———- Transmit Mod VX7 ——————————————————————————————————————
Remove the battery pack.

Remove the sticker/cover seal for the pressure sensing unit (SU-1), in the battery compartment. This is the black strip above cellular warning label and is where the SU-1 option goes.

Locate row of eight jumpers. They are numbered.

For Mars/Cap, remove solder jumper 5.

For Freeband, remove solder jumper 4 and 5.

Reset microprocessor. (Press and hold in the 4, band, and v/m keys while turning the radio on.

You can do all of this or you can do a soft-mod using VX-7 Commander which can be found at KC8UNJ.com. It’s free software and all you need is a programming cable and adapter. This is the route that I took when modifying my VX-7 since it is extremely easy to do, and just as easy to return the radio to it’s original state.
If something should happen to KC8UNJ’s server here are the files on my server.
Download VX7 Commander Version 1.3.4
Full Installer 2.4MB zip

Download VX7 Commander Version 1.3.4
Full split into floppy-sized chunks 2.4MB zip

Download the VX-7 Commander 1.3.4 update
only if you ALREADY HAVE VX-7 COMMANDER 1.3.3 INSTALLED

Download VX-7 Commander Japanese Direct Input Version 1.3.3
(Requires Japanese Windows)

ENJOY
TX Frequencies:
Freeband: 40-224.995Mhz and 300-579.995Mhz
Mars/Cap: 50Mhz-54Mhz, 140Mhz-174Mhz, 222Mhz-225Mhz, and 420Mhz-470Mhz.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-——- Free Band Mod VX7 (Europe)—————————————————————————————————
If you have a vx-7 europe version here is how to modify.

Remove the battery pack.

Remove the sticker/cover seal for the pressure sensing unit (SU-1), in the battery compartment. This is the black strip above cellular warning label and is where the SU-1 option goes.

Locate row of eight jumpers. They are numbered.

For Freeband, remove(Unsolder) all solder jumper exept 3

Reset the transceiver by holding down MON/F + HM/RV + Internet Key and power up the transceiver
This will display the Vertex Standard logo instead of Yaesu. Bear in mind that resetting the transceiver by holding down 4 + BAND + V/M and powering up the transceiver WONT work!

TX Frequencies:
Freeband: 40-224.995Mhz and 300-579.995Mhz

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-——- Another European VX-7 TX MOD ———————————————————————————————-
I own the B1 European version (Label outside the box indicates DST:EXP / TYP:B1). Prior to any modifications the transceivers jumpers was soldered on positions 2,4,5,7 (factory setting) and the unit was capable of working on the following frequencies ONLY!

50-52MHz (RX ONLY, NO TX Possible!)
144-146MHz (RX/TX)
430-440MHz (RX/TX) Reception was NOT possible anywhere outside these limits!

In order to modify it you should:

Unsolder every jumper

Reset the transceiver by holding down MON/F + HM/RV + Internet Key and power up the transceiver
This will display the Vertex Standard logo instead of Yaesu. Bear in mind that resetting the transceiver by holding down 4 + BAND + V/M and powering up the transceiver WONT work! It will just enter a curious set up:

RX on all bands

No WX Channels

Menu Item Misc Setup 20: BEAT SQL (Instead of WX Alert)

Menu Item Special Memory 6: JR (Instead of Marine)

Menu Item Misc Setup 17: Japanese (Instead of English)

Transmittion on 50-54MHz, 137-174MHz, 420-470MHz
After the aforementioned modification you will have continues RX coverage from 504KHz up to 999MHz (including analogue cellular frequencies – NO GAPS!)

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-——- More on the European Version————————————————————————————————-
Model- EXP/B2 Europe
All jumpers open.
What you get
TX - 40~222 Fm and Air band- yes
300~550
RX - As the manual says.
What you lose:

ARS on Ham bands
.Special Marine Memory-instead you get JR Memory and TV in Weather channels ( MONF+ 3 WX)

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-——- Another Reset Procedure———————————————————————————————————-
Well, the reset procedure is not particularly new, but it is NOT listed in the manual and one that was suggested by the Technician at Yeasu when I called to iron out a different problem. This caused a brain teaser that really had me going.

To begin, I was having a problem with the VX-7 not communicating with my computer. The Yaesu Tech thought it might need a “Special Reset”, which I did while talking to him over the phone. The procedure consisted of holding down the B, C, and D buttons (no easy task) while powering up the unit.

