How to Program an FT-857D — Step by Step

The little gray box that did everything — HF, 6 meters, 2 meters and 70 centimeters out of one case small enough to live under a dashboard. It is still one of the most common radios in a go-kit, and the price of that size is that it has almost no buttons of its own.

This page covers: Yaesu FT-857D. One model, so nothing here has to be translated from a near relative — every step below was written for exactly this radio.

What you can do on this radio

• Set the radio up for FT8 and other digital modes
• Connect the radio to a computer
• Set the drive level for digital modes
• Narrow the filter to shut out the station next door
• Turn on noise reduction
• Turn on the noise blanker
• Notch out a whistle or a carrier
• Work a DX station that is running split
• Save a frequency to a memory channel
• Run the antenna tuner
• Set the CW keyer speed and weight
• Reset the menu to factory settings

Set the radio up for FT8 and other digital modes on an FT-857D

This radio has two data positions on the mode key and they are not interchangeable. DIG is the audio one — RTTY, PSK31, and whatever you set up yourself, which is where FT8 lives. PKT is FM packet to a TNC. Choosing DIG is easy; telling it what DIG means is a menu item.

1. Hold FUNC for a second, rotate SELECT to item 001 EXT MENU, and turn the MAIN DIAL to ON.hold FUNC›EXT MENU›dial → ONThe screen should show: 001 EXT MENU, then ON or OFF.Item 038 does not appear until you do this. Yaesu's own procedure starts here and so does nearly every other one in the book. Set it once and leave it.
2. Rotate SELECT to 038 DIG MODE and use the DIAL to pick what DIG should mean. Hold FUNC for a second to save and leave.DIG MODE›dial → USER-U›hold FUNCThe screen should show: 038 DIG MODE, then RTTY-L, RTTY-U, PSK31-L, PSK31-U, USER-L or USER-U.The default is RTTY-L. For FT8 you want an upper-sideband setting, and the USER-U slot is the one you can shift to taste. Yaesu's own worked example for WSJT uses USER-U with a shift of about plus 1500.
3. Press either MODE key until DIG shows.MODEThe screen should show: The DIG icon.The mode key walks a loop: LSB, USB, CW, CWR, AM, FM, DIG, PKT and round again. There is no separate data key.
4. Step 2 saved and closed the menu, so hold FUNC for a second to open it again. In the USER modes, 039 DIG SHIFT sets where the receiver is centered. Yaesu suggests about plus 1500 as a starting point for this kind of work.hold FUNC›DIG SHIFT›dial → +1500›hold FUNCThe screen should show: 039 DIG SHIFT, then a value from minus 3000 to plus 3000 Hz.Watch out. If you would rather the display read something other than the true carrier, 036 DIG DISP shifts the number on the screen independently. That is convenient and it is also a good way to confuse yourself later — leave it at zero unless you have a reason.

Wire the audio to the six-pin DATA jack on the back, and use the TX AUDIO line rather than the FSK line — Yaesu says so explicitly. The receive audio from that jack is a fixed level, so the AF knob can be anywhere, including all the way down, without affecting what your software hears. Two things that will confuse you if nobody warns you. First, the DIAL tunes in DIG but not in PKT, where you use the SELECT knob instead — and in AM and FM the DIAL is disabled entirely out of the box, which is menu 004 if you want it back. Second, DIG mode has its own VOX, and when you switch it on the ordinary VOX indicators go out. The manual is explicit that the digital VOX is still working despite the indicators having disappeared, so do not go looking for a fault.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Connect the radio to a computer on an FT-857D

One menu item does ninety percent of this, and the default value is the thing that stops most people. What is unusual about this radio is that the CAT socket is shared with the antenna tuner, so the two can lock each other out.

1. Hold FUNC for a second and set item 001 EXT MENU to ON if you have not already.hold FUNC›EXT MENU›dial → ONThe screen should show: 001 EXT MENU, then ON.
2. Rotate SELECT to 019 CAT RATE and set the speed with the DIAL.CAT RATE›dial → 38400The screen should show: 019 CAT RATE, then 4800, 9600 or 38400 bps.Watch out. The factory setting is 4800 bps, the slowest of the three, and most logging and digital software expects something faster. When the two disagree the radio simply does not answer — no error, no light, nothing. This is far and away the most common reason a Yaesu will not talk to a computer. Whatever you choose here has to be typed identically into the software.
3. Check that 020 CAT/LIN/TUN says CAT, then hold FUNC for a second to save and leave.CAT/LIN/TUN›dial → CAT›hold FUNCThe screen should show: 020 CAT/LIN/TUN, then CAT, LINEAR or TUNER.Watch out. One eight-pin socket on the back does three jobs, and this item decides which. If you have set it to TUNER for an FC-30, the computer is locked out. That is a real either-or on this radio.

