Yaesu tk500 User manual

tk500 & VR-500 User Guide
Programming and using the Yaesu VR-500 Scanner
Written by Nei Wa ker
June 2008

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Contents
1. Connecting the VR-500 to the computer ........................................................................................ 2
2. Reading config and memory channel data from the radio ............................................................. 3
3. Writing config and memory channel data to the radio .................................................................. 5
4. Editing memory channel data .........................................................................................................
5. Acknowledgements .........................................................................................................................
6. Appendix ......................................................................................................................................... 8
6.1. General notes on VR-500 usage .............................................................................................. 8
6.2. Useful Links ............................................................................................................................. 9

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1. Connecting the VR-500 to the computer
Note: To use the tk500 software, first copy ‘tcl832.exe’ to C:/tc and insta it into this fo der.
Then unzip ‘tk500-15.zip’ into C:/tk500. Doub e c ick ‘tk500.bat’ to run the software.
• Connect the TTL-RS232 interface adaptor to the computer, i.e. the RS232 cable to the serial
port and the power (USB) cable to a free USB port.
• Connect the green plug of the signal cable to the speaker socket on the VR-500.
• Start the tk500 software.
• In the main window, click on the 'Radio' menu and set the radio model option to 'USA
model':

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2. Reading config and memory channe data from the radio
• Choose 'Read from radio' in the 'Radio' menu.
• Follow the instructions in the box that opens, i.e. Hold down the 1, 8 and ENT key whilst
switching the VR-500 on (the display on theVR-500 will now show two options: 1. RX CLONE
and 2. TX CLONE).
• Once the scanner is on, click 'OK' in the box in tk500 and then press '2' on the VR-500
keypad.

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• The tk500 software will now copy the memory and config data from the VR-500. A window
will open in the tk500 software showing the read progress:
• When the read process is complete, a ‘Transfer Complete’ message will open in the tk500
software and the VR-500 will show the message ‘CLONE [TX] PASS!!’.
• Press ‘ ENT’ on the VR-500 and click the ‘OK’ button in the tk500 software.
• To save this data, go to File, Save As and name the file (this will have a .tk5 extension). The
memory channel information (frequency list) can be exported separately to a .csv file by
going to ‘File’ and choosing ‘Export memory channels’. Give the file the same name as the
.tk5 file.

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3. Writing config and memory channe data to the radio
(Note: If data had just been read from the VR-500, the tk500 must be restarted prior to
programming commencing).
• In the tk500 software, go to File, Open and select the appropriate .tk5 file.
• Choose ‘Write to radio' in the 'Radio' menu.
• Follow the instructions in the box that opens, i.e. Hold down the 1, 8 and ENT key whilst
switching the VR-500.
• Once the scanner is on, press '1' on the VR-500 keypad and immediately afterwards click
‘OK’ in tk500.

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• The tk500 software will now write the memory and config data from the .tk5 file to the
radio. A window will open in the tk500 software showing the write progress:
• When the write process is complete, a ‘Transfer Complete’ message will open in the tk500
software and the VR-500 will show the message ‘CLONE [RX] PASS!!’.
• Press ‘ ENT’ on the VR-500 and click the ‘OK’ button in tk500.

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4. Editing memory channe data
• Use Microsoft Excel to edit the appropriate .csv file as required.
• Connect the VR-500 to the computer as described in chapter 1 and start the tk500 software.
• In tk500, select File, Open and choose the appropriate .tk5 config file.
• Select the ‘Data’ menu and choose ‘Clear all memory channels...’
• In the box that opens, click to confirm that you wish to clear the memory channel data.
• Go to the ‘File’ menu, choose ‘Export memory channels’ and select the appropriate .csv file.
• Finally, follow the instructions for writing to the VR-500 as described in chapter 3.
Note: If desired, the .tk5 config fi e can be saved so as to inc ude the updated memory channe
data.
5. Acknow edgements
The tk500 software is produced by Bob Parness and can be downloaded for free from his website at:
http://www.parnass.org/tk500/

