Customer Reviews (9)

Great radio. Really having fun with APRS, this HT makes it so easy. Recommend +

Very robust radio for the price.
Can do APRS without the phone app. Having multiple options like APRS/SSTV/Morse decode in the app is great tho.

Some of the features are still a little bit hard to use.
I wish there was an option to scan the frequencies with 1 button pressed, like on Baofeng/Quansheng etc... For now this option is only available for saved frequencies and I don't see them on the screen while it scans (just showing Scanning ).

APRS can be a little tedious on the keyboard cause the 1st press of the keys on the keypad will input the number and not the letter, which is the opposite of everything we had back in 2000's with the first phones (ex: you press the ABC key to get B : you need to press 3 times instead of 2 cause is goes like 1 then A then B ).

APRS messages on the phone NEED to have a To field with the following syntax:

callsign-to-send-the-message-to:message

Ex:

AB123:This is a message.

If you don't specify a recipient/contact/target/callsign then the message is scrambled/gibberish in other apps and does not have the correct format.
I'm unsure for the Reply function when using the radio to respond to a message tho. Could be mandatory (but I don't see why it would...).

The battery lasts for days, which is great for long way trip. Onboard GPS is working fine, you need to move a little bit sometimes to get a signal.

Of the bad point is your Saved Frequencies . It's split in packs of 16 channels per groups and you need to switch groups manually if you want to scan all saved frequencies, which is annoying if you want to quickly scan 50+ frequencies for example.

Regarding the UI on the radio it's simple and easily readable even under direct sunlight.

It would be awesome to have a spectrum analyzer like the one on the custom Quansheng firmware by aarmel (see attached screen).

A very good all around analog radio still! I hope the next firmware updates will add more features.

Had one when it first came out. Great radio.

Bought 2 years ago, works great, easy to use. nice to operate from the phone.

I bought the radio for APRS. It doesn’t work, when it transmits the packets they can’t be decoded by APRS . I have been waiting for a fix in the firmware to be posted only to find out that there’s on fix for it. They say just send it out over the internet!

Also the iOS software has never been updated as promised. It is a joke. Android is better but still needs a lot of work.

I purchased this radio from R&L Electronics and haven't looked back since. I actually bought a second one! It got me on APRS real easy! Easy and fairly straight-forward to program but a bit clunky from the terms used in the app. Instructions are pretty anemic but a PDF put together (by G0JMS I think...) really helps.
If the YL or XYL doesn't like to see radios in the car THIS IS THE ONE! Easy to hide especially if you get the BT microphone with it - it is an added cost. I put the body in the center console bin (2010 Ford F-150) and use the BT microphone.

I bought this in late 2019 and received it in less than 2 weeks. It works really great and I'm really happy. It's a great headless radio.

Got this radio vrn7500 in early January of 2020.
Great performance at the radio in operation. The bs-ht app work awesome with it. There was no problem, program it. Very easy to use. Did purchase the radio from R&L electronics.

Bought this radio shortly after it came out and I must say it was well worth the price!!! APRS, SSTV encode and decode, text messaging, CW decoder and encoder, DTMF, bluetooth, and internet base network radio. It can also record all radio transmissions RX and TX.I have the app on all my smart devices and if I dont want to sit in the shack I just hop on the app and use my Bluetooth headset. Forget making a internet crosslink with zello or other apps, just buy this radio and invite friends. Well worth the price and so much functionality still exploring all it has to offer!!!!!