Vertex-Standard-Yaesu VR-5000 Receiver

The Vertex-Standard-Yaesu VR-5000 "All Band" receiver.
Mixed receiver that is not for the faint of heart, owners manual not helping the cause.
HF dynamic range is unacceptable with any good antenna in use.
(photo: N9EWO)

Approx. Serial Number Tested : 2F31xxxx
(Firmware version : Press and Hold V/M while powering up, NOTE : This only works with older versions 1u.17 and below)
Firmware : Ver 1u.17 JP:**** USA
Owners Manual : Version: 0104q-DY (part no. E13611002)

COUNTRY OF MANUFACTURE: Japan
(Included PA-28 wall power supply: China)

(Note: I owned a Standard AX-700 (Sold later in the USA as the CCR-708) receiver in 1992 that had a very similar concept to this VR-5000. The AX-700 did not cover shortwave , 50 to 905 MHz only. But in many ways it's spectrum scope and other features are quite similar and the VR-5000 . It was certainly patterned after this set. For my general review I wrote on the AX-700 see May 1992 issue of "Monitoring Times", page 94.)

We of course will be looking at this receiver on the "Short Wave" side of the fence.

Nice "Steel" Cabinet

I like the general solid feel of the "V-S-Y" VR-5000. Solid steel top and bottom covers, as well as the rear. Buttons are of a hard plastic variety, so no rubber buttons are used. From my own personal experiences with other Yaesu hand held radios (transceiver models VX-1R,VX-5R and VR-500 receiver), these sets have rounded rubber buttons and the silk screening of the letters/numbers actually have started to come off within days out of the box. The optional case is a must with these "handie"sets , right from being brand new out of the box to help prevent this (The cases have a clear plastic sheet that covers the buttons).

But again this should not be a issue with the VR-5000, at least at first sight? Lets hope that this problem does not happen here ?

Display Gremlins, Main Knob, Tiny Tight Keyboard

The display is nice and big with separate contrast and brightness controls. Not a problem with the lighting as the bright back light will not allow you to fall asleep in front of it.. However, on our sample I found the lighting to be inconstant across it's surface. That is brighter at the left end than on the right. Adding another subjective comment is that even with the "Dimmer" at 0 setting it's still seems a bit harsh on the eyes, especially at night or in a room with very low light. For those who might use this set at a bedside with it's sleep timer, it very well might keep you awake (unless you wear sunglasses to bed).

It's contrast while being adequate, could be better. I found the setting of 12 out of the 15 possible settings to be about right. But is still a bit on the light side no matter how you adjust it. The inconstant lighting across it's surface bothers me the most with the display. Another display gremlin I noticed on the far left side of the display is "moon" shaped darkness area (more noticable when looking from the right side at an angle). I have seen this other samples too so this is not a fault. Vertex-Standard-Yaesu tells me that it's the plastic "light guide" behind the LCD display and is not a fault. All are stinkers to my eyes but not a major drawback either.

At least the backlighting is made up of 4 "White" LED's, which should mean a owner should not have to worry as much about failure as compared to florescent tubes being used in many radios of today.

The tuning knob is of a "push on" plastic variety with a rubber cover over it. Light detents as you rotate it. This works well to me and the rubber grip helping to hold onto it. The only fly in the oatmeal is the knob on our sample seemed to be more "free feeling" in one part of it's rotation than the other. Almost like it's slightly rubbing on the case with half of it's spin ??

One other comment on the tuning knob, sometimes turning it "Counter-Clockwise" (to the left-down in frequency)...it skips a beat. That is it takes 2 or 3 clicks to go one. I have yet to have this happen going "Clockwise", that is to the right-up in frequency.Strange indeed.

All keys have a good feel . The 1 to 0 number key area is very tight for space and makes entering frequencies a chore. But I did get used to it after a bit of use even if it's not using the telephone keypad format. The "0", CLR and ENT keys are in weird places. You also need to enter frequencies in MHz, so the "." (decimal) will always have to be pressed.

The mode button uses the unpopular "Carousel" arrangement. Reminded me how much I hated this on the JRC NRD-525 receiver. More on this later, but just adds to the poor ergonomics.

We have 2 little pop-down feet to help tilt the set for easier use. I found these to be of little help (if at all) as it's rise is scant, and really needs a bigger boost. It does help the bottom mounted speaker to emit output.

"Microprocessor" Lockup Problems, MUST Use A Better 13.8 Volt Power Supply.

