Fusion

 My first experience with System Fusion came not long after I purchased a Yaesu FT-991A. My intention was only to upgrade my HF rig, but then I thought the addition of the 144/440 SSB, FM, and C4FM in a single transceiver may open some new avenues to explore.

For a while, the opportunity to use System Fusion never came about. Area hams expressed loyal dedication to D-Star even though no D-Star repeaters existed in our area. Investing in the newer System Fusion C4FM digital mode was, let's say, less than palatable for them. This really put YSF on the outside looking in.

Since I couldn't use YSF locally, I decided to program the 991A with all repeaters in a 50 mile radius of home and then find which of those might be YSF. I found a few, but one of them was well within reach, the W9RH repeater in Milwaukee, running YSF in Automatic Mode Select (AMS) and with WIRES-X connectivity. A few minutes later, with amazing clarity and no analog static, I began listening to a QSO between Milwaukee, Illinois, and Minnesota hams on YSF over the WIRES-X linking system. A short time later, I was on the air with YSF and loving it.

As digital radio and codec technology continues to advance, such as with WIRES-X, MMDVM hotspots and repeaters, and the new AMBE servers, access to world-wide digital mode communication is almost taken for granted. These advances in digital voice technology have helped bring new amateur radio enthusiasts into the fold more than ever before.

Many hams that are new to the digital modes have expressed some confusion with the differences between YSF, System Fusion, C4FM, and WIRES-X. Hopefully this helps.

Yaesu System Fusion (YSF) is a mode - A proprietary mode of modulation based on Continuous Four-Level Frequency Modulation (C4FM), which is a type of Four Frequency Shift Keying (4FSK), based on Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA). More can be found here on Yaesu's System Fusion page.

WIRES-X is a network - A closed proprietary network of interlinked HRI-200 digital nodes, Yaesu C4FM digital repeaters, and Yaesu C4FM digital radios, all carried over Yaesu servers hosting network "rooms" or talk groups. More can be found on Yaesu's WIRES-X page.

While being a closed proprietary network, WIRES-X can be bridged to other networks like the YSF network and FCS network, but other networks cannot bridge into the WIRES-X network.

So how do you program "codeplugs" for your YSF radio? You don't. It's just a mode, not a mode and network. No color codes, or groups, or channels, or time slots to program. Simply push a button to turn it on or turn it off.

YSF Tips

FT-70D

Stop the squeal/squelch after receive from hotspot. Long-press the AMS button to turn off AMS.

updated: 11/13/2020