Vertex Standard VX-8R CONTROLS & CONNECTIONS

CONTROLS & CONNECTIONS

ANTENNA Jack

Connect the supplied rubber flex antenna (or another antenna presenting

a50-Ohm imped- ance) here.

PTT Switch

(“Push To Talk”)

Press this switch inward to transmit, and release it (to receive) after your transmission is completed.

MONI Key

Pressing this key disables the noise squelching action, allowing you to hear very weak signals near the background noise level.

VOL Key

Rotate the DIAL knob while pressing and holding this key to adjust the audio volume level.

F/W Key

Pressing this key activates the “Alter- nate” key function of the keypad.

SPEAKER

T h e i n t e r n a l speaker is located hear.

MIC/SP Jack

This 7-pin miniature jack connects an optional MH- 74A7A Speaker Microphone or CT- 136 GPS Antenna Adapter.

KEYPAD

The 20 front panel key buttons select many of the most important operating fea- tures.

DIAL Knob

The main tuning Dial is used to set the operating fre- quency, and is also used for audio volume level, menu selections, and other adjustments.

MIC

The internal microphone is located hear.

LED Light

This white LED will glow (or flash) during “Emergency Channel” opera- tion. It can also be useful as a flash light in a dark environment via the Set Mode Item 50 LED LIGHT.

EAR Jack

This 3-contact miniature jack allows connection of stereo earphonesÚ.

With aftermarket earphones, you may enjoy stereo FM broadcasts.

EXT DC

This coaxial DC jack allows connection to an external DC power source (10-16V DC). The center pin of this jack is the Positive

(+) line.

(PWR) Switch Press and hold this switch for 2 seconds to toggle the transceiver’s power “on” and “off”.

Press this switch briefly while the t r a n s c e i v e r i s t u r n e d “ o n ” t o toggle the key lockout feature “on” or “off”.

The functions of the keys are described in details on pages 4 and 5.

ÚSome stereo earphone plugs may not fit this jack, depending on the shape of the connection plug.

