How to Program an FTM-400XDR — Step by Step

Yaesu's C4FM mobile with the big 3.5-inch color touch screen and two DIAL knobs — one per band. Almost nothing on it is a hidden key combination: the settings live behind fourteen labeled tiles you touch, and the knob changes whatever you have touched.

This page covers: Yaesu FTM-400XDR, Yaesu FTM-400DR, Yaesu FTM-400XDE, Yaesu FTM-400DE. They share the same firmware, so the steps below are identical on all of them whatever name is printed on the front.

What you can do on this radio

• Save a repeater to a memory channel
• Set the transmit tone (CTCSS / PL)
• Set the receive tone
• Set the offset direction and amount
• Set the squelch
• Change the transmit power
• Listen on the repeater's input
• Name a memory channel
• Delete a memory channel
• Turn off the roger beep
• Turn off the voice announcements
• Turn off dual watch
• Lock the keypad
• Factory reset
• Turn on the built-in GPS
• Set up APRS with your callsign
• Put APRS on the right band and speed
• Send your position automatically
• Send and receive APRS messages
• Register your callsign for C4FM
• Switch the radio into C4FM digital
• Set the DG-ID so you only hear your group

Save a repeater to a memory channel on an FTM-400XDR

Build the whole thing on the VFO first — frequency, then the offset, then the tone — and write it to a channel last. One save takes the lot, including the transmit power you had set.

1. Touch V/M until VFO shows above the frequency, then turn that band's DIAL knob to the repeater's output.touch V/M›dial → the repeater's output frequencyThe screen should show: VFO above your frequency.To type it instead, press F/MW and touch the keypad button, then the digits and ENT. Pressing the DIAL knob in first steps in whole megahertz, which saves a lot of turning.
2. Check Auto Repeater Shift is on before you set anything by hand.hold DISP/SETUP›CONFIG → 4 AUTO RPT SHIFT›touch ONThe screen should show: AUTO RPT SHIFT, ON or OFF. Factory setting is ON.With it on the radio works the offset direction out from the frequency itself, and on ordinary repeater segments that is the whole job.
3. If you do need to set it yourself, the direction is CONFIG 5.hold DISP/SETUP›CONFIG → 5 RPT SHIFT›dial → OFF, − or +The screen should show: RPT SHIFT, with OFF, − or +.Watch out. Touching the line cycles the three; it does not open a list. And the amount is a different item — CONFIG 6 RPT SHIFT FREQ, adjustable from 0.00 to 99.95 MHz in 0.05 MHz steps. Both leave the factory set to whatever suits the band you are on.
4. Now the tone. Press F/MW for the function menu and touch SQL until it reads T-TX.F/MW›touch SQLThe screen should show: T-TX under the SQL button.Watch out. Each touch moves you on: NOISE, T-TX, T-TRX, T-REV, D-TRX, PRGM, PAGER. T-TX sends a tone and leaves your receiver open, which is what a repeater wants. T-TRX also silences your radio unless a matching tone comes back — one touch too far and the radio goes quiet on a repeater everybody else can hear. If SQL is not on the menu, touch BACK or FWD to change pages.
5. Set the tone frequency at SIGNALING 1, then touch the line again so it turns green.hold DISP/SETUP›SIGNALING → 1 TONE SQL FREQ›dial → your tone frequencyThe screen should show: The frequency in orange while you turn the knob, green once it is set.Fifty tones between 67.0 and 254.1 Hz. Leave it orange and walk away and nothing was saved — green is the confirmation.
6. Hold F/MW for a second, pick the channel with the DIAL, then press F/MW to write it.hold F/MW›dial → the channel number›F/MWThe screen should show: The memory writing list, with the next empty channel already chosen; then your frequency with its channel number.The radio offers the lowest free channel, so if you are just adding one you can hold F/MW and press F/MW and be done. You can also touch a channel in the list directly. 500 channels per band.

Everything rides along in one save — frequency, offset, tone type and frequency, DCS code, transmit power and the memory tag. That is why it pays to get the VFO right first. A channel that already has something in it can be written over without warning, so glance at the list before you press F/MW the second time.

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

Set the transmit tone (CTCSS / PL) on an FTM-400XDR

Two settings in two different places: which kind of tone, on the function menu, and what frequency it is, in the set-up menu. Neither is where people look first.

