Where can I locate programing software for a vertex standard VX-4207-7-45?

[WSIF744]

I just acquired a VX-4207-7-45 from an old school bus my dad use to work on 20 years ago. He passed away a few years ago and I just recently had the opportunity to snag this radio from the bus. I'd like to reprogram it for GMRS or something. where can I find the programing software?

[wayoverthere]

2 hours ago, WSIF744 said:

I just acquired a VX-4207-7-45 from an old school bus my dad use to work on 20 years ago. He passed away a few years ago and I just recently had the opportunity to snag this radio from the bus. I'd like to reprogram it for GMRS or something. where can I find the programing software?

Here is where I got mine (unfortunately not free)

https://quality2wayradios.com/store/vertex-standard-ce59-software

There are some listings floating around the web as well, some cost for access ("vertex radio group" is one), some not.

[WSIF744]

On 9/2/2025 at 9:31 PM, wayoverthere said:

Here is where I got mine (unfortunately not free)

https://quality2wayradios.com/store/vertex-standard-ce59-software

There are some listings floating around the web as well, some cost for access ("vertex radio group" is one), some not.

Thank you. I got it downloaded and tried hooking up the cable and found a new problem. The radio either won’t turn on when hooked up to the pc or will cycle self test. 

[wayoverthere]

6 hours ago, WSIF744 said:

Thank you. I got it downloaded and tried hooking up the cable and found a new problem. The radio either won’t turn on when hooked up to the pc or will cycle self test. 

IIRC, the cycling self-test is expected. Fire up the software, plug the radio into the computer, and go to File > Configure, and pick your COM port. Then, fire up the radio and plug the cable into the radio.  In the software, jump over to the Radio menu and pick "Upload"  (yes, this is backwards from the cheaper radios and CHIRP)...upload loads from the radio to the computer, download sends from computer to radio.

When you hit "upload", the software may ask you to confirm, then the radio should switch from power cycling to displaying "PC Prog" as it reads. If successful, save that basic code plug (as backup or whatever), then save it again with a new name as your working codeplug.  I will usually unplug the programming cable from the radio and power it off when i get a successful read, while i work on the code plug.

Here is what my programming looks like for the GMRS Simplex channels (the handheld-only channels are excluded).

This is my GMRS repeaters Group

and for the Common > Key Function menu (for the front panel buttons):

one other gee whiz item is the startup message (what the radio displays when it starts up), which is under Common > Power Saving. check the "overwrite" box, and you have a few characters to have it display when it starts up.  I dug one of mine out of the shelf to check this stuff hands on and get screenshots.  

When you're done programming, save your working file, power up the radio and plug the cable back in and let it start cycling, then back up to Radio - Download.  The radio should stop cycling and shift to "PC Prog" again and then restart when it's finished. at that point you should be good to unplug the cable from the radio and check out your new programming (connected to an antenna or dummy load, if you want to key up).

Mine is a -6 range (400-470mhz, rather than the -7 being 450-512mhz) because I wanted to cover 70cm and GMRS, and it's programmed to display my ham call and "70cm", as i also have the VHF twin to this radio (VX4204) and i ran the pair together on my desk for awhile (the other one is my call and "2m").

Hope this helps; if you're already good, feel free to disregard  

Edited September 9, 2025 by wayoverthere
added download to radio content

[WSIF744]

On 9/8/2025 at 11:15 PM, wayoverthere said:

IIRC, the cycling self-test is expected. Fire up the software, plug the radio into the computer, and go to File > Configure, and pick your COM port. Then, fire up the radio and plug the cable into the radio.  In the software, jump over to the Radio menu and pick "Upload"  (yes, this is backwards from the cheaper radios and CHIRP)...upload loads from the radio to the computer, download sends from computer to radio.

When you hit "upload", the software may ask you to confirm, then the radio should switch from power cycling to displaying "PC Prog" as it reads. If successful, save that basic code plug (as backup or whatever), then save it again with a new name as your working codeplug.  I will usually unplug the programming cable from the radio and power it off when i get a successful read, while i work on the code plug.

Here is what my programming looks like for the GMRS Simplex channels (the handheld-only channels are excluded).

This is my GMRS repeaters Group

and for the Common > Key Function menu (for the front panel buttons):

one other gee whiz item is the startup message (what the radio displays when it starts up), which is under Common > Power Saving. check the "overwrite" box, and you have a few characters to have it display when it starts up.  I dug one of mine out of the shelf to check this stuff hands on and get screenshots.  

When you're done programming, save your working file, power up the radio and plug the cable back in and let it start cycling, then back up to Radio - Download.  The radio should stop cycling and shift to "PC Prog" again and then restart when it's finished. at that point you should be good to unplug the cable from the radio and check out your new programming (connected to an antenna or dummy load, if you want to key up).

Mine is a -6 range (400-470mhz, rather than the -7 being 450-512mhz) because I wanted to cover 70cm and GMRS, and it's programmed to display my ham call and "70cm", as i also have the VHF twin to this radio (VX4204) and i ran the pair together on my desk for awhile (the other one is my call and "2m").

Hope this helps; if you're already good, feel free to disregard  

Thank you!!! that helped out a lot. I got it programmed and working. The only thing that I couldn't figure out was the bandwidth. I could only program for Narrow on all channels. But it's up and working.

[wayoverthere]

44 minutes ago, WSIF744 said:

Thank you!!! that helped out a lot. I got it programmed and working. The only thing that I couldn't figure out was the bandwidth. I could only program for Narrow on all channels. But it's up and working.

Ah, forgot that one, my apologies. Iirc, commercial was forced to narrowband effective January 2013, hence that limitation.

Before you start the software, jump into the windows settings and turn off syncing with Internet time. Then set your system date to something before 2013 (i tended to use the current date, but dial the year back to 2005). Start the software, and it should now let you have wideband options.

[tcp2525]

21 hours ago, wayoverthere said:

Ah, forgot that one, my apologies. Iirc, commercial was forced to narrowband effective January 2013, hence that limitation.

Before you start the software, jump into the windows settings and turn off syncing with Internet time. Then set your system date to something before 2013 (i tended to use the current date, but dial the year back to 2005). Start the software, and it should now let you have wideband options.

No need for all that. Just make a bat file and insert the following in it. I named my bat file VX4207 and placed it on the desktop. Once you execute it it will bring up a box that will ask you for your password, which is "Developer Only" without the quotes. You get wide band back and a bunch of other features.

------------Begin------------

@echo off
:: BatchGotAdmin
::-------------------------------------
REM  --> Check for permissions
>nul 2>&1 "%SYSTEMROOT%\system32\cacls.exe" "%SYSTEMROOT%\system32\config\system"

REM --> If error flag set, we do not have admin.
if '%errorlevel%' NEQ '0' (
    echo Requesting administrative privileges...
    goto UACPrompt
) else ( goto gotAdmin )

:UACPrompt
    echo Set UAC = CreateObject^("Shell.Application"^) > "%temp%\getadmin.vbs"
    set params = %*:"="
    echo UAC.ShellExecute "cmd.exe", "/c %~s0 %params%", "", "runas", 1 >> "%temp%\getadmin.vbs"

    "%temp%\getadmin.vbs"
    del "%temp%\getadmin.vbs"
    exit /B

:gotAdmin
    pushd "%CD%"
    CD /D "%~dp0"
CD/
CD C:\Vertex Standard\CE59 for Windows\
CE59Win -manu

--------------End-------------