Re: Re: New VR 500 & handy reference sheet (s)?- Question

I agree, using the VR-500 in AM narrow could reduce the hiss, as it  
would narrow down the passband you're receiving. I do surprisingly  
well here in the city using a duck for MW reception, and even the  
powerful SW broadcasters. But like you I have to be holding the radio  
for good signal strength. This isn't a problem since that's how I  
generally use the VR-500, as a handheld rig.

Chuck


Quoting voip10 <[email protected]>:

> Hi Jimmy,
>
> You are correct re the lack of ferrite rod antenna! The rubber duck   
> antenna suplied with the radio is extremely inefficient for   
> reception of medium wave signals, and pretty much all of shortwave,   
> too. The Yaesu-supplied antenna is "resonant" at around 150MHz and   
> is reasonably good for receiving signals on the 2m amateur band and   
> other signals in that region of the RF spectrum. It's good fun to   
> experiment. It is possible to get ferrite rods with coils wound for   
> medium and long wave from several suppliers (e.g. Maplin in the UK)   
> and medium-wave tuning capacitors, too. There'll be plenty of simple  
>  circuits on the internet that could be built in very little time.   
> You could also try a simple dipole, with each leg around a couple of  
>  metres or so in length, still electrically short, compared to  
> medium  wave-lengths but a good deal better than the rubber duck.  
> The  antenna doesn't have to be elaborately strung out, either. One  
> leg  could be laid across a table and the other along the ground.
>
> Using narrow AM would improve things slightly, especially if there   
> is a lot of interference from signals on neighbouring frequencies,   
> but reception would sound slightly more "muffled" because narrow AM   
> will reduce the audio frequency response.
>
> Voi
>
> --- In [email protected], "bluesea805@..." <bluesea805@...> wrote:
>>
>>
>>       Does switching to AM "Narrow" help to get better local AM reception
>> ? I'd like to know this, because so far, this radio is getting horrible
>> reception (very faint with a lot of background noise) of a  nearby AM
>> station that otherwise comes in loud & clear through even the cheapest
>> of radios I have in the house. It gets better only if I hold it in my
>> hand, becoming a Human antenna. I hope your AM Narrow option helps,
>> because I'm already very disappointed if that's the best AM reception I
>> can get out of this radio, Doe you think this is largely due to the fact
>> that it does not have a built-in Ferrite bar antenna, like some other
>> radios do ? Thanks,
>>
>>                                                           Jimmy
>> --- In [email protected], comtron@ wrote:
>> >
>> > Jimmy,
>> >
>> > Welcome to the group. While I can't help on whether there are
>> > different versions of the VR-500 (though I've never heard this to be
>> > the case), I can point you to this easy tip on enabling AM-narrow mode
>> > on the VR-500 (if only all wideband handhelds had this underlying
>> > capability!) :
>> >
>> > Re: NAM mode
>> >
>> > Here's how its done.
>> >
>> > To enable the hidden Narrow AM option on the VR-500 simply do the
>> > following.....
>> >
>> > You unlock the hidden menu options #33 "User Port"
>> >
>> > and #34 "Narrow AM" by pressing and holding four
>> >
>> > buttons while switching the radio on: 0,3,5 and 9.
>> >
>> > Menu #33 "User Port" does nothing, but the #34
>> >
>> > "Narrow AM" option is very handy and works very well.
>> >
>> > Enjoy
>> >
>> >
>> > I have yet to try doing this myself...to be honest I haven't had an
>> > urgent need to narrow the reception on my 500...I've done well just
>> > as-is. But it's great to have this available!
>> >
>> > Chuck
>> >
>> > Quoting "bluesea805@" bluesea805@:
>> >
>> > >
>> > > Hello everyone,
>> > >
>> > > I'm brand new here, my very 1st post- Hello to you all.Thank you for
>> > > accepting me into the Group. I just took delivery of a brand new
>> Yeasu
>> > > VR 500 & am very anxious to learn how to program it to scan my
>> favorite
>> > > local frequencies. Having already owned several scanners (Regent
>> home
>> > > base unit, Radio Shack Pro 94, Alinco DJ-X7 and now this one) you'd
>> > > think I'd already be quite familiar with how to go about this
>> tedious
>> > > task.However, at least for me it seems that each reciever has a
>> > > different way of going about things & furthermore, the manuals that
>> try
>> > > to explain what to do aren't always as explicit as you'd like them
>> to
>> > > be- do you know what I mean ?
>> > >
>> > > Therefore, I noticed the handy Reference sheets that are on the
>> > > Files section of this Forum. Since the posts are dated back from
>> > > 2000-2001 or so, I was wondering if these sheets will still apply to
>> the
>> > > brand new 2009 model VR 500 and other recent years of this same
>> unit, or
>> > > are there new features & different button pushes on the new(er)
>> versions
>> > > of this unit that will not apply to the reference sheet ?
>> > >
>> > > Thank you & I look forward to sharing with you the joys of owning
>> > > such a versatile little Reciever- SSB capability & all !
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > Jimmy
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > ----------------------------------------------------------------
>> > This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.
>> >
>>
>
>
>



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