2	VX-8R OPERATING MANUAL

Contents

TRIPLE-BANDHEAVY DUTY SUBMERSIBLE TRANSCEIVER Contents INTRODUCTION FTM-10R/SR BU-1 CONTROLS & CONNECTIONS DISPLAY ICONS & INDICATORS & R TX P S&PO METER KEYPAD FUNCTIONS Page ACCESSORIES & OPTIONS ACCESSORIES SUPPLIED WITH THE VX-8R YHA-65 YHA-64 FNB-101LI AVAILABLE OPTIONS FOR YOUR VX-8R CT-136 MH-74A7A CT-131 CT-134 INSTALLATION OF ACCESSORIES ANTENNA INSTALLATION Notes: BELT CLIP INSTALLATION (Figure 1). Use onlythe screws included with INSTALLATION OF FNB-101LIBATTERY PACK click The VX-8Rbattery must be correctly installed, to maintain the waterproof integrity NC-86B/C BATTERY LIFE INFORMATION INSTALLATION OF FBA-39ALKALINE BATTERY CASE (OPTION) FBA-39 FBA-39 INTERFACE OF PACKET TNCS CT-44 OPERATION SWITCHING POWER ON AND OFF ANTENNA ADJUSTING THE VOLUME LEVEL 1)The Volume level may be set on the “A-Band”and “B-Band”separately SQUELCH ADJUSTMENT 92: SQL LEVEL Clock Set SELECTING THE OPERATING BAND double-size character large character SELECTING THE FREQUENCY BAND Large Small 1)SW Band and Information Band reception is only possible on the “VFO-A” The FREQUENCY NAVIGATION Examples: while still holding in RESUME You may initiate upward or downward scanning by pressing and holding Dual Receive Notice TRANSMISSION 1) If you’re just talking to friends in the immediate area, you’ll get much longer battery life by switching to Low Power opera always 50 MHz, 144 MHz, 222 MHz (USA version), and 430 MHz bands on the “Main” band then press the PTT switch to cause the VX-8R to trans mit (temporarily) on High power. After one transmis sion, the power level will re 109: VOX DELAY 109: VOX DELAY 0.5sec 1.0sec AM AND FM BROADCAST RECEPTION The AM and FM Broadcast reception is only possible on “VFO-A” To select the antenna for the AM Broadcast Reception: 1: ANTENNA AM BAR ANTENNA BAR & EXT To select the antenna for the FM Broadcast Reception: AF-D 77: RX AF DUAL 1)You may change the “Main” band by pressing the /key 2)You may change the “Main” band frequency by rotating the DIAL knob while pressing the switch 77: RX AF DUAL TX 1sec - TX 10sec: TRX 1sec - TXR 10sec HOLD: To activate the locking feature: ADJUSTING THE KEYPAD BEEPER VOLUME LEVEL 11: BEEP LEVEL 11: BEEP LEVEL 13: BEEP To activate the Audio Mute feature: Here is the procedure for setting up the Lamp mode: CHANGING THE CHANNEL STEPS 96: STEP FREQUENCY 1)9 kHz steps are available only when receiving on the BC band 2)8.33 kHz steps are available only when receiving on the Air band 4)5 kHz steps are not available for use on 250 - 300 MHz, nor above 580 MHz SQL S-METER METER 93: SQL S METER When the SQL REPEATER OPERATION GENERAL REPEATER SHIFTS AUTOMATIC REPEATER SHIFT (ARS) 74: RPT ARS MANUAL REPEATER SHIFT ACTIVATION Item 75: RPE SHIFT –RPT +RPT SIMPLEX CHECKING THE REPEATER UPLINK (INPUT) FREQUENCY key, use Set Mode Item 39: HOME/REVERSE. See page CTCSS OPERATION TONE TSQL REV TONE RTN 1) The repeater may or may not re-transmita CTCSS tone - some systems just use CTCSS to control when transmitting. If the S-Meterdeflects