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Reviews For: VGC-VN-N7500 50W Dual Band Mobile Radio

Category: Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Base/Mobile (non hand-held)

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Review Summary For : VGC-VN-N7500 50W Dual Band Mobile Radio
Reviews: 6MSRP: $179.95
Description:
The Vero Telecom VGC VR-N7500 is a 50watt VHF/40 watt UHF Headless ham transceiver with a solid build quality. It is very different in design compared to any other ham radio you have used in your mobile or base. The VR-N7500 can implement a smartphone as a control panel. The fuselage is installed in the trunk, the mobile phone is connected to the body through Bluetooth, and the automatic horizontal screen state is fully intelligently connected.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.randl.com/shop/catalog/index.php
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
1063.3
VE7TGT Rating: 2024-11-29
Do not buy unless you see it working. Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
One of the biggest mistake- took a youtube promotor seriously.
This radio is being promoted by some individuals on social media - here is my review of using both radio and bluetooth mic.
1. Radio gets hot - radio mechanic tols me wiring was issue - changed connector and issue solved.
2. APRS is biggest headache - HT app is confusing, not user friendly. Do not buy this unless you see yourself ..that HT app is working fine.
3. Duel Channel is useless if you want to use APRS - because APRS wont working if your squelch is busy due to another channel ...so you can not second channel.
4. Bluetooth mic is in chinese - you know double press is pairing more ...but how to OFF/ON radio and what is OK button for...are some challenges..even after 1 year.
5. Problem is not with radio and app being chinese - problem is your dats is stored in China ...
ON5HB Rating: 2024-04-16
BT doesn't connect to car-system, no Android-auto. Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
It doesn't pair with my car to use my car-audio. It doesn't work in Android-auto. It doesn't pair with other stuff. It's ok, but I expected it to work better with other BT-devices but it doesn't. Nice radio, but in Belgium if the police sees you with a tablet or gsm in your hand in the car while driving or even at a trafficlight, it will cost you a lot of money for the ticket you receive.
Also APRS isn't broadcasted.

This radio has a lot of potential, but it lacks connectivity.

Don't expect too much as it won't connect to most other BT devices.

Also programming repeaters/channels is terribly implemented.

It needs a ton of work, I hope they update the software and make it compatible with other software. As it's poor.

Nice gimmick at best, at the moment.
VA7ZEB Rating: 2023-11-18
Amazing Radio for Remote Rig Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought this radio for its remote-rig capability. My goal is to once again spend winters in South America (I did for years and then Covid messed up my lifestyle), but this time I want to be able to stay in touch with the local radio community when I'm down there.

I considered the Icom 9700 (call it $3000 CAD by the time you've paid for the radio and the remote software) but that's a Windows-only solution and its peer-to-peer architecture requires opening up ports on your router which is no great challenge on home Internet but is often impossible on cellular systems (which are constantly changing IPs and often block most ports for incoming traffic). I wanted an Android solution (so I didn't have to lug around my laptop) and I wanted it to work through firewalls and on cellular. This Vero/VGC ticked all my boxes so I decided to risk my $284 Canadian dollars on it.

The Android app is complicated, but honestly what I'm doing is complicated and I don't see how they can make it easy. There was nothing I couldn't solve quickly with a bit of Youtubing (like double click the power button to put the radio in pairing mode which is just weird). Be aware that if you are technically challenged or you give up easily, this radio and its software are not for you.

The remote rig system works perfectly. It doesn't sound great but I don't care. It works reliably for a tenth of what the Icom solution costs, and from any Android cell phone, not a laptop. Be aware, there's about a one second lag in transmission and reception using the app, which is par for the course for this sort of application. To my surprise and delight, the Android app lets you choose where the remote-rig servers are, and I minimized lag by using the US servers instead of the Chinese ones. I haven't tested it from the Caribbean Sea yet, but it works from home and I fully intend to be checking in to Vancouver-area repeaters from Cartagena next winter.

The radio itself is a high-quality piece, with mostly metal construction and a nicely built speaker microphone that has logical and useful controls. Using the radio as a standalone base station, I get excellent signal reports and my own reception of known signals has also been excellent. It's a bit odd to have a speaker mic on what I'm using as a base station but it works well.

