thank you for taking time to write such a detail reply.unfortunately i am near neither klang valley nor melaka.i am located here in borneo.i have a list of the repeaters but unsure whether they are uhf or vhf repeater.i'm sorry if i sound stupid.i am really a newbie. I'll look for the radio online.i believe i will come here again to ask for help once the radio arrived.ty very much

May I know your location please Within Klang Valley, we've two Yaesu Fusion repeaters (can work both digital and analog), one is UHF repeater located at Bukit Lanjan and another one is VHF repeater up at Genting. For now, the UHF repeater at Bukit Lanjan is connected to a Wires-X system which allows you to communicate with anyone in the world that are connected to the same Wires-X system. There are two repeaters in Melaka that are Fusion too, located at Melaka Town and the UHF repeater is currently connected to Wires-X too.

There are other digital standard used in amateur radio world, other than Yaesu Fusion (C4FM), there is ICOM D-STAR (you need a D-STAR capable radio made by ICOM or Kenwood) and another which is gaining popularity is the DMR (open standard, you can buy Motorola Mototrbo, Hytera or TYT DMR radios and they usually cost a bomb and mostly available only for UHF). Currently there is not DSTAR nor DMR repeaters available in Klang Valley.

Back to Yaesu Fusion, Yaesu has come up with few digital radios, for the handy talkie (HT), the newest which just come to the market is the FT-70DR, this I believe will have a price tag around RM800. The next in the HT family is FT-2DR and this one has many features and cost quite a bit (RM1800++). Both of the HTs are dual-band, which means they can work on both UHF and VHF.  For mobile radio, there are VHF single band Fusion radio, FTM-3200DR (RM700++), next in the line is FTM-100DR (RM1500++) it is a dual-band radio with APRS/GPS but only has single monitoring (work one frequency at a time). The top of the line is the FTM-400DR, with a color screen display, it is a dual band radio, with APRS/GPS and can receive on two different frequencies at once. Cost should be around RM3000++.

Yaesu sells non digital radios too, price and features vary accordingly. My first ever radio is FT-60R and I still have it right now, own it for 10 years now and running good. This will be the basic dual-band HT I'll suggest or probably the FT-65R if they've stop selling the FT-60R. I bought my FT-60R for around RM600.

Which part of Borneo are you in? My friends in ARCS (Sarawak) are going to bring up Yaesu Fusion repeaters and get them linked across the major towns. If you're in KK, there is a plan that I heard to get Yaesu Fusion up too.

Which part of Borneo are you in? My friends in ARCS (Sarawak) are going to bring up Yaesu Fusion repeaters and get them linked across the major towns. If you're in KK, there is a plan that I heard to get Yaesu Fusion up too.

Hi judes,

In your case, since you usually going to Semporna or Sipadan, I believe there is no nearest repeater to that area. I do not know much about repeaters in Sabah but what I know there are few in Gunung Kinabalu. Probably it is too far away to Semporna. HT for sure won't help much if you're going to bring the radio with you on your diving trip. With 5W (usually that the max power for HT), you can go quite far if the repeater is in your line-of-sight, can reach up to 20-30KM or even more. With the help of base or mobile antenna, it will even go further.

However, if you're out at the sea, I don't really have any experience on this. Your HT probably won't be much useful other than to use for contacting your buddies nearby. Probably going for HF will help you, for now, class B could go to 40m on 50W max. That signal will go far away or with antenna setup, can be limited to the area you want.

What i understood from ur comment was that no matter how good your HT is it all still depends on the repeater right?

TY again for the help. Do u think it is all right for me to go for yaesu ft60 or ft70dr? Fusion is out of option since it might take ages if i wait for the repeater to be set up

if you want to start with domestic coverage, you can go with VHF/UHF Analog (which is the transceiver is still within your budget). And if you love to communicate with international coverage, you can go with HF - 40m band (but a bit higher price at least RM2k for the transceiver without antenna + psu + tuner).

nowadays, in peninsular, we are actively on digital/dmr which is more fun LOL why not give a try (less than 1k tho). plus no need repeater, just activated your Wires-X, all you need is an Internet!

More info: Yaesu Wires-X

You understood correctly, with an HT, without the help of repeater, you'll be only covering around 2-3KM radius depending on the surrounding. I do agree with you on the Fusion option after reading your situation, FT60R (if they still produce it, it is good), if not the newer FT65R will be a good replacement for FT60R.

http://store.onecommunications.com.my/prod...aesu-FT-65R/609 (the price as your guide, I don't own the store nor interest ).

Thanks for posting the link. Can u tell me what's the diff between yaesu ft and vx model? I realized these two models have uhf/vhf band.

VX Series has compact body compared to the FT. Yes, most VX series are dual bander (VHF/UHF).

Thanks. U've been a great help. Will look for assistance here again once the radio has arrived. Sorry u guys for hijacking the thread.

so, u buy the yaesu vx series?

I like the feature especially the vx3r...compact 1..😁

Guess what, me in one of the photos

http://www.theborneopost.com/2017/08/20/ta...ith-illw-event/

INTERNATIONAL LIGHTHOUSE LIGHTSHIP WEEKEND 2017 ( ILLW)

International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend (ILLW) Rumah Api Altingsburg, Kuala Selangor, Selangor 9M4LHB (MY0005), akan berlangsung pada 00.01UTC 19 Ogos hingga 2400 UTC 20 Ogos 2017  di Rumah Api Altingsburg, Kuala Selangor, Selangor, Malaysia yang akan dikendalikan oleh Hulu Selangor Amateur Radio Club ( HUSAR)


Rumah Api Altingsburg Lighthouse, Kuala Selangor

ILLW #: MY0005
CS #: 9M4LHB
HF 40M , 20M,
Callsign by MARTS
Activation by HUSAR

2017 Activation status - by 9M4CHS & MUMET
Coordinated by: HULU SELANGOR AMATEUR RADIO CLUB ( HUSAR )


Rumah Api Bukit Melawati, Kuala Selangor
WLOL#: WMA 005 & ILLW #: MY0005

Callsign by MARTS
Activation by HUSAR

                                        D-STAR                  DMR                      Fusion
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Vocoder                            AMBE+                  AMBE+2                    AMBE+2
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Modulation                        GMSK                    4FSK                        C4FM
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Multiplex Method                FDMA                    TDMA                      FDMA
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Transmission Rate              4.8 kbps                4.8 kbps x 2              9.6 kbps
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Bandwidth                        6.25 kHz                12.5 kHz                  12.5 kHz
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Channels supported              1                              2                              1
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Standard Developer          JARL                        ETSI                        Yaesu
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