1. Press F/MW and touch SQL until the button reads T-TX.F/MW›touch SQLThe screen should show: T-TX in small letters under SQL.Watch out. Stop on T-TX. It sends the tone and leaves your receiver wide open, which is all a repeater asks for. The next one along, T-TRX, also mutes you unless a matching tone comes back, and that is the usual reason one of these goes silent.
2. For the frequency, hold DISP/SETUP, touch SIGNALING, then touch 1 TONE SQL FREQ.hold DISP/SETUP›touch SIGNALING›touch 1 TONE SQL FREQThe screen should show: The value turns orange.Orange means the DIAL knob is now pointed at this setting. Nothing has changed yet.
3. Turn the DIAL to your tone, touch the line again so it turns green, then hold DISP/SETUP to come out.dial → your tone frequency›touch 1 TONE SQL FREQ›hold DISP/SETUPThe screen should show: Green, then back to the frequency display.Watch out. Yaesu's own manual disagrees with itself about the factory default here — the procedure says 88.5 Hz and the menu list says 100.0 Hz. It does not matter much, because you are setting it anyway, but do not assume the radio arrived on the tone your repeater wants.

CTCSS does not work in digital mode at all. If the radio is in DN or VW, press D/X until it shows FM or the AMS symbol, or the tone simply will not be sent. The setting is stored per band, so setting it on band A does nothing for band B.

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

Set the receive tone on an FTM-400XDR

A receive tone keeps the speaker shut unless the signal carries the tone you nominated. On this radio it is one touch further along the same button that sets the transmit tone.

1. Press F/MW and touch SQL until it reads T-TRX.F/MW›touch SQLThe screen should show: T-TRX under SQL.Watch out. T-TRX does two jobs at once — sends your tone AND mutes your receiver unless a matching one comes back. That second half is the one that catches people. If you only wanted into a repeater, stop at T-TX instead.
2. The frequency is the same setting as for transmit: SIGNALING 1.hold DISP/SETUP›SIGNALING → 1 TONE SQL FREQ›dial → the tone to listen forThe screen should show: The tone frequency, orange then green.There is only one tone frequency per band on this radio. Transmit and receive use the same number, which is what almost every repeater expects anyway.
3. To listen through it again, touch SQL back round to NOISE.F/MW›touch SQLThe screen should show: NOISE under SQL, and the hiss returns.Worth knowing before you need it. You can also put SQL OFF on a microphone program key at CONFIG 10, which opens everything for as long as you hold it — the quickest way to find out whether the frequency is really quiet or your own tone squelch is hiding it.
4. If you need the odd combinations, SIGNALING 8 unlocks three more.hold DISP/SETUP›SIGNALING → 8 SQL EXPANSION›touch ONThe screen should show: SQL EXPANSION, OFF or ON.With it on, the SQL button also offers D-TX, TT/DR and DT/TR — tone one way and DCS the other. Rarely needed, but they do not exist at all until this is switched on, which is why people conclude the radio cannot do it.

If the radio has gone deaf on a channel that used to work, this page is the first place to look — press F/MW and read what is under SQL. Nine times in ten it is sitting on T-TRX when it should be on T-TX.

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

Set the offset direction and amount on an FTM-400XDR

Direction and amount are two items sitting next to each other, and above both of them is the switch that usually means you do not have to touch either.

1. Start at CONFIG 4. Auto Repeater Shift leaves the factory switched on.hold DISP/SETUP›CONFIG → 4 AUTO RPT SHIFT›touch ONThe screen should show: AUTO RPT SHIFT, ON or OFF.It reads the frequency and sets the direction for you. On the standard repeater segments it is right every time, and the two steps below become checks rather than work.
2. The direction is CONFIG 5, and touching the line cycles the three choices.hold DISP/SETUP›CONFIG → 5 RPT SHIFT›touch OFF, − or +The screen should show: OFF, − or + beside RPT SHIFT.OFF means transmit and receive on the same frequency. Minus shifts the transmit frequency down, plus shifts it up. What the factory sets depends on which band you are on.
3. The amount is CONFIG 6, in 0.05 MHz steps from 0.00 to 99.95 MHz.hold DISP/SETUP›CONFIG → 6 RPT SHIFT FREQ›dial → the offset in MHzThe screen should show: The offset in orange while you turn, green when you touch the line again.Watch out. The range goes to 99.95 MHz, which is far wider than anything you will use and easy to overshoot with a fast turn. If the number goes past where you wanted, keep turning — it does not wrap quickly at that resolution.
4. Check it with Reverse on the function menu.F/MW›touch REVThe screen should show: The frequency swaps to the repeater's input.That is the frequency you will actually transmit on. If it is not where the repeater listens, one of the two settings above is wrong — and finding that out here beats finding it out on the air.

The offset is stored in the memory channel along with everything else, so a channel written before you fixed the offset still has the old one. Rewrite the channel rather than assuming the VFO change followed it in.

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

Set the squelch on an FTM-400XDR

There is no squelch knob on this radio. The DIAL knob does it, but only for the three seconds after you tell it to.

