Yaesu VR-5000 User manual

From June 2001 QST © 2001
Reviewed by Rick Lindquist, N1RL
ARRL Senior News Editor
A ham friend spotted theVR-5000 sit-
ting on a table next to my amateur sta-
tion. “Hey! New transceiver?” he asked.
“No,” I said. “It’sYaesu’s new dc-to-day-
light receiver-scanner.”
My friend seemed a little disap-
pointed, and that’s a common reaction
among those who believe that anything
in a box with a dial, buttons and a fre-
quency display must also be capable of
transmitting to have real value.
While it’s true that many of us ama-
teurs live to transmit there are occasions
when just listening can be as much or
even more fun.
The Yaesu VR-5000 communications
receiver gives you access to a lot of wide-
open listening spaces. It also includes
some dandy features you probably don’t
have on any of your amateur transceivers.
A Quick Overview
What’s in the little black box?Well, it’s
a general-coverage, multimode receiver
that can help you get acquainted with the
radio frequency real estate between 100
kHz and 2600 MHz (cellular excluded).
This includes nearly all of the majorAma-
teur Radio allocations as well as some
potential bands we haven’t yet acquired
title to but might, such as 136 kHz and
5 MHz. The VR-5000 also can give you
entrée to UHF bands your H-T or VHF-
UHF mobile likely do not cover. For ex-
ample,AO-40 (as of press time) was trans-
mitting telemetry only on its 2.4 GHz
beacon. Unfortunately for scanner fans,
theVR-5000 lacks trunk-tracking capabil-
ity, a desirable feature found in scanners
within the same general price range.
Available modes for the main receiver
include FM (narrow and wide),AM (nar-
row and wide), LSB/USB, and CW. The
sub-receiver operates either inAM or FM.
Other goodies include 2000 regular
memories, 50 band-edge memories, and
five preset channels. With that many
memories, you should not have a problem
storing all of your favorite short-wave and
public safety frequencies. Additionally,
the 50 programmable search ranges allow
setting up many discrete spectrum seg-
ments for searching. The five preset
memories are great for quickly getting to
those most special frequencies—the local
repeaters, for example, or possibly the
Amateur Radio on the International Space
Station—or ARISS—2-meter downlinks.
There’s a sub-receiver that lets you make
excursions from the main dial setting up
to 20 MHz away.
Connectors on the rear apron let you
Yaesu VR-5000 Communications Receiver
hook up a coaxial fed antenna (there’s an
SO-239) or an unbalanced high-imped-
ance antenna.Also on the back of the ra-
dio are a MUTE jack, a switch to select
the antenna jack, A or B, an external
speaker jack, a record jack (constant 8
mV) that provides output unaffected by
the volume or tone controls; a +8 V jack
for accessories, an IF output jack (10.7
MHz), and a nine-pin Computer Aided
Transceiver, or CAT, serial (RS-232C)
computer control jack.
The serial jack suggests the option of
greater external control than is actually
possible. PC control of the VR-5000 is
limited to the main VFO frequency, re-
ceive mode and channel step.
One neat feature is called Program-
mable Memory Recall. PMR lets you set
up the radio to monitor activity on up to
50 memory channels at the same time.
Why would you want to do that? Glad you
asked. Yaesu suggests that this capabil-
ity could come in handy if you wanted to
monitor traffic levels on several repeater
sites. The PMR Board on the display
gives a graphical representation of chan-
nel occupancy at a given time.
Another is the Band Scope. This lets
you view activity on either side of your
current operating frequency. Move the
channel marker to a signal you spot, and
you’re there.
For prospective short-wave listeners
(SWLs), Yaesu has thoughtfully pro-
grammed a block of popular international
broadcast outlets, such as Radio
Nederland, Radio Australia and Deutsche
Welle. This is a great help to new hams
who often cut their radio teeth as SWLs.
Using It
We amateurs tend to expect receivers
to be uncomplicated devices that are
simple to use. After all, there’s no trans-
mitter in the box—how hard could it be,
right? Well, not so fast there,VOX breath!
We determined that while the VR-5000
is pretty easy to hook up and get squawk-
ing, making it do what we wanted takes
a bit more TLC.
Our resident scanner buff tried putting
the Operating Manual aside to see how
easy it would be to play with the features
and how much he could figure out on his
own. “While I was able to operate in the
VFO mode, it was not long before I had
to hit the book,” he reported.
In short, the VR-5000 is not always
very intuitive to use, and on occasion it
could get downright frustrating when
you’d unintentionally back yourself into
some nook or cranny by pushing a wrong
button. There are a keypad and a lot of
buttons, most of them with at least two
discrete functions and not all obvious by
their labels. On the other hand, some but-
tons that seemed to be obvious—weren’t!