On any new modern day "microprocessor" receiver / ham transceiver I pull out of the box, I always do a "reset" to put to rest any chances of the sets computer being spooked during shipment. When the microprocessor reset was attempted on this VR-5000 (press & hold ENT {SET} while powering up), the screen the indicates what button to push for a reset or back out of it, but the LCD display displayed :

ERROR
LOW VOLTAGE

After checking the included power supply's voltage at full load which was fine (well maybe not quite see below), this one was baffling me as it was totally locked up with the above message displayed and was unable to do nothing. After leaving the set disconnected with no power for a good 15~20 mins, I then returned power to it and came back on as normal and it did indeed do it's reset as well. You may see the LCD screen continue to display (without the backlighting) sometimes or you may not ??

To make this weird quirk even more strange, I did a number of resets after with no further problems whatsoever. Every time after this was OK. This is the first time I have ever experienced this type of problem, or maybe not a problem ?

Another time I had a microprocessor lockup during the first days of use as when I attempted to store the first memory in a channel. Again it locked up and the way to bring it back was to pull out the power plug out of the radio for another 15~20 mins (you do NOT have to do a microprocessor reset to get it out of a locked up mode !).

I'm not the only one having this problem, I read on the usergroups that others are having almost the same lockup problems, and this is with firmware version ver 1u.17. But most of the problem appears to be with the included PA-28 "Un-regulated" power supply? I say this because when I went to a 3 AMP 13.8 volt power supply, most of this lockup problem cleared up.

So ditch the PA-28 and use a better REGULATED supply. Voltage at 13.8 volts and at least rated 2 amps of current. To keep any additional problems from creeping up, do not use a supply any lower than 13.8 volts. You might be able to get away down to 13.2, but NO LOWER. The BA12T (12 volt) Rohm voltage regulator that the VR5000 uses, it's input needs about 1 volt higher vs the output.

VR-5000's Dual Receive

This is a interesting difference that I have never seen on a receiver of this type. We have a dual receive system which allows 2 signals to be monitored simultaneously within a 20 MHz spread . So for shortwave you are covered pretty much. A real stinker here is that on the sub receiver you may only select the AM (med) and FM (narrow) modes. So you can have say your favorite Ham SSB frequency on the main channel and the BBC in the AM mode on the sub receiver. This generally works well and I found it to be one of the major "fun" traits of the set. But it does take a bit getting used to selecting back and forth.

There is a dual tracking function with this system, that is you can have the sub receiver track automatically as you tune the "main". This needs to be toggled off as it has no real use on shortwave.

I was most pleased with this part of the set, great being to check broadcast "duals" at the same time.

The Spectrum Scope (or as Vertex-Standard-Yaesu calls it "The BS - Band Scope" mode)

Yes, we cannot forget the "BS" button on this set....(humm).

This is the other main attraction of this set and can be of use provided you take the time to really learn how use it, The owners manual is of little help, missing most of this function. You are almost on your own.

Not only will it allow you to have a peek at the spectrum in a given swath (up to 10 Mhz), along with various step sizes, and once you see a signal on the scope you can move a cursor over to "leap" on to it in a second or two (uses the sub receiver for this, see manual updates below on how to access). Again manual was of no help only saying a bit about this part of the band scope in one of the first pages of the manual. The old AX-700/CCR-708 did this operation a bit eaiser and was and was "presto" to make happen.

Mind you this is not in any real time, and the more area you wish to have a peek at the longer it will take for the set to scan that section and display it. For the amount of money this set sells for... it works and is another fun part of the set . But consider it a bit of a rubic's cube....that is you get to figure it out to an extent??

It does take a fairly strong signal to show up on the "scope" display, a signal on the weak side will not show a thing.

A part of the set I enjoyed with the VR-5000, amazing what signals I was missing without it.

Unacceptable HF Dynamic Range With Good Antenna, Good Sensitivity On "Main" Receiver

Overall good sensitivity on the main receiver, but the usual problem with just about all wide-band sets, the the VR-5000 inhibits very poor dynamic range. Connecting any large shortwave antenna will overload it for sure and makes it unacceptable. Even in peak band periods, say 49 meters at night , overloading even occurred with a 25 foot thin piece of wire indoors, near a window.

The set has an atteunator of course, and kicking it in most of the time helps. With of course destroying the sensitivity. What the actual step of attenuation is unknown as the manual indicates no specs of any real kind on the entire set.

