Alinco DX-70 review

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AJinco Electronics

73

Review

by Gordon West WB6NOA

Alinco

DX·70

Transceiver

HF/6m

Surprises

Sugg

438

ested Price: $1,399.95

Anapola A

Torrance

[phone]

CA

venu

9050 1

e

Everyone

Elegant

tinco Electronics, Inc.,

A

si
and mobi

rance, Cali

ngle

- and
le

transceiver equipmen t, so

fo

dua

and

mia,

l-b

is

and

wide functioning with manyconveniences for a

loca

best known lor its

VHF/UHF

ted in Tor-

handh

eld

ld

by

800--950

Wh
possess the sales volume and
that Kenwood ,

MHz.

ile Alinco El

vaesu, and ICOM have, the

ectroni

cs, lnc.,

does

market share

not

go

know how well
cause I'm active on the air; sa
with
State

a smile. He holds an Exira class United

s

amateurlic

ou

r Annco r

ense

od

ad

and

pr

ios work be-

ys

ice.

Nakayama

a

Ja

panese

over

the United Stales. Certain Alinco radios have

achieved
unique design and relatively

Some A

1200TH2 9,

popular by Buck Rogers packet column; the

Ali

spectral

the

"secre

For

nco

Alin

80

am

lln

instan

DJ~

ch

co DR-

t"

ateur

"fa

n club" status because

coProduct

ce, th

600

t'r

, the first handheld ever with

anne

ant

enna

radio dealers throug

low

s

er

e

ar

e the

ba

ud

pa

cke

l-occupancy bar graph; a

599

du

al-band m

jack

tor

01

cost.

Ann

t radio m

obi

le with

public

sa

hout

their

co

ade

nd

fety

company
p

erf

orm ing VHFI
slightly lower than the big three, and a small
butefficie

ar

ound
within 10 working days. Alinco's technicianl
e

ngi

neer

extremely active on the h

knows

opera

"When it comes to 9.600 baud packet. cross-

and

b
areas where intermodulation is a problem. I

dup

does

nt

mos

the equipment inside and

ting

t repa irs at the Torrance facility

Tak

ham r

lex

s

erv

a N

ing

enj

, or

oy

a reputation tor well-

UHF

ice

ad

equ

te

ak

ayama AB6VE, is

io ," commen

driving

ipm

am

am

ent at prices

w

ho

in

can

b

and

ou

t "I love

ts

downtown

turn

s, and

Ta

ka.

license, too.

A1

But
ama
a high-fr

Dayton
VHF
too," com
President
new
Morisato. No doubt Ma
built-in,
bilities with 10 watts output that is included in
the high-frequency package and is the same

teur radio community

IU

high-frequency DX·70 does mcrer'

inco Electronics really surprised the

by

coming out with

equency

HamVention

HF, and now we have high frequency,

me

nts Aunco Electron

Mar1\:

transceiver

debut. "Ftrs t

Morisato KC6OCX. "And our

for

the

we

ics

1995
ha

ve

USA

adds

rK

is speaking of the

all-mode , 6 meter,

50--54

MHz capa-

size as the very poputar and successful Ken­wood TS

OX-70 Fe

Th

all-mode transceiver runs

1

.8

MHz

tunes 150 kHz to

its excellent general covera
it covers

watts out.

met

er

Most

-SO

e n

ew

power amplifier into

unique

mobi le

atures

Ali

nco

to

28 MHz on

50--54 MHz , with all

That's ple

HFtran

DX-

30

MHz continuously from

nty

is the

7Q

of

de

1

ham

-O
tac

sceiver,

HF

00

ge

so

plus 50 MHz

watts out fr

bands,

receiver. Plus,

mcoes

up

RO",

habl

.

and

to kick a 6

e

contro

om

and

10

l

Ati

head that allows the new

so

separated
and the
still plugs into the transceiver bOdy. so

rating the
fair. But
any
the long run ot the DC power cable. This
just asking tor tr

mike

extension cable

ly

. Keep in mind that the extension cable wilt

cost

transceiv

I don't recommend trunk mounting 01

remote-control tran s

core. they have

extra-pr

the

two

he

ad

er

under the seal. The mike

won't

ou

ble. II you w

that will

obably

cou ld go

be

a trunk-and-dash af-

an

about $

nco

ceiver

EDS-5 microphone

ha

nd

DX-70 to be

on

the dash,

le

bec

ant

the

40

ause

a longer

jo

-50

sepa

b nice-

if you

-

of

is

Photo A. The Alinco DX·70
"field"radio.

50 73Amateur Radio Today. November, 1995

and

the matching A/inco Antenna Tuner combine /0 form a compact

plan

transceiver's sueet price, which will probably

10 run

it

remote

, factor this in to t

he

be

around

$1.2

50

.

