| KG6AFA |
Rating:  |
2012-02-23 | |
| Fun |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| If you use the VX-3R for what it was intended to be it is a great radio.I use it as a backup handheld and all by itself for backpacking.Use a rollup J Pole and it works great.Just remember it is intended to be a low power tiny handheld. |
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| K9KJM |
Rating: |
2012-01-08 | |
| One of the best! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
The little micro size Yaesu VX3R is my favorite hand held of all time, To date. (I will be watching the new Baofeng clone closely!)
The VX3 is super easy to program and operate, One of the best features is that it uses the very common NP60 camera battery that sells for less than 5 bucks each brand new including shipping!
I love the ability to scan ham and public safety frequencies WHILE listening to commercial FM broadcast music or news!
The little VX 3 is also super easy to do the "MARS" mod that allows it to transmit on FRS, GMRS, etc etc in the event of a real disaster situation.
I have found that the lower power of the VX3 is more than enough to hit local repeaters. No need for a "full power" 5 watt hand held at all.
The only thing lacking would be if someone would need the DTMF tone pad for some reason. For routing tone bursts, The VX3 can be programmed up, But doing random tones is a real pain with them.
My opinion on getting one? WAIT to see how the new Baofeng at about 40 or less bucks works out!
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Earlier 5-star review posted by K9KJM on 2007-12-16
The small "Micro" size hand held radios by Yaesu just keep getting better and better! (The little VX-2 was much better than the older VX-1, And now the new VX-3 is MUCH better than the VX-2!)
It is very impressive to see just how many features and functions that they have put in this easy to use (And program) little radio.
The new main control dial on top that has a positive lock (You have to pull up to operate) and the somewhat hard to push control buttons I consider a major improvement. No more bumping its functions as you carry it in a pocket or bump it.
The ads really don't seem to spell out just how well the dual receive feature works (Commercial radio reception and ham (Or public safety etc) It IS possible to put your memory channels of ham, Police, Fire, etc. on "scan" AND listen to your favorite music station at the same time! A really neat feature that I just love.
As others have pointed out, The commercial FM broadcast band reception is NOT really very sensitive. Don't expect to hear your "DX" distant broadcast stations on the little rubber duck antenna!
The optional "AA" battery case works very well for standard smaller size AA batteries. (Some larger very high capacity rechargeble cells are slightly too large to fit well)
I bought some extra Lithium batteries for a song on Ebay, Along with a charger to charge them when not inside the radio. Works out great. (Look up NP 60 battery on sites like Ebay!)
The list of things these little radios can do is so long I cannot possibly list all of the great things it is capable of. The programming menu is very easy to follow, A refreshing change from many modern day radios.
The 1 1/2 to 3 watts of power is more than enough for most uses, Much more power than needed for those of us who like to use cross band repeat with a radio that uses higher power and taller antennas. It is great to walk around and "hit" that distant repeater with such a small package instead of struggling to be heard.
AND DTMF tone signaling is possible with this little radio!
Even though it does not have a standard DTMF tone pad, Simply preprogram in your favorites and away you go!
I would have liked to give this radio a "4.5" only because of the less than stellar commercial broadcast band sensitivity. But I like it so much otherwise it got a full "5"
Like all amateur grade hand held radios, The little "rubber duck" antenna supplied with this unit works fine in the ham band, And leaves much to be desired "out of band" So (Like ALL hand helds) If you really want to hear police, fire, national weather service, Marine, etc, An aftermarket flexible antenna is good to have.
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| HFHAM2 |
Rating: |
2012-01-05 | |
| Great go-anywhere rig |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
This is the only HT I would consider taking with me for general use as anything bigger is very awkward to carry and/or conspicuous/nerdy.
The VX-3R can easily be carried in a shirt pocket and coupled with a Smiley 270A telescoping, spring-loaded antenna, is a match made in heaven for travelling light.
The stock duck is indeed, pretty much a dummy load and should be replaced for anything other than very local work.
VHF/UHF works great with an after-market antenna, FM broadcast reception works fine, AM broadcast reception isn't very good and wide-band/shortwave broadcast reception really needs a long antenna to work much at all.
