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Reviews For: Yaesu VX-7R

Category: Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Hand-held

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Review Summary For : Yaesu VX-7R
Reviews: 290MSRP: 369.00
Description:
Quad band Hand held Xcvr
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
002904
KU6A Rating: 2006-09-09
Cool rig! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased my VX-7R 22 months ago. I returned the first one to HRO after getting audio reports like "Is there a motorboat in the room with you?" or "Can you turn off the ceiling fan?" or "Are you using a VX-7R? I can hear your PL in your audio". The replacement radio had the same problem. I really wanted this rig and decided to try and adjust the PL deviation myself. Although I was able to decrease the over deviated PL tone and improve the audio quality, the hum is still there. Other than this problem, I would have to say that the rig is very nice and has great features that I never use. The battery doesn't keep a charge very long and I'm reluctant to spend $80 for a spare battery. I'm going to HRO this morning to buy another HT for my 11yr old son and it will not be a VX-7R. It really bothers me that other hams can recognize that I'm using a VX-7R just from my audio.
KC4FOX Rating: 2006-08-28
The radio as it should have been released Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I owned a first-year VX-7. I had to go back to AES with it, as it had all of teething problems that have been so well spelled out in the archives of this review.

I would have given the radio a "one (Poor!)" back then.

After I took it back...
I took it back again!

The silver little thing locked up, which required the battery to be removed. Good thing, though, as removing the battery solved the internal pressure problem when the radio got warm, and so on.

Three different times, three different radios, and none worked as the instructions said, out of the box.

This was not the experience I expected. This is also coming from someone that has two 530's (one I bought new in the box- best alarm clocks ever!) and learned how to program these things. I read the manual. It never mentioned the terrible bugs which made the radio un-usable.

I budgeted myself this year to buy a new HT, hoping for a new dual band radio (in the original sense of the words- the ability to do full duplex if I choose) and sadly, I'm let down by all the manufacturers' choices- none of the dual-banders even have their roots in this decade, so I looked around, and saw lots of positive reviews...

Another trip to AES, and I now have a black VX-7R.
It's a completely different radio. Bugs? Not that I can tell with the sole exception of the "temporary scan-channel lockout" (which is temporary "to the session," according to the instructions: in reality locks out that channel until that channel is returned, by the user, to operation!)
When the radio gets warm, it gets warm and continues to work. I've left it on all day and used it (I've bought an extra battery- I recommend one) constantly: it's never locked up. Power out is as advertised- and I can hit some 220 machines with it.

It's fun. It's a different radio than I had a few years ago. I would recommend it, as long as one remembers the limitations of a wide open front end, and the complications of a feature filled radio.

Buttons require a firm press, but do give audio feedback when they make contact.
Radio is waterproof. It is. No worries about a foggy display after a ride in the rain.
Menu system seems a bit screwy, but does indeed seem to have its own logic, and doesn't take long to learn.
Tones aren't LOUD anymore.
Microphone deviation seems correct out of the box, and doesn't fall off as the radio gets hot.
Barometer is... Well, it's a toy. No excuses. It's a toy. It's fun, but it's a toy. This from someone that likes toys.
All in all, a good buy.

Finally.

YC3EBW Rating: 2006-08-25
inconsistent but great Time Owned: N.A.
After having an exchange the silver vx-7r '04 prod.(I wrote a comment some months ago) for the the black one(2005 production). I have a better grip in my hand. It does not get marks easily. I have a better report on transmit audio quality. It has a crisp sound. Unlike the silver one I have sold(little muffled audio).Tone squelch a bit slow may be about half a second late(someone has reviewed about it very detail), but I don't use it often. Still gets warm when transmitting at full power.Other than that, attach the after market dual band antenna it hits all the repeater with 15-25 km range in the city. spectrum analyzer is a plus.I will purchase the black vx-7r radio again, great.(for me)
I'm still wondering why the production line is not consistent from time to time.

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Earlier 3-star review posted by YC3EBW on 2006-03-07

Finally what I was afraid of just happened. The paint of my vx-7rs wears off. The paint keeps peeling(like hair dandruf). Other than that the radio is ok. I use the radio on ham band(it does not xmit on 220 MHz for Asian version)and sometime on FRS freqs. Well, sometime my uncle who is a police officer likes to use it on the police band just to listen on it. A Cute one(compared to his Motorola radio)
WH7AX Rating: 2006-08-12
Great little radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I read the reviews about the radio being anti-intuitive. That may be true but once you learn the commands that pertain to your everyday needs then it's just a matter of keeping a quick reference card handy when you need it. As far as the radio performance, I have thus far had many positive comments about coming in clear when checking in to all the repeaters. After using it for a couple of months I don't see any reason why I would look any further for something better. It's definetly a keeper.
N7YUV Rating: 2006-07-28
Fantastic performer -- but not for the faint of heart Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
An excellent Transceiver in every respect! Plan on spending some serious time at the beginning learning it, and the rest of the time being amazed by it! Both transmit and receive are strong and clean, vastly outperforming my trusty old FT-411.

I can't stop playing with the Spectrum Analyzer -- it is a great way to see activity around your freq at a glance without the annoyances that scanning can bring.

The ruggedness of the radio is just icing on the cake!
N6YE Rating: 2006-07-13
WORTH THE MONEY Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have the black version of this HT. Nice rig and a lot of fun to use. Gave me my first chance to operate six meters since being first licensed in 1959.

Have to keep the manual handy. Can't remember all the features and configurations.

Ken, N6YE
K9XYZ Rating: 2006-07-13
BEST HT MADE Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The VX-7R is without a doubt the best HT made today or ever. YOU MUST READ the manual though and take time and have the patience to learn the features. No other HT made has near the features and capabilities this HT has. But yes it does have a learning curve and if you don't have the time to learn it don't buy one then give it a bad review beacause you can't operate it. The early problems were years ago and the HT has proven to be very excellent. Is it perfect, NO but neither is any other. I like the Kenwood thf6a also but it has few features and the only available after market battery with drop in capablites don't fit properly.
So in other words if you're looking for an HT that has more features and capablilies than any ever on the market, the VX-7R is the only one to consider, it's built like an HT should be..

73

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Earlier 5-star review posted by K9XYZ on 2003-09-14

Best all around HT on the market. But if you can't read a manual or learn how to operate it then forget it. Complicated but fantastic HT. All the modulation takes is a little tweaking via the alignment menu and mine sounds better than any of the 5 HTs I own, never a bad audio report and I have not removed any water proofing.
Great software available. People often bash what they can't understand or don't take time to learn. If you have some patience and ability this HT will not let you down. It has functions that no other HT on the market comes close to.
Check out info on the yahoo group.
Looking for a serious HT that will do things others only dream about buy one and invest some time learning it, you WILL love it!!
73, P.S. mine is sitting next to my computer for 2 days no problems!!
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Earlier 5-star review posted by K9XYZ on 2003-06-04

Had an early version that did have a couple quirks but even that one was very reliable. The 7R is unmatched on the market! YOU MUST TAKE TIME TO LEARN TO USE IT THOUGH! No matter how long you have been in the hobby, this HT like so many Yaesu produts is a complicated machine.
Many of us Americans simply wont read the manual or try to learn a product, if we can't pick it up and use it immediatley, then it's "junk."
Fact is no other HT out there can come close to the 7R, I have had the black version now for about 6 months and must say it is a fantastic HT, it does need a little tweaking via the alignment menu( the fact you have access to this menu alone sets this HT worlds apart from most others) esp for modulation. But once that is done, a great HT becomes excellent. I tried the Kenwood ThF-6A it was good also but I felt the PTT was too small and too easy to key up just bump it and it would key. The IC-T90A that I briefly owned was too simple and short on features for the money, it was'nt bad if you want a very "plain" HT with only a few features, look out for the over priced accessories though.
If your a serious user and want a more 21 century radio with features others only dream of try the 7R, it great. Its possible to get a bad anything, but that does'nt mean everything the company makes is junk!!!
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Earlier 4-star review posted by K9XYZ on 2002-05-26

After the previous reveiw I decided to play more with my 7R on dual receive and I do get the same problem that WD8JWJ is talking about. I still think this is an excellent Ht and am glad I bought it. A lot of these smaller Hts with dual receivers experience problems when they are both on, I get similar image interference on my TH-F6A. Shielding may be a big issue in these small packages. Hope Yaesu comes up with a fix, not sure whether I would send it in or not I'm not much of a dual receive user especially in the same band vhf/vhf. Anyone else have this issue?? Thanks, 73,Terry
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Earlier 5-star review posted by K9XYZ on 2002-05-25