The VX-7 did reset, but didn’t cure the communications problem (later found to be in the cables). However, the reset did bring on another, ummm, challenge. Somehow, I had inadvertantly changed the operation of the VX-7 from the “USA” mode to “European”. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that I could only access frequencies that were in the ham bands, on either the Main or Sub VFO’s. If I wanted to listen to WWV on 15 megs, for example, I could not just type in 15.000 and hear it, that was off the Amateur bands and it would be rejected. Man was that frustrating!

Knowing that I didn’t have that problem just a few days earlier, I tried to think of what I had done to bring this on. It suddenly occurred that I had used the Tech’s little known reset procedure prior to the problem showing up. It took a while, but I found that when you do that, you have just changed the operating mode from USA to European; and when in European mode, you can’t access off ham-band frequencies at all.

I figured out that if you accomplished the reset and then saw the “Push the Mon-F key to reset” display on the screen, it will go European. Now, if you turn the unit off and again use this B,C,D reset procedure, the “Push Mon-F” display won’t show at all! Rather, it will go right into a frequency display. When you see the freqs, you are in the USA mode automatically.

Confused? It took the better part of the day for me to figure that one out, so I am passing it on to all of you…just incase! Remember, this is a reset procedure that is not in the manual, use it cautiously!

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-——- Service Menu——————————————————————————————————————————
The alignment program is started by putting the radio to the centers of each band (all 4), turn the radio off, then hold down the MON/F key, the internet/my menu key, and the 0 key, all at the same time, then power the radio on.

WARNING: WRITE THE VALUES IN YOUR RADIO DOWN BEFORE YOU CHANGE THEM.

That menu includes : PLL reference frequency
Squelch Hysteresis Adjustment
Squelch Preset Threshold
Squelch Preset Tight
S-Meter s-1 Adjustment
S meter full scale adjustment (S9)
Wide FM S meter S-1 adjustment
Wide FM S-Meter full scale adjustment (S9)
TX power levels, all 4 bands

******TX DEVIATION ADJUSTMENT**** which is, by the way,
set at the factory to 4.2 kHz for the USA and to 4.5kHz
everywhere else
CTCSS TX level adjustments
DCS TX level adjustments
Each band has its own setting for each of the menu items, except for the reference frequency.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-——- VX7 Max Modulation——————————————————————————————————————
Turn the knob so you aren’t on the “PLL REF” option, then you can press the BAND key. This is because the “PLL REF” option only shows up on the 440 band.

I don’t know if this will format correctly but here is how my radio was set up from the factory:

52 145 222 435

PLL REF 126
HIS SQL 0 0 0 0
THLD SQL 170 172 172 160
TIGH SQL 108 138 138 78
S1 LEVEL (NFM) 36 32 32 50
S9 LEVEL (NFM) 72 68 68 84
S1 LEVEL (WFM) 60 58 58 72
S9 LEVEL (WFM) 82 80 80 94
HI POWER 147 145 145 203
L3 POWER 113 114 114 154
L2 POWER 82 88 72 113
L1 POWER 52 56 57 59
MAX DEV 113 81 40 38
TN 67.0 45 56 10 89
TN 123.0 40
TN 151.4 16 19
TN 167.9 11
TN 254.1 11 13 22 22
DCS DEV 40 12 11 6
LCD TC V 2 2 2 2
LCD IREG 4 4 4 4
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-——- VX7 My Menu Feature Info——————————————————————————————————-
Subject: RE: [Fwd: Re: FW: VX-7R info request]
Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2002 15:53:25 -0700
From: “Chip Margelli”
Organization: Vertex Standard
To: “Ken”
By the way, with all the snipping and chatter on the VX-7R Yahoo group about “My Menu” not working, it isn’t something that is “broken.”

It turns out that the “My Menu” feature never made it to production. Instead, they put in a “toggle” on the configuration of the Internet key. In the default mode, it works with the WIRES protocol, as described. Now the fun starts.

If you turn the radio off, then press and hold in the Internet key while turning the radio on, you’ll notice a “U” appearing along the left edge of the display while the big “VS” thing is displayed for a few seconds during switch on. In this case, the Internet key is configured for other Internet linking protocols, like IRLP. You program something into the DTMF Memory (TSQ/DCS/DTMF #8), then, during regular operation, you press the Internet key while you’re talking. If, for example, your IRLP repeater requires you to send “#456” to link to node 456, you just program “#456” into a DTMF memory, then press the Internet key while you’re pressing the PTT; basically, this is a “hot key” link to a DTMF Autodial Memory.

So the VX-7R really is a powerful Internet-access tool. . .more so than anybody thought.

Just thought you’d be interested.
————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
These mods were found at www.mods.dk