I'm told this thing will iGate and Digipeat out of the box, too. I'll investigate that in the coming months, but I'll note now that if it really does all that decently, this may be the most feature-rich VHF radio I know of.

So far, I couldn't be happier. I just hope Vero/VGC can stay in business. This thing has been out for years and I haven't seen another radio from them. Fingers crossed.
K2DV Rating: 2023-07-31
The APRS function REQUIRES a cell signal Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This review is going to relate only to the APRS portion of the radio. Frankly I haven't even tried talking on it yet. I bought this radio to use on a cross country road trip, mainly because I could hide the radio since the control head would be on my cell phone as there is no display on the radio itself. My XYL is not a big fan of radios in the car. So it hides well, and connects to my cell phone via Bluetooth with no issue. The big issue is getting a cell phone signal in some parts of the country! You must have the free HT app running on your android device. The radio uses the app to connect to the android device, my cell phone in this case, to receive and decode GPS data. If you are going across the desert in some places, or are on a mountainous road where there is no cell service, the APRS doesn't work. I am from Florida, and there really isn't a place you can't get a cell signal. Not so in Arizona, New Mexico, along the coast roads of California, Oregon and Washington! Even some places away from the coast are spotty. So I don't really know what kind of rating to give the radio. The radio does what it claims to do, but you MUST be aware of the limitations if you live (or plan to travel) in places where you can't get a cell signal. There is a steep learning curve for the software as mentioned by another reviewer. It would also be nice if it integrated with some type of repeater download list. There is however an active and helpful Facebook group of users. Since the problem relates only to it's requiring a cell signal, I'm going to give it a 4 out of 5, because of this limitation. Hopefully when I get back to the flat lands it will work as intended all the time.
K0ESQ Rating: 2023-07-30
If you want seamless APRS, this is it! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Forget Pi's and all the cables and radios to create an Igate. This radio and an old android phone/tablet and you have a fully functional Igate. I use it mobile and a fill-in Igate on the road via my unlimited cell plan. Also serves as a digipeater!

I park my truck with this and an old cell phone to digi my hand held APRS to civilization.

Yes it is a bit of a learning curve to master, but it is one of the best radios for APRS on the market. You can get the same radio branded as RT99 direct from china for less than $150 with free shipping.

To the other reviewer, you need a cell signal to igate, however to beacon or digi you do not. I use mine in remote areas without cell service all the time. Also the radio doesn't have a built GPS. GPS location is provided via your phone running the HT app or the BHM78.
WO7T Rating: 2020-12-13
A Hands-Free Mobile Option Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
A very unique and capable dual-bander by VGC, that is Android controlled, and able to tuck into the smallest new cars. On the positive side, the bluetooth capability allowed it to easily connect to the BMH-75 wireless mic, and obviously to my Android phone, but also to a Angteela BH-M97 bluetooth headset for a nice handsfree mobile solution. In the mobile I also wired up a physical PTT momentary switch with a length of 8-Pin CAT network connector and wire that allows me to key the radio (pin 3 & Pin 5) while using the bluetooth headset, (sits at my side in easy reach) While my APRS use is limited, earlier reported faults with APRS signaling have been resolved in latest firmware shipped with radio. YouTube videos helped me here. The mics come ready for magentic mounting, which is slick. Also see Amazon "WizGear mounts" to aid in that endeavor.

Neither negative or positive is the fact that the radio itself loads and stores 16 channels (a profile) at a time from the smartphone. You can have the phone app (HT) programmed with endless profiles/regions of 16 channels each, and any one can be synced to the radio with a couple button pushs on the phone. The supplied mics and their up/down buttons move you up/down in channel number, or up/down in volume. No movement up or down on the zones in the radio itself, that I can discern.

Only negative I have noted so far, is when plugging in an external speaker (stereo 1/8") at the back, even at the lower volume settings of the HT applications' slidebar for volume, the output is screechingly loud to the point of believing it would blow out my speaker. I suspect the audio amp gain is just set too high, and would hope a future firmware update knocks that down, so an acceptable volume level through the speaker/mic is also an acceptable level through external speaker. For now the speaker mic does play very well, and plenty loud and clear in mobile settings whether using the wired one or the bluetooth one.