I bought my Yaesu VX-8GR HT about a year ago now, thinking it’d be a cool little rig to have on the trail with me for backpacking or SOTA activations. And it is–it does all the usual HT stuff plus it has a built-in GPS and TNC giving you an all-in-one APRS setup. But, like most HTs these days, the myriad of settings and complex menu system make it difficult to master without a manual or reference of some sort close by. Since I bought this mainly for trail use, I wanted a cheat sheet for how to handle the functions and settings I’d be most likely to need to make on the trail. So, I made one:


But don’t try to use the images–download the pdf file instead. You can print it double-sided and it’ll be ready for trimming and laminating if you’d like.
This reference is not all-encompassing of the features and settings of the VX-8GR–it only covers the things I thought I’d need on the trail. So it doesn’t include ARTS, scanning, and other stuff I don’t see a need for. If you’re looking for something more complete than this, try Nifty Accessories. They have mini-manuals and reference cards for a variety of radios.
Actually, the jpg file is quite useful as it can be put on the cell phone and easily found there in the field. You can have the entire manual on your cell phone, and it is searchable, but not as handy as a quick reference card.
Good point–that thought hadn’t occurred to me.
Dave