Wondering if this is a good unit for offroad?

[Chris Webb]

I currently have a setup for my offroad car, its sort of hobbled together and I'm wondering if the VRN7500 or RT99 is a better expereince for what I'm looking to do.

I currently have 3 helmets with Sena bluetooth communicators in them. They are all hooked up and setup with VOX so I can speak with my passengers. I then have a Baofeng UHF/VHF radio with an external antenna, and a cheap Bluetooth PTT and transmitter plugged into the handset so I can pair them as a secondary connection to just my Sena headset.

This enables me to chat with my passengers (its really loud in the car while underway) and hit the PTT button to speak with the other cars in our group via the Baofeng. I also use an Android tablet with 4G as my GPS/car to car tracking/Spotify etc....so I could manage the unit from that quite easily. 

I have some issues with the setup in that its sort of finicky, and it seems like I have to repair the Baofeng BT adapter every power cycle.

So, with all that said, do you think a RT99 or VRN7500 would be a good replacement here? Hoping I could pair the VRN7500 as a secondary BT connection on my Sena and the PTT button (either BT or a wired connection is fine with me) so I can do as I'm doing now without the hassle. 

Attached a pic, you can just see the Baofeng in the bottom right.

[David S]

Hello Chris, I have both the VR-N7500 and the RT99. They are the same radio. A lot of us use the VR-N7500/RT99 on our motorcycles. Once the radio is programmed with the Android. You can use the Mic to change channels. The VR-N7500 BT is paired to your Android, PTT button and your BT headset. But you only need the PTT and BT Headset. I use the Sena EVO 20s and the Cario PackTalk. 40+ watts vs Baofeng 5 watts. Login to the Google Groups and take a look at the documents. They might help you out. You might take a look at Garmin's Group Ride Radio.  https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/705043

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Thanks, David

KE6UPI

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[Chris Webb]

Thanks David, thats pretty much what I needed to know, checking out the docs now. I've seen the Garmin, but I need access to a lot of UHF/VHF channels depending on the group and where we are riding and it seemed the Garmin might have been restricted there.

Think I might pick up a VRN7500 and see how it goes (any distributor in the US you guys recommend? I see a RT99 on Amazon for $165 right now), its not that expensive compared to the offroad models offered from PCI Radios and Rugged Radios....its like $1500 for one of their setups and they are mostly just rebranded Baofengs or TYT's.

[David S]

Looks like GigaParts has a used VR-N7500. https://www.gigaparts.com/vero-vr-n7500-50w-dual-band-mobile-radio.html

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Thanks, David

"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms...disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed one."

Thomas Jefferson

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[Marnoch Standen]

They seem to be sharing my document....

Good price but they are out of stock.  

May be I should sell one or 2 of the ones I have they do well in the rough handling it gets on the bike.  

Very pleased with mine.  

Min Standen G0JMS

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[Min G0JMS]

HI Chris

I use mine in the UK and you will see plenty of reports of the testing I have done, with the help of David over the last couple of years. The radio is rugged as I have mine in the top boxes of my motorcycle and car as a second radio. The radio takes many groups of 16 channels which are stored on the Adroid phone, you can use the app without a radio and see some parts of it, It does APRS prity well RF and iGate via phone network. 

I have a Garmin GPS, and an Autocom setup as I found the radio only want to deal with one channel of BT and getting it to connect to GPS, radio and PTT plus play music was a bit much so I fitted a manual PTT (wiring diagram in back of documents) RJ45 connection. It will work OK as a simple BT setup and like all BT systems which one takes the lead, you want the music to turn off when getting directions, not to miss directions from GPS if the radio is TX or RX.... the Autocom resolved that for me.

I now have 4 of these and only issue was poor soldered joint on a chip and I simply touched it down again and the issue resolved, it seem a production issue for some.

The firmaware is being updated and improved for this dual band, single rx and TX radio, the new BHM-78 fist speaker microphone has GPS and stores the memory blocks and channels. The app can be used on their deadicated network which works like Zello and you can setup your own secure channel.

David and I tested out the RF into the radio and network then Network to RF from the UK to the USA being very careful of frequency allocations. There is one being used a repeater on the East Coast and I can network into with the quality being very good.

Hope this helps you.

Min Standen G0JMS

[Chris Webb]

Hey Min, that is amazingly helpful, thank you for the insight! I don't think I'll have music going through this at all as I have a full stereo system in the car. I just need the PTT and Sena 50R hooked up to it, and I actually might prefer a wired PTT remote so I don't have to worry about yet another thing that needs to be charged before I head out to the desert.

What do you guys use to update the firmware, can you do it from the app over bluetooth or do you need a RJ45 to USB adapter or something? Its looking like this is the unit for me. I can only find an RT99 on Amazon, and I just found a 7500 on RL Engineering or something like that for $149. The Gigparts used unit doesn't look like its available. If you click on it, it takes you to a 404 page.

Are there any other units you guys think I should be looking at? This seems to fit the bill pretty perfectly.

[Marnoch Standen]

Hi Chris

The updates are easy as they come via the phone app and the last one was Oct 2021 and its a good working Beta version in the files in Facebook or Google Groups. So no special leads required. 

