Yaesu VX-7R Quad-Band Radio Review

To start with, it is hard to miss the metal case surrounding most of the Yaesu VX-7R, this is not a radio you want to drop on your toe. Even though it only weighs 285g, as I like to say about several Yaesu radios made back in the day, it would come in handy in a bar fight. They did learn from its little brother, the VX-5, and this radio now has rubber bumpers on the front bottom corners which also act as non-skid feet.

This radio is also quite a bit bigger than its little brother, which makes it large enough to fit in my large hands pretty well. That was a serious problem for me using the VX-5, but not with this Yaesu VX-7R. The one complaint I have is the design of the belt clip, which only has a round attachment on the back near the top. This slides down into a special receiver on the belt clip and twists to lock/unlock. That idea is pretty neat, and I actually use it on my FT-270R because that radio is bigger, but on this VX-7R I really need a normal belt clip to help it fit in my palm.

One other issue I had with the VX-5 was the buttons being small and the text even smaller. This one has about slightly larger buttons and easier to read text (not by a whole lot), but the one real improvement is that the Yaesu VX-7R has clicky buttons instead of the squishy ones on the VX-5. Each button gives a nice tactile and audible click when pressed, very nice.

Instead of two separate knobs on the top of the radio like the VX-5, this one has one knob with a separate rotating outer ring that acts as a second knob without taking up as much room. They both have detents with the inner knob having much more pronounced ones as compared to the outer ring’s detents. In normal VFO mode the outer ring scrolls through the frequencies while the inner knob controls the volume.

As for configurations, I will never forget the first time I tried to set the squelch. I had to read the manual, lol! Who would guess that with the volume and frequencies so easy, to change the squelch you have to press MONF and 0 (zero), then scroll using the outer ring to menu option 1, SQL NFM, then use the main and sub buttons to change the squelch up and down, then hit PTT to save the configuration. Could they make the Yaesu VX-7R more complicated to do something so simple? I think not.

I suppose that is what happens when you pack this many features into the Yaesu VX-7R.

If you compare the LCD to the VX-5 it might, and I stress might, me a tiny bit smaller. Of course, the real advantage of these LCDs over ones on other radios, particularly cheaper ones, is the LCD’s resolution. Text is super sharp and clear, much easier to read than many radios, even radios with substantially larger LCDs.

As for features it has the same wideband receive as the VX-5 at .5 to 999MHz (cellular blocked), 900 memories, IPX7 waterproofing, can be modded to MARS or CAP, came in black and silver, full FET amplifier, covers 70cm, 1.25m, 2m, and 6m, four different dual-receive modes, different audio levels per band, 8-character alphanumeric labeling, die-cast aluminum exterior, CHIRP programmability, and a slew of high-end accessories including waterproof microphones and barometric pressure sensors. Whew!

I mention that the Yaesu VX-7R can be programmed with CHIRP, but it can also be programmed using RT Systems software ADMS-1G, Yaesu VX-7 Commander, or if you can find it, the original Yaesu software. This gives you an amazing amount of flexibility which choosing how to program your radio. Personally, when it comes to high-end radios that I plan on keeping, I prefer RT Systems as it is super slick, included full support, and you can get it with their programming cables which are guaranteed to work with their software and your radio perfectly.

Performance:

I usually start with a depressing story about the factory antenna, but with the Yaesu VX-7R the story is not that depressing. I am actually amazed at how good the antenna really is. To be honest, I am not sure that I have ever seen a factory antenna that was very good at 2m, pretty good at 1.25m, and not too bad at 70cm. Yes, you can get a better antenna aftermarket, but with this factory antenna as long as you are going to use it primarily in the 2m/1.25m/70cm range, I am not sure if it is worth it.

Power output is a respectable 2.2 watts on 2m and 3.1 watts on 70cm. Those may seem a bit low by today’s standards but remember we are talking about a radio that has been out for decades, and it is still kicking it.

Looking at the spectrum, you will notice something right off the bat. signal drift. This is where the transmission starts out at one frequency and slowly creeps to another. In this case, it creeps down. My Yaesu VX-7R is one of the early ones, and it has seen a lot of hard use, that seems to have taken its toll.

On the good side, the audio transmitted by the Yaesu VX-7R is still very good, showing only a little sibilance on my ‘s’ which is also probably due to the age of the unit.

Images:

Radio Specifics:

Test Images:

• Quad-band 70cm, 1.25m, 2m, 6m
• Receives on .5-999MHz
• IPX7 waterproofing
• MARS and CAP possible
• Black or silver case
• 4 different dual receive modes
• Different audio levels per band
• 8-character alphanumeric labeling
• Die-cast aluminum exterior
• CHIRP compatible
• Optional barometric pressure sensor

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Conclusions

Since these are no longer made, the question is would I recommend the Yaesu VX-7R used, and the answer is absolutely. The only real negatives to this radio are personal preferences and if you use it long enough, evidently some signal drift. You will be hard-pressed to find a radio of this quality with these features for the same amount of money.

Here are some reviews of the Yaesu VX-7R!