has to calculate for dozens of tiles.

 

[rover67]

So researching new radios/nav setups for the new 80 lead me here. I literally spent hours on the web (an bothering members lol) and reading and just thought to open up this forum/thread and read. I'm a dummy. should have started here.

I was thinking Mobilinkd/baofang and andriod tablet plus a dual band radio so I could monitor a few different frequencies (like colorado connection & a RS freq) but then I see the FTM-400 may check most of the boxes AND I can text from it. Ken, a few hours ago I literally watched that same video you linked above where they are using the bluetooth serial adapter. Has that solution been working OK for you? I assume you toggle between Backcountry navigator to see people and Gaia to look at trail maps? If the only thing i'd be missing is ability to monitor two freq's AND do APRS I may be able to live with that. Also, to do a mobilinkd and radio setup is probably 150 or so with a cheap dedicated HT so even though the FTM-400 is expensive if i covers that need it saves me that cash. Then the texting... i like that a lot.

 

[Romer]

Marco , it seems to be but I havent been on another run where anyone else was transmitting APRS which has made it hard to validate

maybe we can do a club test some time to play with this

 

[DaveInDenver]

If the only thing i'd be missing is ability to monitor two freq's AND do APRS I may be able to live with that. Also, to do a mobilinkd and radio setup is probably 150 or so with a cheap dedicated HT so even though the FTM-400 is expensive if i covers that need it saves me that cash. Then the texting... i like that a lot.

Seems like you might be interested in doing a bit more with APRS than just position beacons, so I'd like to mention something. The FTM-400 is a good radio and it has some APRS features. But those features are not extensive and Yaesu doesn't fully expose the TNC in the radio. That means if one day you want to really tinker with APRS you may have to add a real external TNC (such as the Mobilinkd) anyway. So if that is something that interests you and so you might buy one someday I would suggest considering the TM-V71.

It has the core radio functionality of a TM-D710, the Kenwood full blown APRS dual band but without the APRS. It, though, can do APRS in the background if you add the Mobilinkd to it. IOW when you tell the radio the B band is for data anytime the TNC triggers it to transmit the radio will automatically switch sides and transmit on that side and return back to the A band. The FT-8900 you were also considering can't do that.

So my point is to say if you seriously think you might one day down the radio want to have a true dual band/dual monitor radio and move the APRS to a dedicated radio starting now with a TM-V71 + Mobilinkd is an intermediate step. You'd need to implement the Android tablet or phone immediately since the radio won't do text messages or anything. But APRSdroid is IMO better for that anyway. You lose the second side for repeaters just like you would with an FTM-400 or TM-D710, so no worse off there.

 

[Keith]

Marco, I've got a baofeng/mobilinkd/aprsdroid set up in a box. I can't find the pics from when I put it together, but I can get it to you to look at. Hell, you can borrow it for a while as I haven't been doing any hamming lately. The box can be tossed anywhere in your rig and that connects to 12v power and an antenna. Then the box connects wirelessly to a cheap android phone that you can place anywhere. Sends and receives great. And displays everything on a map that works offline. It's what I was using to keep track of you on our last trip into the Maze.

 

[rover67]

Keith I may take you up on the offer, I appreciate it.

Dave, as far as not fully exposing the TNC in the FTM-400 what do you mean? If I could pair it to a tablet running APRSdroid would it not have the functionality of a Tablet/Mobilinkd TNC combo for example? What is missing... does it only output data? Ken can you send massages utilizing APRSdroid on the tablet as the interface with the FTM-400?

I like the Idea of the TM-V71 but for about the same price(?!) I can still get the FTM-400 with the APRS features I mainly care about (positioning, messaging) and still connect via Bluetooth to a tablet for mapping with the setup Romer has. I guess it is a serial bluetooth dongle and more wiring though... BUT the TNC is built in and I guess it has it's own GPS.. which wouldn't matter since I'd run a tablet that has GPS anyways. uhg.

Also, as a side note, the more I think about it the less I think I may want dual monitor AND APRS going at the same time. Seems like on the road I'd be on a combo of simplex and maybe ColoCon, and once in the backcountry simplex and using APRS.

 

[Romer]

Marco, I havent tried the messaging. I would love to find a time with a few of us to get this working.

 

[rover67]

bought a Galaxy Tab A from Costco ($109), started downloading stuff, ordered a Mobilinkd, pulled my baofang UV-3R out of the drawer, bought a new antenna for it, and also some charging cables.


For now its gonna be playing with the little radio and the tablet.

Ken, I'll take it to my own thread, this has been a great help. I'm currently trying to download the maps for offline use

I'm thinking the FTM-400 might not be the radio for me but we have yet to see.