FTA-450L Airband VHF Comm

My 3rd handheld over the years, this one to replace my larger and heavier Icom A24 (cockpit comm/nav backup), intended primarily for on-field comms. Choice was based on high reviews, Li-Ion batt, size, lighter weight, price, basic features. Pros: very good TX/RX voice quality, quick selection of features (eg, Wx, generous freq memory, freq scanning). Easy setup, excellent user manual; re-charges quickly. Includes convenient charging cradle, 12v vehicle accessory charger, emergency backup AA (6) batt tray. Cons: none Too early to comment on batt life, comm range, durability, etc, but put it to work out-of-the-box and nice to have a reliable handheld that doesn't feel like a cement block after carrying it all day. Purchased the optional earbud, works well for clearer voice when out in winds. This is a basic comms handheld; would expect the FTA-550L and -750L with nav and GPS would make great cockpit backups. Made in Japan.

I am so glad that I bought this handheld radio. My first uses of the radio was just for merely listening to ATC and getting an idea of the communication flow in and around an airport's airspace. The reception from my home in The Bahamas was really good for the Tower and the Departure/Approach frequencies considering that I live roughly 8-10 miles from the airport. Now that I have started flight training I carry it with me on flights to have as a backup and also to use it to save time when it comes to getting my weather information from the controllers before a flight. I have already had to use it once during a flight because I encountered some difficulty with the Push-To-Talk switch in the airplane. This radio is a great backup to have with you in the airplane! It is one more added safety feature so why not have it? You never know when things can go wrong. From that moment on I knew that this radio was a good buy. There are other radios out there that come with a whole lot of other features like Navigation and VOR's, but for me those are totally unnecessary. This radio suits my needs perfectly, a good, BASIC communication radio without any extra bells and whistles. The battery life on this handheld lasts VERY long, considering that I don't use it much other than for getting the ATIS and listening to traffic in my spare time. If for some reason I had to purchase one again whether it be for me or a fellow aviator I would definitely do so.

Frequencies and Legals: The RX/TX frequency range of this radio is 118.000 to 136.975 MHz with RX weather bands from 161.65 to 163.275. Be advised, the airband frequencies used by this radio are restricted for Aviation use only. Interfering with Air Traffic Control or critical Aviation Ops is a violation of US federal law. For Pilots: I **DO NOT** advise programming, naming and saving new frequencies into the radio’s address book while acting as a PIC or Co-Pilot. Do this on the ground during pre-flight, debrief, or your own free time. Obviously you’ll want to consider this handheld as a backup for use in the event that primary comms go down since it doesn’t have the TX power of your plane. That said, this radio is a very nice fallback to have. It’s fairly light, comes with adapters to rig up headsets, battery life is great with the L-Ion (obviously shorter if you talk a lot), and it’s a very nice unit overall. Frequencies are EASY to change thanks to the buttons, and I see no issue keeping up with frequency change requests from ATC while using this radio. This radio is COMMS Only and cannot receive or display VOR or GPS navigation data. This is a non-issue for me, and I have yet to encounter a pilot who tells me they‘ve used the NAV features on handheld radios while in flight. The only thing you’re going to miss out on by purchasing a comms only radio is an unnecessary $200-400 expense, especially if you’re already running an iPad with ForeFlight on the flight deck. For everyone: The radio body has a rugged feel to it, and all the gaskets covering the ports are nice and hefty. I don’t foresee any issue with the unit getting splashed or using it in light rain if necessary. Squelch is easy to adjust with a button just below the PTT that, when pressed, allows you to quickly adjust the Squelch with the selector knob. Range is great from ground to air; I can easily receive from planes up to 50 nautical miles away. Naturally, this is a handheld unit so TX range is much shorter. Don’t expect them to hear you just because you can hear them. Menus are easy enough to navigate, though I wouldn’t want to be fumbling around through them while operating as a PIC. Configure the radio during pre-flight for best experience there. The only semi-complaint I have with the radio itself is the size of the buttons as they’re a little on the small side. I suppose this is a trade-off for the screen size, but this isn’t a make-or-break issue. Regarding the Programming Software. Editing the address book manually via the menus on your radio is cumbersome and requires a LOT of abuse to the selector knob. To make things easier, Yaesu has programming software called YCE01 available on their website. This software is very simple, both in aesthetics and in use. It is the easiest way, by far, to program lots of named frequencies into your radio’s memory book. With that said, the software looks and feels very, very outdated and can be temperamental in communicating with the radio. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, for a variety of reasons. Comm port errors, time-out errors, etc. will have you playing the unplug-replug game with the radio from time to time, restarting the software, and sometimes rebooting your whole computer. I suspect it’s a driver issue, but it’s hard to say. If you’re running a Mac? You’re out of luck; their software is only available for Windows. Running Linux? You can *try* using WINE, but with the issues this software has with native Windows, you’re kind of on your own there. Attempt at your own risk. Overall, the radio itself is great. The programming software? Not so much. It works, usually, but it’s not impressive.

Excellent transceiver for air band. Good audio quality, sensitivity and range! Programming easy.

Excellent radio , good sound and signal !

Très bien fait facile à opéré

La uso para operar en CTR como piloto profesional de drones. Se siente de muy buena calidad, la batería dura mucho.

Me ha gustado, pero no tengo idea porque era un regalo

Emisora muy fácil de usar y muy completa.