Are Old Ham Radios Any Good?
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- Опубліковано 5 лип 2024
- We take a quick look at the pros and cons of using old ham radios, and when you should buy new. I’ve owned the yaesu vx5r for almost a decade. It’s nearly a 20 year old radio, and works as good as the day it was made.
I’ve had my VX-5R for 22 years. Never had an issue. Works as well today as the first day I bought it!
Same!
VX-1 and VX-5 were the beginning of a different era for Yaesu handhelds, but these early ones carried over a lot of the old-school engineering. I bought a VX-5R and an FT-11R brand new and both still work--the VX-5R was well over $300 21 years ago. If it does break you can fix any component--that's kind of what amateur radio is all about baby.
Nice brother. Thanks for taking the time to share with us. God Bless
Thanks for information. I wish you and your family a happy new year. I plan to carry Yaesu vx5 in my bag in daily life for emergencies and hiking. Do you have any suggestions for a shorter, compact and powerful antenna for Vx5?
Good old radios age like fine wine.
I'd like to post a comment regarding 6 Meters:
True, 6 Meters is NOT an ideal band for an HT. HOWEVER- I CAN see these radios using 6 Meters to talk around a campground or in a SAR operation.
This past June, my VX-8 was stolen out of my vehicle. I am STILL smarting over that loss! I originally bought the VX-8 for Tactical Comms on 220 Mhz. This is ALSO why yesterday, I purchased a new VX-6. My Pastor also has a VX-6 he's owned for several years, and he absolutely LOVES that little radio. We met up yesterday and did some test communications between our VX-6s on 222.500 Simplex. Both sounded fantastic!
Over the next several weeks, I'm hoping to build a small Go Kit in a Harbor Freight Hardshell case. In it, I plan to have my VX-6, my FT-4 that has the MARS Mod, and MAYBE buy a used VX-5 as well. This would give me ALL of the upper Bands in one kit! The Case will also house a 12 Amp Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery, along with a solar Charge Controller and a complete kit of adaptors to interface with ANY external Solar I might have access to in the future. IF I can put this all together, I'll have friend who has a YT Channel post it for everyone to see.
Great point. 6m is not ideal..but a very unused band, and like you said..perfect for short range. I also have 6m fm on my 8900, so it could be used there as well.
Sorry to hear about the vx8. That’s a real bummer.
What kind of short stubby antenna is that? I just got a used vx-5 and am interested in a new antenna. Do you ever use the 6m band on the radio? If so which antenna do you use on that?
It actually has AM Receive as well for Aviation
I have one now for 20 years and a few months ago I contacted Yeasu in regards to replacement keypads, seal for the speakermic and power and the antenna connector. No Buéno. They told me NLA. WELL NOT GOOD. As for the issue with power or intermittent keypad operation, Farnell in the UK and their US affiliate sell a product the you apply to the rubber pads which dries an provides conductivity like a new keypad. It’s not cheap ( around $30 for a small jar ) but it will do dozens of keypads before it dries up. As for the lettering wearing off of the keypad, not sure there is any fix for that. As for the antenna connector, I was thinking that maybe they use the same connector but under another part number, even Motorola did this with some parts. For the antenna / power port seal there are some silicone products out there that can be cast to fit. Just coat the connector ports with a thin coating of a release agent designed for the type of silicone you want to use and you can form a new seal. Just be careful you don’t shove the silicone too far into the connectors. I have never tried programming the radio with Chirp but I do use the RT Systems programming software that was told with the radio when I bought it used at a ham fest. I did pickup on a chinesium USB programming cable and works great with this radio as well as an earlier version of a Yaesu radio. Now as for old Ham Gear, I recently purchased an XTL5000 mobile, 2006/7 vintage but it works like new. Nothing wrong with old radios. The good thing is that it’s working split goes from 380-470 MHz. Allows me to use it both in the Sates and Europe.
Great video, just pulled my VX 5r off the self replaced the battery. Attempt to change the bands and get an out of range NFM. I had done some solder mods way back in 911 days. Trying to reestablish normal operations. Where is the best place to find the mods, for reverse engineering. Suspect this function change is a result of prior mod. Thank you in advance.
Reset the radio and try that first!
I have this too. These are now $400 radios on Ebay
What software are you using to program it? I have one of the vx-5r and its great..
Steve Frias I sold the vx5..but you can use chirp to program it
@@design2survive I just acquired the vx-5r from a friend and find it very difficult to understand how to program it from the keypad. I have a beofang and a TYT digital and use chirp for the beofang. May I ask where you got the computer interface cable for the vx-5r? AND thank you for your calm and informative videos.
what antenna is that? i have 2 of these one came with factory antenna"s the other has none
Whatever it is, I don't see it working well on anything except UHF
the problem with the new ones (even some japanese ones albeit with a better quality) are that they have direct conversion type receiver unlike the older ones with superheterodyne type receiver which are far superior in my opinion, but they do have their pros and cons though.