Yes, 6 meter fans, there is a

8

put
10

relays "

are

transmitter section for

the 6 meter b

0-239

the 6 me

go

runn

I hooked the

beam and regulated tz-vcn power source.

with the 6 meter si

6 meier beam to see how the radio would

perform in t

popped up with a bold numerical

ier

klink,-

ing

ant

an

and

he

enna
mode

wh

independe

.

OX

rea

jack. When y

, you

ich sound tells you they

bes

can

t perfor

·70 to a mree-eieneu HF

de

o

ver

l world. The

10 a three-element

sepa

hear

nt receiver

rate out-

ou

switch

sev

man

ce

dis

re

adout

eral

and

on

play

of

frequency: MHz, kHz, and hundredths . The
numbers are slightly smaller than the Ken-

wood TS­darker. And like the Ken

a "busy- icon w

along with an
lights
cater
and AGC fast or slow appears above the fre­quency display. Finally, the DX-70 has
than

up

appears in the upper right-hand corner,

eoou\tl

SO

. but are much bolder, wider, and

wood

hen

amber

with receive activity. The mode indi-

to drive

the squelch is open,

jewel

the

lop-mounted speak.

TS·50, there is

LED

that

als o

mor

e

er,

T

he

Rece iver

Photo B. Two

~

op

e n

~

sliders clamp on t

he

he

ad.

As

soon

ment tribander, there was no mistaking that

the

is dual conversion,
t
find on

$1,
unique with the
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 at­tenuetor was a big

40

A1inco

iv

ity numbers identical to what you might

000

meters, with a neighbor

as

I

DX-7Q

everyon

HF m

obile

hooke

has

with sensitivity and selec-

e's

AlirlCO

d into the three-ele-

a wooderlut receiver. It

sales

SSB

DX-70 is the bottom

help

brochures for a

transceiver.But

whenoper

on

e block away

ating on

75

just

ters I switched the
me a hot receiver.

The
selection also has a subfunction: it turns
noise bl
blanker does not have any timing or sensitivi­ty adjustments, it did a nice j

clatter of our n
Thunderbird
Furthermore, the noise bla
on extremely strong signals.
transcei vers, engaging the noise b

kHz up the band. On 10 a

same

anker

pre-amp

button that con trols the AF

on

and

extdoor

when

he

off.

neighbor's old Ford

lired

on, which gave

While

ob

up

nke

r d

nd

15 me-

ga

the

01killing the

the engine.

id

not garble

On

many HF

la

no

nker

in

the

ise

on

Proto C. The

de

lity reception.

The first IF is at 71.75 MHz, the second IF
at 455 kHz, and spuri
listed as

ort

h be

f
ben
just as selective as Ihe higher-priced sets.

ch, the Alin

Eve

twee

ryo

70

ne

dB.

n several tran

commented

When

co

ou

was more

he

ad

detaches in 3 seconds for purposes

s/ima

I switched back and

on the recovered

ge

rej

sc

eivers on

se

nsitive

ec

tion is

the

and

of

securi

aud

It's difficult to describe; try to listen for your-

self.

the
The function button is conveniently located to
the left 01the set, a natural arrangement lor
depr

io

The

sa

ess

system with Just a mid-range speaker,

AG

C is a functi on/AGe command on

me

ing

pu

sh

butt

it

with your thumb, while using

on

as

ty.

the fitter switch.

40 and

S9 to

with this noise blanker.

Selectivity on SSB is 2.4 kHz,

and a

next to the AF gain
you to kick
ter. The 1
built in, and not an added option
for tightening up on an incoming
weak

home in

IF shift k

80

meters causes most signals

become

conve

signal.

on
nob

nie

in

·k

Hz filt

an

10

garbled

nt "filt e

button allows

the

1·kHz

er

You

elusive signal by rotat ing the

dodge the

can

. Not so

r"'

button

SSB

is al

ready

fu

rther

DA

hi-

M.

Th

is same

ove

r

"As

aud

on

soon

SS

io

three-element

no

mistak

h

as

sa

me-so

Y

ae

a

su900

ing

wonderfu

und

ing audio I h

: imp

B as b

as

I

tribander,

that

res

ein

g "sharp."

hooked

the

av

siv

e, full-fidelity tr

Alinco

l re

e heard from

ce

II

's

th

into t

ther

e was

DX

iver."

the

eb

e

he

le

your forefinger for the ot

I switch

co

nfirm

btankers, AGC actions, and pre-

amps weren't the same.

lice on a

that

10

-70

p

rob

we

lem

tes

broug
an FM or TV station way in the
background that could nev
tuned

with

ted the

ht

in, but

thepre-ampturned

unit

he

ed

that

big

dB

in

a phant

on

the

r bunco.

up

to 6

a

ll

tute

6 meIer

of p

di

ee

dn

m

obile

om

't

met
rs.no

I

antenna

-arne
sound

ha

ve

on

54·inch

ers

di

d no-

gain

er

tha

when

to

ise

of

be

t

filter

passband. And if you

tening, you can click in 2.4 kHz AM narrow,

Of' 9 kHz

netw

ork otters 1

AM

wide-indudi

·kHz

're

or 1/2-k Hz CW

into shortwave

ngFM-f

lis-

or full Ii·

without tightness or hiss. Listening to the DX·
70

, when tuned into a transmilling SSB

ti

on,is

mid-range,

si

mi

lar to hearing a

and

tweetersas

hi-f
oppos

with bass,

ed

sta

to an

whip .

