Re: Help

Since there have been some negative comments here, I thought that I should add some alternative opinions.

The VR5000 is a DC-daylight receiver and a scanner with a CAT capability.  It tries to do everything, and as is the case for all such do everything receivers, some things it won't do well.  But overall, it is a very capable receiver.
I've been using mine for over a dozen years.  It's one of the original models.  The only time I can remember mine freezing up is when I wrote my own software for it, and tried sending it data too fast. I know some people have reported freezing when using an insufficient power supply, but I've left mine running for weeks at a time with no problem.
There are problems though.  The most significant one is the display. At least the old models like mine tend to start losing vertical lines.  After half a dozen years mine had lost more than half of the vertical lines, at which point I stopped using it for a couple years. But I missed it so much that I started using it again, and found that some of the lines had come back. If nothing else, I can still use it via the CAT.
The 2nd problem is the CAT itself.  It's not fast enough to effectively scan via the CAT, and the CAT won't work when the built in scan is running, so the CAT is really mainly useful for tuning a freq to listen to. It's not a fully functional CAT like some other scanners. 
In other words, the VR5000 is a fairly sensitive all mode receiver, but isn't recommended as a computer controlled scanner. 

I really like mine, even though the screen gave out.  It's more sensitive than many of my other HF or VHF only receivers, although as expected, this comes with somewhat of a lack of selectivity, and you get some noise with your signal. 
The receiver is expensive, but it's hard to find a receiver that will do everything this does for less.