Pushing the BANK key is supposed to se-
lect the desired memory bank. On all oc-
casions, pushing this button took us to a
setup menu that let the user modify the
current memory bank or create a new one
altogether.
It can take many keystrokes on the
VR-5000 to reach a desired state or to pro-
gram a block of channels. Going strictly
by the book, it takes a dozen steps to set
the handy on-screen world clock (with
accompanying map graphic) that gives
time reference to 66 different areas of the
world. We found that it was easy to mess
up on the steps, and that programming
Bottom Line
The VR-5000 Communications
Receiver opens the door to endless
exploration in a nearly boundless
range of radio spectrum—but don’t
forget to bring along the manual!

From June 2001 QST © 2001
Manufacturer’s Claimed Specifications Measured in the ARRL Lab
Frequency coverage: 0.01-824; 849-870; 894-2600 MHz. As specified.
Modes of operation: FM, WFM, AM, AM-N, WAM, USB, LSB, CW. As specified.
Power requirements: 0.7 A (maximum volume), 13.5 V dc ±15%. 0.76 A (maximum volume, no signal), tested at 13.8 V dc.
Size (HWD): 2.8×7.1×8 inches; weight, 4.2 pounds.
CW/SSB sensitivity (10 dB S/N): 0.2-0.5 MHz, 4.8 µV; Noise floor (MDS): 1.0 MHz, –118 dBm; 3.5 MHz, –124 dBm;
0.5-1.8 MHz, 1.0 µV; 1.8-4 MHz, 0.6 µV; 14 MHz, –128 dBm; 50 MHz, –133 dBm; 144 MHz, –133dBm;
4-30 MHz, 0.3 µV; 30-2000 MHz, 0.3 µV; 222 MHz, –125 dBm; 432 MHz, –133 dBm; 902 MHz,
2000-2600 MHz, 1.8 µV. –128 dBm; 1240 MHz, –122 dBm; 2400 MHz, –128 dBm.
AM sensitivity (10 dB S/N): 0.2-0.5 MHz, 10.8 µV; AM narrow, test signal modulated 30% with a 1-kHz tone,
0.5-1.8 MHz, 4.0 µV; 1.8-4 MHz, 10 dB (S+N)/N: 1.0 MHz, 3.2 µV; 3.8 MHz, 1.2 µV;
2.5 µV;4-30 MHz, 1.1 µV; 30-2000 MHz, 1.2 µV; 53 MHz, 0.55 µV; 120 MHz, 0.53 MHz; 146 MHz,
2000-2600 MHz, 1.8 µV. 0.7 µV; 440 MHz, 0.71 µV.
FM narrow sensitivity (12 dB SINAD): 28-30 MHz, FM narrow, 12 dB SINAD: 29 MHz, 0.33 µV; 52 MHz, 0.21 µV;
0.35 µV; 30-2000 MHz, 0.45 µV; 2000-2600 MHz, 0.8 µV. 146 MHz, 0.24 µV; 222 MHz, 0.58 µV; 440 MHz, 0.23 µV;
906 MHz, 0.41 µV; 1296 MHz, 0.69 µV; 2400 MHz, 0.49 µV.
FM wide sensitivity (12 dB SINAD): 30-2000 MHz, 1.5 µV. 100 MHz, 1.8 µV.
Blocking dynamic range: Not specified. CW mode: 3.8 MHz, 70 dB; 14 MHz, 70 dB; 50 MHz, 72 dB;
144 MHz, 69 dB; 222 MHz, 68 dB; 432 MHz, 76 dB;
902 MHz, 69 dB; 1240 MHz, 81 dB.
Two-tone, third-order IMD dynamic range: Not specified. CW mode dynamic range and third-order intercept point
Frequency Dynamic Intercept point1
(MHz) Range (dB) (dBm)
3.8 61 –32
14 63* –35
50 63* –38
144 62* –40
432 65* –36
902 60* –38
1240 71* –17
Second-order intercept point: Not specified. +11 dBm.
FM adjacent channel rejection: Not specified. 20 kHz channel spacing: 29 MHz, 49 dB; 52 MHz, 48 dB;
146 MHz, 47 dB; 440 MHz, 47 dB; 906 MHz, 39 dB;
1296 MHz, 50 dB.
FM two-tone, third-order IMD dynamic range: 20 kHz channel spacing: 29 MHz, 49 dB*; 52 MHz, 49 dB*;
Not specified. 146 MHz, 46 dB*; 440 MHz, 48 dB*; 906 MHz, 40 dB*;
1296 MHz, 51 dB*; 10 MHz channel spacing: 52 MHz,
72 dB; 146 MHz, 68 dB; 440 MHz, 65 dB.