Before selecting the atteunator, a control called "RF TUNE" should be tried first. This uses the main tuning knob (as does most of these types of selection functions). You can sometimes stop the overloading by tuning it OUT of peak , and just maybe you can tame it without having to turning on the atteunator. It does not work for me all the time this way..but is worth a try before attenuation. Good news is that it stores this RF TUNE value in memory so if you write it to a memory channel..it will be stored as well as the frequency/mode/tuning step etc.. Bad news it adds another step to the tuning process in normal tuning mode.

But really folks......why should a 21st century receiver have such a fiddly control, but I suspect this comes down to the price point of the set ? Let's face it...this does indeed stink.....and the dynamic range stinks even worse

Even after I get the RF TUNE set right and no overloading on my shorter 25 ft indoor wire antenna (and peaking it correctly), I'm still hearing signals where they should not be. Say WWV in the 3900 khz area. So perhaps a case of spurious signal irking about ??

But if you can live with it, the set seems to work best on shorter PASSIVE antenna's (thin wire in the room say 25 feet or less). It clears up some , but not all of the dynamic range problems on the main receiver.

Sub Receiver at Sub-Performance (tad worse than the main receiver)

The "sub" receiver has a even less dynamic range vs the "main". It also has a slightly less sensitivity and a bit less audio level and crispness (as compared to the main). More background noise mixed in as well. It certainly is not the of the same league as the "main".

Actually this "sub" receiver is used for the spectrum display while in the BS mode , so the "Sub" receiver.....actually using it for listening is a real secondary use and can throw it in the category "might as well use it while it's there" .

But it can indeed be of use, as long as you know it's possible limitations.

Dreadful Owners Manual

As with my comment above the owners manual lacks any important information, other than the very basic operations of the set. Be prepared to spend many hours "Trying" to figure out operations. This has to be one the worst owners manuals I have ever tried to tackle (expect for the Uniden BC-898T scanner, that's even worse), ARRRGH !!!

Generally Good SSB Performance, No Synchronous Detection and Poor Manual ECSS

This was a bit of a surprise. The SSB modes have a good bandwidth being used , true offset filtering, clean sound and proper tuning steps as well. We can tune as fine as 20 Hz, which is very good on a set of this type. As I will cover later too, frequency display is off a bit, as much as 320 hz on USB (LSB not as bad).

But a couple more bugaboos.

First the AGC is not adjustable, and the SSB mode's AGC rate is a bit too fast for my ears. AM AGC decay actually sounds very good to me.

It lack's synchronous detection (a shame with any set being made today), and when ECSS is attempted manually it just does not work right. We certainly can tune fine enough which you would think is the # 1 problem. It has to do with a heavy amount of a "woosh" background noise, like it almost covers it up (excessive phase noise??). You need to turn up the volume almost all the way to hear any signal at all. In any case the signal is awash with this background noise , making manual ECSS unusable.

Good Filter Selection / "Merry-Go-Round" selection

SSB (LSB/USB) modes have one filter selection so is not selectable independent of mode.

The AM mode has 3 excellent bandwidth selections in the main receiver (but you have to get on the carousel-merry go round), with the widest one being useful for MW or SW broadcasters that are in the clear. Again in the sub band you only have AM (med) and FM (narrow) available.

One mode is tied with a "Auto Step" function. So if you breeze buy the mode you want, it will take another 8 pushes to get around to it again (that is if you want a manual set tuning step). Another ergonomic nightmare with the set.

The manual tuning "Step" button also uses the "merry-go-round" system.

Hissy Audio (tone control at full clockwise rotation)

The VR-5000's general audio is very pleasing with a tone control. However the set's internal audio amplifer is loaded with excessive hiss in any mode. This is of course noticable with the volume turned down, or squelched. Tone control is at a fully "clockwise" rotation for me (this is where I like to keep it at). The more you adjust the tone control "counter-clockwise" (to the left) the less this hiss problem exists.

Even more noticable with external speakers , but if one chooses to use the "bottom" mounted internal, it may not be noticed hardly at all.

If one is a handy, the audio "line" output does not contain this hiss and could be routed into a external audio amplifer or perhaps a computer amplified speaker ?? But as noted below, the "line" output is a bit weak and might not work properly with some amps. Again, remember the squelch will not work with audio from the "Line Output".

Line Output A Bit Weak

Again a 1/8 inch phone jack can be found on the rear cabinet for line audio output (where it belongs). It lacks the standard level that will work with PROPERLY with consumer cassette or Mini Disc decks. It's a bit on the weak side for sure. If the station is broadcasting at a proper modualtion level ,I was able to adjust the recorder(s) to a proper VU level, but the control on the the deck to almost maximum. If the station has weaker audio, then it's going to be a major problem.

