Re: [IRCA] [NRC-AM] Alinco DX-R8T for AM DXing?

[Gary WGJW <garyw2gjw@xxxxxxxxx>]

A few days ago Les inquired about Alinco's new DX-R8T communication
receiver. As luck would have it, I just received this exact radio yesterday
and had a little time to play with it last night.

In case you don't remember me, seeing I haven't been active on this list
for a few years due to family obligations, I was NRC webmaster for three
years, and have been an AM DXer for more than 40.

Here are some quick observations about Alinco's new offering:

 The Alinco is nearly the same size as my Icom R75. The overall fit and
finish is one that says I'm of "lower" quality as the knobs, buttons and
cabinet just don't measure up to that of the Icoms.

The Alinco display is very nice though and I prefer it to the Icom.
The pale, light blue backlight is soft and extremely easy on the eyes. I
also like its contrast. The numbers are large, easy to see and most of the
radio's settings are also displayed. The Alinco offers 15 selectable dimmer
steps so you should be able to find a setting suitable for your environment.

Audio quality is good, so long as you use a good external speaker. The
small front firing speaker is very tinny sounding.
making for very unpleasant listening. I hooked up an older Radio Shack
Minus speaker which made all the difference in the world.

The radio seems sensitive enough. Comparing it side to side with my Icom
R75, it heard everything the Icom did.
I tune using ECSS exclusively and the Alinco seemed very stable and
selective. The IF shift works well enough, although for me the small
control is a tad over sensitive and doesn't have a well refined range of
use. You have to move this tiny knob very slowly either side of 12 o'clock,
dependent upon which mode you've chosen, for its effectiveness to
become noticable.

I am not happy about the front panel buttons on the Alinco. They're almost
as if they were added as an after thought. They are small, poorly labled
and are not located in logical positions. Being an EE for 30+ years, I
personally would have choosen larger sized buttons and not made all of
them perform multiple functions. Nearly everyone of the front panel buttons
perform dual tasks. This involves the use of the "FUNC" button first,
I understand why this was done, though it can initally be very awkard
because the second function of each button is labeled underneath the button
and is labeled in a different color. I feel the user will become more
accustomed to this as operating time increases, but during a first use
session or two, I found it to be pretty confusing. I felt I was always
titling my head down to look for what was needed..

I'm also not happy with how tuning steps are set. On my Icom I'm able to
easily set and tune in 1khz steps while using ECSS. Surprisingly, this step
rate doesn't seem possible on the Alinco. Before I commit to this
statement, I'm going to review the user manual again just to be sure.
Speaking of which, the manual isn't well written at all. Tuning around on
the Alinco seemed a bit of a chore. Tuning is accomplished via UP/DOWN
buttons as well as the VFO knob. Tuning steps are also dependent upon mode.
I tried to set the tuning steps for 1khz in USB/LSB, but no matter what I
did, the VFO always tuned in 10 hz steps. I did manage to get the radio to
tune in 100hz steps, but only while using the UP/DOWN buttons, The VFO knob
is large and does the job, though slowly. There also appears to be a slight
wobble to it, but nothing overly significant. Fortuantely the
radio features direct frequency entry.

I'll need more time to evaluate the receiver in greater detail. I'd like to
do some daytime DXing with it to see how it does.
Living in a heavily RF polluted environment can be challenging for most
receivers. I did notice some bleed through from Bloomberg Radio 1130, and
I'll spend even more time seeing how the front end handles these stronger
signals. I was able to hear a HAR/TIS on 550 from upstate NY and KMOX on
1120 was also easily heard. I also noted some of the usual hets  By the
way, the antenna used was my Quantum Loop.

The radio doesn't seem bad for the price, however it should be noted that a
power supply is NOT included. A DC cable is and I used my trusty 35A Astron
that I use for my Ham station to power it. As some of you may have noticed
this radio is nearly identical to Alinco's new transceiver. It even has a
plastic plug over the mic jack!

I'll post more updates as I dig deeper into it, but initially its promising.

73-
Gary Wilt W2GJW
Wood Ridge, NJ
FN20wu
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