1. Touch SQL along the bottom of the screen. It turns orange.touch SQLThe screen should show: The VOL bar under the frequency changes to an SQL bar.That bar is the squelch level. Each band has its own SQL button and its own level — the upper one is band A, the lower band B.
2. Turn that band's DIAL knob until the background noise just disappears.dial → up until the hiss stopsThe screen should show: The SQL bar moves and the hiss stops.Watch out. You have about three seconds. If you stop to think, the bar reverts to the volume meter and the knob goes back to changing frequency — touch SQL again and carry on. Just past where the noise dies is the right place; further clockwise costs you weak signals.
3. MUTE beside it silences the audio without touching the squelch.touch MUTEThe screen should show: MUTE turns orange.Different job, and worth knowing so you do not wind the squelch up to get silence. Mute is instant and reversible; a wound-up squelch quietly deafens the radio and stays that way.

Where the noise disappears drifts with temperature and with whatever is being noisy nearby, so a setting that was perfect on a cold morning can be slightly deaf on a hot afternoon. It is worth a re-check now and then rather than assuming the radio has developed a fault.

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

Change the transmit power on an FTM-400XDR

Not in the set-up menu, which is where most people look. It is on the function menu, two presses away.

1. Press F/MW to bring up the function menu.F/MWThe screen should show: A panel of soft buttons over the frequency display.Tx PWR is on it, with the current setting printed underneath — so you can check without changing anything.
2. Touch Tx PWR to step through the three levels.touch Tx PWRThe screen should show: HI, LO or MD under the button.Watch out. The order is HI, then LO, then MD — low before medium, which is not what you expect and is easy to overshoot. HI is 50 watts, MD 20, LO 5. It leaves the factory on HI.
3. Press F/MW again to put the menu away.F/MWThe screen should show: Back to the normal display.The setting is per band and it is stored in a memory channel when you write one, so a channel saved at 50 watts comes back at 50 watts however the VFO is set.

Worth turning down more often than most people do. Fifty watts to a station two miles away is fifty watts of current out of your vehicle's electrical system and fifty watts into every nearby receiver, and the contact sounds identical at five. If you use it a lot, note that the microphone's P4 key is set to TX POWER from the factory on every version of this radio, so it is already a one-press job.

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

Listen on the repeater's input on an FTM-400XDR

Reverse swaps your transmit and receive frequencies, so you hear the repeater's input instead of its output. It answers one useful question: can I hear this station without the repeater?

1. Press F/MW and touch REV.F/MW›touch REVThe screen should show: The displayed frequency changes to the repeater's input.You are now listening where the repeater listens. If the other station is clear, the two of you are in simplex range and could move off and leave the machine free.
2. Touch REV again to put it back.touch REVThe screen should show: The frequency returns.Watch out. Do not leave it on. With reverse engaged you are transmitting on the repeater's output frequency, which is useless to you and unhelpful to everyone listening. The only warning is on the display, so it is worth learning where to look.

Reverse is also the fastest way to check that a repeater channel is built correctly — press it and see whether the transmit frequency is where the repeater actually listens. If it is not, the offset direction or amount is wrong. Reverse can also be put on a microphone program key at CONFIG 10, which makes it a single button while driving.

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

Name a memory channel on an FTM-400XDR

Eight characters, typed on the touch screen. Worth doing for anything you will hunt for later — a list of frequencies tells you nothing at seventy miles an hour.

1. Touch and hold V/M for two or three seconds, then pick the channel.hold V/M›dial → the channel to nameThe screen should show: The memory channel list.You can also touch the channel in the list directly. The home channel can be named the same way.
2. Hold F/MW for a second to open the character input screen.hold F/MWThe screen should show: A touch keyboard.Holding the DIAL knob for a second does the same thing, which is easier if you already have a hand on it.
3. Type the name and touch ENT.touch Caps›touch your letters›touch ENTThe screen should show: The name appears at the top, then beside the frequency.Watch out. Caps is a toggle, not a shift — touch it once and everything after is capitals until you touch it again. It turns orange for capitals and white for lower case. 123 switches to numbers and symbols, and the arrow keys move the cursor without deleting.
4. Touch BACK to leave the list.touch BACKThe screen should show: Your channel with its name.If the name does not show, the display is set to show the frequency instead — that is MEMORY 1 ALPHA TAG SIZE and the per-channel display method, not a failed save.

Eight characters goes further than it sounds if you drop the vowels — W5ABC, MTPLSNT, HOSPITAL. Names are stored with the channel, so they survive a memory sort but not a memory channel reset.

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

Delete a memory channel on an FTM-400XDR

Three touches and a confirmation, from the same memory list you write channels in.

1. Hold V/M for two or three seconds to open the memory list, then turn the DIAL to the channel.hold V/M›dial → the channel to eraseThe screen should show: The memory channel list, with your channel highlighted.Read the frequency in the list before you go on. There is a confirmation, but it does not tell you what you are about to lose.
2. Touch DEL, then OK? to confirm.touch DEL›touch OK?The screen should show: A DELETE confirmation, then an empty line in the list.Watch out. Cancel is right beside OK?. Once it is gone there is no undo — and if the channel had a name and an offset and a tone, all of that goes with it.
3. Repeat for any others, then touch BACK.touch BACKThe screen should show: Back to the frequency display.Memory channel 1 and the home channel cannot be erased at all. You can only write over them, which is a deliberate safeguard rather than a fault.

