Yaesu Vx-6r Band Mod
Yaesu VX-6R Multi-Band 2M/70CM 5W and 220 1.5W HT The Yaesu VX-6R is a multi-band heavy duty submersible. transceiver with extensive receive frequency coverage, providing local-area two-way amateur communications along with unmatched monitoring capability. The VX6R's small size allows you to take it anywhere - hiking, skiing, or while walking around town - and its operating flexibility brings the user many avenues of operating enjoyment.
FREEBAND/WIDEBAND/MARS-CAP MOD FOR YAESU VX-7r. Band, and v/m keys while. Can the vx 6R after the mod transmit in range 350 Mhz? Sep 16, 2013 Video showing how I accomplished the simple hardware mod on the Yaesu VX-8DR using my wife's nail cuticle cutter--no desoldering. Now have TX on GMRS and FRS.
Its incredibly compact FNB-80LI Rechargeable Lithium Ion Battery Pack provides up to 5 Watts of transmit power on 144 MHz and 430 MHz Amateur Bands. Besides 144 and 430 MHz transceiver operation, the VX-6R provides receive coverage of the AM and FM broadcast bands, HF Shortwave Bands, VHF and UHF TV bands, the VHF AM aircraft band, and a wide range of commercial and public safety frequencies! Furthermore, the USA version enables 1.5 Watts of transmit power on the 222 MHz Amateur Band. New and exciting features of the VX-6R are the Emergency Automatic ID (EAI) function, that will automatically cause your VX-6R to transmit your callsign and engage your rig's microphone, even if you are disabled and unable to press the PTT switch; Enhanced Paging and Code Squelch (EPCS), that allows you to page a particular station and only receive calls from that station, if desired; and a security Password feature, that will allow you to turn on and operate your transceiver only after you enter your Password. Additional features include a convenient access key for Vertex Standard's WIRES (Wide-coverage Internet Repeater Enhancement System), a transmit Time-Out Timer (TOT), Automatic Power-Off (APO), Automatic Repeater Shift (ARS), Yaesu's exclusive ARTS (Auto-Range Transponder System) which 'beeps' the user when you move out of communications range with another ARTS equipped station, plus provision for reduction of the TX deviation in areas of high channel congestion.
And an RF squelch circuit allows the owner to set the squelch to open at a programmable setting of the S-Meter, thus reducing guesswork in setting the squelch threshold. IPX7 Specification for submersibility: 3ft (1M) for 30 minutes.
I have not tried this, I don't have a vx-6r radio to try it on either, so I Probably won't be doing so. By definition if the tx range is 40mhz to 550mhz, it includes the 6m band (50mhz). With radios that I have looked at a similar mod for, there are reports of troubles maintaining the correct frequencies at the extremes of the range. How far off of 40 mhz such a problem exists, I don't know.
If the radio is designed to tx in 6M, 2M, 220 and 440, then you should not have troubles in the 6M band after such a mod. However you may have problems once you get outside of the band. Lastly operating one of these radios outside of the designed spectrum, and on frequencies outside of those you are licenced for, may only be done in an emergency where such a transmition is in support of that emergency. You may possibly safely transmit into a dummy load, but that would seem to not be the intent of the mod. Consisdering the concerns over freqency variation once you get outside of the designed tx ranges, you may also be causing further problems if you try transmitting into the public service frequencies in an emergency.
Problems may include garbled transmitions, etc. At the same time, part of being a Ham is to experiment with your equipment. You may be able to use this as part of your Civil Air Patrol (CAP) activities, etc. 73 -Rusty - kc0vcu Logged. As has already been said, it's illegal to use modified ham radios on ANY other radio service, except MARS, and that requires a MARS license.
Modified ham rigs are NOT legal for CAP. Most of these mods are done by people who THINK they know what they are doing and wind up trashing a perfectly good radio. If you have a legitimate need for a radio for public service frequencies, buy a used one designed for that service. If you get on a public service frequency without proper authorization, that emergency better involve immenent loss of human life, and even then that agency may well file charges against you - and in these cases the offenders are usually found guilty. Leave the radio alone. Legalities (or rather illegalities) not withstanding, it's HIGHLY unlikely the radio can TRANSMIT across such a wide range. Wideband receive is easy; you just don't bother with filtering or selectivity, and signals from DC to daylight get in.
