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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
KC4YMR Rating: 2006-06-24
Nice capabilities, but user interface is terrible Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I was very impressed with the TX and RX coverage and specs on this receiver, but Yaesu really dropped the ball with the user interface. Operating options such as repeater offset should be one button selectable. Instead, you have to scroll through 74 menus to find it. It takes 18 button presses to turn on PL 146.2. If you bump the freq knob even one click in VFO mode, it resets some of those settings to defaults, and you have to start over. Sometimes you scroll things with the main/sub buttons, sometimes with the tuning knob. Saving is sometimes done with the Func key, sometimes with the PTT button, and sometimes with the V/M key. The knob is not used for squelch adjustment. Yaesu has made some very intuitive and easy to operate radios in the past. I don't know what happened on this one. If the user interface worked as intuitively as my FT-470, this review would have been 5/5.
K4MFW Rating: 2006-06-16
keys fail to operate Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My radio dealer has kindly shipped me a 2nd VX-7R and I am still having trouble with key failures. Example: a solid push and hold for several seconds fails to turn on the radio. Next time around the radio turns on as specified within the 2-second hold duration. Other keys have a similar intermittement success. Is this a problem others have experienced? A bad batch or do the keys get easier to use over time? Feel frustrated - great radio I want to keep! Thanks - Michael k4mfw
AB1FV Rating: 2006-06-16
It Takes The Heat! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought my VX-7R last week after owning an Icom ICW32A for about 4 years.

I thought the menus were very good, and less confusing than the W32A!
It took less time to program the VX-7R than the W32A. (Although, the W32A is a fine radio in itself!)
I took the VX-7R to South Florida and by accident, left in the the front seat of my car for 3 hours. When I returned to my car, the radio was so hot I could barley hold it in my hand! I thought I had fried it! But after it cooled down, it again, worked like a charm!
Kudos to Yaesu for making a heat resistant radio!
The Marine channel access(receive)is great!
I recommend purchasing another battery and a fast charger. The OEM battery is fine, but it lasts only about a day.
Great radio! No complaints so far!


JMD Rating: 2006-05-18
worth the money Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just bought this handheld a week ago and it has performed well. The standard antenna did a good job hitting repeaters, but the Diamond antenna I bought had me hitting them 15 plus miles away.

Great sound.
M1RAL Rating: 2006-05-17
Extremely Versatile Time Owned: more than 12 months.

This is a follow-up post to my previous review of Nov 05. I'm currently in the US on business and needing to travel light I opted to pack the VX-7R, speaker mic and a couple of small antennas. Prior to the trip I was kindly sent a data file for South Florida by Kevin W4JKJ. What a time saver this was since the file contains more information than I could reasonably have pulled together (and then some...) without a great deal of time and effort spent in research. The radio is performing superbly and is just what I need to make a few casual local contacts as well as having the peace of mind that I have the local emergency frequencies programmed into the radio for when the inevitable hurricane season starts up. Using VX7 Commander I was able to freeband the radio from its European settings and load in the data file in moments. When I return home to the UK it will be a simple operation to reset it and load in the data for my part of England - a job done very easily.

I still continue to be impressed by this radio, especially the ease with which it can be programmed and maintained via a PC. Definitely recommended.

73,

Rick W4/M1RAL
www.m1ral.info

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Earlier 5-star review posted by M1RAL on 2005-11-29

...At 0916 hrs, 30 Jun 05, I made contact with Jack G0SNV via my club's 70cm voice repeater GB3WF in the north of England. OK, not remarkable in itself I agree, but the contact was achieved by working through GB3WF using just 5W from my VX-7R handheld transceiver using nothing more than the 7 inch stock rubber duck antenna. The measured distance from M1RAL/P (located at East Knapton, near Malton, North Yorkshire) to GB3WF (Otley, West Yorkshire) was approx 45 miles line-of-sight, and the distance from GB3WF to G0SNV's QTH was measured as approx 10 miles line-of sight, making the approximate distance between myself and G0SNV 55 miles. Signals received from the repeater by both stations were 59. So, smiles all around, the possibilities are there.

Back down to Earth the VX-7R is a lovely HT. Sure, it has all the bells and whistles plus more than you could wish for but the fact that all this functionality is crammed into such a small and ruggedly built radio is a marvellous feat of engineering. Initially I held back buying a VX-7 until the early issues were resolved and I am now glad I did. I have a radio which is a constant companion on my way pedestrian /M to the office as well as shorter business and leisure trips too. I enjoy having this radio around the place and I certainly recommend it to any interested fellow Amateurs.