If you are clearing out a lot of channels, RESET/CLONE 4 MEM CH RESET erases them all in one go and leaves your set-up menu settings alone. Back the radio up to a microSD card first — SD CARD 1 BACKUP — because there is no way back from either route.

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

Turn off the roger beep on an FTM-400XDR

This radio does not have this feature. What follows is what it does have, and why the thing you were looking for is not here.

Short answer: there is not one. Yaesu's complete menu list for this radio has no courtesy tone at the end of a transmission, and nothing to switch off. If a beep is bothering you it is one of the two below.

1. CONFIG 8 is the key beep — the click every touch and button press makes.hold DISP/SETUP›CONFIG → 8 BEEP›touch OFFThe screen should show: BEEP, with OFF, LOW or HIGH.This is the one people usually mean. It is the sound the radio makes at you, not anything that goes over the air, so switching it off changes nothing anybody else hears. LOW is a good middle ground on a touch screen, where the beep is the only confirmation that a touch registered.
2. The other candidate is the digital standby beep, buried under TX/RX then DIGITAL.hold DISP/SETUP›touch TX/RX›touch DIGITAL›4 STANDBY BEEPThe screen should show: STANDBY BEEP, ON or OFF. It leaves the factory ON.Watch out. This one only sounds in C4FM digital, at the end of a received transmission. Digital audio stops dead rather than fading into noise, so the beep is there to tell you the other station has finished — which is genuinely useful when you are new to digital, and irritating once you are not.

If you are hearing a real courtesy beep after somebody else stops talking, that is the repeater doing it and there is nothing on your radio to turn off. Worth knowing that this radio's beeps are all inbound: nothing it does adds a sound to your own transmitted audio.

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

Turn off the voice announcements on an FTM-400XDR

This radio does not have this feature. What follows is what it does have, and why the thing you were looking for is not here.

This radio does not announce anything out of the box. Voice is an optional unit, the FVS-2, that fits inside the main body — and until it is fitted, the menu items below do nothing.

1. The announcements need the FVS-2 unit installed in the main body.fit the optional FVS-2 voice guide unitThe screen should show: Nothing changes on the display until it is fitted.It is a small board sold separately. Without it the radio has no voice at all — the settings below appear but have nothing to speak through, which is the usual reason people think the feature is broken.
2. With the unit in, OPTION 3 VOICE MEMORY holds the announce setting.hold DISP/SETUP›touch OPTION›3 VOICE MEMORY›touch ANNOUNCEThe screen should show: ANNOUNCE, with AUTO, OFF or MANUAL.Watch out. AUTO speaks as things change; MANUAL only speaks when you ask; OFF is silence. AUTO in a car is the point of the whole thing — it means you never look down to check which band or frequency you are on.
3. Set the announcement volume in the same place, then hold DISP/SETUP to save.touch VOLUME›dial → HIGH, MID or LOW›hold DISP/SETUPThe screen should show: VOLUME, with HIGH, MID or LOW.Separate from the receive volume, which is what you want — the announcements stay audible when the band is turned down. LANGUAGE lives here too, with English or Japanese.

If you are choosing between the two Yaesu mobiles on this basis, the FTM-510DR is the same story — voice is the FVS-2 there as well, and it is not fitted from the factory on either. The FTM-400's touch screen makes the missing voice less painful than it would be on a knob-and-menu radio, but a screen is still something you have to look at.

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

Turn off dual watch on an FTM-400XDR

This radio has two receivers, so it hears both bands at once with nothing switched on. What Yaesu calls dual receive here is a different thing: checking the home channel while you sit on something else.

1. Press F/MW and touch DW to start it.F/MW›touch DWThe screen should show: DW turns orange, and the home channel frequency flicks up about every three seconds.It samples the home channel roughly every three seconds while you carry on listening to whatever you were on. When a signal turns up there, the radio stays on it for about five seconds.
2. Touch DW again to stop it.touch DWThe screen should show: DW goes back to grey.Watch out. If DW is not on the function menu page you are looking at, touch BACK or FWD to change pages. The function menu has more buttons than fit at once, which is the commonest reason people conclude a feature is missing.
3. SCAN 1 decides what happens when it finds something.hold DISP/SETUP›SCAN → 1 DUAL WATCH STOP›touch AUTO or HOLDThe screen should show: DUAL WATCH STOP, AUTO or HOLD. Factory setting is AUTO.AUTO goes back to sampling after five seconds. HOLD stays on the home channel until the signal disappears, which is what you want if the home channel is the conversation and the other band is the background.

