VX-8R .. in need of few basic answers

[Milos]

Hello,

I have few questions i hope experts and experienced HAMs will be able to help me with regarding VX-8R in particular.

I am located in Queens NY.
KC2WIC

1. I own two VX-8Rs and for 4 years now have never been able to receive any good signal on 6m (50-54MHz)with either of the two receivers. I realize this requires better antenna, than my SRH999 quad band whip, but I expected to get something audiable sometimes at least. SRH999 does get me twice the signal in 6m range than the original whip but still only noise.

Similar story but with a lot more signal I have in 2m (144-148MHz) 99% of it is just two to five bars of solid noise mixed with squeeking sounds. Many of those strong noisy signals are between 145-146MHz

I don't understand what it means if i catch a solid 4-5 bars of noise within these amateur bands range and no audio no matter which mode i set the radio to receive. Also, many of them are constant signal so it is obviously not HAM radio conversation.

Can anyone recommend me frequencies in my area i can try to listen to on 6m, and 2m which i should definitely be able to catch. I would appreciate it.


2. I can't seem to be able to enter old emergency marine 2182Khz on my VX-8R. I tried different frequency steps, and closest i got is 2181.25khz Is this limitation of this radio, and if yes, why some other hand-helds can tune into this frequency, and such advanced radio like this can't? Curious...


3. This is probably a stupid question for many of you experts but I'm curious about public AM reception as well. I can catch and listen to 1.430MHz station im my car in my neighborhood, but not with My VX-8R. Neither one of the two. The best I got was a single bar coming in and out in my apartment, and mainly noise. In my car radio, the story is much different, and one can listen to conversation of the radio show clearly- no problem. VX-8R does not receive even a single bar on this frequency when i tried in my car. And I drove arround rhe block a few times. I selected bar internal antenna as well as external whip, but car radio still beats both of my VX-8Rs in this range by great amount. Is the usual car radio antenna much bigger?


4. When I set the radio to max Tx power setting, which should be 5W, and I'm powered by Li-Ion battery, Is the power output limited to 3W? I read in couple of places that other VX Yaesu HH models only output 5W if you connected to external DC PS. I could not find this info about VX-8R.

5. Does VX-8DR have any advantage in physical build, battery connection or in transmission or reception over the older VX-8R. I know of only improved firmware capability. Possibly some unadvertised improvements ?

...

I do realize this radio has a great range of capabilities and not all of them will match other more specialized radio receivers even of the much cheaper side. I am asking these questions so i can learn more specifically why each is happening.

Thanks in advance to any of the answers you may provide.


cheers.

 

[Beetle]

As far as 2182 KHz, it appears that your channel steps aren't set properly. That is quite a low frequency. Try changing the channel width for the HF/MF range. (You are aware that there's no way you can transmit there with the Yaesu, right?). This might be the same reason for the AM broadcast performance being lousy as well.

For six meters, you might visit a local ham club and ask somebody to transmit on six, just to see if the receivers work. You're right in thinking about the supplied antenna being inadequate. For receiving, I'd just use a length of wire and remind myself not to transmit.

 

[Milos]

As far as 2182 KHz, it appears that your channel steps aren't set properly. That is quite a low frequency. Try changing the channel width for the HF/MF range. (You are aware that there's no way you can transmit there with the Yaesu, right?). This might be the same reason for the AM broadcast performance being lousy as well.

For six meters, you might visit a local ham club and ask somebody to transmit on six, just to see if the receivers work. You're right in thinking about the supplied antenna being inadequate. For receiving, I'd just use a length of wire and remind myself not to transmit.

Not sure what you mean by channel width. Is this a menu setting?
As i said, i tried all available options from frequency step menu.

do you have similar radio? Can you dial in 002.182 ? Which step freq. choice do you have set?

Yes, I am very aware of Tx range of these radios. I did extend my range by removing the resistor though, which only affected some of UHF bands.

The Rx capability is still a bit puzzling me.

Maybe someone with VX series Yaesu can try to tune in 2.182MHz and let me know. That would be great help.

I unfortunately barely have time to get on this forum, or play with HAM stuff (hopefully that will change in the future , so HAM clubs are not an option at this time for me. I find some time sometimes to test my radios and program in frequencies via software. Once in a while I will hit repeaters looking for contact to test the system. I use them manly for listening, and Tx on GMRS channels if talking to my friends inexpensive walkies which is also very rear, but I like the capability.