If you need both the tuner and the computer, Yaesu's documented way round it is menu 059 MIC SEL set to CAT, which lets you run the serial data cable to the microphone jack instead and leave the rear socket to the tuner. Worth knowing before you conclude you have to choose. On the wire, the radio talks in five-byte blocks, eight data bits, no parity and two stop bits, and there are seventeen commands in total — if your software has an FT-857 setting it already knows all of this. If it does not talk after the speed is right, suspect the COM port number or the cable before anything in the menu. And be aware there is no USB anywhere on this radio; a modern computer needs an adapter, and a cheap adapter with a counterfeit chip is its own afternoon.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Set the drive level for digital modes on an FT-857D

Yaesu gives an actual target here rather than leaving you to guess, which is more than most manuals manage. The number is sixteen dots on the ALC meter — and to see them you first have to tell the meter to show ALC.

1. Press FUNC briefly, rotate SELECT until row i shows — the labels are MTR and DISP — and press A until the meter is on ALC.FUNC›dial → to row i›AThe screen should show: MFi at the left of the bottom line, and the ALC label above the B key.The A key cycles PWR, ALC, SWR and MOD, so one press from the usual PWR gets you there. The B key runs the same four the other way round — PWR, MOD, SWR, ALC — and either key works. You cannot set drive level without watching ALC, and the meter does not switch itself.
2. Hold FUNC for a second and turn item 001 EXT MENU on.hold FUNC›EXT MENU›dial → ONThe screen should show: 001 EXT MENU, then ON.
3. Rotate SELECT to 037 DIG GAIN. This is the drive control for everything in DIG mode.DIG GAINThe screen should show: 037 DIG GAIN, with the ALC meter still live beneath it.Watch out. Yaesu's own PSK31 paragraph tells you to use menu 38 for this. That is an error in the manual — 38 is DIG MODE, which chooses the mode and sideband. The drive control is 37, as the step-by-step procedure on the same page says.
4. Transmit from the computer and turn the DIAL until the ALC meter shows sixteen dots. Hold FUNC for a second to save.key the transmitter from your software›dial → for 16 dots of ALC›hold FUNCThe screen should show: The ALC bargraph moving as you turn.The range is 0 to 100 and it ships at 50. Sixteen dots is Yaesu's own figure, and the point of it is that a few dots of ALC means the audio is loud enough to be doing something and not so loud that the transmitter is compressing it into splatter.
5. The previous step saved and closed the menu, so hold FUNC for a second to reopen it. Power is item 075 RF POWER SET, and it applies to the band you are on right now.hold FUNC›RF POWER SET›dial → your power›hold FUNCThe screen should show: 075 RF POWER SET, then a wattage.Watch out. This is a per-band setting, not a global one. Set 20 watts on 20 meters and 40 meters is still wherever you left it. There is no dedicated power key — but menu 057 can put power on a press of the SELECT knob if you change bands a lot.

If you are doing FM packet rather than audio digital, it is a different set of items: 073 PKT RATE picks 1200 or 9600, and then 071 or 072 sets the drive for whichever you chose. Yaesu is unusually blunt about 9600 — the deviation setting is critical, it can only be done properly with a calibrated deviation meter, and the target is 2.75 kHz plus or minus 0.25. At 1200 the tolerance is much wider, anywhere from 2.5 to 3.5 kHz. Note also that 1200 and 9600 use different pins on the DATA jack, so the wiring is not the same either. One hardware quirk worth filing away: grounding pin 3 of the DC power jack drops the radio to 20 watts automatically, 10 on 70 centimeters — useful on a battery, baffling if you do not know it is there.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Narrow the filter to shut out the station next door on an FT-857D

There are two separate answers on this radio and they live in different places. The DSP filters are audio, they are free, and they are on the DSP key. The crystal filters are real IF filters, they cost money, and they are on a row you have to go looking for.