-

73 Amateur Radio Today · November, 1995 51

I also tested the Ali
pert
rigs and

crman

lo

ce

aqainst

und the

nco

two other fime-tes ted

A1i

nco

6

met

actually

er receiver

honer

on

receive with the pre-amp clicked

on

than the

memory

position. A

nd

when operatin g from

There

is

a small

sc

rew for con

nec

ting a

other two units, which w

ternal amplifiers . And since the other

ran only 10 watts our. I didn't

from this Alinco

sold by MFJ , offers a t o-wart in, 150·w

output, 6 met

$3

50

under

Alinco package is not all that difficult.

Fine

main tuni

dial.

Tuning

The fr

The

, so getting more power from the

ont

ng

smaller

to

be out of line. Mirage.

er

amp

panel of the Alinco features a

dial along with a smaller tuning

dial is rotated for b

that

er

e running with ex-

lind

10 watts

now

I've seen selling IOf

two

att

oth

io

the memory posit
you would lock (electronically) the big knob
to insure you don't accidentally bump off fre-

quenc

the RIT capabilities; the -MF SEL- button to

select memo, band . or frequency
little TX jewel LED that comes on for trans­mit: delt a tran

VFO selecti

ity-all

twice for longer than 2 seconds,

y.

Other buttons and knobs on the front are

smit; m

on

; memory right, split, and prier-

the usual knobs on a HF transceiver.

If y

ou

pr

ess

n for the digi tal

em

ory

and ho

ld

the fu

op

to

permanen

~SE·

mod

tions; the

nc

tio

n k

will ap-

es

ey

,

t

grou
marked for HF and 6 meters, the heat sink,
and then the p
news

that is used by Kenwood, veesu. and
Irom a

n
being compatible with a Kenwood AT-50, a
Kenwood AT-300,
SGC 230 automatic Ioog-wire antenna tun
for field
applications.

nd

loiltab

: It's t

DC

There is an external antenna t

ec

tion that the manu al fully describes

hecom

source.

day

, two

ower

/mar itime m

antenn

connector.

mo

n six-pin

an

lcom AH-3. or ev

a jacks pla

obne

Mo

power

uner

zmobua h

inly

re good

plug

100M

con -

as

en

an

er

ome

memory channel select and megahertz or

h

am

in speci fic kilohertz ste

or

'cuck-cnck-cuck" knob on the Kenwood TS-

140. It's a handy feature. The main tuning

knob resolves frequency down to 100 Hz (.1

kHz)
er-so-carercuv tum

tate throu gh 100 memory channel locati
that hold a surprising amount 01
nel information: Receive frequen-

band

500 Hz.

di

al indication, in 25-Hz steps if you

The multifunction kn

select. and 10 change frequenci

Th

is suo-knee reminds me of me

the

es

ps

like 2.5 kHz, 1 kHz,

ev

big kn

oblets you quickly ro-

ob

.

memo

on

-chan-

s

pear on the screen indicating y

se

the Alinco DX-70 into the
cedure is similar to that of the Kenwood

50 in the

tion dial selects the ma

The relatively
tion manual also
ga

rdi

-

re
performing a major reset of everything
you
from the dealer.

ng

seni

had

'rre

simply re

ng all

just purchased the equip

nu"

memory

mode.The

la

rge Alinco DX·70 instruc-

desc

se

ny

ribes pro

tting the mode settings,

channe

t m

setup

ou

have set

od

e. This pro-

T8-

small multifunc-

op

tions.

ls

cedur

or

me

VF

es re-

Os

, or

as

nt

new

if

White I didn't see an
going digital, the microphone offers pin 6
t

he

detector output with

PTT, ground, mike

Taka at Alinco.

says this radio has full capabilities in the digi.

tal mod es.