Thanks for your reply.
cheers

 

[Tim_Z]

My VX-8DR can only tune in five Killahertz or larger steps. So I can get 2.180 or 2.185.

Tim

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk 4

 

[Milos]

My VX-8DR can only tune in five Killahertz or larger steps. So I can get 2.180 or 2.185.

Tim

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk 4

Hi Tim,
If you go to menu 96 STEP FREQUENCY, You can manually set it to these options steps: 100, 50, 25, 20, 15, 12.5, 10, 6.25, 5 KHz or Auto.
Yours likely set to auto.

none of these will let you type 002185KHz unfortunately.

Hopefully someone will post why that is.

thanks for posting.

cheers

 

[Tim_Z]

What I meant was 5k was the smallest increment. Correct, won't accept 002182.

Tim

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk 4

 

[Milos]

What I meant was 5k was the smallest increment. Correct, won't accept 002182.

Tim

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk 4

I see what you mean. You can however get closer if you use 6.25 increment. It gets you to 2181.25khz. I used it plenty of times where 5KHz was not landing on frequency i needed to tune to.

 

[Moleculo]

Hello,

1. I own two VX-8Rs and for 4 years now have never been able to receive any good signal on 6m (50-54MHz)with either of the two receivers. I realize this requires better antenna, than my SRH999 quad band whip, but I expected to get something audiable sometimes at least. SRH999 does get me twice the signal in 6m range than the original whip but still only noise.

Similar story but with a lot more signal I have in 2m (144-148MHz) 99% of it is just two to five bars of solid noise mixed with squeeking sounds. Many of those strong noisy signals are between 145-146MHz

I don't understand what it means if i catch a solid 4-5 bars of noise within these amateur bands range and no audio no matter which mode i set the radio to receive. Also, many of them are constant signal so it is obviously not HAM radio conversation.

You're in the middle of a very big city with lots of radio traffic. My guess is that you're being affected by lots of intermod which is causing the noise. Regarding the 6m reception, IMO these Yaesu HT's with 6m just don't have a very sensitive receiver on 6m.

Can anyone recommend me frequencies in my area i can try to listen to on 6m, and 2m which i should definitely be able to catch. I would appreciate it.

Can't help you with NYC frequencies (google is your friend), but start with 14.652

2. I can't seem to be able to enter old emergency marine 2182Khz on my VX-8R. I tried different frequency steps, and closest i got is 2181.25khz Is this limitation of this radio, and if yes, why some other hand-helds can tune into this frequency, and such advanced radio like this can't? Curious...

If you can't get there by adjusting the step, then you just can't get there on this radio unfortunately.

3. This is probably a stupid question for many of you experts but I'm curious about public AM reception as well. I can catch and listen to 1.430MHz station im my car in my neighborhood, but not with My VX-8R. Neither one of the two. The best I got was a single bar coming in and out in my apartment, and mainly noise. In my car radio, the story is much different, and one can listen to conversation of the radio show clearly- no problem. VX-8R does not receive even a single bar on this frequency when i tried in my car. And I drove arround rhe block a few times. I selected bar internal antenna as well as external whip, but car radio still beats both of my VX-8Rs in this range by great amount. Is the usual car radio antenna much bigger?

Yes, this is fairly typical with HT radios vs. car radios. The HT will improve some with an external antenna, but the receivers just aren't great on HF.

4. When I set the radio to max Tx power setting, which should be 5W, and I'm powered by Li-Ion battery, Is the power output limited to 3W? I read in couple of places that other VX Yaesu HH models only output 5W if you connected to external DC PS. I could not find this info about VX-8R.

My experience was that you got pretty close to full power on a fully charged battery.

5. Does VX-8DR have any advantage in physical build, battery connection or in transmission or reception over the older VX-8R. I know of only improved firmware capability. Possibly some unadvertised improvements ?

All of the improvements are in APRS functionality and a couple of minor GPS features

 

[Milos]

Thanks Moleculo,
I got confirmation from Yaesu also that 2181.25KHz is the closest i will get to 2182 with VX-8R. However they believe i should be able to listen to hear 2182KHz as it is close enough.

They also confirmed 5W transmition with lithium ion rechargeable battery.

If anyone has good antenna for 6M for this walkie to recommend, feel free to let me know. I like to compare, and test. Same goes for getting best in 70cm range.

thanks again

KC2WIC