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Reviews For: Yaesu VX-6R

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

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Review Summary For : Yaesu VX-6R
Reviews: 137MSRP: $275 USD
Description:
144/220/440 Triband Handheld Transceiver
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.yaesu.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001374.4
WA6OWH Rating: 2005-06-02
Love this radio & sends CW practice too Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Wow! Talk about a feature filled radio... this is it! I have 5 HT and this is one of the best yet. Good audio on receive and transmit. (In fact you can adjust the audio level of the X-mit from 1-10 max)The CW practice is a fun way to increase you CW speed while waiting for your FM friends to come on frequency. When they do, you can hear them and the CW until you just touch the PTT button and then it stops. Has many shortwave stations preprogramed so you can scan for them at night.
Has a time out timer you can set from 1 to 10 minutes- I set mine at 1 minute and it beeps just before the alagator gets me.
The display is large and easy to read.
Radio feels good you your hand- not too small like the VX-2... another of my HTs.
The 1450 ma battery seems to last forever.I monitor the battery voltage when ever I turn it on. I also programmed the p-dmr key for a one touch battery voltage check. Nice feature and a first for me.
Haven't tested it to see if it is waterproof and do not plan too...
It covers the 88 to 108 MHz FM band and I like being able to listen to the NPR station 20 miles away whenever I wish.
A real multipurpose radio... at an attractive price.
N6UAA Rating: 2005-05-29
returned it Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Okay, I admit that this was my first ham ht (I have owned several marine hts). At first I really liked it, very rugged, good feel on knobs and buttons, big orange display, all the right features and then some. Now the problems: first, this little puppy gets hot on tx, reduce power or keep it short or use a glove. The BIG problem (and reason for taking it back and the low rating) was intermod. No matter what band or frequency I was on, I was constantly picking up police broadcasts. Name, dob, etc. for arrest warrants. Even if I used the tone squelch, the intermod would still splatter the audio. I took it back to HRO and replaced it with an ft60r. Problem solved. I think the wide front end of the vx6r (all the way down to the bottom of the am broadcast band) is the culprit. Lesson, if you are near a transmitter or on a mountain, don't get this radio.
WD4EXH Rating: 2005-05-16
great tri-bander Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I received this radio about 3 weeks ago and found some problems with the uhf side. I sent it back to Yaesu and they had it 1 week, they fixed the problems with uhf. The rx is awesome on every band, no p.l. decode problems, and works great on all three tx bands. I think this is a much nicer radio than the vx5,vx7, and ft60.Very easy to use !
KB5TBB Rating: 2005-04-28
Not just a little brother to VX-7R. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Pros:
- Knobs are tight. Not accidentally turned. Adds to ruggedness.
- Menu items are in alphabetical order, a huge plus.
- Size is great. Very similiar to VX-5R.
- Watertightness has been confirmed. I am a kayaker and this radio has been underwater twice in the past month and is working as good as the day I bought it.
- Programming is an improvement over some other Yaesu's.
- Yaesu did a good job of updating some of their "cheesy" belt clips with this model. I don't think any manufacturer today can please us professional critics on this feature.

Cons:
- Alphanumeric letters are a little difficult to read.
- AA battery case limitation is same as that of VX-5/VX-7. It's mainly just for receiving. Power output is very little.
- Because of water tightness, you will not be able to use generic speakermics without modification.

I paid $255 at HRO just one month ago (April 1). If this radio holds up through a summer of kayaking and camping, I will be purchasing another one by fall and putting my VX-5R into long term cyro-storage. I owned a VX-7R and wasn't pleased. This radio is a nice step-up from the VX-5R.
KC9AYN Rating: 2005-04-20
PERFECT Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
BOUGHT IT TODAY, NEVER LOOKED AT MANUAL. OWN A VX-7RB ALSO. EASY TO PROGRAM. YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE COMMANDER PROGRAM FOR THIS RADIO. BUT I HAD OVER 40 FREQUENCIES ENTERED IN LESS THAN 20 MINUTES.
RECEIVE IS EQUAL TO THE VX-7. STOCK ANTENNA THEY CAN KEEP. A MAHDOL 610 WORKS BETTER.
NICE REPLACEMENT FOR THE VX-5
K3TD Rating: 2005-04-08
One great portable! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just for reference, here are dual band portables I own and have used extensively over the past couple of years: VX-5R, TH-F6A, IC-W32A.

+
a) Size and shape factor of the radio - similar to the VX-5R, but looks better to me
b) Construction and ruggedness - it feels solid like a land mobile 2-way radio
c) Ease of use - a definite improvement over the VX-5R, though not quite as graceful as the TH-F6A
d) Display - excellent size and readability
e) Receiver performance and sound - excellent so far with no evidence of overload or intermod problems
f) Memory system - lots of flexibility with the various memory banks
g) CMP460A speaker/microphone is big, but also rugged and has great audio - it is not a toy!
h) Manual is surprisingly straightforward for a radio with so many features!
i) Ability to view the frequency of an Alphanumeric memory tag by pressing the Monitor button - neat!
j) Lots of flexible options for scanning memory or VFO frequencies

-
a) Belt clip - pitch it and buy the CLIP-14
b) TX power on 222 MHz just 1.5 watts
c) No PC programming software available yet. I know it is coming, but with over 900 memories and all those different memory banks I want it NOW!

Overall I am extremely pleased with the VX-6R!

73,
N0GPS Rating: 2005-04-05
UPON FURTHER REVIEW Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
UPON FURTHER REVIEW THE RADIO IS GOOD

SO I WILL SUGGEST THAT IF YOU WERE THINKING OF BUYING ONE YOU SHOULD RUN DOWN TO YOUR LOCAL CANDY STORE AS FAST AS YOUR LEGS WILL CARRY YOU AND BUY ONE.