If you genuinely want two conversations at once, you do not need any of this — set band A and band B to the two frequencies and turn both VOL knobs up. That is what the second receiver is for, and it is why the radio has two volume controls rather than one.

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

Lock the keypad on an FTM-400XDR

One quick press, on the same button that switches the radio on. The trick is the difference between a press and a hold.

1. With the radio already on, press the Power/LOCK switch briefly.Power/LOCKThe screen should show: The lock engages.Watch out. Briefly. Hold that same button for two seconds and you switch the radio off instead, which is a memorable way to learn the difference. Press it briefly again to unlock.
2. For the microphone, CONFIG 10 sets what its four program keys do.hold DISP/SETUP›CONFIG → 10 MIC PROGRAM KEYThe screen should show: P1 to P4 with their assigned functions.There is no separate microphone lock on this radio. What you can do is choose what the program keys are capable of doing, so a microphone pressed against a seat cannot retune you. From the factory they are SQL OFF, HOME, D_X and TX POWER — none of which changes frequency.

The lock does not cover the PTT. A microphone jammed against something will still key up, which is the failure that gets you called on the air rather than the one that just annoys you — so the real fix in a vehicle is a microphone hanger somewhere the button cannot be pressed.

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

Factory reset on an FTM-400XDR

Three separate resets on one screen, and the important part is choosing correctly the first time. MEM CH RESET is the one most people mean.

1. First, if there is a card in the radio, write your settings out.hold DISP/SETUP›touch SD CARD›touch 1 BACKUP›touch Write to SDThe screen should show: Backup to the microSD card.The same item reads it back afterwards. Five minutes here saves an evening of rebuilding four hundred channels, and it is the only route back from a factory reset.
2. Hold DISP/SETUP and touch the RESET/CLONE tile.hold DISP/SETUP›touch RESET/CLONEThe screen should show: A list with FACTORY RESET, PRESET, RECALL PRESET, MEM CH RESET and more.Everything destructive on this radio is behind this one tile, which makes it easy to find and easy to be careful about.
3. Touch the one you want.touch 1 FACTORY RESET›or 4 MEM CH RESET, or 6 APRS RESETThe screen should show: A confirmation.Watch out. Read them properly. FACTORY RESET puts everything back as shipped, memory channels included. MEM CH RESET erases only the memory channels and leaves your set-up menu settings exactly as they are. APRS RESET touches only the APRS block. Factory is not the thorough version of the other two, it is the destructive one.
4. Touch OK? to go through with it.touch OK?The screen should show: The radio resets and restarts.Cancel is beside it. After a factory reset the radio asks for your callsign again before it will do anything else, which is a good sign that it worked rather than a fault.

If the radio is misbehaving rather than misconfigured, try MEM CH RESET before FACTORY RESET — a corrupt memory channel is a far more common cause of odd behavior than a corrupt settings block, and it costs you much less to find out.

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

Turn on the built-in GPS on an FTM-400XDR

The GPS is inside the radio and there is no switch for it — it starts looking the moment you power up. Most of this page is about knowing when to trust it and where its output goes.

1. Give it a few minutes and watch for the satellite icon at the top right.watch the top right of the screen after switching onThe screen should show: A satellite symbol appears when three or more satellites are captured.Watch out. If that icon is absent, positioning is not happening and nothing that depends on it will work — no position in a beacon, no distance to another station. It can take several minutes from cold, and much longer the first time after purchase or after the radio has been unused for a long period.
2. CONFIG 17 chooses between the built-in receiver and an external one.hold DISP/SETUP›CONFIG → 17 GPS DEVICE›touch INTERNALThe screen should show: GPS DEVICE, INTERNAL or EXTERNAL. Factory setting is INTERNAL.There is an EXT GPS jack on the side of the controller for a commercial receiver. If somebody has set this to EXTERNAL with nothing plugged in, the radio will never find a position and the internal unit is not at fault.
3. CONFIG 18 records where you have been, to the memory card.hold DISP/SETUP›CONFIG → 18 GPS LOG›dial → 1 sec to 60 secThe screen should show: GPS LOG, OFF or an interval from 1 to 60 seconds.It leaves the factory OFF. The log goes onto the microSD card and can be opened on a computer afterwards — useful for a mountaintop trip, or for working out later exactly where the coverage ran out.
4. While you are here, set the units at CONFIG 12.hold DISP/SETUP›CONFIG → 12 UNIT›touch METRIC or INCHThe screen should show: UNIT, METRIC or INCH.This governs altitude, distance and speed everywhere they appear. Getting it right now saves squinting at a compass screen later wondering whether that is meters or feet.

Two things worth knowing. CONFIG 16 GPS DATUM should be left on WGS-84 — the other option exists for a Japanese survey system and will put you in the wrong place on an APRS map. And the position the GPS finds is also what the radio sends in a C4FM transmission when LOCATION SERVICE is on, so it is not only APRS that depends on this working.

