Yaesu sells handheld transceivers with an optional belt clip, detached by default. To attach the clip, remove any battery. Then firmly insert the two belt clip screws with an appropriate screwdriver. My radio came with two small Phillips head screws.
The battery charges via a barrel plug located on the right side of the radio.
The battery charge level is unstable and may not reflect the actual battery charge level. Generally, charging a battery overnight will suffice to fill up the battery.
Not recommended to use any ham radio while a connected battery is charging.
Unlike many older radios, the Yaesu FT-70DR uses a discrete, multifunction tuner knob on the top of the radio. This knob does not directly adjust volume, or frequency, or any single aspect of the radio. Rather, the tuner controls settings relative to the active menu option, whichever that may be at the time. Generally, the tuner knob will wrap around repeatedly in either direction as desired.
To power up the device, press and hold the Power button for a few seconds. To power down the device, press and hold the Power button for a few seconds.
To adjust the volume, press and hold the Volume button. While holding the Volume button, turn the tuner knob to the desired value. Then release the Volume button.
To adjust the basic static squelch, press the F button, then the Monitor button. Turn the tuner knob to the desired value. Confirm the selection with the PTT button.
When on menu is raised, then the tuner knob selects between different frequencies (VFO mode) or different memory channels (Memory mode).
Both signal reception and speaker volume seem better on this device compared to a Baofeng UV-5x3.
A large menu of options, the Set Mode menu, is available.
To enter Set Mode, press and hold F for a few seconds.
For example, the microphone gain (31 MCGAIN) is available here. Use the tuner knob to navigate to the MCGAIN menu. Enter the sub-menu with F. Then select the desired gain value. Confirm with PTT, which automatically leaves Set Mode.
Another Set Mode sub-menu disables the option of enabling VW. To fix this, enter Set Mode. Then use the tuner knob to navigate to the 16 DIG VW sub-menu. Use the tuner knob to select ON. Confirm with PTT.
Most sub-menus in Set Menu are exitable by pressing F.
To leave Set Mode, press and hold F for a few seconds.
Press the V/M button by the number pad to toggle between VFO and Memory modes.
The Push to Talk button on the left side of the radio ordinarily emits an RF signal. Though many menus use PTT to instead confirm a menu selection.
Other menus may use another key, in which case pressing PTT in that context may emit an RF signal.
If you want to exit a menu without changing the current selection, then as a precaution avoid activating PTT while in that menu.
The Monitor button on the left side of the radio forces the squelch to open until the button is released. Some menus treat Monitor as a secondary menu cancellation button.
When an option is accidentally selected, it can be difficult to identify the correct sequence of buttons to safely leave the menu, and preserve the current configuration state.
Fortunately, many menus can be exited cleanly by quickly pressing the Monitor button, or else the F (Function) button.
Upon initially powering on the radio, it will prompt you to enter your call sign.
Press F.
Use the tuner knob to select alphanumeric characters.
Use the Band button to move the cursor to the next column on the right.
You may press and hold the GM button to delete any typo characters following the current column.
Confirm your call sign with the PTT button.
Then the radio will automatically constrain your (transmit? scanning?) bands according to your configured call sign's license class.
The device is tuned specifically to VHF and UHF amateur frequencies. When scanning commercial broadcast frequencies, only the highest 108.000 MHz is available.
Amplitude Modulation (AM) support is limited. No transmission. No SSB configuration.
Press Band to cycle through the band ranges available to the device.
Turn the tuner knob to select a frequency within the current band.
Press the Mode button to raise a menu for different transmission modulation options.
- "AM" (analog AM, receive only)
- "FM" (analog FM)
- "DN" (narrow band, lower resolution digital FM)
- "VW" (wide band, higher resolution digital FM)
Apart from DN/VW digital voice modes, Yaesu also offers the WIRES-X protocol.
To enter WIRES-X, press F, then AMS.
For more detail of WIRES-X operation, see the "Advance" manual.
To exit WIRES-X, press and hold MODE.
The documentation for the device is unfortunately broken into completely separate manuals:
"FT-70DR/DE Operating Manual"
https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1336589/Yaesu-Ft-70dr.html
and
"FT-70DR/FT-70DE Advance Manual"
https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1275657/Yaesu-Ft-70dr.html
Only the extremely truncated Operating Manual is included in paper form with the device.
Both are required in order to learn basic device operations.
Documentation is locked, preventing copying of basic text information. We can't have nice things. To eject this intrusive DRM, e-print the files to secondary PDF file(s). The resulting files may not include searchable/highlightable text data.
Both manuals often fail to clarify:
- Whether a button should be quickly pressed and released, versus held for a few seconds, in order to configure the device. For example, when using the F button.
- Whether configuration options are cumulative, versus completely distinct in operation. For example, when configuring tone code behavior.
Many aspects of operation are configured by default to automatically infer related settings. For example, the Automatic Mode Select (AMS) feature.
To toggle the AMS feature on or off, press and hold the AMS button for a few seconds.
However, the AMS transmission mode in either "TX FM" or "TX DIG", behaves badly. Those two values override any MODE settings. Additionally, the AMS transmission mode cannot be set on a per-channel basis. So it is best left at the "TX AUT" (Transmit either FM or Digital automatically based on the MODE setting). To enforce this configuration, press AMS briefly. Then use the knob to select TX AUT. Confirm with PTT.
Press F, then Repeater (RPT). A menu will raise to select between Simplex, Repeater with positive (+) input offset, and Repeater with negative (-) input offset. Confirm selection with PTT.
CTCSS and DCS tone value configuration has multiple prerequisites:
- The channel must be in an appropriate analog repeater mode.
- The Squelch Type (SQ TYP) must be in an appropriate repeater mode. For example, "TONE" (Only apply CTCSS when activating the repeater) or "TSQL" (Apply CTCSS when transmitting or receiving with the repeater).
Once these are satisfied, then the value of the tone frequency may be configured by pressing F, followed by Code (6) to raise a tone value menu. Rotate the tuner knob to the desired tone frequency. Confirm the selection with PTT.
Configure all desired aspects of the channel prior to storing the channel to memory.
Memory bank operations are best performed in Memory mode.
Press and hold the VFO/Memory (V/M) button to raise a menu for memory bank management. Most sub-menus here are confirmed via the V/M button. Yet others are confirmed via the AMS button.
The small digits channel number will begin to blink. Use the tuner knob to select the desired target memory channel number. Then press the V/M button.
The proposed memory channel number will automatically be one increased than the last saved channel. To overwrite settings for an existing channel, use the tuner knob to decrease the channel number to the desired target channel.
The proposed memory channel number stupidly increments every time a new channel is saved, rather than recalculating as one higher than the largest existing channel.
A prompt may appear, "M-WRT?", indicating the memory channel already has an entry there. Confirm overwrite by briefly pressin g V/M, or else cancel overwrite with either the Monitor button or the F button. If necessary, delete the channel and create a new one.
If no previous channel is already stored there, then confirm the new channel by pressing and holding V/M.
To delete a stored memory channel entry, press and hold the V/M button. The small digits channel number will begin to blink. Use the tuner knob to select the desired target channel number. Then press the AMS button.
A confirmation prompt, "M-MSK?" will appear. Either confirm with the AMS button, or else cancel with the Monitor button or the F button.
The device uses a Mini (not Micro) USB port for data transfer.
The manufacturer has ass covering legalese against standard CHIRP protocol support. The CHIRP online community reports no issues when programming the device with CHIRP.
Users with newer Apple M1 ARM processors may be unable to run the CHIRP application at this time.