Here is a FAQ that was copied from ARRL

Q. The Report and Order in WT Docket 05-235 that eliminates the Morse Code testing requirement for all license classes was adopted by the FCC on December 15, 2006. When will it become effective?

A. Typically, the effective date of a FCC order comes 30 days after its publication in the Federal Register. If that’s the case, the new exam requirement and the revised 80-meter segment for automatically controlled digital stations would likely go into effect sometime in February 2007. When the rule changes adopted in the R&O are published in the Federal Register, the effective date will be included in the Federal Register summary. In any event, the new rules will not go into effect anytime before they show up in the Federal Register.

As soon as the R&O is published in the Federal Register the ARRL will verify the effective date and publicize it on the ARRLWeb and in QST.

Q. I am a “no-code” Technician. What does WT Docket 05-235 mean to me?

A. Once the changes are in effect, all Technician licensees—whether or not they have passed a Morse code examination—will have “Tech Plus” operating privileges. This means you will have all of your current VHF/UHF and above frequencies and also will have access to the Novice/Technician Plus frequencies on HF. These include:

3525-3600 kHz CW only

7025-7125 kHz CW only

21,025-21,200 kHz CW only

28,000-28,300 kHz CW, RTTY and Data

28,300-28,500 kHz CW, SSB

The power limit is 200 W PEP output for Technician operators.

Technicians can upgrade to General by passing the Element 3 written exam and to Amateur Extra by also passing the Element 4 written exam. No Morse code test will be required.

Q. What about other bands and modes?

A. There are no additional new privileges available to Technician/Tech Plus licensees as a result of WT 05-235. The R&O does not change the operating privileges of Novice, General, Advanced and Amateur Extra class licensees either.

Q. I have a Certificate for Successful Completion of Examination (CSCE) for Element 3 (General written test) and have been waiting for the FCC to drop the Morse code requirement. What will I need to do? Will I automatically receive my General license?

A. It will not happen automatically. You also will need to wait until the new rules are in effect. CSCEs remain valid for 365 days. There’s been no change in that rule. If you have a non-expired CSCE for Element 3 credit, you would need to go to take the CSCE to a VE test session, pay the test session fee, if any, and have the examination team prepare and submit the paperwork for your license upgrade.

If the CSCE for Element 3 credit has expired or expires before you attend a test session to process your upgrade, you will have to retake the examination element in order to receive the credit toward your upgrade. The test session fee will apply.

Remember: A CSCE is only valid for 365 days. An expired CSCE for the General license theory will not be usable for an upgrade. If your CSCE expires before the new rules go into effect you will have to re-take the Element 3 General class theory exam in order to upgrade.

Q. I hold a Novice license. Am I grandfathered to Technician now?

A. No. There is no grandfather provision. In order to upgrade to Technician, you will need to pass the Element 2 written examination. The FCC did not change operating privileges for Novice, General, Advanced and Amateur Extra class licensees.

Q. I am a current Advanced licensee. Am I affected by this change?

A. No, this ruling does not impact your license. While no new Advanced class licenses are being issued, current Advanced class licensees will have the same privileges they already enjoy. The R&O does not change operating privileges for Novice, General, Advanced and Amateur Extra class licensees.

Q. I got my Technician license prior to March 21, 1987. What happens to my license?

A. You actually could have already taken that license and proof that you had the Technician license before that date to a volunteer examiner (VE) test session, paid the test session fee and already enjoying General privileges. This latest R&O doesn’t change anything in this regard.

This is based on the fact that before that date, the only difference between the Technician and General class licenses was the Morse code speed; the theory exams were identical. Starting March 21, 1987, the Technician and General class license exams no longer were the same, so the “grandfather” rule doesn’t apply for Technician licenses issued after March 21, 1987.

Proof that you held the license prior to March 21, 1987, could be a copy of your old Technician license or the page from the amateur Call Book showing your license class as Technician).

Q. Do I still need to pass a Morse code test in order to use CW on the air?

A. No. Any Amateur Radio licensee who wishes may use Morse code on the amateur frequencies they are authorized to use—except the five USB-only channels at 5 MHz.

