Unfortunately the answer to your question is that there is NO work around. ?Yaesu’s?automatic Band Group mode is completely worthless. That is because almost everything you have programmed outside the ham bands will be in the VHF Group (rail, marine, public service) that you may wish to scan occasionally. ?Also, scanning by group limits you to just VHF OR UHF. ?It is not in any way a substitute for Memory Banks for several reasons. ?I am not sure how you use banks but I often set them up for a specific location or activity (Ex: Boat bank includes marine frequencies, ham repeaters along the Ohio River, weather & navigation, ?Other places I may visit or specific driving routes, etc). ?In almost all cases I wish to scan both UHF & VHF frequencies at the same time, not just one or the other. ?
So, does anyone have any idea why Yaesu does not include memory bank support on their recent radios? ?I do not think cost would be a factor, since it should be easily implemented in either software or hardware. ?If the objective is to keep the interface simple to understand, than it is a function that you can easily ignore if you don’t use it. ?
I have several Yaesu radios, but have not bought several because they have not included memory banks. ?I have bought 2 of these FT-6000 in spit of this flaw in the design, since it seems to otherwise be a good solid radio for the price I paid. ?I still have many Rail, Aircraft, Public Service frequencies in memory I can select, but have set to skip when scanning.
N8AAX Steve
