=  NOW 40 WPM  =  
446R0 MHZ IS THE NATIONAL SIMPLEX CALLING FREQUENCY.  HOWEVER, WHEN THE FTM
300DRS AUTOMATIC FREQUENCY SHIFT FUNCTION IS ENABLED, IT INSISTS ON
REGARDING THIS FREQUENCY AS A REPEATER CHANNEL AND SHIFTS THE TRANSMIT
FREQUENCY ACCORDINGLY.  I VERIFIED THAT IT WILL INDEED RECOGNIZE 445R0 MHZ
AS A SIMPLEX FREQUENCY, BUT NOT 446R0 MHZ.  THE WORKAROUND IS TO
TEMPORARILY DEACTIVATE THE AUTO SHIFT FEATURE IF YOU NEED TO OPERATE
SIMPLEX ON 446R0 MHZ.  YAESU INDICATES T
GPS AND APRS A SENSITIVE GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM GPS RECEIVER
IS STANDARD IN THE FTM 300DR.  THANKS TO THE FTM 300DRS CRISP DISPLAY, YOU
CAN USE THE GPS RECEIVER DIRECTLY FOR REAL TIME NAVIGATING.  IT EVEN
INCLUDES A BACKTRACK FEATURE TO HELP YOU RETRACE YOUR ROUTE BACK TO A GIVEN
LOCATION.  THE GPS RECEIVER IS QUITE SENSITIVE.  FROM WITHIN MY CAR, IT HAD
NO TROUBLE LOCKING ONTO SEVERAL SATELLITES AND DETERMINING A POSITION FIX
WITHIN SECONDS AFTER I POWERED UP THE RADIO.  EVEN WHEN I OPERATED THE
TRANSCEIVER INDOORS INSIDE MY ALUMINUM SIDED HOME THE RECEIVER STILL
MANAGED TO ACQUIRE THE NEEDED SATELLITES.  OF COURSE, GPS AND THE AUTOMATIC
PACKET REPORTING SYSTEM APRS GO HAND IN HAND, WHICH IS WHY THE FTM 300DR
ALSO INCLUDES A 1,200/9,600 BAUD PACKET MODEM AS STANDARD EQUIPMENT.  WHEN
OPERATING APRS, THE FTM 300DR WILL USE ITS OWN SCREEN TO DISPLAY
INFORMATION, BUT IT ALSO MAKES THE AXR25 PACKET DATA AVAILABLE AT THE REAR
PANEL DATA PORT.  THIS MEANS YOU CAN ATTACH A COMPUTER AND USE YOUR OWN
APRS SOFTWARE OR GRAB THE MODEM DATA FOR OTHER APPLICATIONS.  TO ACTIVATE
THE APRS FUNCTION, YOU MUST FIRST GO INTO THE MENU SYSTEM AND TURN ON THE
MODEM.  YOU ALSO MUST INPUT YOUR APRS CALL SIGN, BEACON MESSAGE, AND OTHER 
PARAMETERS.  FORTUNATELY, THE FTM 300DRS MENU SYSTEM IS WELL DESIGNED, AND
I FOUND IT EASY TO NAVIGATE FROM THE FRONT PANEL SCREEN.  UNLIKE SOME
TRANSCEIVERS, MENU CHOICES ARE DISPLAYED IN PLAIN ENGLISH RATHER THAN
CRYPTIC ABBREVIATIONS.  IT IS A MATTER OF USING A VFO KNOB TO SELECT WHAT
YOU WANT THE SCREEN HIGHLIGHTS YOUR SELECTIONS WITH RED BACKGROUNDS AND
THEN GIVING THE KNOB A BRIEF PUSH.  WITH THE APRS PROPERLY CONFIGURED, I
SELECTED 144R39MHZ AND THE FTM 300DR BEGAN DISPLAYING DECODED APRS DATA.
THE INFORMATION IS EASY TO READ AND INCLUDES A COMPASS HEADING TO THE
STATION IN QUESTION SEE FIGURE 2.  IF YOU ARE NEW TO APRS, IT IS BEST TO
DOWNLOAD THE FTM 300DRS DEDICATED APRS MANUAL.  DESPITE NOT HAVING DONE
THIS AT FIRST, I FOUND IT STRAIGHTFORWARD TO PICK MY WAY THROUGH THE MENUS
AND SET UP ALL THE NECESSARY PARAMETERS.  SNAPSHOT ONE CLEVER FEATURE THAT
I DIDNT HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO TRY WAS THE SNAPSHOT FUNCTION.  THIS ALLOWS
YOU TO SEND AND RECEIVE IMAGES USING THE OPTIONAL MH 85A11U CAMERA
MICROPHONE.  THIS ABILITY HAS BEEN PRESENT IN YAESU SYSTEM FUSION RADIOS
FOR YEARS, BUT NOT ALL TRANSCEIVER MODELS CAN SUPPORT IT.  THE FTM 300DRS
HIGH RESOLUTION DISPLAY IS IDEAL FOR THIS, ALBEIT WITH SMALL IMAGES.
STILL, IT IS A COOL FUNCTION TO HAVE AVAILABLE, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOURE DOING
=  END OF 40 WPM TEXT  =  QST DE W1AW  <