Why not start with something up to date? Like Yaesu Fusion transeivers, probably you'll appreciate it better that Boefeng

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.

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.

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 ).

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

so, u buy the yaesu vx series?

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

DMR

Berbeza dengan D-STAR dan juga Fusion, DMR ini ada kelainannya.  Jika D-STAR, ianya dibawah Icom, bermakna kita perlu membeli barangan icom untuk follow D-STAR ini, begitu juga dengan Fusion, dimana kita perlu beli alatan dari Yaesu untuk turut serta bergelumang dengan mode digital bersama rakan taulan.

DMR lahir dari rumpun komersial radio dan diadaptasikan untuk kegunaan amatur.

Transceiver yang ada DMR ini ada pelbagai jenama, dari yang murah hinggalah yang mahal. Di penghujung topik DMR ini saya akan senaraikan listnya. Sekarang mari kita explore dahulu apa yang DMR ini boleh buat dan beri kepada kita.

Jika dilihat jadual diatas, System DMR menggunakan 4FSK dan TDMA, berbeza dengan D-STAR dan Fusion. Manakala untuk convert voice audio ke digital, DMR menggunakan vocoder AMBE+2, dimana background audio yang bising seperti bunyi siren, enjin, angin, orang menjerit kesakitan dapat dikurangkan dan tidak masuk bersama. Selain itu, DMR juga dapat menghantar text mesej, GPS dan telemetry data. Oleh kerana DMR berkeupayaan menggunakan 2 channel dalam satu masa, Maka kita boleh berkomunikasi dengan dua individu pada masa yang sama, berbeza dengan FDMA.

Untuk menikmati DMR, kita memerlukan transceiver yang berkeupayaan DMR, Transceiver tersebut adalah seperti berikut:


Motorola MOTOTRBO XPR 5550 DMR

Hytera - MD782G

Kenwood TK-D740

TYT MD-9600
manakala tiada dalam gambar, transceiver yang DMR compatible adalah seperti berikut:
1. Samhoo SPM6040
2. Aselsan DMR4700
3. Excera EP8100
4. HQT DM-9800
5. Radiodata MS2217D
6. Sepura SBM8000
7. TYT MD-380/MD-390
8. TYT MD-2017
9. Radioddity GD-55+
10. Radioddity GD-77
*** Buat masa ini, repeater amateur yang menyokong System DMR adalah 9M4RBB (Bukit Bendera - VHF) . ***
Banyak sistem radio komersial dan agensi kerajaan/keselamatan awam kini beralih dari analog kepada sistem DMR. 

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Semoga posting ini, memberi sedikit gambaran mengenai kisah digital mode yang popular setakat ini iaitu D-STAR, DMR dan System Fusion. Seperti yang saya nyatakan, ketiga-tiganya mempunyai kelebihan dan kekurangan masing-masing. Namun, ianya memberi kebaikan yang sama, iaitu kejelasan audio, low-noise, GPS, Text Mesej, Imej mesej serta Callsign identification. Sebenarnya banyak lagi kegunaannya dan sehingga sekarang ianya masih lagi dalam kajian dan RnD giat dijalankan.

Akhir kata, saya harap ianya membuka sendikit minda dan pemikiran serta memberi inspirasi dan jalan kepada yang ingin mendalami dan memahami dengan lebih lanjut mode digital ini. 73 Zaki (9M2ZAK)