Frequency Display A Bit Off / Runs Almost Hot !!!

On our sample I see a display error of about 320 Hz high (USB Mode after warm up, LSB Off about 120 Hz high). You would think that it could be a bit closer here.

After a few hours on at 13.8 volts, the cabinet and even the included PA-28 power supply (if used) gets very warm if not even hot. It's not heat that makes the set difficult to touch, but more than what I would like to feel emitting from a receiver cabinet.

5-Segment Signal Strength Meter

A 5 segment can be found for each receiver, and for general use and to peak the RF TUNE function, works OK. But it is a bit less than what I would like to see.

There is a way to toggle a meter with more segments using a function called "Base Field Strength" in the special modes menu. This gives you a wider scale meter, however it lacks any markings so is of little real use (cannot use it with the RF Tune control either) . It's chore to get to and out of this mode.

Good FM Broadcast Selectivity. Sensitivity

I found the VR-5000's FM to be a bit above average. I'm able to separate stations close together on a lesser set would get washed out (say the Sony ICF-2010). Sensitivity is also in the above average category. Yes, it too is prone to overloading with any real antenna so watch out.

Needs External Speaker

The VR-5000 really needs a external speaker (as does most sets ). Internal not only being on the bottom, but is bassy and muffled. The downside is you are going to notice the sets nasty excessive hiss. Even with the hiss issue an external speaker is a big plus.

Audio Wave Meter

The "audio wave" meter is nothing more than a joke to me. Looks nice...but of no real use.

No Back Of the Set Antenna's : Extremely Noisy Microprocessor

If you are thinking of using a back of a set antenna say like with a Uniden scanner, think again. The radio emits so much garbage from the internal (2) microprocessors to make it useless in the approx 30 to 300 Mhz range. This is a MAJOR drawback for sure to me. In the upper limits it's not as bad, but this should not be at all.

A Very "Fun" Package For The Wide Band Person, For Just "Short Wave" Use....Forget it !

Even with it's below-par RF performance (totally rotten dynamic range), the Vertex-Standard-Yaesu VR-5000 is still a fun package to play with having it's "Dual Receive" and "Band Scope". The well chosen bandwidth filters makes the audio very tolerable and generally pleasant. Certainly better than with other sets around today that might give you 1 poorly chosen one for the AM mode. A good synchronous detector would have made it even better.

But if you are expecting above average shortwave performance (or an easy to use set)...look elsewhere. It's very poor dynamic range , extremely noisy microprocessors and other strange noises along with weird ergonomics , makes this a set only useful for very casual listening to the shortwave spectrum. Or for perhaps a set to "see" what new signals are around.

If you like gadgets and don't mind the RF shortcomings and a sour operating scheme, then maybe perhaps a VR-5000 might be in your future.

For someone who desires SW coverage right up to 2.6 GHZ (not tested), no other set cuts the mustard in this price range and it's those folks who might be more interested in this entry ?

The VR-5000 is a useable "wide band" set for the money, but I wish the display was better and more evenly lit, had better dymanic range (it really does stink), and the excessive audio hiss emittimg from it's audio was not there. Some parts of this set are better marked as "ARG" than good !!

Dave N9EWO
© N9EWO
ver 5.5

VR-5000 corrections and updates to the manual (credits unknown, use all info at own risk)

Page 3

(6) Function Keys

[BS(BS SET)] Key
Press this key momentarily to toggle the Band Scope feature on and off.
Press this key twice, after the [F] key is pressed (when the Band Scope is activated) to activate the SUB VFO cursor, which enables the SUB VFO tuning.

After you've activated the Band Scope, press the M/S key, then press the [F] key, then press the [BS(BS SET)] key twice. You will now be able to move the channel marker within the sweep range as programmed.

Set the Channel Marker to the desired position (frequency); now press the [COPY] key. The SUB VFO frequency will move to the new position you set (the current location of the Channel Marker), and you'll hear the new channel's activity if you have the SUB VFO volume turned up. If you now press the [BS(BS SET)] key, you will see that the SUB VFO has moved to the Channel Marker's frequency, as both VFO frequencies will be displayed.

Pressing the [BS(BS SET)] key once more will restore the Band Scope display.


Page 37

Under "To Activate the Band Scope ..."

