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Show all reviews of the Yaesu VX-2R
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of the Yaesu VX-2R.
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K2SDD
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Rating: 5/5
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May 21, 2005 06:13
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K2SDD REVIEWS THE YAESU VX-2R MINI-HT
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Of all of the handheld radios (HT’s) that I have owned, and that is a lot, the tiny Icom IC-Q7A is the one with the best receiver. So when I heard that Icom had stopped producing them I searched far and wide for a spare, but they were all sold out nationwide. The Yaesu VX-2R was recommended, but my experiences with Yaesu HT’s, with their poor manuals, complicated button pushing sequences, and tendency to go off into Neverland for no apparent reason, led me to hesitate. But a check of the eham.com website’s “Product Review” section yielded nearly a hundred positive comments by owners so I called Ham Radio Outlet (free shipping) and placed my order. In a word I find the VX-2R to be “Amazing!” It is hard to believe that so much is packed into a radio the size of the smallest cell telephone. A few years ago, when it first came on the market, I was one of the first to rush out and buy the VX-2R’s predecessor, the little Yaesu VX-1R, and it was a terrible radio. It would hang up without warning; it would only scan one band of memories at a time (UHF or VHF, etc); it would allow only for timer operated scan whereas I prefer carrier operated; the manual was translated poorly from the Japanese, and although the radio was supposed to receive from 500 kHz to 999 Mhz, it was quite deaf over most of that range. The worst thing about the VX-1R was that it included a 100 DB panic alarm that would go off without warning, usually when I was at the checkout in a store filled with people, causing me much embarrassment as I tried to deactivate it. I am happy to report that with the new VX-2R, these problems have all been recognized and addressed. The operator can “tell” the new VX-2R to scan all of his/her programmed memories no matter where in the radio’s wide (From 500kHz to 999MHz) spectrum they may be located. Or if it is desired, the memories from within only one of the bands may be selected for scanning. A very nice feature is that your favorite memories can be easily marked and then, if you wish, you can tell the radio to scan only these. As with most modern radios, the various modes and operations are selected from a menu, and this radio’s menu contains a total of 49 features. This may seem like too much to learn, however not only are selection and adjustments of menu items very easy to perform, but once you learn how it is done, all of the 49 menu options work the same way. So you only need to learn one technique, not 49. Unlike the VX-1R (that I disliked intensely) that ran only half of a watt, the new VX-2R, as measured on my wattmeter, produced 1.6 Watts HI (130 mW Lo) on VHF, and 1.5 Watts Hi (120 mW Lo) on UHF when operated from the supplied 1000 mAh lithium-ion battery. So how does the VX-2R’s receiver compare to that of the Icom IC-Q7A? With both radios using the same Duck type antennas I could find no difference in performance between the two radios except on the FM Broadcast band where the Icom was ever so slightly superior. Even TV audio reception was fantastic. The VX-2R also covers the shortwave bands (i.e. Foreign broadcast…many of which are pre-programmed, and the ham bands, etc.) but as I expected, these signals, with their long wavelengths, were a little weak when only a little rubber duck antenna is used, but that is not the fault of the radio. And only the stronger, local AM Broadcast stations came through. For better performance it was suggested (on the eHam.com website) that I reset the microprocessor before doing any programming so I did that. It took five seconds. I also was warned to expect poor performance from the supplied rubber duck and were they ever right. As I tried various ducks from my collection I quickly became aware that the rubber dust cover that protects the speaker/mic/cloning jack is so thick and sturdy that it gets in the way and prevents some ducks from making contact with the radio’s antenna jack. Not wanting to remove the dust cover, I took a Prime/Premier RD-9SMA HT antenna (one of my favorites) to my grinding wheel, and removed about a half of a millimeter of metal from the bottom. Then I flushed out the interior of the duck’s connector with a blast of contact cleaner to insure that no metallic particles remained inside. Now it fits well and works great. The local NOAA weather station is now full scale whereas with the stock antenna I could not hear it at all. It’s the same story with reception of the TV audio. The VX-2R is smart enough to know on which frequency bands the signals transmitted are on either the FM, AM, or Wide-FM mode. Only in the Low VHF Public Service Band did the radio guess wrong. It assumed that AM-Mode was used but those signals in this area are on FM-Mode. The fix was simple but for a while I wondered why I was not hearing any activity from this band segment. The supplied, model FNB-82LI, Li-Ion battery sold under the Yaesu name sells for nearly 40 dollars. It is identical, however, to the model NP-60 battery that is made by many other companies for use in cell phones and camcorders and they are available on eBay for well under $10. Matching desk-type battery chargers are also available on eBay. Battery life is excellent. The VX-2R’s transmit audio is very good. The receive audio is reasonable and loud enough for use in an automobile, but one should not expect great fidelity, especially in the bass range, from such a little speaker. The little Icom IC-Q7A’s audio is better but, as I mentioned above, it is no longer in production. For in-the-car monitoring with the Yaesu I place the radio between the sun visor and the cealing so it is near my ear. The VX-2R belt clip is made of cheap plastic and soon broke; so do not use the belt clip. Fortunately it was nice enough to break while in my hand so I did not lose my radio. If you wish you could tie a string to the little hole near the top of the radio and wear it as a necklace. It really is a very small radio. I have always said that nothing sells a radio more effectively than being cute. And unlike the Icom IC-Q7A, the VX-2R is very cute. I predict that they will sell a lot of these radios. I bet you also would enjoy owning one. And if you have a friend who already has one, you can buy the 10 dollar cloning cable (as did Dave, K2OOP and I) and use his radio to program yours in about five minutes. Have fun.
73 de Mike, K2SDD
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