The blinking "A12" means that your APRS modem is turned on at 1200bps. If you go into the APRS Modem setting and turn it off, the indicator will go away. If you change it to 9600bps, it will start blinking "A96" on the main screen.
Thanks, moleculo. That's exactly what I thought, but the OP mentioned the
blinking A12 annunciator, suggesting that the fact that it blinks could be a
"problem." He apparently did have other real problems regarding his unit being unable to scan and locking up while in WX Rx mode, but my radio doesn't have those problems. BTW, I don't know why Yaesu programmed the modem annunciator to blink. It's a bit distracting and they might have been able to set it on continuous display mode. The same goes for the blinking "dash" annunciator when the squelch meter is set to anything but "off."
Otherwise, I'm very pleased with the VX-8R. I've had quite a few HT's over the years, and this is my favorite. I have only one real complaint, and that regards the permeability of the front end. Maybe they just can't make 'em like they used to. Maybe it has something to do with the small physical size of these modern radios. It's an engineering trade-off, I guess.:blushing: