Robert,,, Hi there again,,,
Glad to see you up and posting so much info on the VR-5000. I would have
been asking or at least, throwing in my 2 cents worth in the last few days
but I have been away for the weekend. I thought I needed a break as, with
my illness, I virtually haven't been able to leave this room for the past 3
and a half years. A friend offerred me a small trip away so I quickly
grabbed it. I grabbed all the necessities and away I went. What a neat time
I had too.. Anyway back to business...
Hey,, we have got to keep this VR-5000 stuff/info on the boil as I always
thought that it was quite a lot more powerful than the weak manual
suggested. I am really glad to hear that Yaesu have decided to reprint the
manual. I just phoned my Yaesu outlet (they'r not really a Yaesu dealership
though) and they had never even thought to question the manual but he
hasn't heard anything from Yaesu yet on that... He will keep me informed
if/when any new literature arrives, he assures me.
Can you spare me a few minutes of your time to answer a few easy ones?
You say you have programmed about 400 frequencies into memory. What happens
when you get to memory 100+, since there are only 2 places for the digits
on the LCD panel. Presumably this would allow the use of mem channels 00
to 99. Does the set automatically put the hundredth one into a new bank?
With only 2 digit places, memory channel 1000+ would also suffer the same
fate.. Do you get what I am asking??
Have you figured out how to divide the memory channels into banks? I
wouldn't mind having 20 banks of 100 channels.. I am hoping that I can do
this before I start grouping different types of received signals - police,
ambulance, fire, air traffic, business, TV, FM radio... that sort of thing.
How about actually deleting a memory and its contents? My manual shows how
to mask but not delete a mem channel...
There, that will keep me going until "next time". Hahahaha... Well, you
said "I know" and now I might just be tapping you on the shoulder to say
"how do..?". I always did believe that the quickest way to learn was to
ask. Consider yourself lucky that you don't live in the same town as me.
Hahahahaha.!!!!
I like your suggestion on remebering which keys you pushed when you find
something new. ME,,, I am too scared to push any new keys to find out, at
the moment. Maybe soon I will work up the nerve to "explore".. You can bet
your boots though, that if I find something new,, it will be posted in here
the very next moment. I have lots of time to kill so I will wait for any
new developments from any source.
I have tried my VR-5000 on HF SSB but found it to be a few Hz off frequency
(about 100+ Hz). The 20 Hz adjustments at these frequnecies is too large
anyway. I like to be able to do an absolute minimum of 10 Hz adjustments. 1
Hz is even better for the real fussy listener but not totally necessay. My
ears can notice as little as about 5 Hz when tuning in on most USB
transmissions but when tuning 2 HF receivers side by side on the same
frequency, your ears can notice far less than even 1 single Hz with the 2
different audio signals acting against each other, creating a third signal
(unless they are both "spot on" with each other). This practise is very
good when making internal adjustments to some receivers. I don't encourage
this sort of activity though unless you are really self-confident.
I am going to copy and paste all info posted, into a VR-5000 file.
Hope to hear back from you or others asap........
Cheers until next time.......
>Hello News Group Community.. After programming in about 400 local
>frequencies I can now determine that the scan functions are first rate.
>The visual display of active frequencies, the ability to use the
>band-scope along with scanner functions is very useful. Sensitivity and
>selectivity continues to be outstanding on all frequencies. My JRC
>NRD-545 has the UHF converter built in. This is good up to 2 GHZ, but
>the unit does not HEAR what the VR-5000 hears. On a few stations I used
>for testing, the 545 showed a S-1 reading on a weak station from Mt
>Wilson in Los Angeles. That is about 125 miles as the crow flies. It was
>very static ridden and hard to understand. On the VR-5000 S-5 , loud and
>clear. I needed to PEAK the tunable RF peselector, and that made a BIG
>difference on this weak station at 461 Mhz. But then that is why they
>put the feature in the radio, to peak the RF front end for maximum RF
>gain.. Have a good weekend!! BTW, my antenna is a DISCONE made by Radio
>Shack.
