VERO VR-N7500 50W Dual Band Mobile Radio

The radio itself works great. It was delivered without a mounting bracket and Gigaparts happily sent me a replacement. I'm very happy with the radio so far, the APRS functionality is great, and it was really nice to be able to install the radio inside the dashboard, it sure made installation a breeze!

I have owned this radio for about 7 or 8 months now. I like the hardware very much, but the firmware/software has a lot to be desired. Also the documentation is marginal at best.

The APRS feature of this radio has issues that make impossible to work properly.

As far as a dual band UHF/VHF radio, it does a good job.

A very unique and capable dual-bander by VGC, that is Android controlled, and able to tuck into the smallest new cars. On the positive side, the bluetooth capability allowed it to easily connect to the BMH-75 wireless mic, and obviously to my Android phone, but also to a Angteela BH-M97 bluetooth headset for a nice handsfree mobile solution. In the mobile I also wired up a physical PTT momentary switch with a length of 8-Pin CAT network connector and wire that allows me to key the radio while using the bluetooth headset, (sits at my side in easy reach) While my APRS use is limited, earlier reported faults with APRS signaling have been resolved in latest firmware shipped with radio. YouTube videos helped me here.
The mics come ready for magentic mounting, which is slick. Also see Amazon "WizGear mounts" to aid in that endeavor.

Neither negative or positive is the fact that the radio itself loads and stores 16 channels (a profile) at a time from the smartphone. You can have the phone app (HT) programmed with endless profiles/regions of 16 channels each, and any one can be synced to the radio with a couple button pushs on the phone. The supplied mics and their up/down buttons move you up/down in channel number, or up/down in volume. No movement up or down on the zones in the radio itself, that I can discern.

Only negative I have noted so far, is when plugging in an external speaker (stereo 1/8") at the back, even at the lower volume settings of the HT applications' slidebar for volume, the output is screechingly loud to the point of believing it would blow out my speaker. I suspect the audio amp gain is just set too high, and would hope a future firmware update knocks that down, so an acceptable volume level through the speaker/mic is also an acceptable level through external speaker. For now the speaker mic does play very well, and plenty loud and clear in mobile settings whether using the wired one or the bluetooth one.

So let’s start by saying I’m a Gen Ham nerd. Almost 20 yrs in the hobby .. I love techy stuff Sdr and rig control is right up my alley.. But this radio didn’t quite fit the bill.. the software locks up and must restart the radio.. the mic if you jiggle the plug While talking will stop all together. Don’t Chang the channel to fast that will lock up the software.. the App is terrible on android and worse on IOS. Let’s not get into APRS and Bluetooth doesn’t stay connected so the radio is near impossible to run on a motorcycle. Will go a different route. It was worth a try.

I bought this radio because I was intrigued by the idea of having complete control of it via Bluetooth.

That has worked out very well, and the radio performs well, and sounds very good with the stock mic.

However, the phone app to control this is both almost completely undocumented, and very APRS-centric. The main interface is a map, and all of the other things that you might want to do with the radio are either on other screens or fly-out panels.

I have no interest at all in GPRS, so for me, using the software is a bit clumsy. Also, without documentation, it's difficult to figure out how to do some things. For instance, the first time I got on the air with this, everyone let me know that I had a "roger beep". I eventually got it turned off, but I'm not sure how :-)

The documentation by G0JMS and others is great if you're into APRS, but a lot of the basic stuff is still undocumented.

I'd give this 5 stars if the software had a non-APRS mode (or version) and was documented well.

I purchased this radio and haven't looked back since. I liked it so much I bought a second! 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 the 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.

What an amazing radio, picked this up at HamCATION, installed it in my truck in minutes, had it up and running in no time, the APRS tracked from Orlando to Home QTH in Georgia FLAWLESSLY.

Couldn't ask for a better interface with the app being a headless unit.