Alinco_DX-70_review_QST_1995.pdf
73Review Numbet1.onyourFeedback card byGordonWest WB6NOA AJinco Electronics 438AnapolaAvenue TorranceCA90501 (310) 618-8616 Suggested Price: $1,399.95 AlincoDX70HF/6m TransceiverSurprises Everyone Elegantandwide functioning with many conveniences foragoodprice. PhotoA.The Alinco DX70andthe matching A/inco Antenna Tuner combine/0formacompact fieldradio. A tinco Electronics, Inc.,located in Tor- rance, Califomia,isbest known lor its single- anddual-bandVHF/UHFhandheld and mobiletransceiver equipment, soldby over80amateurradio dealers throughout the United Stales. Certain Alinco radios have achievedfan club status because01their unique design and relativelylowcost. Some AllncoProducts Forinstance, thereare theAnnco 1200TH2 9,600baudpacket radio made popular by Buck Rogers packet column; the AlincoDJtr,the first handheld ever with spectral channel-occupancy bar graph; and theAlinco DR-599dual-bandmobile with secretantennajacktorpublicsafety 800-950 MHz. While Alinco Electronics,lnc.,doesnot possess the sales volume andmarketshare that Kenwood,vaesu,and ICOM have, the companydoesenjoya reputation tor well- performing VHFIUHFequipment at prices slightly lower than the big three, and a small butefficientserviceteamwhocanturn aroundmost repairs at the Torrance facility within 10 working days. Alincos technicianl engineerTakaNakayamaAB6VE,is extremely active on the hambands, and knows the equipment inside andoutI love operatingham radio, commentsTaka. Whenit comes to 9.600 baud packet. cross- bandduplexing, ordrivingindowntown areas where intermodulation is a problem.I know how wellourAnncoradios work be- cause Im active on the air;saysNakayama withasmile. He holds an Exira class United StatesamateurlicenseandaJapanese license, too. ButA1inco Electronics really surprised the amateur radio communitybycomingoutwith a high-frequencytransceiverforthe1995 DaytonHamVentiondebut.Ftrstwehave VHFIUHF, and now we have high frequency, too, commentsAuncoElectronicsUSA PresidentMar1:Morisato KC6OCX. And our new high-frequency DX70 doesmcreradds Morisato. No doubt MarKis speaking of the built-in,all-mode, 6meter,50-54MHzcapa- bilities with 10 watts output that is included in the high-frequency package and is the same size as the very poputar and successful Ken- wood TS-SOmobileHFtransceiver, OX-70 Features The newAlincoDX-7QHFplus50MHz all-mode transceiver runs100watts out from 1.8MHzto28MHz onhambands,and tunes150kHz to30MHz continuously from its excellent general coveragereceiver. Plus, it covers50-54MHz,withallmcoes.and10 watts out. Thats plentyofsoupto kick a6 meterpower amplifier into-ORO, Mostuniqueis thedetachablecontrol head that allows the newAtincoDX-70 to be separatedsotheheadcouldgoonthe dash, and thetransceiverunder the seal. The mike still plugs into the transceiver bOdy.sosepa- rating thetwowontbea trunk-and-dash af- fair. ButIdont recommend trunk mounting 01 anyremote-control transceiverbecauseof the long run ot the DC power cable. This is just asking tor trouble. II you wanta longer mikecore.they haveanEDS-5 microphone extension cable that willhandlethejobnice- ly. Keep in mind that the extension cable wilt costextra-probablyabout $40-50if you plan1 0runitremote, factor this in to the transceiverssueetprice, which will probably 50 73Amateur RadioToday.November,1995 audiosystem with J ust a mid-range speaker, Its difficult to describe; try to listen for your- self. TheAGC is a function/AGe command on thesamepushbuttonasthe fitter switch. The function button is conveniently located to the left 01the set, a natural arrangement lor depressingitwith your thumb, while using your forefinger for the other bunco. I switchedupto 6metersto confirmthatalltuters.noise btankers, AGC actions, and pre- amps werent the same. Idid no- lice on abig6 meIerantenna that10dBof pee-arnegain broughtina phantomsoundof an FM or TV station way in the background that could neverbe tunedin, butdidnthavethat problemwiththepre-ampturnedonwhen wetested theunitonthemobile54inch whip. I also tested the Alinco6meter receiver pertcrmanceaqainsttwo other fime-tested rigs andlound theA1incoactuallyhoneron Photo B. Twoopensliders clamp onthehead. ProtoC. Theheaddetaches in3seconds for purposesofsecurity. delity reception. The first IF is at 71.75 MHz, the second IF at 455 kHz, and spurious/imagerejection is listed as70dB.WhenI switched back and forth between several transceivers onthe bench, the Alincowas moresensitiveand just as selective as Ihe higher-priced sets. Everyonecommentedon the recovered audioonSSB as being sharp.IIsthe same-sounding audio I have heard fromthe Yaesu900: impressive, full-fidelity treble without tightness or hiss. Listening to the DX 70, when tuned into a transmilling SSBsta- tion,issimilar to