>> It keeps getting better! Continued operation of the VR-5000 is very
>> encouraging. I did some testing on my 1.9 GHZ cellular phone and also my
>> cordless phone. These are all digital but sensitivity was very good
>> showing a FULL scale s-meter deflection from a low power cordless phone.
>> Also the shape factors of the "3" AM filters are wonderful. Also, the
>> VR-5000 has some neat MODE control. You can have up to 3 modes of
>> operation when in SSB operation with AUTOMATIC functions implemented.
>> Again, the operational manual is very poor. I am discovering a few
>> things just by accident. They key is to remember what keys are presses
>> and write it down. Many keys serve more than the "DUAL" functions shown
>> on the key and above the key. Hitting they key twice can toggle it into
>> a 3rd mode of operations... Well it is raining in Southern California so
>> a good day to stay in and play with the radio!!
>> > I just got mine on Thursday with all the options. I have several TOP END
>> > radios to compare it to and so far so good. My test so far has been 100%
>> > below 30 MHZ. I have been doing a few test by taking the 10.7 MHZ IF
>> > output and feeding that into a JRC NRD-545 radio and using the AM
>> > synchronous detector circuit on SWL stations. Works very good. I also
>> > tuned in a few FM radio stations, and was able to tune the SCA sub
>> > carrier information with the IF output hooked to the 545 radio. I have a
>> > SM-220 station monitor that is factory stock at 8.8 MHZ input for IF.
>> > Made for Kenwood radios. Since I have Yaesu HF radios for the HAM side,
>> > and they don't offer IF outputs (most HF radios today do not??? ) I will
>> > re-tune the SM-220 to 10.7 mhz and use it for some band scope functions.
>> > OK, you may ask why since the VR-5000 has a VERY NICE band scope. It
>> > does but only when the radio is in the single receive mode. When it is
>> > in the DUAL BAND watch mode, the second receiver is used for monitoring
>> > the second station , and not as a sweep tuner for the band scope. The
>> > Memory functions are NEAT. Some of the best functions I have ever seen
>> > on a scanner. I called Yaesu on Thursday and they are printing a NEW
>> > owners manual as we speak because many folks just can't figure it all
>> > out. Also MANY hidden features that are not mentioned. Like the ability
>> > to SEARCh for a station, or watch for activity on a seldom used channel,
>> > automatic activation of the Digital Voice Recorder, recording the audio
>> > and storing it in memory for playback at a latter time, VERY NEAT!!!!
>> > I will try and answer any and ALL email from the community about this
>> > radio. Don't let complexity get in the way of sophistication. It will
>> > take time to get use to it. The FRONT end of this radio is VERY HOT!!!
>> > THe 20 DB attenuator is very handy, HOWEVER, I think even more
>> > attenuation may be needed at times for strong utility stations. This HOT
>> > front end lets it work great on just a small whip antenna attached to
>> > the back. Using a 100 foot long wire antenna on AM broadcast can
>> > overwhelm the radio. In many cases SWL station are FULL scale on the
>> > s-meter. This is GREAT NEWS!! The reason is it gives the BAND SCOPE
>> > great vertical resolution. Showing not only the strong stations, but the
>> > weaker ones as well. The dynamic range of this scope is wonderful, far
>> > superior to the band scope used in the ICOM 756-PRO HF radio, costing
>> > $2700.00,, More to follow...
>> > > Has anybody in this NG any experience with this new Yaesu VR-5000 receiver.
>> > > Although it is a broadband receiver (scanner), at least on paper it looks as
>> > > it should be capable of quite decent performance on HF, specially with the
>> > > optional DSP-1 unit (which adds bandpass tuning, notch filter and noise
>> > > reduction filter).
>> > > Any opinions? How does it compare in terms of HF performance vs. dedicated
>> > > HF
>> > > receivers (for example the IC-R75)?
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