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Yaesu VX-8r mod - first on the internet!

After a year, and finally feeling comfortable to do it without worrying about warranty, etc, i just took a nice pair of tweezers and like a previous poster said, it just crumbled off. Works perfect.
 
I'm thinking about doing this mod, but I only have tweezers. Should I proceed? And since I'll have the waterproof barrier off, should I go ahead and install the Bluetooth unit? I'm not planning on using it right away, but is there any harm in installing it anyway?
 
I'm thinking about doing this mod, but I only have tweezers. Should I proceed? And since I'll have the waterproof barrier off, should I go ahead and install the Bluetooth unit? I'm not planning on using it right away, but is there any harm in installing it anyway?

If you're taking the water resistant barrier off and planning on installing the bluetooth, you should do so at that time. The only way you'll get it off with tweezers is to destroy the resistor. You might be able to get it done that way, but I wouldn't recommend it. I have talked to people that use a set of small needle nosed pliers to crush these resistors also. It's your radio...be careful :D
 
I wonder why it doesn't come with the Bluetooth module installed if there's no drawback to having it in there in the first place, then. At any rate, I don't have access to an iron and I don't know where or who I could take it to to have the little resistor taken off. I can't tell by the photos, how is it attached to the board?
 
I wonder why it doesn't come with the Bluetooth module installed if there's no drawback to having it in there in the first place, then. At any rate, I don't have access to an iron and I don't know where or who I could take it to to have the little resistor taken off. I can't tell by the photos, how is it attached to the board?

It is soldered to the board, its tiny. In the past I have used a dental pic to just scrape it off, being very careful not to damage the board or adjacent items. I used a pen soldering iron this time and it was very easy. You should be able to get a soldering iron at any local Radio Shack.
 
Worked perfectly. Thanks for the heads-up on the memory clear. A quick backup to the computer fixed that one. I would have had a whole months worth of new repeaters, etc. to fix without that tip.

73,
Dillon
W5DAA
 
I have a vx-8e

I have a vx-8e (European) model. I removed the resistor with soldering iron.

TX
50 - 54 MHz
144 - 148 MHz
430 - 440 MHz



TX w/ mod
50 - 54 MHz
140 - 144
144 - 148 MHz
148 - 174
420 - 430
430 - 440 MHz
440 - 470

 
ALSO IT WORKS FOR THE VERSION GR.?









This mod enables out of band TX on the Yaesu VX-8r.

Here's how to do it:

-Take out the battery.
-Under the battery is a heavy, thick plastic cover with very strong adhesive. Remove it using an XActo knife or a very small screwdriver that you can slip under it. This is the same cover you need to lift to install the Bluetooth option.
-After you get the cover open, it will look like this:

moleculo-albums-yaesu-vx-8r-picture317-back-radio-cover-lifted-off.jpg


To mod the radio for out of band TX, locate the only resistor visible on the board, just to the left of the bluetooth plug:

moleculo-albums-yaesu-vx-8r-picture320-resistor-remove-only-one-just-left-bluetooth-plug.jpg


All you have to do is carefully remove this resistor. I have a fine tip for my solder station for little work like this:

moleculo-albums-yaesu-vx-8r-picture321-picture-resistor-removed.jpg


Make sure you clean off ALL the residual adhesive. Don't try to put back the cover that you took off, as it will be badly deformed and you will have lost some of the adhesive. Yaesu gives you several extra covers in the bottom of the box, so use a new one. This is important to preserve the waterproof integrity of the radio!

After you put the battery back in, the radio will have reset and you will lose all of your settings. I'm not sure what the complete range of TX is yet, but this mod definately opened it to TX out of the Amateur bands.

FIRST! :thumbup1::thumbup1:
 
VX8DR Mod

Hi,

Just tried the mod on a VX8DR and when you get to the Power on with HM/RV + MENU I get H2 on the screen and only thing to do is to power off.

Any Ideas? I am not ready to do a hardware mod on my new baby.

Micheal
 

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