If you ever get a chance, visit Dave Zantow's site to see his in-depth reviews for a variety of receivers including this VR-5000 (and shake a little change out of your pocket to donate and help him keep his site up and running). The VR-5000 was discontinued about 9 years ago and the available supplies of this receiver have evaporated. That said, if you live in a high signal area, you may find that this receiver will be TOO sensitive too powerful nearby signals. Here is a summary of the features. The cell bands are blocked, but otherwise it picks up virtually all audible bands and frequencies across the listening spectrum.
2,000 Memories that can be organized in 100 banks with alpha identifications. Real time bandscope spectrum display. Program / Alarm / Sleep timer. Optional DSP unit (not installed on this unit). Plus an array of scanning features.
VFO Scan - sweeps the entire frequency range of 100 KHz to 2.6 GHz. Smart Scan - automatically loads 100 channels where activity is found. Memory Scan - scans all memory channels or channels within a specific memory group.PMS - programmable memory scan where you can scan a band using limits as if using the VFO. Priority channel, lockout, delay scan, pause scan, hold scan. As you can see, this receiver is not a toy. It has the capabilities of picking up the following analog types of transmissions. Longwave transmissions including broadcasts within Europe or Asia as-well-as beacons & utility broadcasts.
All the amateur radio frequencies of 160 thru 2 meter plus all the high band and satellite communications. Military traffic (that is on open channel and not scrambled). Emergency services as fire, police, ambulance, hospital, lifeflight.
Family Radio Service and Business Channels. Road repair and clearance crews. Prison security and maintenance traffic. University maintenance and security traffic. City Transit Systems (buses, metros, trains, etc).
Wireless microphones / baby monitors , etc. Amusement park traffic (Disney has a large network).
Space communications & satellite communications (if open channel). We are sure that there is more, but the above is a summary of what you can potentially receive given your location, proper receiving antenna, and strength of transmitting signal. For instance, you could get the Coast Guard within a reasonable distance from the coast, but not living in Iowa.
You could get the space communications if you have the proper antenna and are listening on the precise frequency at the right time of day. It is for this reason that we have used this exact model VR-5000 installed in our vehicle. However, we found that reception on shortwave was rough due to the short whip antenna that we were utilizing for reception. Then when we tested the VR-5000 in our Toyota Highlander, we noticed that the reception was stronger and less prone to engine interference so we installed the receiver in the center armrest console of our vehicle a couple of years ago.Since the VR-5000 is very sensitive, it is not critical to use a perfectly matching receive antenna.... We use a magnetic roof mount 2 meter amateur antenna in our vehicle (not connected to a transceiver, of course). The owner of this VR-5000 could also use a CB antenna mag mount, window mount, or bumper mount as long as it is not also connected to a transceiver as this would damage this VR-5000 receiver. One of the things that we really like about our personal VR-5000 is that there is a band scope that lets you view signals being received up and down the band. Thus, we can tune to a station in the 13 meter band and take note of other stations showing up within that same band by looking at the band scope and seeing vertical lines which represent stations being received and relative signal strength by virtue of the height of the line within the band.
Then, if you want, you can tune to the signal up or down the band and place the vertical line under the mark that shows reception on the screen. This is a great way to visually spot broadcasts that would otherwise be missed.
The other reason we have the VR-5000 in our vehicle, beyond shortwave listening, is for emergencies. If we are out of our home away from our scanner and are caught on the road due to a traffic stoppage, we can tune into the CB traffic or emergency frequencies to know what is going on up the road and plan accordingly (turn around, settle in for a long wait, etc). We are sure that there are a variety of other reasons to have one of these wideband units in a vehicle, but the other reason for us is in the event of serious emergencies like power outages or national emergencies.
Yes, you can even receive NOAA weather forecasts for the region. For some of you, emergencies could be hurricanes, flooding, etc as you have a do all receiver that can be mobile with you as you travel. The item "Yaesu VR-5000 Shortwave AM FM VHF UHF SSB Radio Receiver 100 KHz 2600 MHz" is in sale since Saturday, August 22, 2020. This item is in the category "Consumer Electronics\Radio Communication\Ham, Amateur Radio\Ham Radio Receivers".The seller is "bigapple59" and is located in Mill Hall, Pennsylvania. This item can be shipped worldwide.