Tri-Band Yaesu VX-6R Submersible Amateur Ham Radio Transceiver (144/222/440)

Yaesu VX-6R.. Solid and reliable. Receive quality is good and transmisions are great! Programming was esay with CHIP.

Good product

About the size of a pack of cigarettes, overly well built, and with the Commet SMA-24 antenna, it becomes the untimate emergency/bug out bag radio. Highly recomend the emergency "AA" battery packs, the black high capacity Panasonic Eneloop AA rechargeable batteries(Nickel Metal Hydride), and solar charger for AA batteries. Also invest in the 12 volt power adapter by Yaesu, and if you really want to let your hair down, the drop in charger for lithium battery packs.(about $80 for the drop in charger) The white Panasonic Eneloop rechargeable batteries can be recharged 2100 times verses 500 times for the high cap black ones, but the white ones will give you less run time as they are standard cap. And for the love of who ever that it is that you worship, DO NOT use a cheap AC to DC 12 volt power inverter to run your electronics with.(laptop, cell phone, HAM RADIO,...ect.) Cheap power inverters do not produce a pure sine wave and will eventually destroy your electronics. They are only good for recharging batteries and battery packs, running a fan, and other devices that don't contain intergrated circuits in them. Otherwise a real power inverter that does produce a pure sine wave usually costs $200 or more for the same wattage output as the bargin power inverter.

I had made a complaint in error I’m trying to erase it I misunderstood an yaesu order I thought I received the wrong product but actually Yaesu issues the product manual for European version yaesu vx-6r/e for their North American version vx-6r but yaesu doesn’t clarify it on the cover of their manual for the transceiver. So I thought I receive the European version since the manual indicated it was for the European version, but actually they issue one manual for both versions but only print the model number for the European version on the instruction manual and don’t clarify it on the instruction manual. It was not until I looked at the transceiver itself that realized that I did not receive the wrong one I received the correct one and I apologize to the vendor! I was surprised Yaesu which simply not issue an instruction manual separately for the north of American version vx-6r and the European version vx-6r/e. The instruction manual says dual band transceiver for the North American version but actually it’s a triband transceiver but the manual states dual band transceiver because they were too cheap to make a separate instruction manual for the dual band and the tri-band. I am very happy with the order and I plan on placing another order for the same transceiver this week to have two of them!!

Yaesu has never disappointed me with their quality and they are maintaining this status. I use it aboard a boat and I wanted a dependable, submersible VHF Ham radio. The it is complicated to get into the features, for which it has plenty, because of the three levels of function for each of the keys, but this is a result of wanting so many features in such a small package. I got around this by downloading the PDF of the manual to my phone, so I always have it with me if I need it. The performance of the VX-6R has been great and I enjoy having access to the 220 and 440 bands in addition to 2m. It is a good choice for those wanting to use it outdoors with its ability to receive the weather, marine, aircraft, AM and FM bands. It also has a mode to practice copying CW. It is a fantastic radio, particularly for the price.

I've had this radio for a bit over a month. It's very small for what it does and very solidly built. A hunting buddy and I decided to get our HAM licenses and these radios for more reliable service versus GMSR radios when in the field. These radios will easily go into a pocket. We have not yet had the opportunity to test them under hunting conditions but we have tested them in town with simplex operation and were able to clearly communicate when we were both outside (not inside houses or automobiles) between our homes which are 2.85 miles straight line in a retail/suburban environment (homes, some open land, numerous single story businesses, power lines, traffic etc.). They are clear and easy to understand. I do recommend getting the cable and programing software for it. The radio can be a bit intimidating when looking to program it because most of the keys use more than one function. Programing with the cable and software is very simple using a spreadsheet type entry. Update Nov 2016: My buddy and I used these on a recent hunt in Colorado, usually separated by trees and hills and they worked great. Every time we called each other we had good reception. These radios are not cheap but they were money well spent. They worked great. Reminder that you do need a HAM license for these radios. Doug KG5KVZ

Solidly built, complex radio. Does more than I ever envision doing but I'm new to Ham radio so we'll see. Already got basic repeater programming down and have listened in on a few sessions by our local radio club. Can't broadcast yet as I'm unlicensed but looking to change that soon. I did order another antenna as I've read the stock Yaesu one is iffy in places. Main reason was to have an option as I'm sometimes in the house and sometimes outside. I was playing with the buttons and got stuck in some memory cycle error I couldn't get out of. YT videos on resetting the radio didn't help but I called Yeasu, got a fast pickup, spoke to a tech and he walked me through it within a couple of minutes. Sorted. Great product backed up with great tech support. (techs name was Tim). Excited to learn how to get the most out of it as I get more into the art of Ham. I am still looking for a cable to program it with. I have one which is going back as the Mac driver is out of date and I cannot get it to recognize the radio. I also got a Baofeng as a backup and bought a cable for that which worked like a champ right out of the bag. Once I get the cable for the Yaesu sorted i should be off to the races.

This radio had a high price and with that price you expected a radio of exceptional quality. Unfortunately this ham radio fell short of expectations. There was a lot of static among the different ham channels that we added on the radio and some aspects the radio was difficult to program because of all the different features it was not as simple as you thought it was. Unfortunately the manual was poorly written and difficult to follow and therefore it was impossible to program it correctly You had to be a advanced user to operate this radio rather than a novice or a newbie to the ham radio community