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

Set up APRS with your callsign on an FTM-400XDR

Four settings identify you on the map, and they all sit together in the APRS block. Get these right before you transmit a single packet, because a beacon carrying the wrong callsign is worse than no beacon.

1. APRS 23 is your APRS callsign, and it is not the same field as your C4FM one.hold DISP/SETUP›touch APRS›23 CALLSIGN (APRS)›touch your callsignThe screen should show: A keyboard, then your callsign with its SSID.Watch out. Two callsign fields on this radio and they do different jobs. APRS 23 takes an SSID; the CALLSIGN tile at the end of the set-up menu is the C4FM one and does not. Filling in one does not fill in the other.
2. APRS 28 picks the icon everybody sees you as.28 MY SYMBOL›dial → Car, REC. Vehicle, House QTH or Yaesu RadiosThe screen should show: Four icon slots, with Car on the first from the factory.Pick the one that is true. A car icon on a station that never moves makes the map harder to read for everyone, and the icon is the only thing most people ever look at.
3. APRS 29 is the status that rides along with your position.29 POSITION COMMENT›dial → Off Duty, En Route, In Service and the restThe screen should show: Off Duty, En Route, In Service, Returning, Committed, Special, Priority, seven custom slots and Emergency.Watch out. Emergency is on that same list, one turn of the knob past the ordinary choices. Selecting it flags your position as an emergency to everyone receiving you. Know it is there so you do not land on it by accident, and never pick it as a test.
4. APRS 26 chooses between the live GPS fix and a position you type in at APRS 27.26 MY POSITION SET›touch GPS or MANUALThe screen should show: MY POSITION SET, GPS or MANUAL.GPS in a vehicle. MANUAL at home or a regular operating site, where a typed position is exact, does not drift, and does not need a view of the sky.

One more before you go on air: APRS 5 APRS MODEM is the master switch and it leaves the factory OFF, so nothing at all happens until you turn it on. Yaesu publishes a separate APRS Edition manual with the operating detail — the station list, message handling and the map screens — and this page covers the settings rather than that.

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

Put APRS on the right band and speed on an FTM-400XDR

The radio has two receivers and APRS uses exactly one of them. Telling it which is the setting people miss — everything else is configured correctly and nothing happens, because the packet side is listening to the band you are talking on.

1. APRS 5 is the master switch, and it ships OFF.hold DISP/SETUP›touch APRS›5 APRS MODEM›touch ONThe screen should show: APRS MODEM, OFF or ON.Nothing about APRS works until this is on. It is the first thing to check and the easiest thing to forget.
2. DATA 2 puts the internal modem on a band.hold DISP/SETUP›touch DATA›2 DATA BAND SELECT›touch B-BAND FIXThe screen should show: MAIN BAND, SUB BAND, A-BAND FIX, B-BAND FIX, A=TX/B=RX or A=RX/B=TX. Factory setting is B-BAND FIX.Watch out. MAIN BAND and SUB BAND follow whichever band you have selected, so APRS moves when you do — which is almost never what you want. B-BAND FIX pins it to band B and leaves band A free for talking. Then tune band B to your national APRS frequency, 144.390 MHz across most of North America, and turn its volume right down. The receiver keeps working with the audio at zero.
3. DATA 3 sets the packet speed. APRS is 1200 almost everywhere.3 DATA SPEED›touch 1200 bpsThe screen should show: APRS: 1200 bps or 9600 bps. Factory setting is 1200.Watch out. 9600 exists for the few places that use it and will make you completely inaudible to a 1200 bps network. Your packets go out perfectly and mean nothing to anybody, which is a hard fault to spot from your end.
4. DATA 4 decides which band's squelch the modem watches.4 DATA SQUELCH›touch RX BANDThe screen should show: APRS: RX BAND or TX/RX BAND. Factory setting is RX BAND.It is how the radio judges the channel is busy before it transmits. Leave it on RX BAND unless you have a specific reason — the alternative makes the modem wait for both bands to be clear, which on a busy day means you rarely beacon at all.
5. APRS 11 is the pause between keying up and sending data.11 APRS TX DELAY›dial → 100 to 1000 msThe screen should show: APRS TX DELAY, from 100 ms to 1000 ms. Factory setting is 250 ms.It gives the receiving end time to lock on before the packet starts. If your beacons are only sometimes decoded and your signal is strong, lengthen this before you blame anything else.

Work down this page in order rather than around it if nothing is decoding. The master switch accounts for most of it, the wrong data band for most of the rest, and between them they explain nearly every FTM-400 that beacons into silence. Worth knowing too that APRS 6 APRS MUTE will silence the APRS band's audio for you, which is gentler than turning the volume down and forgetting.

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

Send your position automatically on an FTM-400XDR

How often you transmit your position, and how far your packets are allowed to be relayed. These two are where a well-meaning new station turns into the one everybody filters out, so they are worth understanding rather than just setting.

