I was asked a couple of times about the APRS settings on the FT1-XDE, so I decided to list them here with some comments. Maybe it’s useful for somebody else.

To open the APRS settings, press [DISP] for a second and chose menu 9 (APRS) and press [ENT]

If you just want to start quickly, here are the basic settings:

4) APRS Modem: 1200bps
15) BEACON STATS TXT: 73
16) BEACON TX: manual
18) DIGI PATH: WIDE1-1, WIDE2-1
20) GPS POWER: On
23) CALLSIGN: Put your callsign there
24) MY POSITION: GPS
25) MY SYMBOL: Whatever you want as a symbol

Now leave the APRS settings, switch VFO B to 144.800 (if this is the APRS frequency used in your country) and then press F + 9 (BCONTX) and you will send your first APRS beacon message.

Here a list of the APRS settings I am using:

1) APRS AF DUAL
This is set to “OFF” in my case. So far I don’t know what will happen if I switch it to “ON”. So if anybody knows what this is for, I would be happy to receive a comment

2) APRS Destination
This cannot be changed and is the ID of the YAESU HT. Does anybody know a list how to decode this?

3) APRS Filter
I set all types to ON, don’t want to miss something…

4) APRS Modem
It’s set to 1200bps

5) APRS MSG Flash
When receiving a message the white LED will flash. You can set the time for each MSG, GRP and BLN messages. It’s set to 4 seconds for all in my case

6) APRS MSG GROUP
I set it just to “*” so that I receive everything and not only ALL or CQ messages.

7) APRS MSG TXT
You can define some default texts for APRS messages here. I did not use this feature so far

8) APRS MUTE
I set this to “ON” so that I don’t hear the APRS signals in the speaker, which can be quite annoying. When I do APRS over satellite I normally switch it to OFF, because in this case it’s quite useful to hear the quality of the signal

9) APRS POPUP
I did not change the default settings so far. When you receive a message or a beacon this will be shown on the display for a couple of seconds. If you don’t want that, just change it to OFF for all types

10) APRS RINGER
You can define for which messages you want to hear a sound for different types of messages. The problem is that this only works if the key-tones are one, which I switched to off.

11) APRS UNIT
You can change the units you see on the screen for APRS messages. I did not change the settings (Speed: km/h, Altitude: m, Temp: °C, Rain: mm, Wind: m/s).

12) APRS TX Delay
Time between starting the transmission and sending the APRS packet. Just leave the default (300ms)

13) BEACON INFO
You can reduce the information sent by beacon settings. If you don’t want that the speed is transmitted once you are driving with your car, just set it to OFF. Might be useful for some drivers 😉

14) BEACON INTERVAL
How often is the beacon message sent when TX is set to “AUTO”. I normally use 1 min for mobile operation.

15) BEACON STATS TXT
The status text sent with every beacon. Write something nice and friendly here

16) BEACON TX
MANUAL: Only send manually
AUTO: Send every x seconds as defined at 14)
SMART: Be smart and send whenever you TX thinks it makes sense (course changes, speed changes,…)

If you don’t want to send, but receive, set it to MANUAL. If you don’t want to use APRS at all, set APRS MODEM 4) to OFF

17) COM PORT SETTINGS
You can connect a chart plotter to your device. APRS stations will be sent as waypoints and can be shown on the plotter. I did not try this so far.

18) DIGI PATH
I use WIDE1-1, WIDE2-1 (default settings). If you want to operate via ISS or SAT, set it to ARISS

19) GPS DATUM
Default is WGS-84 which is the common GPS datum. If you don’t know what it is, you don’t need to change it 😉

20) GPS POWER
Set it to ON if you want to be able to send your GPS position.

21) GPS TIME SET
If set to AUTO, the time on your HT will be set by GPS.

22) GPS UNIT
You can change the GPS units here, if you want.

23) CALLSIGN
Put your callsign here. When you move the cursor to the right, you can use the wheel to set the SSID. I use the following SSIDs:
DK3ML – when I am at home
DK3ML-7 – if I use it mobile or portable
DK3ML-8 – if I am on a boat

See http://www.aprs.org/aprs11/SSIDs.txt for a full list of SSIDs

24) MY POSITION
You can set it manually or just use GPS

25) MY SYMBOL
There is a list of 4 symbols you can define. Pressing enter on one of them you can change it. So you can define the 4 symbols you use most (house, car, boat, bike) and then just select one of them.

26) Position comment
Predefined list of MIC-E status messages that are encoded using just a couple of bits. More information here: http://blog.aprs.fi/2009/07/mic-e-status-message-supported.html I use “IN SERVICE” or “EN ROUTE” most of the times

27) SMART Beaconing
If you use SMART beaconing (16) you can change the settings here.

28) Time zone.
As a good HAM you set this to UTC of course