I just bought a Yaesu VX-8 with a box of extras and MARS Mod. It needed a little tlc and cleanup but i did not care. It looks a lot better than before and still works great. I say you are correct, it is almost bullet proof.
I use my vx8 almost every day..still a great radio!
Still running a Yaesu VX-150 which was bought new in 2007. And _still_ running the original battery, which after carrying the handset around for a day, (with TX time about 1 hour total per day, but sometimes not used at all, but just squelched off on RX) still gives me 12 hours use. It's not let me down yet! I've looked at Baofeng sets at a fraction of the cost (I mean, I could buy a new Bao 2m handset for less than the cost of a genuine yaesu VX battery!), but nah! - I'll stick to me 150 until it dies. And man...is it gonna take some killing!
hi, what name is the antenna? thanks.
I think those antennas were made by Maldol.
Yaesu is still making the VX-6, high is an EXCELLENT radio I like mine very much.. I also own a VX-8, which is my "Baby"!
great video thanks 73 from kb2uew
Hi..nice review man..well it’s a good radio, i have vx5r also still running well till now..and i also have yaesu ft4x..and i think vx5r still better than ft4x
I just bought an older VX-6R. Sold my original that I bought new and wish I hadn't! This has the barometer installed and I cannot figure out how to activate that feature. Also these VX series have an amazing receive from 530khz right through the 900 mhz band. It will transmit in AM also, and with the MOD will do 6, 2, 220, 440 in AM or FM... No comparison to the newer radios at all.
Reset the radio
thanks, nice review 73 from kb2uew
Still good radios for the agr gonna buy a vx6e next week for 150 them are 15year old radios lol for the frequencies they cover and size build quality like a tank the functions relieabilty are worth it and better than the new radios
Thanks fore shareing great information. I bought One vx-5r fore 50$. I hade to buy a Chargercabel thats all. I'am going to take the licens fore kommunikation. You never now when the grid fail or if you are out and something happens, you can't trust The mobil.
🤠✨👍 Stefan Forsberg Sweden
I use Chirp to program my VX-6.
I love my VX6, but also have experience with military comms. They are nowhere near military grade, like, or spec.
The big downside I've noticed with older radios is the likelihood of electrolytic capacitor leakage. However, you might be able to buy a failed parts radio and fix it for cheap.
I'm 68 and pretty "Old School" when it comes to these radios. I honestly have virtually NO interest in Digital-though I intend to LEARN about it- and computers and I do get along, but I'm not a NERD, LOL! I PREFER these older style radios for their ease of programming and operation overall. Also, my family likes to tool around out in the wilderness, and if an issue does come up with one of our radios, I want to be able to troubleshoot it on the fly.
I mean a VX-5 is still a miniaturized, microprocessor-controlled radio that you're probably not going to be banging a wilderness repair out on.
Actually, the 50mhz, 6 meter band is very well used in Europe & the UK. . 220mhz, however is not.
Not sure about yours but the VX7R is magnesium! You can take apart the battery and replace the cells for about $5!!! DIY it yourself!
Great radio, program with CHIRP and enjoy
may I ask where you got your interface cable? I have one for the beofang but haven't tried it on the Yaesu
Can't program with chirp. SERIAL only.....floppy days
@@ALSNewsNow VX5 works fine with chirp, just need a usb programing cable or a usb serial adapter
You need a license to operate that radio!
Ronny Susanne I do..
@Ronny ……
You're a ham. Split the battery case open and replace the cells and save the money. Digging deep into your gear is part of being a ham. Repair, tuning, and modification are major aspects of the hobby. There's a reason even Techs are licensed to do whatever they want to their gear, right up to designing, building and operating their own moon-bounce stations.
For some reason, newer hams don't seem interested in actual radio specs, like receiver noise figures, selectivity, audio quality, and harmonic content. They act like helpless consumers. Modern hams even tolerate manufacturers who fail to provide such specs at all. No specs, no schematics, nothing. Just 3 color backlights and talking channel selectors. They just seem to be into the features, the bells and whistles, not the actual performance of the radio. They neither know nor care what intermodulation distortion is. The fact is that the actual specs on older radios are usually better than the new radios, which is one of the reasons fewer manufacturers are providing detailed radio specs, since that would make it obvious that the modern products are inferior. That's why as hams get more knowledgeable they start looking around for older HT's to buy. But all the new hams will find by way of new radio information is UA-cam unboxing videos with a half hour running commentary of all of the feature menus and sub menus listing useless HT features like S-meter displays - but no actual performance specs.
Very well said sir!
73
G7HFS/PA3IKH.
ps.I still have 2 perfectly working VX-5's and a few old FT-60's too.😊
That's not old. Go back 40 more years if you want to see an old ham radio!
shamrock1961 we aren’t talking about antique radios...
Might aswell go back to morse code lol
Motorola Boat Anchors, rock bound, dynamotor power supply with a crystal oven…….NOW THATS OLD!