But modern H-T's usually employ modules for the transmitter output, and those are relatively narrow band devices. (1.e., a typical module might cover 48-54 mHz, or 140-150 MHz at the most, and there will be little if any output beyond those limits.) And the filtering required to make a transmitter conform to even the lenient (compared to commercial gear) requirements for Amateur Radio is not broadband in nature, it's designed for the Amateur bands, and attempting to transmit elsewhere will cause all kinds of spurious signals, harmonics, etc. To be transmitted, if not outright damaging the output devices. I would think claims for that wide range of transmit are a bit exaggerated. I just discovered what appears to be the 'freeband' mod for the US version of the VX-6R.
Yaesu Vx-6r Mod
It requires the removal of one solder blob. Here's the procedure: 1. Turn off the radio and remove the battery. Remove the stick-on plastic cover that fits over the cutout where the SU-1 goes. You will see two rows of solder pads, one row of eight (with two pads soldered) and to its right, one row of five (with no pads soldered). Counting from the left on the row of eight pads, go to the fourth pad and remove the solder from it. Replace the SU-1 cover and replace the battery.
Reset the microprocessor. The radio will now transmit from 137 - 174, 222 - 230, and 420 - 469. The TX LED lights up in many other ranges but I have not checked power output anywhere but in the ranges I just mentioned. 73, Jim K5QL here bill is the mod just rember what every one else told you. But you seem intent on doing it.
Best Antenna For Yaesu Vx-6r
So go for it. Personally i keep mine box stock that way i never have to worry about being acussed of being where i wasnt suppose to be. But hey this is what they call a free and democratict country so do what you have to do. Legalities (or rather illegalities) not withstanding, it's HIGHLY unlikely the radio can TRANSMIT across such a wide range. Yeah that's what I'm wondering. I would be amazed if Yaesu made a radio that could transmit in the 6m area and then lock it so it couldn't do that???
Seems like a great selling point that they could charge at least an extra $50 for each radio. That's why I'm kind of skeptical of that mod. I wouldn't be 'freebanding' with it but only using it to TX 6m.
Yaesu Vx 6r Accessories
I guess the radio is still new enough that people haven't really tested out the capabilities of this HT. Thanks again for the replies! If you look at the physical radios, the vx-5r, vx-6r, and vx-7r are all physically very similar. (No, not identical.) It would not surprise me if the radio transmitter capabilities of the 5 and 7 (which can both tx in 6 meters) were actually included in the 6r, yet disabled by default. The 6r is about $50 more than the prices I see for the 5r, so I think that's within reason as well.
I had thought that the 6r was already set up for 6 meter tx in my earlier message, which is why I had responded the way I did. A better place to ask about whether someone has attempted this mod, may be the Mods and Repairs forum. It would be a really good idea to include that you really are only concerned with whether this makes for a working system on 6 meters, which you are licenced for. You will also need to use a different antena, as the 2M/70cm rubber ducky will be more of a problem than a help at 6 meters. 73 -Rusty - kc0vcu Logged. Ok so I tried the mod, specifically removing the 4th solder blob from the left, and yes it works. And yes it transmits on 6m.
My scanner indicates that the quality of transmission is fine, but I have no idea what the actual wattage output is. The CTCSS encoding is available throughout all bands and can be used on 6m. (Remember that each band has to have CTCSS encode enabled independently.) However, ARS (automatic repeater shift) is only available on the original three bands (2m, 1.2m, 70cm); therefore 6m repeater shifts have to be programmed into each memory manually as odd splits. This is also posted on the other forum under the same topic. The VX6-R comes in several models.
One for Europe, USA/Canada/Latin America/Asia. I opened mine up and yes it does TX on 6meters. Seems the standard options for the Asian market include tri-band which includes 440, 144, and 50mhz @ 1.5 watts but NOT 220.
They supply a different antenna for the Asian market so that the radio will (sort of) work on 6. Opening it up with the free band mod now makes it a quad band radio. Needless to say your included 440, 220, 144 antenna is useless for 6 meters. This radio seems to TX on the marine and aviation bands too.not sure if it TX in AM though. Gonna dig out my service monitor and find out.
Family does blue water offshore sailing so why not? We have a marine radio operators license. We are licensed pilots and hold the appropriate Industry Canada aviation radio operators licenses, so again why not? True the radio is not 'type approved' for the intended non-amateur application, but your running a fine line to tell me I cannot use it even in an emergency.
If it works on 121.5, I'm in trouble in the middle of the Pacific on my sailboat, and I know a commercial jet is 35000' overhead (they all monitor 121.5). The radio gets used! That radio could be a real life saver. VA7AA Logged.