Squelch sensitivity (threshold): Not specified. At threshold: SSB, 14 MHz, 1.9 µV; FM, 29 MHz, 1.5 µV;
52 MHz, 1.0 µV; 146 MHz, 1.1 µV; 440 MHz, 1.1 µV;
906 MHz, 1.8 µV; 1296 MHz, 1.8 µV.
Audio output: 1.0 W into 8 Ω(THD not specified). 1.0 W into 8Ω(maximum output)2
IF/audio response: Not specified. Range at –6 dB points, (bandwidth): CW: 174-2222 Hz
(2048 Hz); USB: 174-2222 Hz (2048 Hz); LSB: 174-
2222 Hz (2048 Hz); AM: 140-1326 Hz (1186 Hz).
Spurious and Image rejection: Not specified. IF: HF, 40 dB; VHF, 39 dB; UHF, 13 dB; Image: HF, 86 dB;
VHF, 87 dB; UHF, 81 dB.
Except as noted, all dynamic range measurements were taken using the ARRL Lab standard spacing of 20 kHz.
1Third-order intercept points were determined using noise floor reference.
2THD at max output was 50% with signal at maximum indication on S-meter (5 bars). Minimum THD was about 15%.
Table 2
Yaesu VR-5000, serial number 0K030164
some features took a few tries to get right.
We were dismayed to discover that the
VR-5000 is not computer programmable,
although it’s possible to use a PC to con-
trol some functions, such as the mainVFO
frequency. Ourscanner aficionadosays that
the ability to use software to set up the
memories would be extremely helpful; the
VR-5000’s manual approach translates into
a lot of button-pushing. “This is one radio
you’d get programmed and not fool with
too much,” he predicted.
Our scanner guy appreciated that the
VR-5000 did not greet him with one of
those cutesy messages that often confront
owners of newer ham transceivers—or
cellular telephones—these days. “When
I power up, I like to get to work,” he said.
“The display, with adjustable brightness
and contrast, is easy to see.”
Unfortunately, the manual does not
always describe some of the symbols and
icons that popped up. An annotated dis-
play graphic would be a helpful and use-
ful addition to the manual, which earned
a “fair” rating. A radio at this level of
sophistication, complexity and multiple
features should have a better-detailed and
more clearly written manual and a quick-
reference card to avoid dog-earing the
manual’s pages through repeated look-
ups. This manual was just not up to
Yaesu’s typically excellent standards.

From June 2001 QST © 2001
Keeping It Simple
Hams are used to twisting dials and
maybe pushing a button or two or even
entering a frequency on a keypad. That’s
the place to start with the VR-5000, then
work your way up into the more complex
stuff like creating, programming and la-
beling memory banks. The VR-5000 lets
you apply alphanumeric names to
memory banks and to individual channels
alike, and this is one feature that’s simple
and fun to take advantage of.
Fortunately, there is a nice little rub-
ber-covered, detented tuning knob to
twirl. Entering a frequency on the key-
pad is very simple too. So is moving
around using the manual controls. Push-
ing the Fkey and then turning the dial
moves you in 1-MHz steps; pushing the
Fkey and the >or <button shifts your
frequency in 10 MHz increments up or
down. You can change the tuning step at
the push of a button too.
Out of the box, theVR-5000 automati-
cally selects the receiving mode based on
the frequency the main receiver is tuned
to. You can shift modes manually and
override this feature, however.
The main and sub-receiver audio gain
controls are simple rotary pots like the ones
you’d find on the typical amateur mobile
transceiver. Sharing the shaft with the main
volume knob is the outer
SQL (squelch)
control. The sub-receiver volume control,
which does not quite kill the audio com-
pletely when turned fully counterclockwise,
is backed by a
TONE knob that alters the
receiver’s audio response on both channels.
Another surprise was that there is no way to
squelch the sub-receiver, which limits the
flexibility of having a sub-receiver to start
with. If you don’t want to hear the sub-re-
ceiver, the manual advises you to simply turn
down the volume control.
Greater Complexity
Trying to set up and program a
memory bank with discrete channels sent
me scrambling for the Operating Manual.
It takes a bit of patience to get a handle
on this receiver, and you’ll want to keep
the manual close at hand. But there’s lots
of memory to fill (remember, 2000 of
them plus 100 memory banks), and there
are lots of things you can do in terms of
memory operation.
We already mentioned the ability to ap-
ply alphanumeric tags to memories and
memory groups (banks). You can choose
from among 74 characters that include nu-
merals, upper and lower-case letters, and
several special characters. The VR-5000
gives you the capability to search for
these labels; you also can sort memories
by using their alphanumeric tags.
Speaking of sorting, it’s possible to sort
memory channels by frequency, by receive
mode or by channel number—and you can
delete vacant memories automatically.