1. APRS 15 holds the beacon settings, starting with whether it beacons at all.hold DISP/SETUP›touch APRS›15 BEACON TX›touch AUTO ONThe screen should show: AUTO, OFF or ON. It ships OFF.With AUTO off you beacon only when you ask. With it on, the INTERVAL below it decides how often.
2. INTERVAL, in the same item, is the timer. The factory setting is 5 minutes.touch INTERVAL›dial → 30 sec to 60 minThe screen should show: 30 sec through 60 min.Watch out. Thirty seconds on a shared national channel is antisocial, and if a digipeater is repeating you as well you are using several times the air time you think. Five minutes in a car is fine; a station that does not move can sit at half an hour and nobody will miss it.
3. DECAY and PROPORTIONAL, both in APRS 15, are the good-citizen settings.touch DECAY›touch ON›touch PROPORTIONAL›touch ONThe screen should show: DECAY: ON or OFF. PROPORTIONAL: ON or OFF.Decay stretches the interval out the longer you sit still and snaps it back when you move. Proportional pathing sends the far-reaching beacons less often than the local ones. Together they are the easiest way to be seen without flooding the channel.
4. APRS 16 sets how far your packets get relayed.16 DIGI PATH SELECT›touch WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1The screen should show: OFF, WIDE 1-1, WIDE 1-1 WIDE 2-1, PATH 1 to 4, FULL 1 or FULL 2. Factory setting is WIDE 1-1, WIDE 2-1.Watch out. This is the important one. More hops does not get you heard further — it gets your packet duplicated across a whole region by every digipeater that hears it. One or two hops is the normal, courteous setting almost everywhere, and the factory setting is already right for most people.
5. APRS 30 replaces the fixed timer with one that reads how you are driving.30 Smart Beaconing›touch TYPE 1The screen should show: STATUS: OFF, TYPE 1, TYPE 2 or TYPE 3, with speeds, rates and turn angles beneath.It beacons more often when you are moving fast and on corners, and much less when you are crawling or parked. In a vehicle it is strictly better than a fixed interval, and TYPE 1 with the factory numbers is a sane starting point.

If you take one thing from this page, take the digipeater path. Interval affects how often you use the channel; hops multiply every one of those transmissions by the number of digipeaters that hear you. A two-hop path at a sensible interval will get you seen further than a long path everybody has learned to ignore.

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

Send and receive APRS messages on an FTM-400XDR

APRS carries short text between callsigns, not just positions. The radio will hold canned phrases so you are not typing on a touch screen at the wheel, and it will answer for you when you cannot.

1. APRS 4 stores eight standard messages you can send with a couple of touches.hold DISP/SETUP›touch APRS›4 APRS MESSAGE TEXT›touch your phraseThe screen should show: Eight channels of text.This is the setting that makes messaging practical in a vehicle. Write the ones you actually send — on my way, at the site, call me on the repeater — while you are parked, and you never have to spell anything out while moving.
2. APRS 25 answers a message for you.25 MESSAGE REPLY›touch REPLY ONThe screen should show: REPLY: OFF or ON, with a callsign and the reply text underneath.It ships OFF. With it on, anybody who messages you gets an answer without you touching the radio. The CALLSIGN field beneath narrows it to one station if you only want to answer a particular person.
3. APRS 9 decides what makes a noise when it arrives.9 APRS RINGER›touch RX MESSAGE ON›touch RX BEACON OFFThe screen should show: A list of ON/OFF switches — TX BEACON, TX MESSAGE, RX BEACON, RX MESSAGE, MY PACKET, CALL RINGER and more.Watch out. RX BEACON is on from the factory, and on a busy channel that is a bell every few seconds. Turning it off while leaving RX MESSAGE on is what most people actually want: quiet for the position reports, a noise for text addressed to you.
4. APRS 7 controls how long an arriving packet covers your display.7 APRS POP-UP›touch MESSAGE 10 secThe screen should show: BEACON and MESSAGE, each OFF, 3 sec, 5 sec, 10 sec or HOLD.Watch out. HOLD means it stays until you clear it, which is a poor idea while driving — the frequency display is the thing you need to be able to glance at. Ten seconds is the factory setting and about right.

APRS 24 MESSAGE GROUP is worth a look if you are on a busy channel: it filters which group and bulletin messages you see, and it arrives set to ALL, CQ, QST and YAESU. Yaesu's separate APRS Edition manual covers actually reading and writing the messages on screen; this page is the settings behind them.

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

Register your callsign for C4FM on an FTM-400XDR

The radio asks for this the first time it is switched on and will not go any further until it has it. That is deliberate: on C4FM your callsign is sent with every digital transmission, and a radio with somebody else's callsign in it is a real problem rather than a cosmetic one.