hearing ahi-fwith bass, mid-range,andtweetersasopposedto an AssoonasIhookedinto the three-elementtribander,there was nomistakingthattheAlincoDX-70 hasawonderful receiver. bearound$1.250. Yes, 6 meter fans, there is aseparate out- put80-239antennajack. Whenyouswitch 10the 6 meiermode, youcanhearseveral relaysgoklink,-whichsound tells you they arerunninganindependent receiverand transmitter section forbest performanceon the 6 meter band. IhookedtheOX70to a mree-eieneuHF beam and regulated tz-vcn power source. with the6metersideover1 0a three-element 6meierbeam to see how the radio would perform in thereal world. Thedisplay popped up with aboldnumericalreadoutof frequency: MHz, kHz, and hundredths. The numbers are slightly smaller than the Ken- wood TS-SO. but are much bolder, wider, and darker. And like the KenwoodTS50, there is a busy- icon whenthe squelch is open, along with anamberjewelLEDthatalso lightsupwith receive activity. Themodeindi- cater appears in the upper right-hand corner, and AGC fast or slow appears above the fre- quency display. Finally, the DX-70 hasmore thaneooutlto drivethelop-mounted speak. er, TheReceiver AssoonasIhooked into the three-ele- ment tribander, there was no mistaking that theA1incoDX-7Qhasa wooderlut receiver. It is dual conversion, with sensitivity and selec- tivity numbers identical to what you might find oneveryonessalesbrochures for a $1,000HF mobileSSBtransceiver.But unique with theAlirlCODX-70 is the bottom left AF button that lets you switch in the 10 dB pre-amp, switch it out, or switch in -10 dB and -20 dB attenuation. I found that the at- tenuetor was a big helpwhenoperating on 40meters, with a neighborone block away just75kHz up the band. On 10 and15 me- ters I switched thepre-ampon, which gave me a hot receiver. Thesamebutton that controls the AFgain selection also has a subfunction: it turnsthe noise blankeronandoff.Whilethenoise blanker does not have any timing or sensitivi- ty adjustments, it did a nice job01killing the clatter of our nextdoorneighbors old Ford Thunderbirdwhenheliredupthe engine. Furthermore, the noise blanker didnot garble on extremely strong signals.Onmany HF transceivers, engaging the noise blankeron 40 and80meters causes most signalsover S9 tobecomegarbled. Not so with this noise blanker. Selectivity on SSB is 2.4 kHz, and aconvenient filterbutton next to the AF gain button allows you to kickinthe1kHzSSBhi- ter. The 1kHz filteris already built in, and not an added option for tightening up on an incoming weaksignal.Youcanfurther homeinonanelusivesignalbyrotating the IF shift knob10dodge theDAM.This same filternetwork otters 1kHzor 1/2-kHz CW passband. And if youreinto shortwavelis- tening, you can click in 2.4 kHz AM narrow, Of9 kHzAMwide-indudingFM-for fullIi 73 Amateur Radio Today November, 1995 51 PowerOutput Poweroutput on highfrequencywas a good 100 watts. and I noticed the average modulation level around 60 watts, indicating only slight ALCaction. This gave me agoodpunchysignalthat everybody commented about as beingheltyandsounding great. An SWR protection circuit throttles back output down to 25 wattswithnoantenna, and a momentaryantennashort-out pulledthepower down to a safe S-wan level. On10 meters FM. power output was also 100watts.Thissurprisedmebecause throughout the bands AM was only 50 watts. On6 meters, the power output was 15 watts SSB,11watts FM,and6 wans AM, I thentried operalingon10 meter and 6 meter repeaters, and everything was going along fine in entering the 10 meter1OD-kHz offsets as wellasthe 6meter500-kHz off- sets. But where,oil,where was the almost- always-necessaryCTCSS selections out of menu? Not there! What? No subaudible tone encode? Oh yes, there is, butituses dip- switch programming. TheCTCSS encodeison the bottom side of the transceiver, with no mention of itinthe well-written and illustrated instruction manual. The tone board is already installed, included with the package, but you need yourtrusty toothpick and penlight to manipulate the eight different switches for anyone0138 possible subaudible tones.Butbesides that, I enjoyed operating the equipment.The onty thing I Couldnt figure out when running the unit and not reading the instruction manual was how to get it togointo the setmode.Assoon as I cracked the books,itwasright there. II has been many years since I have seen the high.frequency transceivermanufactured with VHFandUHF bandsincluded. When you get a chance, head on down to your lo- cal amateur radiodealerand take a listen to thesharphigh-fidelityaction on the new Alin- COHF+6metertransceiver lhat has a very bright future.III Thereisa smallscrew for connecting a groundloiltab, twoantenna jacks plainly marked for HF and6meters, the heat sink, and then the powerconnector.More good news: Its thecommon