1. Press DSP. That is the one shortcut that jumps you to a whole row — everything else on this radio is a hot key into a single menu item — it lands you on row p, the DSP row.DSPThe screen should show: MFp, with DNR, DNF and DBF above the three keys.Pressing DSP again puts you back on whichever row you were on before, so this is a safe place to visit.
2. Press C to switch the bandpass filter on.CThe screen should show: A marker appears to the left of DBF.Watch out. What this key gives you depends entirely on the mode. In SSB, AM, FM and the digital modes it is a bandpass filter with adjustable ends. In CW it is something else — a narrow peaking filter centered automatically on whatever CW pitch you have set in menu 027.
3. In a voice mode, hold C for a second. That jumps straight to 047 DSP LPF CUTOFF — the high-cut end. Turn the DIAL to set it.hold C›dial → the high cutThe screen should show: 047 DSP LPF CUTOFF, then a value between 1000 and 6000 Hz.It ships wide open at 6000. Yaesu's own advice is that the best interference rejection on voice usually comes from somewhere between 2130 and 2770.
4. Rotate SELECT one click counter-clockwise to land on 046 DSP HPF CUTOFF, set the low-cut end with the DIAL, then hold FUNC for a second to save both.dial → SELECT one click back›dial → the low cut›hold FUNCThe screen should show: 046 DSP HPF CUTOFF, then 100 to 1000 Hz.Watch out. It ships at 100 Hz. Yaesu's warning is that voice starts sounding thin above about 400, so that is the practical ceiling rather than the one the menu offers.
5. In CW, holding the same key for a second takes you somewhere different: 045 DSP BPF WIDTH, where the choices are 60, 120 and 240 Hz.hold C›dial → 60, 120 or 240›hold FUNCThe screen should show: 045 DSP BPF WIDTH.Same key, same gesture, different menu item and a different kind of filter, decided by nothing except what mode you are in. It ships at 240.
6. For a real IF filter, rotate to row n. A is the stock ceramic filter; B and C are the two optional crystal filter slots.FUNC›dial → to row n›BThe screen should show: The B and C labels read N/A when the slots are empty, and 2.3, 500 or 300 when a filter is fitted.Watch out. If both labels say N/A, there is nothing installed and nothing to select. The options are the YF-122S for SSB, the YF-122C at 500 Hz and the YF-122CN at 300 Hz for CW, and fitting one means taking the top cover off.

Two things that catch people. If you have fitted an SSB crystal filter and want it used on transmit as well as receive, that is a separate setting — menu 086 TX IF FILTER, which ships on CFIL and has to be moved to FIL1 or FIL2 to match the slot you used. And the NAR key over in row m is not a receive bandwidth control at all, despite the name: it selects the low-deviation mode for FM on 29 MHz. If you are hunting for a narrow filter, it is not that one. For shifting the passband rather than narrowing it, hold CLAR for a second to bring up IF SHIFT and turn the SELECT knob; hold CLAR again to switch it off, and it remembers where you left it.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Turn on noise reduction on an FT-857D

One of the three DSP functions, and the easiest to reach on the whole radio.

1. Press DSP to get to row p, then press A to switch the noise reduction on.DSP›AThe screen should show: A marker appears to the left of DNR, and the DSP flag lights at the top of the display.
2. Hold A for a second to jump straight to 049 DSP NR LEVEL, turn the DIAL for the best signal-to-noise you can find, then hold FUNC for a second to save.hold A›dial → the level›hold FUNCThe screen should show: 049 DSP NR LEVEL, 1 to 16.It ships at 8. There is no universally right number — the level that helps depends on what the noise is doing, which is why the manual tells you to listen rather than giving you a figure.
3. Press A again to switch it back off.A

One genuinely good tip from Yaesu that most people never find, because it is buried at the end of this section: if the noise is strong enough to be moving the S meter, back the SQL/RF control off counter-clockwise until the meter reads about the same as the noise peaks. That raises the receiver's AGC threshold and the noise reduction works noticeably better afterwards. It is worth trying before you decide the DNR on this radio is not very good.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Turn on the noise blanker on an FT-857D

An IF noise blanker for pulse noise — ignition, electric fences, that sort of thing. It is not on the DSP row and there is no shortcut to it.

1. Press FUNC briefly and rotate SELECT until row l shows. The A key is NB and the B key is AGC.FUNC›dial → to row lThe screen should show: MFl at the left of the bottom line.Watch out. Do not go by the third label. Yaesu prints this row three different ways in three places — with a blank, with AUTO, and with OFF — because the C label is whatever the AGC is currently set to. The A key is always NB.
2. Press A to switch the blanker on.AThe screen should show: A marker appears to the left of NB.
3. Hold A for a second to jump to 063 NB LEVEL, set it with the DIAL, then hold FUNC for a second to save.hold A›dial → the level›hold FUNCThe screen should show: 063 NB LEVEL, 0 to 100.It ships at 50. Turn it up until the pulses go and then stop.