I have direct contact with the development department and they do respond well.  

The app is a bit of a dog's breakfast at first and the rabbit holes does get you to the many features it can do. 

There is an audio output on the rear of the radio  and some have added a VHF radio wireless output and tuned the card radio to it. 

I prefer the manual PTT operation so a simple RJ 45 cable does the job for a switch. 
I think the price your seeing is good and there seems to be a shortage of them in the USA.

If your not on FB I can put out a request for any for sale?

What part of the USA are you in. 

We see some come up for sale some times as people have a change.  

The app is used by AGC Vero who make military radios, looking at their website there is a handheld the has GPS and gives distance and position to this radio same this app it turned on. 

The use the app on another radio. Which hasn't taken off so well but it does have the screen.  

The app you can add to any Android unit if it's 6 or above.  

It may not connect to the screen on the car as it's not designed for that.  Some have been lucky.  

You can run the radio without the just using the BT speaker microphone and you will have 16 memories in the radio body.  

If you use the new LCD screen speaker microphone BHM-78 you have GPS and all the memory channels and the groups with about 30- 50 feet of BT distance.  

I don't know of any other radio with the BT setup. 

Not hear of anybody trying a group mesh of BT with it.  

I spent hours configuring the BT with crash helmet only to find it was too many channels for it to do, so keeping it simple is the answer.  

I found BT headsets go to sleep to save battery power which is a pain.  I used Cardio and it was good, but distance not like what they claimed and you had to touch the unit or shout at it to speak to your other biking rider.  Cough and you got "what number do you want to dial" or "FM radio channel" or " volume up or down" all the fun of riding a bike and wanting communication!!!

Min Standen G0JMS
07917 830 410

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[Chris Webb]

So I found this deal on ebay and just won a 7500 plus a couple of unreleased handhelds....pretty excited to get a hold of them and see how they work together! Got all 3 radios for $122. 

[Jason Jaurigue]

Nice deal

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[Marnoch Standen]

Well done and they work on the same app all together. 

The HH is UHF and has good battery life.  

Update to the new firmware will take a little time and on the HH allow it to reboot as I thought I had bricked it because the screen was black!!!!!!  Then it finished....

Enjoy the bargain. 

Min Standen G0JMS

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[ason...@gmail.com]

Where can I buy  the LCD screen speaker microphone BHM-78?

 

73 N2DYN Angelo

 

 

From: 'Marnoch Standen' via Vero VR N7500 Dual Radio Band <Vero...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 8, 2022 3:42 AM
To: Vero...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [Veron VR-N7500 Google Group] Wondering if this is a good unit for offroad?

 

Well done and they work on the same app all together. 

The HH is UHF and has good battery life.  

 

Update to the new firmware will take a little time and on the HH allow it to reboot as I thought I had bricked it because the screen was black!!!!!!  Then it finished....

 

Enjoy the bargain. 

Min Standen G0JMS

On Feb 7, 2022 22:44, Chris Webb <ch...@massive-labs.com> wrote:

So I found this deal on ebay and just won a 7500 plus a couple of unreleased handhelds....pretty excited to get a hold of them and see how they work together! Got all 3 radios for $122. 

To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/Veron7500/1986970f-8f12-448f-ac15-ea4cd22f9337%40email.android.com.

[Marnoch Standen]

Hi Angelo

 

Think there could be a short supply of them and the only place in the UK is Moonraker that does export.

https://moonrakeronline.com/brands/vero  Link to the Vero items.

 

Don’t know about the USA and checking R&L they don’t have stock.

 

Min G0JMS

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[Chris Webb]

So I got my 2 VR-N75's and my VR-N7500, impressed so far! I'm having an issue with one of the HHs though. I connect it to the app and it said I needed to update the firmware. Completed the process successfully but the display is now blank, just a black screen. It still works fine and I can connect to it from my phone and talk to the other radios, just nothing showing on the display.

Is there a setting I'm missing?

[Marnoch Standen]

Hi Chris

 

This happened to me blank screen and I waited and possible turned off the HH it then worked OK… it does take a few minutes.

 

Min.

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[Chris Webb]

Been about an hour now, no change. Tried removing the battery. On/off, just leaving it.... Hmm..

I also just noticed they are UHF only, most off-road radios are in the VHF range, so they are less useful than I was hoping. I might keep to play with it, or if I get it fixed I might just sell them both and buy a Baofeng HH for a camp radio for the wife.

[Chris Webb]

Also, booking it up to my Sena 50R I'm getting nothing but static blasting through my headset. I remember you wrote something in the docs section, but I'm pretty sure I followed that exactly. Gonna go reread it.

Appreciate all your help!

[Chris Webb]

So odd. Have the handheld plugged into the unit listening to FM radio and it sounds great. My helmet is BT'd into the head unit, and it's just blasting distorted static.

[Chris Webb]

Well, just an update. I paired my old Sena SMH-10R to it and everything works perfectly. PTT through the BT button works, FM, TX and TX are super clear.

Tried pairing the newer Sena 50R and it just blasts my ear drums with distortion. No idea what the issue is. The newer one has a much newer version of the BT protocol, but other than that they are the same.

Any ideas? I sent an email to VGC, Chinese new year I'm sure they are swamped.