six-pinpowerplug that is usedbyKenwood,veesu.and100M IromaDCsource. There is an external antenna tunercon- nection that the manual fully describesas being compatible withaKenwood AT-50,a Kenwood AT-300,anlcom AH-3. or evenan SGC230automatic Ioog-wire antenna tuner for fieldday/maritimemobnezmobuahome applications. White I didnt see anaccessoryjack for going digital, the microphone offers pin6as thedetector output withassociated pins for PTT,ground, mikeground. and5voltsDC. Taka at Alinco.anavid HF digital operator, says this radio has full capabilities in the digi. tal modes. ccnnecucns On the back of thetransceiverare the cus- tomary jacks for speaker or headphones. featuringthecommonminiaturejack (not subminiature). There is the common CW jack for connecting a telegraphkeyorelectronic keyersystem. It lacksa built-in electronic keyer, but most hams prefer their own style of electronic keyerrather thanany type of built-inkeyerTheCWkey-jackisalso a miniature jack. not the big1I4-inchjack you wouldlindonlarger equipment. There are also RCA jacks for ALC as well as relay. When the equipment isnewout of the box, the relay is out of circuit. Cuningan obvious internal jumper wire, detailed in the instruction manual, lets the relayclosewhen the microphoneorkeyisdepressed.The ALC input voltage from the amp needs to be zero to 3 VDC. memory position. Andwhen operating from the memory position for the digitalmodes, you would lock (electronically) the big knob to insure you dont accidentally bump off fre- quency. Other buttons and knobs on the front are the RIT capabilities; the -MF SEL- button to select memo, band. or frequencyoptions; the little TX jewel LED that comes on for trans- mit: delta transmit; memorytopermanent VFO selection; memory right, split, and prier- ity-allthe usual knobs on a HF transceiver. Ifyoupressand holdthe function key twice for longer than 2 seconds,SEwill ap- pear on the screen indicating youhave set the Alinco DX-70 into theset mode. This pro- cedure is similar to that of the KenwoodT8- 50in therrenumode.Thesmall multifunc- tion dial selects the manysetupoptions. The relativelylarge Alinco DX70 instruc- tion manual alsodescribes procedures re- gardingsimply resetting the mode settings, resening allmemorychannelsorVFOs, or performing a major reset of everythingasif youhadjust purchased the equipmentnew from the dealer. Ithasbeenmanyyearssince I have seen thehigh-frequency transceiver manufacturedwithVHF andUHFbands included. - - - !t) ,p. -, c- . , Il00cc .,. . -, Photo D.Onthe fearoftheDX-70 aretwoantenna jacksfatheleft for3-30MHz, andtothe right for50-54MHz. It has thesamepower plugasallother brands ofHFhamsets. FineTuning The frontpanel of the Alinco features a main tuningdial along with a smaller tuning dial.Thesmallerdial is rotated for both memory channel select and megahertz or hambandselect. and 1 0 change frequencies inspecifickilohertz stepslike 2.5 kHz, 1 kHz, or500Hz.This suo-knee reminds me of me cuck-cnck-cuck knob on the Kenwood TS- 140. Its a handy feature. The main tuning knobresolves frequency down to 100 Hz (.1 kHz)dial indication, in 25-Hz steps if youev- er-so-carercuv tumthebig knob. The multifunction knoblets you quicklyro- tate through 100 memory channel locations that hold a surprising amount 01memo-chan- nel information: Receive frequen- cy, mode, any split TX, filter, AGC setting. AF-gain amps or aneoce- tors, noise blanker on or off. This is a very smart memory that might allow you independently to select aCWfrequencyforfastAGC, narrow IiIter, no-noise blanker, and RFpre-amp.Onansse channel,you couldmemorizeslow AGC, noiseblanker, -r udBattenuator,andthe normal filter. I considered this versatile mem- ory capability as a definite plus for this very compact rig. Another nice feature is the higMowpower outputbutton.Unlike a slide switch orno power option at all, you can quickly reduce power to local stationsor reduce the current consumption of the radioona dying storage battery. A diallockkey prevents you fromaccceo- tally turning the big knob when tuning chan- nelsinfro mmemory.AsinIcom transceivers, memory positions allow for in- stantaSYfrom the big knob. This allows you to use the smallmemoknobto get you within a pre-set spot onthedial, and thenuse the big frequency knob. A quick nick of the small knob instantly puts you back to that original receive with the pre-amp clickedonthan the other two units, which were running with ex- ternal amplifiers.And since the othertwo ran only 10 watts our. I didntlind10 watts from this Alincotobeout of line. Mirage.now sold by MFJ, offers a t o-wart in, 150watt output,6meterampthatIve seen selling IOf under$350,so getting more power from the Alinco package is not all that difficult. 52 73Amateur RadioToday November, 1995