Yaesu's own caution, and it is the same story on every radio with a blanker: on a crowded band you may want it off, because it degrades how well the receiver handles strong nearby signals. If the band is busy and something sounds wrong that did not sound wrong an hour ago, this is worth switching off as a test. If you use it constantly, menu 057 can put the blanker level on a press of the SELECT knob so you are not going through the menu every time.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Notch out a whistle or a carrier on an FT-857D

Automatic only. There is no notch knob on this radio and no menu item for a notch frequency — you switch it on and it finds the tone itself.

1. Press DSP to reach row p, then press B.DSP›BThe screen should show: A marker appears to the left of DNF, and the carrier you were hearing drops away.DNF stands for digital notch filter. It hunts for a steady tone inside the passband and pulls it down, without you telling it where to look.
2. Press B again to switch it off.B

The one warning that matters, and Yaesu puts it in bold in the manual: do not switch this on in CW. An incoming CW signal is a steady tone, which is exactly what the notch is built to remove, so the filter will cheerfully delete the thing you are trying to listen to. The DNF key sits between the noise reduction and the bandpass filter on the same row, one key away from both, and nothing on the radio stops you pressing it in CW. If CW signals suddenly vanish while the band still sounds alive, check this first. There is no adjustment of depth or width — it is on or it is off.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Work a DX station that is running split on an FT-857D

Two ways in. The quick one is a single key that puts you 5 kHz up and switches split on in one go. The long one is worth walking through anyway, because this radio's idea of which VFO transmits is the opposite of what most operators assume.

1. For the quick version: rotate to row q and press B, marked QSPL.FUNC›dial → to row q›BThe screen should show: The SPL flag appears at the top left.That one press sets the other VFO to your frequency plus 5 kHz and switches split on. The offset is fixed at 5 kHz and there is no menu to change it.Watch out. Row q is the programmable row. QSPL is only the factory assignment of the B key, from menu 066. On a secondhand radio somebody may have changed it, so check the label says QSPL before you trust it.
2. For the long version, rotate to row a instead. The labels are A/B, A=B and SPL.FUNC›dial → to row aThe screen should show: MFa.
3. Tune VFO A to where the DX station is listening, then press B to copy it into VFO B.dial → where he is listening›BThe screen should show: Both VFOs now hold the same frequency.
4. Press A to move to VFO B and tune it to where the DX station is actually transmitting — the frequency you want to listen to.A›dial → his transmit frequencyThe screen should show: VFO B on the display.
5. Press C to switch split on.CThe screen should show: A marker appears to the left of SPL and the SPL flag lights at the top left.Watch out. Read this twice, because it is backwards from most radios. In Yaesu's own worked example, once split is on the radio transmits on VFO A and receives on VFO B — so the frequency showing on the display is your receive frequency and you are transmitting on the other one. If you build this the way you would on an Icom, you will transmit on the DX station's own frequency.
6. Pressing A swaps the two, which is how you listen to the pile-up instead of the DX. Press it again to go back.AUseful for working out where in the pile-up he is actually picking people up from.
7. Press C again to cancel split.CThe screen should show: The SPL flag goes out.

There is no monitor-your-own-transmit-frequency gesture on this radio the way there is on an Icom or a Kenwood — no XFC key, no TF-SET. Swapping the VFOs with the A key is the nearest thing, and it means you stop hearing the DX while you do it. On the optional MH-59A8J microphone the P1 button also defaults to quick split, which is a good deal more convenient than rotating to row q with one hand on the paddle.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Save a frequency to a memory channel on an FT-857D

Two hundred channels, plus a one-touch scratchpad. The confirmation you are listening for is two beeps a second apart — the second one is the one that means it was written.