73, Rick M1RAL
http://www.m1ral.info

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Earlier 5-star review posted by M1RAL on 2005-03-10


I bought the VX-7R purely for the opportunities it would give me when travelling. I am a big fan of the UK Repeater network and always take my handheld radio with me when away on business, up at my local club or simply monitoring my local repeater when in the house (I'm the repeater Keeper for GB3WF so I have a 70cms receiver on the go pretty much all the time). When the bands are quiet I wanted a radio which would give me possibilities on other bands too and the VX-7R does this very well indeed. On a recent rip to the Lake District in England I decided to leave my usual portable kit behind and elected to travel lighter and took the VX-7R with me as well as a MFJ-1714 half-wave 2m antenna. What a fanrastic combination! This radio had no problem at all hearing the local (and not so local) 2m repeaters as well as giving me the ability to work into Scotland on simplex too. OK, the radio gets very warm on prolonged Tx but I guess this is to be expected from such a small package with plenty going on under the covers. No problem at all with low muffled audio, infact I've had nothing at all but good ausio reports, and the programming software is a firm recommendation as is the "little yellow book" too. All in all this is a very capable, and yes complex in places(!) radio, but once you get to know it it quickly becomes a great friend. Definitely recommended.

73,

Rick M1RAL
G-QRP No: 11229
http://www.m1ral.co.uk
WA7SCH Rating: 2006-05-16
Does the Job Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had this HT since it first came out. The programming is a little tricky at first. I used the ADM software and cable to store information and programmed it with that. It worked great and works great.

Wish the battery held out a little longer, but it's as light as a cell phone. It's been a solid performer and I'll keep it for a while longer, I'm sure.
KT4NR Rating: 2006-04-26
Very good radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is a very good radio. After a couple years of mistreatment and abuse, otherwise called normal operating, it has held up very well.

The highlights are: Ability to be computer programmed, SMA antenna connector (very strong compared to BNC), and 220! (even 250 mw is fine for me).

The Cons: The worst menu set-up known to man (thus the 4 rating), could do with a longer life battery (what radio can't); external mic I got for it was so aweful even Yaesu said buy from someone else. The headset balanced it out because it works and sounds fine, though its robustness (if that is a word) is suspect.

Not for a beginning ham but certainly a good radio to have in the toolbox once you computer program it.
K0BLR Rating: 2006-04-12
Good Handheld Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Hi everyone,

I want would like to say that for hndhelds that this probably the best handheld out there. In my opinion the memory channels even rival the mobile radios. Anyways, I would just like to say that if anyone wants a good do it all Handheld then what you want should be the VX-7.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by K0BLR on 2004-07-12

So far in the time I've had this radio its doing wonders for me. So far I have 318 memories filled and this radios seems to be holding its own which is good! This radio also has alot useful features on it. In short if you are looking for a good solid Handheld either as a stand alone handheld or using it as mobile radio as I do you'll be pleased with this radio? I think Yaseu did a wonderful job putting this radio together! I highly reccomed it to anybody.

73
Ben K0BLR
G7IZR Rating: 2006-04-07
Excellent design! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just getting back in to radio after a break of a few years. Got my hands on a VX-7R expecting a mid-range performer for the money but I have been really suprised. The RX coverage is as good as most scanners (except no SSB of course). The RX quality is great. The TX audio is excellent: my first report did not believe I was sat in the back garden, he thought I was on an expensive base station!

It isn't hard to operate at all. You can type a frequency in directly and change bands with a single button.

And add to the 3 bands (6m, 2m & 70cms) the fact that it is waterproof and virtually indistructable, what more could you want?? :)

If I lost it tomorrow, I would go straight out and buy another one - you can't give a product a better endorsement than that...
KC5LHE Rating: 2006-04-01
Lots of Fun Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The Vx-7r was the first vhf/uhf radio I have bought in over ten years. I performs flawlessly and has great audio (I listen to fm broadcast on it routinely).

Tons of features to keep you busy but, if you are even remotely interested in Digital Communications such as APRS, go with the Kenwood D7A.

I have no qwarls with this radio, I just wish I could give it back and get the kenwood.

If you are not interested in the built in TNC on the kenwood, then the vx-7r is the radio for you.

I have taken it on waterslides, scuba dives and dropped it several times in the ocean.. very tough rig.

KC5LHE