Power

P

good 100 watts. and I noticed the average
modulation level around 60 watts, indicating

ow

Output

er

output on high

only slight ALC

gr

an

avid HF digital o

accessory

as

sociated pins for

ound . and 5 volts DC.

frequency

ac

tion. This gave

jack for

as

pe

rator,

was a

cy, mode, any
se

tting. AF-gain amps or aneoce-

tors, noise blank er on or off. This
is a very smart memory that might
allow you independently to select
a

CWfrequen

na

rro

w IiIter, no-n

an

d RF
cha
noise
normal filter. I considere d this versatile mem­ory capability as a definite plus for this very
compact rig.

nn

pre

el,

yo

blanker

split TX, filter, AGC

cy

for

-a

mp.On

u could

, -r u

fast

ois

e bla

an

memorize

dB

attenuat

AGC

nker

sse

transceiver man

,
,

slow AGC,

or,

and

the

"It

I have seen the

has

bee

n

many

hig

ufactured

and

ccnnecu

On the back of t
tomary jacks for speaker or h
featuring

submini ature). There is the common CW jack

UHF

cn

s

the

ban

he

commonmin

ds included

transceiv

ye

ar

h-fr

er

are the cus-

ead

iature

s

since

equency

with

VHF

."

phones

jack (

no

.
t

go

od

me a

everybody commented about as
being

great. An SWR protection circuit
throttles back output down to 25
wattswith
m

omen

pulled t

S-wan

On 10 meters FM. power output was also

100

throughout the bands AM was only 50 watts.

On

level.

watts.Th

6 meters, the power output was 15 watts

is

"

he

tary

he

su

pun c

lty

no

antenna

power down to a safe

rp

rised

·

and

ante

hy

me

signal

s

ound

nna

, and a

sh

be

that

ing

ort-out

cause

Another nice feature is the hi

output

power option at all, you can quickly reduce

power to local statio
consumption of the radio
ba

ttery.

A dial
tally turning the big knob when tuning chan­nels

transceivers, mem ory positions allow for in­stant
to use the small
a pre-set spot on

butt

in fro m

aSY

on.Un

lik e a slide switch or

ns

or reduce the current

on

lock key prevents you from

mem

from the big k

memoknob

the

ory

. As

nob

dial, and th

gMow

a dying storage

. This allows you

to get you within

en

power

accceo

in

Icom

use the

no

for connec ting a telegraph

yer

ke
keyer, but most hams prefer their own style

of el

built-in
miniature jack. not the big

-

would

There are also RCA
as relay. When the equipment is
the box, the relay is out of c
obvious internal jumper wire, detailed in the
instruction manual, lets the relay
the mic

sys tem. It lac

ec

tronic key

keye

li

nd

ropho

r The

on

larger equipment.

ne

ks

er

rather th

CW

or

key

jacks for ALC as well

keyor

a built -in elect ronic

an

key-

is

jack

1I

4-i

ir

cuit. Cuning

depress

electronic

any type of

nch

new

close

isals

jack you

ed.The

o a

out of

wh

an

en

SSB,

me
along fine in entering the 10 meter
offsets as
sets. But wh
always-neces
menu? Not there! What? No subaudible tone
encode? Oh y
switch programming.

of the
well-written and illustrated instruction manual.

11

watts FM,

I th

en

tried o

ter repeaters, and everything was going

well

er

e,

sary

es

The CTCSS encode

transceiver, with no mention of it in the

and

perali

as

the 6

oil

CTCS S selecti

, there is, but it

6 wans AM,

ng

on

10 mete r and 6

met

, where was the almost-

is

on the bottom side

1OD-k

er

500-kHz off-

on

s out of

use

Hz

s dip-

big frequency knob. A quick nick of the small
knob instantly puts you back to that original

-

!t)

•

•

I'l

",p

•••

•

0

•

. -

, c-..

0°c

~

ALC input voltage from the amp needs to be
zero to ·3 VDC.

•

-

-

'"

c

•••

.,

•••

••

.

"",

.'

-

,

•

The tone board is already installed, included

ur

with the package , but you need yo
toothpick and penlight to manipulate the eight
different switches for an

subaudible tones.

er

op

Co

not reading the instruction manual was how

to get it to

cracked

the

with VHF

ating the equipment. The onty thing I

uldn't figure out when running the unit and

go

into the set

the books,itw

II has been many years

high.frequency transceiver

and

But

UHF b

yone

besides that, I enjoyed

mode

as

right there.

ands

0138 possible

. As soon as I

since I have seen

ma

nufactured

inc

lude

trusty

d. When

Photo D. On the fear of t
right for

52 73 Amateur Radio

50-

54

MH

z. It has t

Toda

he

DX

-70 are two

he

same

y · November, 1995

pow

er plug

ant

enna jacks fa

as

all

the

other brands of

left f

or

HF

3-30

ham

MHz, a

sets.

nd

to t

he

you get a chance, head on down to your

cal amateur rad

he

t

CO

bright future.

sharp

HF + 6

high-fidelity

me

io

ter

deal

tra

er

and take a listen to

ac

tion on the new Alin-

nsceiver lhat has a very

lo-

III