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| Reviews Summary for Yaesu VR-5000 |
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Reviews: 17
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Average rating: 3.2/5
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MSRP: $995
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Description: Yaesu VR-5000 all mode, wideband (general coverage) receiver. 0.1 to 2599.99 MHz
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More info: http://
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You can
write your own review of the Yaesu VR-5000.
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73383
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Rating: 2/5
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Dec 18, 2007 14:48
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So Far Not Impressed
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I'm not that impressed by the receiver front end, and the manual is one of the worst I've seen.
Whoever designed the different types of memory should have spent more time thinking about how to make them useful and working with more prototypes. I could not find much that was intuitive about it and, compared to other receivers, too many steps are required to store a frequency. And the manual doesn't help. It looks like whoever wrote the manual never actually worked with the receiver.
I use this radio primarily for monitoring VHF and UHF aviation frequencies. I'm unable to squelch the noise on either band without turning on the Attenuator. My antenna works fine with my other receivers.
Also, many of the frequencies I want to monitor have intermodulation interference from what sounds like FM broadcast stations. I don't have these problems with my other radios. I haven't tried the VR-5000 on any frequencies other than the 118-137 MHz and 200-400 MHz bands, but I have no reason to believe it will work any better.
The minimum brightness setting for the display is too bright. The manual does a poor job of describing the many features in this radio.
If you're looking for a good general coverage scanner/receiver, the VR-5000 isn't the one.
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G4VVQ
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Rating: 0/5
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Jul 1, 2007 09:17
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Rubbish! don't buy one
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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This is the worst radio i ever bought, the front end overload is terrible, i would think you would have to put a well matched antenna on it to work reasonably well, i picked up all sorts of rubbish on mine, i tried it in the shop, well all radio's in that shop sound awful, flouresent lights and stuff...so i bought it anyway, sold it about a week later, bought a s/h FT-847, that's tons better, my advise, give it a wide birth, (how ever you spell that)...Fred
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K6JEY
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Rating: 4/5
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Jan 26, 2007 11:49
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DSP is Great
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have an older version. I agree the antenna switch is very strange. An external switch solves the problem.
I wish they had used the memory bank system they used in the VX2. Otherwise a good radio.
However, with the DSP the radio is great. The CW selectivity is excellent. The noise reduction and high and low cut allowed me to tune in a barely perceptible AM SW station, switch on the DSP, and have a wonderfully clear signal. Fantastic! In short, get the DSP. You will be happy you did.
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BEAM
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Rating: 3/5
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Jan 13, 2007 04:16
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Un bellissimo ricevitore con alcune luci e molte ombre
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Ho usato la VR-5000 per circa un anno riuscendo così ad apprezzare tutto ciò che ha di buono, ma anche patendo le incongruenze di fondo che questa radio (progettata con le migliori intenzioni, secondo me), si trascina inevitabilmente dietro.
Come impressione generale, direi che in casa Yaesu si sia, per qualche motivo, improvvisamente passati dalla fase di progettazione alla produzione, senza aspettare di mettere a punto le ultime cose. Questo perchè la VR-5000 ha alcune funzioni eccezionali, alcune molto innovative, ma, allo stesso tempo, soffre di problemi banali come intermodulazioni e relativo ingresso di molte frequenze immagine.
Diciamo subito che l'ascolto in HF non è soddisfacente, non è infatti possibile collegare al ricevitore vere antenne per le HF, pena la saturazione del front-end e l'obbligo di lavorare con l'attenuatore sempre attivato.
Con antenne meno "grandi" la radio si dimostra sensibile e versatile, ma manca di "presenza", in quanto il segnale utile sembra quasi sempre diluito nel rumore di fondo, questo in SSB.
Quando però si ascoltano i forti segnali Broadcast in AM il discorso cambia totalmente, infatti la radio è "presente" e l'audio riprodotto è buono ed estrememente gradevole (molto migliore di quello che si ascolta con il filtro standard nel pur blasonatissimo R-5000 della Kenwood).