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6. Appendix
6.1. Genera notes on VR-500 usage
• To access the main settings menu, press ‘Ent’ whilst holding the ‘FUNC’ button. Use the ‘Dial’
knob to scroll through the menu options. Turn the ‘Dial’ knob whilst holding the ‘FUNC’
button to change settings within a menu. Note that the settings menu can only be access
from VFO mode.
• To enter a frequency in VFO mode, enter the digits as required using the keypad and then
press Enter. Adjust squelch as needed (anti-clockwise = squelch fully open/most sensitive).
To start searching in VFO mode, press button ‘3’ (SCH/SCN) on the keypad whilst holding the
‘FUNC’ button. Turn the ‘Dial’ knob to adjust the search direction up or down as desired.
To adjust the VR-500’s behaviour in a frequency hold during a transmission (‘Resume’
mode), press button ‘3’ again on the keypad whilst holding the ‘FUNC’ button. Do this
repeatedly to cycle through each mode – Pause (no indicator), Busy (BS) or Hold (HS). Busy
is the best to use.
Press the ‘CLR’ button to stop the search.
When the VR-500 holds on a frequency during a search (i.e. during a transmission) you can
stop the search from continuing again after the transmission stops by turning the ‘Dial’ knob
one click. Turning the ‘Dial’ knob again will resume the search.
• The VR-500 has 1000 channels – 10 banks of 100. The banks are designated 0-9. The first
digit of a channel number indicates which bank it is in, e.g. channel 425 is in memory bank 4.
To access the memory channels, press button ‘1’ (Memo) whilst holding down the ‘FUNC’
button. ‘MR’ (Memory Recall) will now be displayed on the screen. Enter a 3-digit channel
number on the keypad to access a specific channel, or turn the ‘Dial’ knob.
To start scanning ALL memory channels, press button ‘3’ (SCH/SCN) whilst holding the
‘FUNC’ button. ‘MS’ (Memory Scanning) will be displayed on the screen. Pressing any of the
buttons 0-9 will limit scanning to the corresponding bank only.
• The VR-500 can be set to scan only those banks specified by the user by using the Bank Scan
and Bank Limit options. To configure this, make sure the VR-500 is in VFO mode then press
‘Ent’ while holding the ‘FUNC’ button. Use the ‘Dial’ knob to scroll to menu 18 ‘Bank Limit’.
Turn the ‘Dial’ knob whilst holding ‘FUNC’ until the cursor is over the desired bank number,
then release the ‘FUNC’ button and turn the ‘Dial’ knob to place an underline under that
number. Repeat this process until all desired bank numbers have an underline under them

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and then press the ‘Ent’ key. To enable bank scanning, use the ‘Dial’ knob to scroll to menu
option 1 ‘Bank Scan’ and then turn ‘Dial’ whilst holding ‘FUNC’ to set it to ‘ON’.
While in Memory Scanning (MS) mode and while the ‘Bank Scan’ option is on, the VR-500
will only scan the bank numbers specified in menu option 18.
Press the ‘CLR’ button to stop scanning.
• To use Preferential Memory Scanning it is first necessary to mark each desired channel as a
preferential channel. To do this, make sure you are in Memory Recall mode (as described
above) and that the VR-500 is not scanning (press ‘CLR’ if it is). Go to the desired channel by
entering it’s 3-digit number and then press button ‘5’ (S.SCH/PMS) whilst holding the ‘FUNC’
button . A ‘P’ will be indicated on the screen for that channel. Repeat for all desired
channels. Note that preferential channels can also be defined in a .csv file.
To start preferential scanning, press button ‘3’ whilst holding ‘FUNC’ to start scanning and
then press button ‘5’ whilst holding ‘FUNC’. ‘PMS’ (Preferential Memory Scanning) will now
be displayed on the screen. The resume mode (Pause, Busy, or Hold) in Memory Scanning,
Bank Scanning and Preferential Scanning can be set here using the same method as
described above for VFO searching. As before, ‘Busy’ (BS) is the best mode to use.
Press button 5 whilst holding ‘FUNC’ to revert back to ordinary Memory Scanning, or press
the ‘CLR’ button to stop scanning altogether. Another press of the ‘CLR’ button will revert
the VR-500 back into VFO mode.
• To lock the VR-500 keypad, hold the ‘FUNC’ button and then press the ‘MONI’ button (just
below it).
• To preserve battery power it is best to have the keypad/screen lamp in ‘Toggle’ mode. This
enables the lamp to be turned on and off as desired by pressing button ‘9’ (LAMP) whilst
pressing the ‘FUNC’ button. The lamp mode can be set to ‘Toggle’ in the main settings menu
mentioned earlier.
6.2. Usefu Links
Strong Signals review
VR-500 Operating Manual
VR-500 Brochure
VR-500 switch replacement