Memories can be protected from inad-
vertent erasure or deletion. It’s also pos-
sible to mask certain memory channels
that you don’t need to recall—and unmask
them later if it turns out you need them in
the rotation again. There’s a priority fea-
ture that lets you monitor a memory chan-
nel while checking a priority channel ev-
ery five seconds for activity.
Yaesu has included Smart Search in
the VR-5000, a feature that’s proven
handy in itsAmateur Radio products, in-
cluding the very popular FT-817 trans-
ceiver (see “Product Review,” QST, Apr
2001). Smart Search can take some of the
pain out of loading the VR-5000’s many
memories, although it can load a strong
signal into more than one channel, so you
might have some cleaning up to do once
you’ve let it do its thing.
Scanning comes in several flavors,
but our scanner buff didn’t like that the
VR-5000 does not let you scan only se-
lected memory banks. In general, you can
scan memory channels only, scan while in
VFO mode, scan according to S meter
level (on an arbitrary scale of 0 to 255) or
scan just to find voice channels. It’s pos-
sible in VFO scanning to set the radio up
to scan only a portion of the VFO’s range
instead of the whole radio. Using the pro-
grammable memory scan (PMS) feature,
you can set up the VR-5000 to scan be-
tween up to 50 separate upper and lower-
limit pairs. It’s possible to reverse the scan
direction in midstream by simply turning
the
DIAL knob one click clockwise (to scan
upward) or counter-clockwise (to scan
downward). The scan resume mode can be
set to hold when the scanner encounters a
signal longer than two seconds; delay or
hold until the signal disappears, then re-
sume after two seconds or another user-
settable interval, or pause for a user-
settable interval then resume.
Special Features
The VR-5000 offers some interesting
and useful sideshow features.We’ve men-
tioned some already. Others include put-
ting the receiver to use as a comparative
field strength meter with a bar graph rep-
resentation of test and reference signals.
The receiver also can be set up to display
audio waveforms on the LCD screen.
It’s possible to clone memory data
from oneVR-5000 to another. The Oper-
ating Manual also includes the CAT
(Computer Aided Transceiver) computer-
control protocols.
A Word on Performance
While our scanner friend was happy
with the VR-5000’s performance on HF
and VHF using mostly modest antennas, I
was a little disappointed in the receiver’s
performance on HF. It’s important to bear
in mind that that the VR-5000 was never
intended to serve as a second receiver in
an HF contest station. The ARRL Lab test
results bore this out. The radio’s dynamic
range measurements at the standard 20-
kHz spacing were well below the numbers
we typically see even on low-end amateur
transceivers, but is in line with the level of
performance we’ve observed in some of the
other LF to microwave receivers. Intercept
numbers were well into the negative range.
Apparently, even at this price range, there
are some trade-offs to be made.When pur-
chasing a receiver like this you pay for
wide frequency coverage and program-
ming, scanning and memory features, not
strong-signal performance.
OneVR-5000 feature that’s helpful in
this regard is RF Tune, which lets you
shift the RF passband to maximize sensi-
tivity and minimize the impact of other
nearby signals on what you’re trying to
hear. This is a sort of preselector, to use a
term from an earlier era. I found using an
antenna tuner ahead of the receiver was
beneficial, too.
Random Thoughts
The world clock feature is very nice,
but the VR-5000 lacks any kind of back-
up battery for the clock, so you have to
supply power to the radio at all times to
preserve its time setting.
While we’re on the subject of power:
The radio operates on 13.8 V dc and
comes complete with one of those “wall
wart” supplies everyone loves to hate. A
separate dc cord for hooking it up in your
car or wiring to your existing station sup-
ply is also included.
The size and weight are easy to handle,
so this is a receiver that could easily go
mobile, although no bracket was supplied
for mobile mounting.
There’s plenty of audio from the little
speaker, although it will distort pretty
quickly at higher volume settings. An
external speaker helps.
In general, while the VR-5000 offers
many features, it might be a tad too busy
for less experienced (or less adept) users
who just want a decent receiver to play
with. The multiplicity of keystrokes some-
times required to take advantage of certain
functions tended to blunt the convenience
of having those features in the first place.
Our thanks to Bill Moore, NC1L, and
to Ed Hare, W1RFI, and Michael Tracy,
KC1SX of the ARRL Lab staff for their
assistance in preparing this review.
Manufacturer: Yaesu USA, 17210
Edwards Rd, Cerritos, CA 90703; 562-404-
2700; fax [phone]; www.yaesu.
com. Manufacturer’s suggested list price:
$1099; Typical current street price: $890.
List prices of selected accessories: DSP-1
Digital Signal Processing Unit: $119.95;
DVS-4 Digital Voice Recorder: $47.