but you cannot hear the audio, repeat steps DCS OPERATION Tone Mode and Remember that the DCS is an Encode/Decode system, so your DCS C 27: DCS INVERSION RX-NORMAL, TX-NORMAL: RX-INVERT RX-INVERT, TX-INVERT: RX-BOTH TX-INVERT R-N.T-N TONE SEARCH SCANNING TSQ TONE SEARCH EPCS (ENHANCED PAGING & CODE SQUELCH) CTCSS T EPCS O 68: PAGER CODE-TX & C PAG “bell” sound alerts you when a call is coming in. See next page for details 66: PAGER ANS-BACK CTCSS/DCS/EPCS BELL OPERATION ELL PERATION 15: BELL BELL 12: BEEP MELODY 10ms 2500ms SELECT INSERT You may check your work by monitoring the programmed User Beep Melody To do this, repeat steps 1 - 4 above, then press the key SPLIT TONE OPERATION TONE CALLING (1750 HZ) 61: MONI/T CALL T-CALL MEMORY MODE L01/U01 L50/U50 b24 EMORY MEMORY STORAGE Advice You may change the automatic memory channel selection feature to select the key) of the key via the Set Mode Item 36: FW KEY HOLD TIME; see page MEMORY RECALL 1) When the radio is already set to the Memory mode, an easy way to recall You may change the step of the fast channel selection mode HOME CHANNEL MEMORY Note that the UHF HOME channel is the one used during “Emergency” operation. See page 107 for details regarding this feature LABELING MEMORIES 53: MEMORY NAME Example MEMORY OFFSET TUNING TUN MASKING MEMORIES MR MASK MEMORY BANK OPERATION 1) You may assign one memory chan nel into several 8: BANK NAME MOVING MEMORY DATA TO THE VFO OVER- WRITE MEMORY ONLY MODE 1)The Special Memory Channels are only recalled on the “A-Band” WEATHER BROADCAST CHANNELS VHF MARINE MEMORY CHANNELS INTVHF SHORT-WAVE BROADCAST STATION MEMORY CHANNELS RADIO NOTE SCANNING 2.0sec - 10.0sec BUSY 82: SCAN RE-START RE-START 0.1sec 0.9sec 10.0sec The default condition for this Set Mode Item is “2.0sec” VFO SCANNING while holding in the ±1 MHz ±2 MHz ±5 MHz VFO S The VX-8Rhas 100 VFO Frequency Skip Memory Channels MEMORY SCANNING ALL CHANNEL TAG1 TAG2 MS ERR 55: MEMORY SKIP SKIP ONLY Here is the procedure for setting up and using the Preferential Scan List: SKIP To initiate Preferential Memory Scan: B-LINK 1) When the Memory Bank is enabled for Memory “b”) PROGRAMMABLE (BAND LIMIT) MEMORY SCAN (PMS) PMSxx L50 U50 “PRIORITY CHANNEL” SCANNING (DUAL WATCH) MDW VFO VDW 72: PRI TIME 71: PRI RE VERT AUTOMATIC LAMP ILLUMINATION ON SCAN STOP 81: SCAN LAMP BAND EDGE BEEPER 10: BEEP or BH-2 16: BLUETOOTH P-CODE POWER 17: BLUETOOTH SET VOX: OFF: VOX: PTT: VOX: VOX HIGH POWR VOLUME VOL UME Page GPS OPERATION MIC/SP MH-74 SPD FGPS-2GPS Antenna Unit Installation 24: TIME ZONE UTC +0:00 GPS S 18: GPS UNIT Posi tion” (.MMM’ or ‘SS”) APRS® OPERATION PREPARATIONS 20: MY CALLSIGN X Æ Y Æ Z Æ 9 Æ W 22: MY SYMBOL 23: POSI TION COMMENT 21: MY POSITION Auto Lon APRS MODEM 1200bps RECEIVING AN APRS BEACON The AX.25 modem cannot be activated in the “A-Band” Deleting a Received Beacon from the “STATION LIST” TRANSMIT AN APRS BEACON 14: 12: BEACON INTERVAL 13: BEA CON STATS TXT ALL CLEAR CLEAR 15: DIGI PATH Page Delete the Received Message from the “APRS MESSAGE” Screen 19: MSG G1 ALL G2 CQ TRANSMIT AN APRS MESSAGE 6: APRS MSG TXT MSG TXT Page IN RANGE OUT RANGE ARTS ARTSTM won’t work if you have used the Lock feature to disable the PTT 6: ARTS INTERVAL 25sec ALWAYS 5: ARTS BEEP your callsign 21: CW ID that key: W Æ X Æ Y Æ Z Æ 9 Æ W 1)You may check your work by monitoring the entered callsign. To do this repeat steps 1 - 3 above, then press the key SPECTRUM ANALYZER OPERATION 1Time Full Time 91: SPEC ANALYZER Page CHANNEL COUNTER OPERATION VX- 8R CH COUNTER - - - NO 19: CH COUNTER SMART SEARCH OPERATION SINGLE 88: SMART SEARCH SMART SEARCH Page MESSAGE FEATURE Note VX-3R PROGRAMMING A MESSAGE 59: MES PROGRAMMING A MEMBER LIST MESSAGE1 MESSAGE20 57: MES SAGE LIST P Æ Q Æ R Æ S Æ 7 Æ p SET YOUR PERSONAL ID 58: MES SAGE REGISTER SENDING A MESSAGE MSG RECEIVING A MESSAGE FROM EMERGENCY FEATURE EMERGENCY CHANNEL OPERATION EMERGENCY AUTOMATIC ID (EAI) FEATURE In the Interval mode In the continuous mode 67: PAGE CODE-RX 33: EAI TIME INT CON nel “EAI,” or (4) a VHF frequency is stored in Memory Channel “EAI.” TX INTERNET CONNECTION FEATURE SRG (“SISTER RADIO GROUP”) MODE DTMF # FRG (“FRIENDLY RADIO GROUP”) MODE FRG 45: INTERNET SELECT twice FRG N 44: INTERNET MODE FRG SRG DTMF OPERATION DTMF T DTMF A Here is the DTMF Autodial storage procedure: 30: DTMF You may check your work by monitoring the entered DTMF string. To do this repeat steps 1 - 4 above, then press the key To send a telephone number: MANUAL CW LEARNING FEATURE 22: CW LEARNING ALPHA ALPHA AUTO Page CW TRAINING FEATURE 24: CW TRAINING ALPHA 5CHR ALPHA REPT SENSOR MODE 84: SEN SOR DISPLAY TEMP WAVE SENSOR MODE OPTIONS 98: TIME SET year month 104: UNIT hPa mmHg inch 103: UNIT MISCELLANEOUS SETTING PASSWORD 69: PROGRAMMING THE KEY 43: INTERNET KEY INTERNET INT MR ATT (FRONT END ATTENUATOR) 3: ANTENNA ATT 1) When the attenuator is activated, the “ ” icon will appear on the display 2) The attenuator does not activate on the AM/FM Broadcast Bands RECEIVE BATTERY SAVER SETUP 9.5sec 60.0sec TX BATTERY SAVER 80: SAVE TX DISABLING THE BUSY INDICATOR 18: BUSY AUTOMATIC POWER-OFF (APO) FEATURE TRANSMITTER TIME-OUT TIMER (TOT) 102: TOT When your transmission time is within 10 seconds of the ON/OFF PRESET TIMER ON TIMER 64: ON TIMER OFF TIMER BUSY CHANNEL LOCK-OUT (BCLO) CHANGING THE TX DEVIATION LEVEL 37: HALF DEVIATION CHANGING THE MICROPHONE GAIN 60: MIC GAIN S-AND TX POWER METER SYMBOLS 89: DISPLAY CONTRAST 48: LCD CONTRAST DISPLAY DIMMER 49: LCD MY BANDS OPERATION 106: VFO SKIP If you wish to skip (omit) the AM or FM Broadcast band, enter the Broadcast CHANGING THE STATUS OF THE KEY 107: VOL UME MODE NORMAL: The AUTO BACK: The RESET PROCEDURES CLONING CLONE Destination radio Source radio - - TX SET MODE Some Set Mode Items (like Set Mode Item 99: TONE FREQUENCY) re List Item 87: SET 86: SET MODE CSR 35: EX TENDED MENU Page Page Page Page SET MODE SELECTION DETAILS SET MODE ITEM 1: ANTENNA AM Function Available Values Default SET MODE ITEM 6: ARTS INTERVAL Available Values: 15sec / 25sec Default: 25sec SET MODE ITEM 7: BANK LINK