Just got mine yesterday, hesitated last Friday at Dayton, on Saturday they were all gone. Move over VX-5R ( in fact, move over everything) this HT has got to be the coolest on the market today! Sold my VX-5R to help finance the new one, glad I did. The receive sensitivity on the 7R is much better and the features are phenominal. After just one afternoon of setting this HT up I can say it is the best HT I've ever owned. I have a new Kenwood THF-6A that will soon be for sale, I know I won't use it now. If you are a VX-5R lover like I "was" you will love the 7R even more, with all the additional features and the quality feel it has. Also if you have spare batteries, the rapid charger, SU-1, unit etc., for your VX5 you'll be glad to know they all work with the 7R, glad I kept all the accessories and removed the SU-1 barometric unit from my 5R before selling it!! Have played with the 7R some on dual receive and it seems to work great, the display is awesome and is customizable to your individual preference. The multi-colored "strobe" light is great. Can't find anything negative to say at all if you were able to use the 5R you can use the 7R, some people thought the 5R was too complicated but with all these things do, they really aren't if you READ the manual. By the way the manual lives up to Yaesu's usual great work, found only a couple of translation errors. By the way I get in just fine to our local 220 machine on the 300Mw that this Ht has on that band. You will not be disappointed on this one, of course if you can find one right now, beleive more are due in the country very soon. WAY COOL!! Thanks, Yaesu!!
KD7TDA Rating: 2006-07-09
Great HT Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This has been a great radio. Lots of features. I haven't had a chance to try the 6m AM, (not many hams in my area) I do wish it had a manual squelch. I don't like to have to go into a menu for such a simple thing. Overall though it is a great radio!
LA4NMA Rating: 2006-07-09
Best handheld I ever had Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had this HT for about 3-4 years now, and after sitting on the shelf for a while I've started playing with it again. Maybe because the main one repeater in my area burnt down a couple of years ago, and we just recently set up a new good one. I also just purchased a Yaesu FT-8800 so got back into hamming on the vhf/uhf bands again. The 8800 has hypermemories, and after finding I use it extensively, and looking at the one button memory recall on the VX-6R, I finally tried and actually understood the hypermemory on the VX-7R. It can be worked just like the One-Touch Direct Memory Recall feature which is new to VX-6R.
I've used VX-7 Commander to program my VX-7R, and it's pretty much a must, cause it cuts down on the time spent programming with alphatags, odd splits, and so on.
I also used the VX-7 Commander software to freeband my radio, and it works like a charm. Only bug I can find in the commander software is that I sometimes get a Type Mismatch error when trying to upload or save a setup after adding some frequencys. I have about 250 frequencys programmed including ham repeaters, public safety channels, mil com channels, maritime vhf to scan, satellites, air band channels and so on. I listen to many different things on my HF and the receive quality is great. Transmitted audio is great also, even if the HT gets a little warm after ragchewing for a bit. This radio came with the fix for pressure buildup in the radio, and has the vent in the battery compartment side, so the radio sounds great even if it gets a little warm.
Get a good antenna, the supplied antenna is never any good, and this one is no exception, allthough it'll work ok over short distances. I got a Hotline HL-H647S for it right away, that's a 2m/70cm band 40cm long thin flexible antenna with an SMA plug. With it I can hit repeaters 10 miles away and work AO-51 satellite with it.
Here on the southwest coast of Norway it's really mountany so hitting repeaters 10-15 miles away is pretty good for 5W.
The frequency counter works pretty good, but I need to be right next to the unknown transmitter for the VX-7R to pick up the frequency. Works ok most of the time. The rest of the time is just user error and is easily remedied.
The band scope is great, and if you don't set the band width too wide it'll even give you an S-meter reading on all the bars.
I can attest to the fact that this HT is rugged and waterproof. I have often had it with me fishing and it can get messy, have been washing it several times with no ill effect.

All in all a very well built HT with loads of features.
M3VKS Rating: 2006-07-03
Jury still out on this one! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have recently sold my much loved Kenwood TH-F7E only to replace it with the Yaesu VX-7R.

Although this radio has good output, audio, reception etc,etc. It does have some draw backs when compared to the Kenwood.

1) It feels like I have to bury the buttons into the back of the unit before any contact is made.

2) The build quality feels somewhat cheep.. but I am unable to say why. ? .

3) Although the display is really nice, If you have labeled A memory channel (i.e. with a repeater name) The Font of the said label appears somewhat small on the display. A real gripe!!

4) The menu system is not as straight forward as it could be. (This could be easily rectified by having just one key for the 'ENTER' function)

5) I was drawn into buying the silver version. A mistake as the case is really easy to mark. GET THE BLACK ONE!!! :-)

The above points aside this radio has been working well into the repeaters. And I have had very good audio reports when working simplex on 2M (this has been a real plus point ). Can't comment too much on the battery life as not charged it enough times to really get it into the charging cycle.

So is it a good buy???

At the moment I can't make my mind up, i simply don't know. Maybe I will use it more over the next few months and review again.