3. When the Band Scope is activated, press the [M/S] key; you can now move the Channel Marker. This allows the Channel Marker to be moved anywhere within the programmed sweep range. When the Channel Marker is set to a frequency that may be of interest, press the [COPY] key; the frequency will change to that set by the Channel Marker.

Vertex-Standard-Yaesu USA Press Release

More "VR-5000" manual corrections.

Programmable (Band Limit) Memory Scan (PMS)

This feature, a more refined and useful form of VFO scanning, allows you to establish sub-band limits for scanning. This allows you to monitor only a portion of the wide frequency range of the VR-5000, instead of sweeping the entire spectrum from 100 kHz to 2.6 GHz. Programmable Memory Scan utilizes a pair of frequencies to establish the upper and lower scanning limits within special memories. Here is the procedure for setting up limited band scanning:

Programming
1. Press the [F] key momentarily, then press the [PMS(PMS SET)] key to enable the storage of the frequency pair into a PMS memory.
2. The cursor will be pointing at the PMS CH menu option; press the [ENT(SET)] key.
3. If you want to program the frequency pair into the currently-selected PMS register (shown on the right edge of the display), proceed to the next step; if you wish to choose a different PMS register, press [ENT(SET)], then use the [q(t)/p(u)] keys to select a different memory register number. Then press [ENT(SET)] to move on to the next step.
4. Rotate the DIAL knob to set the cursor to the PMS TAG menu option.
5. Press the [ENT(SET)] key to enable the programming of the name tag to the PMS memory. To attach an alpha/numeric name tag to the PMS memory, program the alpha-numeric label using the DIAL knob and keypad, as described previously; if you don't want to label this frequency pair register, press the [ENT(SET)] key again.
6. When you have complete the creation of the label, press the [ENT(SET)] key.
7. Now it's time to set up the band limits. Rotate the DIAL knob to set the cursor to the START F menu option, then press the [ENT(SET)] key.
8. Set the VFO frequency to the Lower sub-band limit, then press the [ENT(SET)] key.If you programmed the frequency using the keypad, press the [ENT(SET)] key again.
9. Confirm that the cursor is on the END F menu, then press the [ENT(SET)] key.
10. Set the VFO frequency to the Upper sub-band limit, then press the [ENT(SET)] key.If you programmed the frequency using the keypad, press the [ENT(SET)] key again.
11 Rotate the DIAL knob to set the cursor to the END menu option, then press the [ENT(SET)] key.
12. Confirm that the cursor is on the WRITE menu option, press the [ENT(SET)] key.
13. The PMS memory programming process for this register is now completed.
Note: 50 PMS memories are available. You therefore can set upper and lower operation limits on a number of bands, if you like. Each PMS memory register, remember, stores both the lower and upper frequency limits.

Operation (Current PMS Register)
1 Press the [PMS(PMS SET)] key to initiate PMS scanning in an upward direction.
2. If the scanner encounters a signal strong enough to open the squelch, the scanner will halt and pause on that frequency. Scanning will resume according to the protocol you selected in the previous discussion.
3. To change to a different PMS frequency pair, press the numerical keys on the keypad corresponding to the PMS register you wish to use. For example, if you are on PMS register and wish to use PMS register 03 press [0] + [3] while PMS scanning is engaged. Scanning will begin on the new register without further action.
4. To reverse the direction of the scan (i.e. toward a lower frequency, instead of a higher frequency), turn the DIAL knob one click in the counter-clock direction or press the [q(t)] key momentarily while the VR-5000 is scanning. To revert to scanning toward a higher frequency once more, rotate the DIAL knob one click clockwise or press the [p(u)] key momentarily.
5. Press the [V/M(MW)] key to disable the PMS scanner, and return to VFO mode.

Comments From Others
(taken from mailing lists , newsgroups, or direct to me)

VR-5000 MEMORY BANKS AND STORAGE

While in vfo mode, to store the current vfo frequency into memory, hit "F-V/M". At this point, the cursor will be pointing to "Channel".

Hit "Enter". This brings you to a page with the frequency displayed, and the bank will indicate "00", and the "ch" number will be one more than the highest channel existing in bank 00. It has temporarily created a new channel in bank 00 for you to store the new frequency in. Assuming, however, that you don't want the frequency stored in bank 00, hit the "v ^ " (arrow keys to left of dial) to choose one of the existing banks. Using the arrow keys, you can access ANY EXISTING BANK PLUS A NEW BANK.