1. On a new or freshly reset radio, touch the blinking CALLSIGN box.touch CALLSIGNThe screen should show: Please enter Your Callsign, then a keyboard.If you do nothing for about three seconds it opens the keyboard by itself, which looks like the radio jumping ahead of you.
2. Type it and touch ENT.touch your callsign›touch ENTThe screen should show: Your callsign at the top, then the power-on screen with it printed underneath.Watch out. Ten characters, and letters, numbers and a hyphen only. Caps is a toggle rather than a shift — touch it once and everything after is capitals. If you need numbers, 123 switches the keyboard over.
3. To change it later, hold DISP/SETUP and touch the CALLSIGN tile.hold DISP/SETUP›touch CALLSIGNThe screen should show: The same keyboard.It is the last tile on the set-up menu, on its own. Worth doing the moment a used radio arrives — a second-hand FTM-400 that has never been reset is still transmitting the previous owner's callsign on every digital over.

This callsign is the C4FM one. APRS keeps its own, separately, at APRS 23 CALLSIGN (APRS) — and that one takes an SSID, the -9 or -5 that says which of your stations it is. Filling in one does not fill in the other, and a radio that beacons perfectly on APRS while its digital transmissions go out wrong is almost always this.

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

Switch the radio into C4FM digital on an FTM-400XDR

One key, four modes, and a mode that picks for you. Most people should leave it on AMS and never think about it again — but knowing what the letters mean is what lets you diagnose a contact that is not working.

1. Press D/X to step through the modes.D/XThe screen should show: The two small circles for AMS, then DN, then VW, then FM.Watch out. Digital works on band A only. If you are set up on band B and wondering why the digital modes seem to do nothing, that is why — and nothing on the screen says so.
2. Learn the four so you can read the screen at a glance.read what the mode indicator saysThe screen should show: AMS symbol, DN, VW or FM.AMS listens and matches whatever the other station sent. DN is normal digital — voice and data together, and the mode that carries position information. VW is full-rate voice, better audio but no position data. FM is plain analog.
3. TX/RX then DIGITAL then 1 AMS TX MODE decides what AMS transmits.hold DISP/SETUP›touch TX/RX›touch DIGITAL›1 AMS TX MODEThe screen should show: TX M, TX FM FIXED, TX DN FIXED, TX VW FIXED or AUTO.AMS always receives whatever arrives; this only governs what you send back. TX M, the factory setting, replies in the mode you were sent. The FIXED options are for when you know the other end and want to stop the radio second-guessing.
4. The analog side has its own setting under TX/RX then MODE.hold DISP/SETUP›touch TX/RX›touch MODE›dial → AUTO (FM), FM, NARROW FM or AMThe screen should show: AUTO (FM), FM, NARROW FM or AM.This is the modulation the radio uses when it is not in digital. AUTO picks by frequency, which is what you want unless you are on a narrow-band channel that needs telling.

One caution from Yaesu's own manual worth repeating: in DN mode your position is included in the transmitted signal, and in VW mode it is not. If you would rather not broadcast where you are while talking on digital, VW is the mode that does not — and LOCATION SERVICE under TX/RX then DIGITAL turns it off in DN as well.

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

Set the DG-ID so you only hear your group on an FTM-400XDR

Two numbers, one for transmit and one for receive, from 00 to 99. They decide who can hear you and which repeaters will let you in — and they are the single most common reason a working C4FM radio suddenly hears nothing.

1. Hold the GM key for a second.hold GMThe screen should show: DG-ID SETUP, with DG-ID TX and DG-ID RX side by side.Watch out. While you are on this screen, holding GM again sets both numbers back to 00. That is the escape hatch, and it is worth knowing before you need it rather than after.
2. Touch DG-ID TX and turn the band A DIAL knob to the number you want.touch DG-ID TX›dial → 00 to 99The screen should show: The number turns orange, then changes as you turn.This is the number you send. To get into a club's DR-2X repeater, it has to match the uplink number the club has set — which is why a repeater that works for everyone else can ignore you completely.
3. Touch BACK, then DG-ID RX, and set that one too.touch BACK›touch DG-ID RX›dial → 00 to 99The screen should show: Both numbers showing your settings.Watch out. This is the half that catches people. Receive set to anything other than 00 means you hear only stations sending that same number — everybody else becomes silent, and the radio looks broken. Set it to 00 and you hear every C4FM station regardless.
4. Hold GM to save and come out.hold GMThe screen should show: ID: T50 / RX50 or similar, at the top of the display.The two numbers stay on the screen from then on, which is the reminder that stops this being a mystery a month later.

The sane default is both at 00 — that is how the radio ships and it means talk to everyone, hear everyone. Set a matching pair only when you are working with a specific group, and set the transmit one alone when a repeater asks for it. If the radio has gone quiet on digital, this screen is the first place to look, before you touch the squelch or the antenna.

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