Nelle VHF-UHF la radio ha diverse luci e un discreto numero di ombre. Dotata di un'ottima sensibilità soffre molto di intermodulazioni da Radio FM 88-108 e da trasmettitori televisivi VHF e UHF.
Altro particolare fastidioso è la riproposizione dei forti segnali del VHF civile in gamma 800-900 Mhz, dove si è convinti di aver trovato nuove stazioni e si resta delusi quando si capisce che si tratta di semplici segnali fantasma (frequenze immagine).
La VR-5000 ha però un fantastico Bandscope che è veramente eccezionale e permette la visualizzazione di una larga gamma di frequenze intorno a quella sintonizzata.
Il Bandoscpe, unito alla facilità d'uso dello Scan permette di individuare molte nuove stazioni trasmittenti che altrimenti sarebbero rimaste nascoste.
Un'altra funzione a mio parere molto utile è l'RF-TUNE, che permette di accordare il preselettore ed è molto utile per rigettare segnali spuri e attenuare le intermodulazioni.
Il manuale (Un altra grossa pecca di questa radio) quasi non parla di questa funzione, e soprattutto non spiega come riportarlo in posizione auto, una volta che lo si è regolato manualmente (la procedura descritta sul manuale italiano è errata).
Questo particolare porta molte persone a pensare di avere una radio molto scadente per le mani, solo perchè il Front-End è completamente starato e non si sa come riportarlo alla normalità.
L'ergonomia è sostanzialmente buona, eccetto i piedini per il rialzo della parte anteriore, che sono troppo bassi e costringono all'uso di ulteriori rialzi per vedere bene il display.
Inserire una frequenza in memoria richiede diversi passaggi, ma per quanto riguarda l'uso come ricevitore la logica di funzionamento è ineccepibile.
Alla fine l'ho venduta perchè non sopportavo la cattiva ricezione HF in SSB, le troppe immagini in V-U e l'impossibilità di gestire la radio tramite Ham Radio Deluxe (La Yaesu non vuole fornire i codici di funzionamento a terzi).
Rimpiango il Bandscope e la sensibilità nelle VHF-UHF. Il giusto voto sarebbe tre e mezzo.
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JOE_LEG
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Rating: 4/5
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Dec 15, 2006 12:17
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Good bang for the buck
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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First off, I’ve been a scanner enthusiast in the UHF/VHF bands for many years. The past several years I’ve been more interested in amateur radio (mostly HF).
I did some research on receivers before I purchased the VR in mid 2006 at HRO.
What I wanted was an ‘all mode/all band’ receiver that could also scan but not rape my bank account, something that I could grow into and use for many years.
The VR seemed to fit the bill then and still does now.
This unit does have its shortcomings without a doubt and as another reviewer mentioned, can be attributed to design/cost trade offs.
On a whole, I’m very pleased with my $500($600 W/DSP) investment and would recommend this unit to others interested in going beyond scanners and entering amateur radio.
After owning this VR for 6 months I’ll offer up my thoughts, insights, pros and cons;
Pros;
Great price for the features / band coverage and modes,
Small footprint,
Great display,
Dual VFO’s
PC programmable and control (FTBCAT and FTBR5K software)
Interfaces nicely with SAT tracking, Weather FAX and packet (WISP DDE)
Cons;
Front end sensitivity / overload (Known, so use filters or ATT),
Imaging (same fix as above)
Manual (agree with all others on this),
Antenna selector switch!!!!(Biggest legitimate gripe)
Slow scan rate, (trade off for the coverage and mode switching?)
Too small and hard to read buttons (tradeoff for the small footprint)
Insight;
As others have said, this is NOT a plug and play unit. You need to read and practice patience, get out of the typical scanner mindset and digest how this receiver is really designed to work, as a receiver, not as a scanner.
