FTDX101 Tips and Tricks

TIP 1. If you have CW Auto Mode (CW Setting -> MODE CW -> CW AUTO MODE) set to ON, you can still turn your PROCessor on/off using the PROC button, the trick is that you have to engage PTT and then press the PROC button to get it to switch the Proc on/off rather than the Keyer on/off.

TIP 2. To get CW Auto Mode to work, you have to select CW mode turn on BK-IN then select SSB mode. From then on it will remember you want BK-IN when sending CW from SSB mode.

TIP 3. If you want to use the radio with a wireless mouse, all wireless mice are not the same, I finally found that a Logitech M310 works when connected to the top USB port on the front of the radio (it doesn't work in the bottom port).

TIP 4. Both the RS232 and the rear USB ports work for CAT control simultaneously.

TIP 5. When setting up the microphone equaliser bandwidth (Operation Setting -> Tx Audio -> PRMTRC EQx BWTH), bandwidth is a very misleading word, Yaesu actually mean 'Q' i.e. a setting of 10 means a response over a small bandwidth (say 100Hz) and a setting of 1 means a response over a large bandwidth say (1KHz).

TIP 6. When setting up the microphone audio and drive levels AMC is mega important. AMC is on all the time, but you can only control its level by selecting (Operation Setting -> Tx Audio -> Proc Level -> AMC). The AMC level can then be adjusted using the Proc rotary control to dial in an AMC value. Note the value is counter intuitive, a setting of 100 means no AMC limiting, a setting of 1 is maximum AMC limiting. A setting of 100 will give you distorted modulation and cause the compression and mic gain to be impossible to set correctly. Starting from 100 work your way down until the you can set the compression and ALC level as stated in the manual. Most microphones work well at a setting of approx. 65, YMMV. To test a value of AMC you have to jump back into the same menu setting and select COMP before you can adjust compressor settings to see if you can get it to behave.

TIP 7. If you have problems with the rig wanting to update the firmware when you switch on, this is caused by the equipment on the other end of your RS232 connection not being switched on. I have also heard that sometimes the RS232 connection causes sd card load problems, the solution being you have to disconnect the RS232 cable from the back of the rig before trying to load files.

It's a great rig, but as you can see there are currently a few quirks.