With the loud front firing speaker which was one of the main decisions on this for me is awesome. That said it should be fine mobile and I plan to keep it and move it to there. A droning noise is easy to ignore and if this fan had been designed to run constantly it would have been fine, but to constantly hear it speed up and down is unacceptable for a relatively quiet room. I tried to solve this by taping over one of the vents which helped slightly to keep it on longer at a time, but the problem persisted. There is zero extra programming such as a minimum on time, rather in a room that is 68 degrees it turns on and off every few seconds when just scanning the channels. It is set to turn on at 80 degrees and off below it. The real problem with it is the programming.
No problem I figured, I threw a resistor in and that quieted it down slightly. I especially like the extended receive as I appreciate having the local sheriff frequency set but wasn't interested in getting a dedicated scanner. The radio was not an issue to set up, programming was no more difficult than any other radio. I got this to use as a base radio but am switching it to my mobile and bringing my Icom in instead. All in all, this is a nice, inexpensive rig to get your feet wet in the use of System Fusion digital operation.
Lastly, the fan has been mentioned previously, and I agree that it is pretty odd to have iit cycle on and off constantly the way that it does with minimal use.
Second, since both the FTM-100 and FTM-400 series radios can give distance and headings on their displays, it would be nice to be able to enter your coordinates on as a menu item if you are going to use the 3200DR as a base station. Each of us have had to reduce this menu setting to 2 or 3. The mid-range setting of 5 appears to be too high for everyone in our club that has one of these radios. One would be to reduce the default mic gain slightly. There are a couple things that would improve this radio a bit without adding to its cost. I especially like the AMS feature which follows the repeater as it goes back and forth between analog and digital modes perfectly. As a basic dual mode 2M radio it works well. I bought a 3200DR to accomplish these goals and it performs that job as a base station just fine. As the club's repeater trustee I wanted to get a radio to be able give this new digital mode a try as well as be able to monitor the activity as I should. One of the club's members is providing network connectivity through his node station and everything appears to be working very well. My local club recently installed a System Fusion repeater in place of a 2M analog FM only unit. The versatile FTM-3200DR transceiver also utilizes the ever-popular Digital Group Monitor (GM) function a terrific asset allowing users to see at a glance if registered members of a group are within communication range. The AMS mode instantly recognizes whether a transmission is digital or analog, and appropriately switches the operating mode to allow flawless co-existence of both digital and analog users. While the new FTM-3200DR is a solid and durable transceiver in keeping with Yaesu’s legendary mechanical toughness, it also incorporates new technology such as Automatic Mode Select (AMS), one of the most advanced features of System Fusion. One of the distinguishing features of this exciting new mobile transceiver is the Front Panel Speaker delivering 3 Watts of loud and crystal clear audio designed for stress-free and enjoyable communications - even in noisy environments. The FTM-3200DR is a ruggedly built yet compact C4FM/FM VHF mobile transceiver, providing high output power of up to 65 Watts to ensure stable long-distance communications. EMail SubscriptionRegistered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.