Well this is a little late in coming, but nevertheless I hope the following information will be of help to anybody looking at the Yupiteru range of scanners and provides a little bit of interest into the previous models available.
If anybody has any more specific queries/questions on the sets mentioned etc. please feel free to drop me E-Mail and I'll try and get back to you by return
Cheers
Jonathan Clough
Yupiteru Industries Co Ltd,
12-33 Shibaura, 4-Chome,
Minato-Ku, Tokyo 108, Japan.
Yupiteru Industries are a well respected Company, who not only produce a excellent range of scanners but are manufacturers of consumer electrical products such as VCR's, T.V.'s etc. together with small personal communication equipment.
I first heard of Yupiteru in early 1989 when the scanners that were available were the Handheld MVT-3000 and the base/mobile MVT-4000. Both these scanners had the same coverage but offered a choice of styles. This pattern of handheld together with base/mobile followed later but for some reason (at the moment) does not seem to hold good with the new MVT-7100. I never had "hands on" experience with these two sets so cannot comment on performance in anyway or their exact specifications however from what I can remember they had 10 channels, frequency coverage of 140- 170MHz, 350-400MHz, 850-950MHz other than those brief details I know little about these two sets, I can assume however that they were the foundation for the reliability and performance that was to follow in later sets.
I have no idea what the MVT-1000 or MVT-2000 were if they even existed !
The name Yupiteru first "hit the headlines" in the U.K. during 1989 with the MVT-5000 & MVT- 6000, The MVT-5000 was the first handheld scanner to offer wide band coverage as we would call it today. The MVT-5000 was rather "square" in shape, same in size as the earlier MVT-3000. The '6000 had the same coverage, and facilities but all packed into a very compact, neat attractive & slim unit, again this was the same design as the earlier MVT-4000 and was also used in the later and current MVT-8000. The front of this unit is slightly angled about 45 degrees which allows easy viewing of the large LCD screen if the receiver is below eye level.
The performance of both these sets was quite a revelation when they became available. Upto this point the only similar receivers with this coverage were the AOR AR2001 & AR2002 (Regency MX7000 & MX8000 in the U.S.) together with the Radio Shack PRO-2004. In comparison to these alternatives the Yupiteru's were a breath of fresh air. The AOR's had the coverage but were limited on speed and memory channels while the PRO-2004, although good for channel capacity was somewhat "bulky" when compared to the base model MVT-6000.
The overall performance was excellent, good sensitivity, clear audio quality and little intermod trouble. Connecting the '5000 to an external antenna *could* cause problems with strong local signals while the '6000 was slightly more geared for home use and therefore an external antenna. A switchable attenuator was provided on the MVT-6000.
They were both easy to operate although the keyboard could look quite daunting to first time users as most keys had more than one function attached to them. All the usual features you would expect were available, channel lockout (called PASS with Yupiteru), optional delay, one Priority channel which was separate from the main block of 100. Two speeds of scan were available, slow and fast (clever choice of words eh!) and AF scan. The latter could be activated and would cause the set to continue scanning if the signal was just a carrier.
A "skip" facility could be selected and caused the radio to continue scanning after about 5 seconds of a transmission even if this transmission had not ended.
A "Sleep" mode was also available, this could only be used when in manual mode (not scanning or searching) and effectively turned the radio off for 5 or so seconds. When selected the set would the turn itself on and monitor the channel selected, if activity was present it would remain on for the duration of the signal. If no transmission was received after about 10 seconds or so then it would return to "sleep" mode. Any press of a key turned the set on. This was a useful facility on paper as it increased battery life considerably but in day to day use was very rarely of use.
The rather "dim" backlight on the 5000 was in stark contrast to the permanent and nicely green lit background of the '6000.
Shortly after the MVT-5000 & MVT-6000 appeared The Fairmate HP100 (guinea pig of the AR1000 family) appeared. On paper this new scanner looked to be far superior - more channels, faster etc etc however in terms of performance I maintain that the handheld 5000 is still a "better" radio than the current AR1000/AR2000.
Secondhand both sets are excellent buys.
Just before Christmas of 1990 I received our first MVT-7000. This was the new handheld to join and replace the MVT-5000. On first seeing the set it was slightly smaller and far more attractive with rounded edges rather than the "square" look of the '5000.
Frequency coverage had been extended to 8 - 1300Mz although it was/is possible to program frequencies down to 100KHz however the performance below 8MHz is not "guaranteed". An extra 100 channels were added together with the ability to receive WFM (Wide FM) Radio & TV transmissions.
The LCD display was slightly larger and offered one or two new additions, the main one being a 5 segment bar signal strength meter.
On top of the set a rotary tuning dial was now provided allowing easy manual tuning of the radio if you wished. This dial could also be used for scrolling through the 200 memory channels. A switchable attenuator was also a new feature.
The audio output was slightly improved although hardly noticeable in day to day use.
The 200 memory channels are organised in 10 banks of 20 and there are 10 Search banks for programming your own lower & upper limits together with mode and increment steps.
One rather annoying aspect of all the Yupiteru sets is the fact that the 10 Search banks have pre- loaded limits for the Japanese user. The user of the limits (eg Police, Fire etc) are printed below/above each Search bank key. Once you start to program your own limits these "titles" have no relation to your own interests but remain and to some degree "clutter" the keypad. This problem was resolved on the latest MVT-7100 which does not show the users of the pre-programmed frequencies.
The keys have a nice feel to them and give a firm "click" each press which allows for positive data entry. The keyboard beep can be turned on or off. Operation of the set is considerable easier than some (AOR, ICOM, Alinco etc) and most functions are programmed in a relatively logical sequence.
Most of the features found on the 5000 are also available on the 7000: Priority channel, delay, channel lockout, AF scan and Skip. One or two new features include the ability to transfer a frequency from memory to VFO to allow manual tuning up/down from that frequency & Program Scan which allows a maximum of any 10 channels from the 200 to be put in one scan bank for recall.
The MVT-8000 had exactly the same specifications and facilities as the handheld '7000 but in the same slim and attractive case of the previous MVT-4000 & '6000.
The front was still nicely angled at around 45 degrees however the layout was changed to allow for the rotary tuning knob not found on the previous model. The green backlight of the MVT-8000 is on all the time.
Following on from the MVT-7000 was the MVT-7100 , our first "sample" arrived shortly into 1993.
A brief resume of its features include coverage from 530KHz - 1650MHz with no gaps, 1000 memory channels, modes of LSB, USB, AM, NFM & WFM. Various increment steps down to 50Hz together with 10 Search Banks.
The external power requirements of all the handhelds are 12V dc, this means that they can be run from the mains via a suitable adaptor or from a Motor vehicle and the necessary cigar lighter adaptor is supplied as standard. If Nicads are fitted they can be charged whilst in the set.
The base/mobile units require 12V dc (200mA at least).
As I mentioned earlier I hope these details prove to be of interest and help. Please feel free to drop me a line if you would like more specific information on a particular product.
All Pages Copyright © Javiation 1996