1. Set the frequency, the mode and anything else you want kept — tone, shift, filter.dial → the frequency›MODEA channel is a snapshot. Everything you want in it has to be right before you write it.
2. Press FUNC briefly and rotate SELECT to row b. The labels are MW, SKIP and TAG.FUNC›dial → to row bThe screen should show: MFb.
3. Press A briefly. The channel number starts blinking and you can rotate SELECT through the channels to find an empty one.A›dial → the channel numberThe screen should show: The channel number blinking at the top left, showing what is already stored there.Watch out. The B key label changes the moment you do this. Where the reference card says SKIP, it now says MCLR, and pressing it masks the channel rather than skipping it. If you are reaching for something on this row while the number is blinking, be sure which label is actually showing.
4. Hold A for a second, until you hear two beeps a second apart.hold AThe screen should show: The channel number stops blinking.Yaesu is specific: two beeps, a second apart, and it is the second one that confirms the data went in. One beep alone means nothing was stored. If you only heard one, it did not store.
5. To give it a name instead, press A briefly rather than holding it. A cursor appears under a default tag; the DIAL picks each character and SELECT moves along. A brief press of A finishes and stores.A›dial → the characters›dial → SELECT to move along›AThe screen should show: CH- and the channel number, with a blinking cursor.

The quick scratchpad is worth knowing: holding the V/M key until you hear the double beep drops the current frequency into the quick memory bank, and pressing B on row c gets it back. That is also a trap, because V/M is the key you press to swap between VFO and memory — hold it a moment too long and you have overwritten your scratchpad. To store a split memory there is an extra half you must not miss. Store the receive frequency the ordinary way, then set the transmit frequency and mode on the VFO, then press A briefly without turning the SELECT knob, and while the channel number is blinking hold the PTT and, still holding it, hold A for a second. Skip the step where you set the transmit frequency and both halves of the channel end up on the same frequency. Pressing PTT there does not transmit — it is just how you tell the radio this channel has a separate transmit frequency. Two other things: masked channels come back if you repeat the masking steps, but writing anything new over one destroys it for good; and if channels seem to be missing, check menu 055 in case you are in a memory group. Channel 1 is reserved for priority and cannot be masked, and the five US 60 meter channels at 601 to 605 are fixed and cannot be changed at all.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Run the antenna tuner on an FT-857D

Start with the thing the manual will not say in one sentence: there is no tuner inside this radio. None. What there is instead is a TUNE key that drives an accessory, and it does nothing at all until you have told the radio which accessory you own.

1. Hold FUNC for a second and set 001 EXT MENU to ON.hold FUNC›EXT MENU›dial → ONThe screen should show: 001 EXT MENU, then ON.Neither of the two items below appears without it.
2. For an FC-30, set 020 CAT/LIN/TUN to TUNER, then hold FUNC for a second to save and leave.CAT/LIN/TUN›dial → TUNER›hold FUNCThe screen should show: 020 CAT/LIN/TUN, then CAT, LINEAR or TUNER.Watch out. This step is for the FC-30 only. An ATAS-120A does not need it — stay in the menu and rotate SELECT straight on to 085 in step 4, skipping the FUNC hold at the start of it. And doing this takes the CAT socket away from your computer — see the note at the end.
3. Switch the radio off, connect the FC-30, and switch it back on.switch the radio off, connect the FC-30, switch it onWatch out. Yaesu is emphatic about the order: do not connect the FC-30 before changing menu 020. That is their instruction, in their words, and it is printed in the middle of the procedure rather than at the top where you would see it.
4. Hold FUNC for a second to open the menu again — step 2 closed it, and the power cycle in step 3 certainly did. Now set 085 TUNER/ATAS. TUNER for the FC-30; for an ATAS-120A pick the band range you want it on.hold FUNC›TUNER/ATAS›dial → TUNER›hold FUNCThe screen should show: 085 TUNER/ATAS, then OFF, three ATAS options, or TUNER.The default is OFF, and OFF means the TUNE key does nothing whatsoever. That is the answer to why the key appears dead on a radio nobody has set up. The ATAS choices are HF only, HF and 50, or all bands — and all bands needs an external diplexer to combine the two antenna sockets.
5. Rotate to row k and press A to switch the tuner on.FUNC›dial → to row k›AThe screen should show: TUNE on the LCD for the FC-30, ATAS for the antenna.This only powers it up. Nothing has been tuned yet.
6. Hold A for a second to actually tune.hold AThe screen should show: WAIT while it works.Watch out. The radio transmits a carrier to do this, with no prompt and no warning. Make sure you are on a frequency you can legally transmit on and that the antenna is connected before your thumb rests on that key.