Not too much transmit time available on the stock battery, but it's a compromise and you can either take spare batteries (very cheap) or plug it into the cigar lighter socket in your car with the accessory cable if you like (will boost output power too).
The mission of this little guy though is not traffic handling, it's just a nice little, very portable, monitor with the ability to transmit should the mood take you.
Comparing it to the Baofeng UV-3, you can't complain at the price of the Baofeng and it's transmit audio quality is as good as the VX-3Rs, however, I'm pretty sure that the quality build of the Yaesu will see it working long after the Baofeng has been tossed.
Another big plus of the VX-3R is that you can send DTMF tones from it for phone patches or IRLP/Echolink node activation; the Baofeng can't do that.
Anyway, they both work well, one is Japanese quality and the other is Chinese quality. It's your money, take your pick. |
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| KJ4RWI |
Rating: |
2012-01-05 | |
| Fragile |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Is pretty good, but it's small. So small that the buttons (which are also small) are hard to use with my normal sized fingers. Also, it's fragile. I had to send mine back when the AC charger became positional after about a week.
What it DOES do, though, it seems to do well. I could hit 2m repeaters some 15-20 miles away with that little 1.5watt output and could receive from a lot further away. |
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| N8QMK |
Rating: |
2011-12-05 | |
| disappointing |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I like the idea, a pocket-sized do-everything dual band HT. It tunes all the public service freq's I'm interested in, news on FM or AM, maybe it's asking too much from Yaesu's assemblers. The first 12 months were nice (warranty period) but then the honeymoon was over. The microphone in the grill of the radio stopped working when I had taken it on the road as my only HT, which made scheduled contacts confusing...I could tell the radio was transmitting, I could not tell there was no audio. A few days after this (really!) the on-off pushbutton decided that it should require the dexterity of a surgeon to be operated. This marvel of micro-electronics has been relegated to being the public service scanner in my kitchen. I haven't purchased anymore Yaesu products, either. I bought a Baofeng UV-3R and several spare batteries for when I need a tiny HT, and it works like a champ. |
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| G1YGJ |
Rating: |
2011-12-05 | |
| Baofeng UV-3R is much better! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Had one, it didn't do very well so I sold it. I replaced it with a Baofeng UV-3R costing less that £30. This works well, does what you want it to do and gives 2w on both bands at a fraction of the cost of the VX-3! No contest really! |
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| VO1FZ |
Rating: |
2011-12-05 | |
| Battery failure on Arrival |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Hate to give this unit a three, but I had repeated battery trouble. Without using it at all, a full charge would only last about 2.5 days. Had it serviced, but the issue persisted.
Otherwise, I loved this rig. Found it very convenient and easy to operate. Great form factor, nice weight, good audio, etc.
Returned it for a store credit, but I miss it. |
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| KE7RXM |
Rating: |
2011-08-25 | |
| Big little radio |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I am amazed with the VX3. For such a small radio it does a big job. I carry the VX3 in a cell phone case on my belt wherever I go. I have it set at 1/2 watt and use my mobile as a cross-band repeater. When I am at work, or shopping I have no problems transmitting on UHF to my mobile which in turn transmits on my home frequency on VHF. The VX3 is so easy to use and has great TX and RX reports. I can hit a repeater 30 miles away on low power, sitting in my easy-chair watching TV. I can hear the Seattle repeater 2 hours away. All kinds of frequencies to listen to. Even the FM radio is stereo with my iPhone ear-buds. Amazing little radio, buy one, you will love it! I have had many radios and this is a fun little rig. |
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| VA7BDE |
Rating: |
2011-08-16 | |
| Addition to earlier review |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Those of you who (like me) have changed the radio's default dial knob function from frequency control to volume control may have found that you are no longer able to utilize the F/W key to quickly advance through frequency selections. Happily, I discovered that you simply need to temporarily return the dial to frequency control (i.e. tap F/W then VOL key) to re-enable F/W high-speed frequency advancing.
The level to which this radio has been thought through continues to amaze me... |
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| IK0YKM |
Rating: |
2011-07-21 | |
| Outstanding |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Great portable transceiver. Very beautiful design.
Good size. The battery does not last long in TX.
Excellent sound.
This is a "great little" Yaesu transceivers.
Much better than Baofeng UV-3 ....
73's de Henk |
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