SET MODE ITEM 8: BANK NAME SET MODE ITEM 14: BELL RINGER Default: 1Time SET MODE ITEM 15: BELL SELECT SET MODE ITEM 16: BLUETOOTH P-CODE Available Values: 0000 SET MODE ITEM 18: BUSY LED Default: ON SET MODE ITEM 19: CH COUNTER Default: ±5MHz SET MODE ITEM 20: CLOCK SHIFT SET MODE ITEM 26: DCS CODE SET MODE ITEM 27: DCS INVERSION SET MODE ITEM 28: DTMF DELAY Default: 450ms SET MODE ITEM 29: DTMF MANUAL/AUTO SET MODE ITEM 33: EAI TIME SET MODE ITEM 34: EMERGENCY SELECT SET MODE ITEM 35: EXTENDED MENU SET MODE ITEM 36: FW KEY HOLD TIME SET MODE ITEM 37: HALF DEVIATION Available Values: ON/OFF SET MODE ITEM 38: HOME VFO SET MODE ITEM 40: INT MANUAL/AUTO SET MODE ITEM 41: INTERNET SET MODE ITEM 42: INTERNET CODE SET MODE ITEM 43: INTERNET KEY SET MODE ITEM 44: INTERNET MODE SET MODE ITEM 46: LAMP SET MODE ITEM 47: LANGUAGE SET MODE ITEM 48: LCD CONTRAST SET MODE ITEM 49: LCD DIMMER SET MODE ITEM 50: LED LIGHT SET MODE ITEM 53: MEMORY NAME SET MODE ITEM 54: MEMORY PROTECT SET MODE ITEM 55: MEMORY SKIP SET MODE ITEM 56: MEMORY WRITE Available Values: NEXT / LOWER SET MODE ITEM 61: MONI/T-CALL Available Values: MONI/T-CALL SET MODE ITEM 62: MUTE SET MODE ITEM 63: OFF TIMER SET MODE ITEM 64: ON TIMER SET MODE ITEM 66: PAGER ANS-BACK SET MODE ITEM 67: PAGER CODE-RX SET MODE ITEM 68: PAGER CODE-TX SET MODE ITEM 69: PASSWORD SET MODE ITEM 70: PR FREQUENCY SET MODE ITEM 73: PTT DELAY SET MODE ITEM 74: RPT ARS SET MODE ITEM 75: RPT SHIFT SET MODE ITEM 76: RPT SHIFT FREQ SET MODE ITEM 77: RX AF DUAL SET MODE ITEM 81: SCAN LAMP SET MODE ITEM 82: SCAN RE-START SET MODE ITEM 83: SCAN RESUME SET MODE ITEM 84: SENSOR DISPLAY Default: DC SET MODE ITEM 86: SET MODE CSR SET MODE ITEM 87: SET MODE FORMAT Available Values: LIST / ITEM Default: LIST SET MODE ITEM 88: SMART SEARCH SET MODE ITEM 91: SPEC-ANALYZER Default: 1time SET MODE ITEM 92: SQL LEVEL SET MODE ITEM 93: SQL S-METER SET MODE ITEM 94: SQL SPLIT SET MODE ITEM 95: SQL TYPE SET MODE ITEM 96: STEP FREQUENCY SET MODE ITEM 97: STEREO Available Values: STEREO / MONO SET MODE ITEM 98: TIME SET SET MODE ITEM 99: TONE FREQUENCY SET MODE ITEM 100: TONE-SRCHMUTE SET MODE ITEM 101: TONE-SRCHSPEED SET MODE ITEM 102: TOT SET MODE ITEM 103: UNIT OFFSET SET MODE ITEM 106: VFO SKIP SET MODE ITEM 107: VOLUME MODE SET MODE ITEM 108: VOX SET MODE ITEM 109: VOX DELAY SET MODE ITEM 110: WAVE MONITOR Page APRS/GPS SET MODE DETAILS APRS/GPS Set Mode Item 1: APRS AF DUAL APRS/GPS Set Mode Item 2: APRS DESTINATION APRS/GPS Set Mode Item 3: APRS FILTER APRS/GPS Set Mode Item 4: APRS MODEM APRS/GPS Set Mode Item 9: APRS RINGER BCON APRS/GPS Set Mode Item 10: APRS UNIT APRS/GPS Set Mode Item 11: APRS TX DELAY Default: 300ms PRS/GPS Set Mode Item 12: BEACON INTERVAL APRS/GPS Set Mode Item 16: GPS DATUM APRS/GPS Set Mode Item 17: GPS TIME SET APRS/GPS Set Mode Item 18: GPS UNIT .MMM’ ddd° mm. mmm APRS/GPS Set Mode Item 21: MY POSITION Default: Auto 21: MY POSITION APRS/GPS Set Mode Item 22: MY SYMBOL APRS/GPS Set Mode Item 23: POSITION COMMENT SPECIFICATIONS Page INSTALLATION OF THE BU-1 (OPTION)