|
New to Ham Radio?
My Profile
Community
Articles
Forums
News
Reviews
Friends Remembered
Speak Out
Strays
Survey Question
Operating
Contesting
DX Cluster Spots
Propagation
Resources
Calendar
Classifieds
Ham Exams
Ham Links
List Archives
News Articles
Product Reviews
QSL Managers
Site Info
eHam Help (FAQ)
Support the site
The eHam Team
Advertising Info
Vision Statement
About eHam.net
|
| Reviews Summary for Yaesu VR 500 |
|
Reviews: 14
|
Average rating: 3.6/5
|
MSRP: $239
|
Description: All mode scanner 100khz to 1300 mhz
pocket sized. Band scope, 1000 memories
|
|
More info: http://
|
|
Email Subscription
You are not subscribed to this review.
Subscribe!
My Subscriptions
Subscriptions Help
|
You can
write your own review of the Yaesu VR 500.
|
N4AEQ
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Nov 30, 2009 10:17
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Must be magic
|
Time owned: 6 to 12 months
|
I sill can't figure out how they got so much radio into something this size. It really works great for tracking down interference on hf & vhf
bands along with the ability to slip it into your
shirt pocket for the "just in case" times. The only negative is its so small its very easy to mis place. Yes you need a better antenna for HF
but what portable dosent? I made a pull up one
from rabbit ears and a bnc adapter, it works great for hf thru 6 meters.
|
|
N8IVH
|
Rating: 4/5
|
May 24, 2009 09:43
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Good Price to Performance ratio
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
|
Purchased my radio at the Dayton convention this year. Ham Radio Outlet had the entire kit for under $200. If you notice the specs for sensitivity they are quite respectable. You cannot expect it to match the performance of a full sized $13,000 dollar Icom communications receiver. It is the only wideband receiver I can find for that price that will tune ssb on two meters. Many handhelds will not handle ssb at all. It should be obvious that the the small rubber duck antenna supplied with the radio will not match a larger shortwave antenna. That is true of any receiver. I knew that from past experience and bought an MFJ discone at the same time. The overloading problem never bothered me at all. If it bothers you, just use an attenuator in line with the BNC connector. This receiver requires practice to fully appreciate its capabilities. You should do a full reset as described in the manual out of the box. I copied two Nav Beacons below 500Khz, stations in between and all the way to 2 meter repeaters and beyond just using the rubber duckie. Nice radio. Glad I bought it.
|
|
KC2PJL
|
Rating: 2/5
|
May 14, 2008 11:54
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Not So Happy.....
|
Time owned: 3 to 6 months
|
I bought my VR-500 2-3 months ago. I was looking for more than just what scanners cover in a hand-held package. I liked what I read regarding the features and coverages of the radio. My only negative (at the time) was the lack of CTCSS/DCS squelch. Read the reviews here and all in all thought I was making a good purchase. Bought the radio and software and am less than happy with the performance of this radio.
I live just outside of NYC and there is a lot of radio activity on all the bands. The VR-500, regardless of whether it's connected to its rubber duck antenna, the Radio Shack 9-section antenna, or my roof-mounted discone antenna so overloads on any band that I have to jack the squelch all the way up, whether in manual or automatic squelch mode. Because of that, whatever I'm listening to had better be very close to my residence or I won't hear them at all while all the other radios in my shack will hear everything with the squelch set at a minimum level.
Outside of my house, which is where the radio would normally be used yielded little, if any, improvement in reception.
I just bought an Icom R5 and in the less than 24 hours I've had it I'm totally amazed at the difference in performance. I have the squelch set at the minimum and this radio hears everything that all my base scanners and ham transceivers hear. Again, that's regardless of which of the 3 antennas I have it on. I even had it at work on last night's overnight shift and was listening to some of the factory-programmed shortwave stations. They all sounded like they were local broadcast stations! What was really unique about this is that the radio room I dispatch from is in the basement of the building, I'm surrounded by 5 computers, and the radio was sitting right in the middle all of that. By the way...reception was via the rubber duck antenna! I do miss the full keypad and SSB capability that the VR-500 has but the R5's performance so outshines the VR-500 that I can live with those 2 'negatives'.
I don't know if all VR-500's are as sensitive as mine is or if mine is just a fluke but if you're considering this radio of course read the reviews here, but also try to find someone who owns one. Maybe you can spend some time with the radio and its owner to see if all VR-500's are like mine.
I own 3 other pieces of Yaesu equipment, 2 FT-7800 transceivers and an FT-60 hand-held transceiver and I've had nothing but good things to say about them. I'm really surprised that the VR-500 seems to have fallen so short on performance.
|
|
ZS5J
|
Rating: 0/5
|
Feb 23, 2006 00:19
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
probably my worst ham purchase
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
I would love to give this receiver a glowing report, but then I wouldnt be giving an accurate impression. My previous all in one hanheld scanner was a Yupiteru mvt-7100 - I loved it, but was stolen from my office. On my next trip to London the ham dealer suggested a VR-500, as he was out of Yupiteru's. I have hated this receiver, its display scratches EXTREMELY easily, even something gentle rubbing on it, like its protective case, makes the display all fouled up. Like a previous post, it is prone to breaking very easily, my case broke, just while trying to remove the battery compartment lid. It is prone to intermod. The tiny speaker yields terrible audio....i could go on, suffice to say, mine has been sitting broken, in a closet for the past 3 years. I wont go to the effort of getting the broken case replaced, its not worth it. I since bought another Yupiteru, on another trip to London, which I am very happy with - a bigger unit, but exceptional audio, and sensitivity.....and selectivity. On my very last trip to London I bought an Icom R-3 with the tv screen - nice, way better than the yaesu, but for sensitivity and audio, still not as good as the Yupiteru. This Yaesu VR-500, has got to be my worst radio purchase, and most regretted one, since i was licenced 23 years ago, and after around 100 plus, new radio purchases.