Two things about the FC-30's memory that explain a lot of odd behavior. It holds a hundred tuning solutions, eleven general ones apportioned one per band and eighty-nine at 10 kHz resolution — but they are only written when you deliberately hold the TUNE key for a second. The tuner will also kick in on its own above 1.5 to 1, and those automatic tunes are not remembered, so the radio appears to re-tune the same frequency forever until you hold the key once. Above 3 to 1, or 2 to 1 on 6 meters, it gives up and stores nothing. With the ATAS-120A there is one more: if the antenna is a long way off the right length the radio sends no carrier at all and instead runs the antenna to one end of its travel, which can take a full minute — do not press TUNE again while that is happening. And on 2 meters and 70 centimeters the ATAS needs no tuning at all. Last, the trade-off: setting menu 020 to TUNER for the FC-30 locks the computer out of the CAT socket. Yaesu's own way round it is menu 059 MIC SEL set to CAT, which moves the serial connection to the microphone jack.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Set the CW keyer speed and weight on an FT-857D

There is a proper shortcut for this one — Yaesu calls it a hot key in the manual — and unusually for this radio it does not need the extended menu switched on.

1. Rotate SELECT to row j — SPOT, BK and KYR — and press C to switch the keyer on.FUNC›dial → to row j›CThe screen should show: A marker appears to the left of KYR.Without this the paddle does nothing useful. BK on the same row is break-in.
2. Hold the same key for a second. That jumps straight to 030 CW SPEED.hold CThe screen should show: 030 CW SPEED and the current speed.This is the shortcut, and it works whether or not menu 001 is on.
3. Send with the paddle while you turn the DIAL, then hold FUNC for a second to save and leave.dial → the speed›hold FUNCThe screen should show: 4 to 60 words a minute, one at a time.It ships at 12 words a minute. Pressing the SELECT knob switches the display between words per minute and characters per minute — the latter uses the international PARIS standard of five characters to a word, so 12 wpm reads as 60 cpm.

The rest of the keyer is scattered through the menu. 032 CW WEIGHT sets the dot to dash ratio, 1 to 3 by default, and getting to it does need the extended menu on. 027 CW PITCH runs 400 to 800 Hz and ships at 700; the DSP peaking filter follows it automatically. 024 CW DELAY ships at 250 milliseconds, with FULL for full break-in. 025 CW KEY REV swaps the paddle over — normally the tip is the dot and the ring is the dash. And 026 CW PADDLE lets the microphone up and down buttons key the radio instead of a paddle, which is genuinely useful in a car and slightly alarming the first time it happens by accident. If you change speed often, menu 057 can put it on a press of the SELECT knob.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Reset the menu to factory settings on an FT-857D

Three different resets, all done by holding a key while the radio comes on, and the difference between them is not obvious from the key you press. One of the three wipes every memory you have. Read the whole of this before you do any of it.

1. Switch the radio off.switch the radio off
2. For a menu reset that leaves your memories alone: hold FUNC and switch the radio on.hold FUNC›powerThis puts every menu item back to factory except seven — AM STEP, DCS CODE, FM STEP, MEM TAG, RPT SHIFT, SSB STEP and TONE FREQ, which are items 06, 33, 52, 56, 76, 82 and 83. Your memory channels are untouched. This is the one to use when you have set something you cannot find again.
3. Holding V/M instead wipes all your memories, and resets only those same seven menu items.hold V/M›powerWatch out. Note what has happened there. The same seven numbers appear in both lists, but as the ones that get reset here and the ones that do not get reset with FUNC. If you glance at the manual and see a familiar list of numbers you can very easily pick the wrong key. V/M is the destructive one.
4. Holding HOME is the full reset — every memory and every menu setting, all of it.hold HOME›powerWatch out. Nothing survives this. Worth cloning to another radio or writing your channels down first if there is anything in there you care about.

One thing the manual does not tell you and we are not going to guess at: it says only that you hold the key and switch the power on, and it never says how long to hold either the key or the power switch. Normal power-on is a one-second hold of the POWER switch, so that is the sensible assumption, but it is an assumption. There is also a much gentler option that most people miss: inside the menu, a quick press of HOME puts just the item you are looking at back to its factory value. If one setting has gone wrong, use that rather than resetting the radio. And a warning about the same key in a different place — inside the menu, a quick press of A marks the item you are on to be masked out of the list, and the only sign is the hyphen in the item number turning into a dot. The masking itself only bites once menu 001 EXT MENU is back off, so with EXT MENU on you can dot an item without noticing anything at all, and then wonder where it went months later.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.