This is the point that confuses people. It is not possible to select any bank number at random, but only one new bank. For example, if you have banks 0 thru 5 already defined, then when you go to store a new frequency, it gives you the option of storing the frequency into any of those banks, or you can choose to store the frequency in a new bank 6. If you have 0 thru 6 defined, you will be given the choice of storing in a new bank 7, etc, etc, etc. You can create as many banks as you want, but you can only access them one at a time.

If you want to have dozens of banks to choose from, then all you need to do is to store some dummy frequency is each bank you want, one by one. When you go to actually put real frequencies in those banks, just choose the channel number of the dummy frequency before you store your real frequency.

After you have chosen a bank, choose the proper channel number, either an existing channel or the one new channel number, and then hit "enter". This brings you back to the previous page, with the cursor on "CH TAG". At this point, you can store the frequency by turning the tuning knob down to "END", and hit "ENTER", which brings you to a page with the cursor on "WRITE". If you hit enter now, it will store the frequency. If you have made a mistake, you can tune down to "CANCEL", and choose that option.

When on CH TAG above, you can enter a name for your channel if you want, or you can come back later and edit that item. Once a frequency has been stored in a bank, if you select that bank while in memory mode (V/M) , you can enter a BANK name, and some other features, by hitting the BANK button. Again, edit the items you want to change, then tune down to END, and WRITE the data.

One additional item of confusion, is that some of the functions you try to alter using the above method (I can't remember which ones off hand, but that isn't important), don't seem to respond to the "ent" key. If you try to change a value, but the enter key doesn't seem to work. If that happens, the secret is to use the "." key.

The entering of frequencies into this receiver is really quite simple once you get the hang of it. It's just that the procedure isn't explained very well in the manual, and often the manual is just plain wrong.

One other comment: I have used the "ent" key in my step by step above, whereas the manual describes the use of the copy/rec key in some cases. I know that the copy/rec key works the same in some cases, and is a shortcut to getting down to the end/write options, however I think it is easier to understand if you scroll down to those items and use the enter key instead.

Bill Jones N3JLQ

(sorry, from unknown sources)

VR-5000 PRIORITY MONITORING

First, in memory mode, select the channel you want. Then follow the instruction below.

To setup the Priority Monitoring:

1. Press the [F] key momentarily, then press the [V/M(MW)] key.

2. Rotate the DIAL knob to select the cursor to the "Channel" menu, then press the [ENT(SET)] key.

3. Press the [F] key momentarily, then press the [5(PRI)] key. A "PRIu" icon appears on left of the memory channel number in the LCD. Then press the [ENT(SET)] key.

4. Rotate the DIAL knob to select the cursor to the "END" menu, then press the [ENT(SET)] key.

5. Confirm that the cursor is on the "WRITE" menu, then press the [ENT(SET)] key.

MISC.

SCOP save option: Sets the time the bandscope picture is kept in memory when the BS key is toggled on and off.

In this case you can keep in memory (if set to infinite) the last snapshot of the bandscope before it was toggled off. Of course, as soon as the bandscope is activated again, another band sweep will start, deleting the old picture saved in memory.

Func TM Timer: sets the time the F mode is active (when the F key is pressed and the F icon is on) before it goes off.

Skip Data: Skips data transmission channels (e.g. GSM carriers) in autostore mode. In my case it works as well as the autostore (1u.17)

It is fairly easy to change the parameters of a stored channel. A memory position, once recalled and having some parameters changed (e.g. RF tune, step size, mode) can be saved again by pressing F+MW then, at the next prompt, twice the COPY button.

SERIAL NUMBERS

Vertex-Standard-Yaesu uses the same serial number scheme for all of their ham gear. The serial number has the form YMLLNNN where Y = the last digit of the year of manufacture, M is a letter representing the month of manufacture with "C" = January, "D" = February, and so on, the lot number is represented by the two digit LL (00 - 99), and NNNN (0001-9999) is the unit number within lot LL.

As an example, 0N070145 means December 2000, lot 7, unit 145. The lot number is not linked to the year & month, i.e., LL does not reset to 00 each year. Service bulletins refer to lot numbers.

Another Example: Serial number 1e110089 means:

Manufactured: March 2001
Lot: 11
Unit: 89

TRICKS with the VR-5000 (N9EWO)

1. Holding the V/M button down while powering up with the VR-5000 you will see the Firmware Version #.

NOTE: This no longer works on firmware versions above "1u.17" .

2. Holding the 'Dim' button while powering up the unit on , you get a test screen with all the LCD icons (sic) showing up.

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