Q. The FCC issued an Order on Reconsideration involving automatically controlled digital operations previously allowed on 3620-3635 kHz. What is that Order’s effect?

A. The FCC Order on Reconsideration states that when it becomes effective, the automatically controlled digital operation formerly allowed on 3620-3635 kHz will now be allowed on 3585-3600 kHz. The change affects Part 97.221 (b). While it is correcting a problem in the R&O for WT Docket 04-140, this change does not take effect immediately but on the date announced in the Federal Register when the R&O is published—no sooner. Until that time, you may not have unattended automatically controlled digital stations on either the old or the new 80 meter subband.

The FAQ was copied from http://www.arrl.org/announce/regulatory/wt05-235/

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

Notice: We can not guarantee specification when expand frequency.

How to expand RX frequency

• Push [BAND] + [MONI] key while turn ON the power switch.

This will give you RX 118.0 – 174.0 MHz and 400.0 – 470.0 MHz.

How to expand RX/TX frequency.

*Please note the disassembly instructions of the T7H following this mod.

• Cut D15 diode on logic unit. (See below board layout).

This will give you RX/TX 118.0 – 174.0 MHz and 400.0 – 470.0 MHz.

————Disassembly Of the IC-T7H————
Print Print this article. A new window is open.

Disassembling Panels

1. Unscrew 4 screws, A from the rear panel and 2 screws, B from the rear plate to separate front and rear panels.

2. Unscrew 4 screws, C from the rear plate to remove it.

Removing logic unit

1. Unscrew 4 screws, D from the LOGIC Unit.

2. Unsolder jumper wires from the speaker as shown below.

Removing 2F unit

1. Unscrew 1 screws, E from the 2F Unit.

2. Unsolder the point, F, then remove the 2F unit with the contact base.
(Disconnect J1 on reverse side of the 2F unit to remove).

Removing 1F unit

1. Pull the 2 knobs off and then unscrew the unit.

2. Unscrew 3 screws, G and 2 screws. H from the 1F unit.

3. Unsolder 2 points, J then remove the 1F unit.

—————AM Transmit T7H ——————Presuming all mods for opening RX and TX are made:

• Disassemble front and back as in the disassembly instruction on this page.

• Dissassemble 2F unit from 1F unit. Unsolder the ground clips as indicated.

• After opening srews unplug the 2F unit from 1F unit.

• Locate Pin 6 of PA board. This pin feeds the gate voltage to the final. AF on this pin causes am on the tx signal.

• Solder a thin insulated wire (best wire wrap) to this pin.

• Run the wire up to the volume/chanel knob.

• Replug 2F unit to 1F unit. Resolder and fasten screw.

• Solder 10 uF /10V Tantalum as indicated on Photo +side to the wire.

• Run thin wire from – to R310/315. This connects directly to TX AF.

• Solder 1M2 resistor from whiper contacts of R313/316 to ground.

This changes power dependant of supply voltage.

Alignment:

• Attach power meter to antenna jack. Supply with 5 Volts on battery pins.

• Set TX power to High. TX on 145 Mc, align VHF HIGH such that power just stops to increase (>1 Watt on my rig).

• Set frequency to 120 Mc, power to low. Adjust VHF LOW to 450 mW.

Repeat same steps for 435 Mc.

Now your trx should tx with abt. 450 mW AM at 5 Volts and 1 W AM at 10 Volts. Switching between AM and FM is done via power: low means AM, high means FM. In FM the residual AM is abt. 5 to 10 percent, which makes no degradation in a FM receiver due to limiting stages. The residual FM in AM mode only broadens the signal a little bit.

To remove residual FM, a diode can be connected from the H/L (Q305) line to the connection of R308/R310 with its cathode. This blocks FM on low power. In trials with commercial am trx this was not found necessary.

Good AM can only be achieved with an ample matched antenna. A good solution is a 50 cm stiff steel wire (the inside of a bike brake) directly attached to a BNC plug, and covered with a shrink tube.

