Yaesu FT5-DR

Bottom Line

The Yaesu FT-5DR is A solid handheld with useful features for the amateur radio operator on the go who wants a tough radio with a modern interface featuring touch screen and a color display. It's a great choice for nearly any user.

Pros

• IPX7 rating for submersion, though we'd recommend against full submersion.
• GPS and APRS functionality.
• Excellent compact form factor.
• Great UI and channel name length.
• Displays channel name AND frequency which is great for novices.
• Can be "mars modded" to unlock GMRS and other frequency operation.

Cons

• Battery hungry, even with GPS and APRS turned off.
• Once you put an all day long battery on it, it's no longer quite so compact
• Menu UI could be a bit more user friendly.
• Lack USB-C charging, which these days is a huge miss.
• No Scan Skip, which at this price point we'd like to see.
• "Mars modding" the radio is not for your average enthusiast, compared to other radios that either ship unlocked or are firmware updates.

Who This Is For

The Yaesu FT5DR radio is a great fit for any of the following use cases.

1. Experienced operators who want a rugged radio for use in the field, but don't need to worry about immersion.
2. A novice operator looking for a second radio that will help them grow into the hobby. Instead of just having channel names, they'll get to see frequencies as well and start to get a bit more familiar with it all.
3. A brand new operator who knows they're going to get into this and wants to "buy once, cry once".

Testing Notes

We judge nearly all ham radios, especially in this form factor and size, based on their ability to operate in the field. We took the radio skiing in snow storms, hiking, mountain biking... you name it, if it's outdoors and we do it, this radio has been there with us.

Detailed Review

So as mentioned, we like to test handheld radios outdoors. Most any radio will get you from your backyard to a well positioned nearby repeater... but when it comes to an IPX7 rated radio, it matters how it performs on the go! So we took our Yaesu FT5DR with us skiing as our primary radio of use for the 2025/2026 ski season, and it quickly became our daily driver.

One of our favorite things about the radio is how well it utilized the screen. While Baofengs tend to go for simple and uncluttered, this dipslay packs in a lot of useful information all into one place. Here you can see we've got a local repeater setup, it's tone is there, the battery voltage is displayed, we're in bank 2... there's a bunch more information there and a ton of options to click through as a user that really help this user know what they have going on.

Is it a lot for a novice user? Yes. Can they quickly learn to ignore most of it. Absolutely. Can they then grow into paying attention again to all of it? YEP! This is part of where we felt the radio really shined for us as something we could recommend. The long channel names also really help users convey meaning to what they have programmed, but the display of the frequency as well means the user isn't just cluelessly on repeaters with no awareness of their frequency.

In the picture above you can see we've got the Yaseu FT5DR in dual channel mode, and the display is still a bit cluttered, but it's all still pretty easy to discern and you've got all the information you need and very little that you don't.

Now how well does the radio hold up to the elements? Well here you can see the orange antenna of our radio along with the external handheld mic out in a very cold snowstorm, so cold that everybody with us had their faces covered. This radio operated with no issues in these cold stormy snow storm conditions all season long. We'd run group comms on simplex, work repeaters on other mountain tops, and in general just have a good time with the radio.

Now the radio does have it's shortcomings, some of which Yaesu would do well to address.

There is no USB charging at all, let alone USB-C. This is perhaps for the IPX7 rating, though would a USB plug behind one of the same rubber flaps the other connections are attached to really be that much more of a risk for intrusion? All we know is for this radio you need to get a very specific plug in adapter for the radio, which means owning at least a few to have in a few vehicles to be ready for emergency response situations. Now there are USB charging cable options for these... but they're slower than dirt.

Next up, this radio EATS batteries. My wife would be skiing and communicating on her Baofeng UV-5R mini, while I would be operating the Yaesu. By the time we got back to the car after a long day of skiing my Yaesu FT5DR would be the better part of the dead, while the UV-5R was still showing full bars. This radio is battery hungry, and we're not sure why. We always run it with APRS and GPS off, and we generally run it in single channel mode for simplex comms... why is it so power hungry?

Measured Wattage and SWR

Claimed Wattage: 5W
Measuring Device: Inline Surecom SW-102

Values with Factory Antenna

Values with HYS Orange Dual Band Antenna We Like

***measuring SWR with an inline device on a hand-held is imperfect, to say the least but has some value especially as we test every handheld radio the exact same way.

Accessories we recommend

The Yaesu SSM-17A external microphone and speaker is the one meant to work with the Yaesu FT5DR, and work it does! It's waterproof, it's got exceptionally clear audio, and in general we think the quality of this accessory takes the Yaesu FT5DR up yet another notch. We highly recommend it, and undoubtedly you'll be getting one with your radio!

We picked up and really enjoy working with this dual band Antenna from HYS. The stock Antenna per our experience and modest testing above is a bit VHF focused, which makes sense as nearly any HT antenna is going to be a compromise somewhere. As we find we spend a decent amount of time on UHF, we decided to go with this antenna, and again per our experience and testing above, it's a bit happier on UHF frequencies. Plus, since we're skiing and could possibly lose our radio if we eat it really good... having an orange antenna is a a great way to help improve your odds of finding the radio!

So we already had these simple over the shoulder compact radio holders for our UV-5R mini and they've proven quite useful there, so useful infact we bought a few extras to stash with our on-the-go UV-5R minis... and of course the Yaseu FT5DR has found it's way into these holsters as well for many a hike through the woods or a dog walk through the neighborhood.

We really like this tactical chest pack for taking the radio on outdoors adventures with us. You can stash cliff bars and other essentials in it, attach a radio to the front with an external mic for ease of communications, and in general just enjoy being able to have comms available to you while being hands free. While the picture above has a handgun in it, when we go skiing off piste we primarily fill ours with medical essentials such as tourniquets, splints, and other such things that you might need in a pinch Mountain biking? Pack a spare tube and some other mild repair supplies!

Final Verdict

The Yaesu FT-5DR is one of Yaesu's few offerings that has a UI modern enough to be considered modern enough agsint the other offerings out there in the Ham Radio field... and then it's held back by not having USB-C charging. Still, the radio has a great UI for those working UHF/VHF simplex along with a bunch of pre-programmed repeaters while out and about. The RX and TX quality is also exceptional, which combined with the good UI and exceptional form factor have made this radio our primary radio when skiing and for other outdoor adventures in adverse conditions that fall short of submersion.