73, John ZS5J.
|
|
M3ECM
|
Rating: 0/5
|
Feb 22, 2006 11:45
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Still not up to taking knocks.
|
Time owned: 6 to 12 months
|
I would love to have given a review of it's RF performance, but having dropped it three feet to a carpeted floor, the RF performance was sort of rubbish.
When a radio is SOLD on the fact it is rugged and can "go anywhere", and it isn't actually up to that, I call that miss-selling. It's against the trades description act. It's also plain daft to sell something not up to taking knocks. Are amateurs supposed to treat everything with kid-gloves? I'm sorry but I'm human and sometimes we make mistakes. Don't tell me you have never dropped a radio, or one has never fallen out of your pocket or slipped off your belt?
Safe to say I got the radio repaired (thanks to Waters and Stanton PLC) free of charge - they covered the cost of getting the radio repaired. Kudos to W+S.
I've just sold it to buy a Uniden BC330. A much better radio imho.
|
|
KE7MU
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Dec 31, 2005 09:27
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Great for what it is
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
|
I have owned this little receiver for several years now and my only complaint is that the battery life is a little short. I use the Free programing software that works great. I implimented the narrow AM filter that works great. Yes it overloads when I hook it to my 265ft loop, but it's a hand held! I have found it to be very reliable, and feature rich. It is better than it's relitives, ie VX2, VX5. The 0 rating it was given because it was dropped and broken is in MHO a sham. You can break anything! The rating should be based on the radio's performance not on it's abilitiy to withstand a beating.
|
|
PMCN500
|
Rating: 4/5
|
Oct 22, 2005 14:21
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Tiny size is a huge bonus
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
|
My introduction to scanning was a VR500 bought from ebay approx 2 years ago, and i loved it.... yes its fiddly to use.... needs two hands to enter 2nd function options etc, but its size more than makes up for any foiboles in its functionality. After about 1 year, i thought i would 'upgrade' and traded up to an AOR 8000.... which in itself was a good radio..... but fine if you dont mind carrying a brick around with you !! Needless to say it lasted about 6 months, and i sold it to buy another VR500. Although i find it struggles a little with some of the ssb and lower frequencies, and as previously described by other users the stock aerial is U/S..... I have a roof mounted aerial at home which it is normally connected to, and this provides a very good catcher for all frequencies (sometimes too good..... bleedthrough can be pain in the ass...)All in all, I dont think i'll be parting with this radio ever again.... its size makes it ideal for slipping into your pocket, and a flush mounted earpiece has you disreetly looking like some sort of undercover cop...!!.. anyway.... out of ten...I give it 7.
|
|
SWLABN
|
Rating: 3/5
|
Oct 9, 2004 10:47
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Yeah it's ok
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
I want to feel like i love this scanner because it's small, friendly and has character like a little kitten but i sometimes find it fiddly and annoying like a kitten constantly needing to be fed.
You can't take risks with it like adding a 50ft longwire because it can't handle it and will badly overload and I mean badly!.
But I guess this isn't what it's made for. It is an 'out and about' type of scanner which you'd take on a hike or something and have the ability to listen to everything from 100khz to 1300mhz.
I find that the audio is too quiet(this is a better con isn't it?) It's just too quiet and I found I had to use headphones to listen to hf and then made a small improvement.
But then I would find something else annoying about it like the scan speed! so so slow compared to the likes of the pro 26 but then that's a different keetle of fish.
This just seems to be a scanner that's trying too hard to do too many things for the user but I like it because it is small and querky. It has a sense of humour if you like.
It has the capability of hooking up to a computer and decoding some modes - so this gives it some credability but its performance is just too erratic for me to really love.
I just seem to have a love hate relationship with this radio; sorry to disappoint guys!
|
|
WT3844
|
Rating: 4/5
|
Mar 28, 2004 02:31
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
GOOD LITTLE RECEIVER
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
|
THIS IS A GOOD SENSITIVE LITTLE RADIO.STOCK ANTENNA SHOULD BE THROWN AWAY.I USE A MALDOL MH209 FOR LOCAL 2METER AND 70CM.IT STILL REACHES FOR SIGNALS VERY WELL.THE ONLY THING I DISLIKE IS THAT ITS A TWO HANDED UNIT UNLIKE MY R5 WHERE YOU CAN SWITCH MODES AND FROM VFO TO MEMORY SCANNING WITH JUST ONE HAND NO HOLDING FUNCTION AND PRESSING SCN.OH WELL VERY LITTLE INCONVENIENCE FOR A GREAT RADIO
|
|
M3PKR
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Feb 1, 2004 11:46
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
great hand held
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
This one of the best hand held scanner i have owned, and i have had quite a few. even better when used with the progaming software. Someone commented on breakthrough, i tested this scanner on 144-146 Mhz and i get no local pager interferance, and i get it on my Icom ic-746 Transceiver ( had to use a bandpass filter ).
So all in all it,s a great hand held scanner.
buy one you won't regret it
|
|
If you have any questions, problems, or suggestions about Reviews,
please email your Reviews Manager.
|
|
|
|
|