This antenna works well from 118 to 160 Mc and 420 to 450 Mc for transmitting.

The IC-T7H always opens the squelch in AM. To get rid of that I found only one solution:

• Change R200 on logic board to 47K, unsolder Pin7 of IC15 from board. Carefully bend Pin up a little, and run a thin wire to R200 (not to the ground side).

• Now switch lock to lock. Turn on Radio. Clear appears, then 0000. Switch lock open.

• Press MONI and adjust Squelch to AT (the others close it completely!).

• Press MR, or enter frequency.

The trick is, that by closing lock the EEprom is disabled, and the cpu can be cheated. The memories behave a little strange, all memories can now be switched no matter of content.

Switching on unlocked resets this situation again. Lock still works as before.

Dont tx in aircraft band if you are not allowed to!

These mods were found at www.mods.dk

Here’s the procedure:

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.
————————————————————-
——Fix for Low audio on 70cm——My VX-6R, and that of one of my friends, had very low audio on 70cm out of the box. I received some very bad signal reports on a local repeater while doing side-by-side comparisons with my VX-5R and VX-7R, both of which received good reports. Not only was audio low on the VX-6R, but I was unable to “hold up” the repeater.

The fix for this is to increase both the transmit deviation and PL tone deviation using the service menu as follows:

Set the VFO to 440.000 and turn the radio off.

While holding down BAND-Internet-0, power on the radio (Internet is the button on the lower left of the keypad, with a D next to it).

You will see “ref” at the top of the display, above 440.000. Rotate the channel wheel clockwise until you see “dEU” at the top of the display.

Press the V/M key once to enter the set mode. The transmit deviation setting will appear at the top of the display (mine was set to 62 at the factory). Write this setting down in case you need to back out the changes you are about to make.

Rotate the channel wheel to change the setting to 85. Press the V/M key to exit the set mode. dEU appears at the top of the display.

Rotate the channel wheel clockwise one step. You will see 100 at the top of the display. This is the PL tone deviation setting.

Press the V/M key to enter the set mode. Write down the factory default setting (mine was 62).

Change the setting to 75. Press the V/M key to exit the set mode.

Press the HM/RV key to save the changes. If you make a mistake and don’t want to save the changes, just power off the unit instead.

I arrived at these settings after much trial and error. The “right way” to align the radio would be to put it on a service monitor and adjust the settings while measuring the deviation.

Be that as it may, by making small incremental adjustments to one setting at a time, and getting signal reports after each one, I was ultimately able to arrive at the settings which sounded the best to others. My VX-6R now gets signal reports that are equal or better than my VX-5R and VX-7R.

If you run into trouble, return the settings to their factory defaults (which you wrote down) and start over. If all else fails, call Yaesu tech support (but it would be unwise to mention that you had been playing around in the service menu).

Use this technique at your own risk. I am not responsible for your monkeying around with your radio, so don’t blame me if it goes south on you.————————————————————
These mods were found on www.mods.dk

The Art Of Deception 5.2 mb
The Art of Intrusion 3.1 mb
Kevin Mitnick’s Keynote Speeches 12.1 mb

DJ-G1 Service Manual

DJ-G1 Instruction Manual

Yaesu : VX-6R, VX-7R (Handie Talkies)

Alinco : DJ-296T (Handie Talkie)
DR-235T (Mobile)

ICOM : NONE KNOWN

ADI : AR-247 (Mobile)

—-No Longer Being Manufactured—-

ICOM : IC-38A (Mobile)
IC-37A (Mobile)
IC-2330A (Mobile)
IC-V21AT (Handie Talkie)
IC-3SAT (Handie Talkie)
IC-03AT (Handie Talkie)

Kenwood: TM-321A (Mobile)
TM-631A (Mobile)
TM-331A (Mobile)
TM-642 (Mobile)
TM-742A (Mobile) *220 Module is a add-on
TM-3530A (Mobile)

Standard: C288A (Handie Talkie)

Yaesu : FT-33R (Handie Talkie)

Alinco : DJ-280T (Handie Talkie)