Do not scan 440 to 800 as you may over work the relay
Thoughts;
Buyers be warned… there is a very steep learning curve to actually realizing the full potential of this radio and how to overcome it’s inherent short falls (easy fixes, save for that rear antenna switch!!!)
Over all, I give this unit a 4.5 out of a 5
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W5DXE
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Rating: 0/5
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Nov 7, 2006 21:32
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Don't Waste Your $$$$$
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Worse WBGCR I have ever owned. Besides being user hostile. It is deaf as a post. Sold mine 2 days after I got it. It is a pity too. Good idea but sorry execution.
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KK8ZZ
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 19, 2005 20:06
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It's a Winner
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Only had this a short time, but with a CAREFUL reading of the manual, programming becomes pretty intuitive. The display, search and bandscope are impressive. When I first plugged it into a Dayton 2004 "Walking Stick Vertical" I could easily copy the 14.336 County Hunter's Net, which ain't bad for a VHF/UHF antenna! And compared to the handleld Icom R-20, well, it's a HECK of a lot more receiver for the same price... highly recommended by this OT of 35 years on HF/VHF...
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W2USB
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Rating: 4/5
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Sep 26, 2005 14:21
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It's a Keeper
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Negative:
No PL/DPL (Come on Yaesu)
Antenna Switch is on the rear of radio (Insane)
Manual is horrible. (No mention of many menu items.)
USB/LSB is off 20hz after radio gets warm.
Sub VFO AM or FM only
No CAT control support (Total B.S.)
Positive:
Price ($599.00 vs $899 for AOR 8600)
Band scope (you will add new frequencies to your log)
Dual VFO's (Great for monitoring input frequencies at the same time as the repeater)
DSP Option (a must have)
Display (will impress the heck out of your family friends...LOL)
The radio is not perfect, but I am glad I purchased one.
73,
W2USB
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MW1ROS
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 28, 2005 13:04
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Brilliant
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Can't fault this radio, works excellent on all bands, best buy I ever made
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CLEBOT
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 13, 2004 09:01
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I love it!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I must be one of the lucky ones…I picked up my VR-5000 about 3 years ago and have loved using it every minute I have owned it.
I really have no complaints, other than the occasional microprocessor lock up (only happened twice). Sent it back to Yaesu for a firmware upgrade and have had no problems with it since then. The customer service was outstanding! Very polite, thorough and helpful. Their technicians actually called me back to make sure they understood why I had sent it to be repaired!
Of course it doesn’t scan as fast as a dedicated scanner or receive shortwave/HF as well as a dedicated SW radio, but it does both well enough to suit my needs.
I am actually amazed by what I pick up on it. I am only using a small Radio Shack VHF Hi/UHF discone antenna and have received signals as far down as 1.5 MHz, and well into the 900 MHz range and above. I would like to use a more appropriate antenna(s), but am limited to the tiny discone due to available space and restrictions.
So, while I expected to get pretty good reception within my antenna’s advertised range (which I do), anything outside of that range is gravy! And there’s a lot!
That being said, I will supplement my VR-5000 with a dedicated scanner and SW receiver. The bandscope is a huge part of the radio. I love it and find it indispensable. It works fabulously. I have read many complaints about overload, particularly on the SW bands. I fixed this problem right up with an MFJ passive preselector. Problem solved.
I would love to see what this baby could do with a ‘real’ HF antenna!
As for the manual…yeah, it isn’t the greatest, but if you have any prior knowledge of radios and the different functions inherent to them, then it is possible to figure it out.
The biggest help has been getting the FTBVR5K and FTBasic software programs. WOW! It makes programming and controlling the radio easy and quick. The computer control of the radio was a big selling point for me and I have not been disappointed. Just wish I had gotten the software earlier on.
Bottom line (based on my experience with this radio): I would buy another one hands down. I have had nothing but good experiences with it, and with Yaesu.
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