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| Reviews Summary for ALINCO DR-435T |
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write your own review of the ALINCO DR-435T.
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VE7OVY
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Rating: 4/5
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Nov 18, 2007 10:13
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Works well for me
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I've owned two DR-435T's. One has been on IRLP node 6493 since 2002 running 24/7; sometimes on low power with no fan, sometimes on Med or Hi pwr with a fan blowing across the heat sink. I sold this node & radio to ZL1TN ;cuz i moved from ZL to VE7-land in 2004. He's had the radio since and had no problems (he's just moved to VK-land and took his node/radio with him to set it up in Brisbane, fo those of you who go looking for him).
I've had the 2nd DR-435T since 2004 on IRLP node 1649, no problems in 3-1/2yrs. So despite some reviewers bad experiences, i have been pleased with my two, with a couple small caveats...
1- I found when the radio heated up, the squelch loosened up. If you're using the rig on an IRLP node as i am, this is potentially a problem. However it was resolved by going from carrier-squelch to tone-squelch on RX. and the problem went away.
2- The only other thing i dislike about this radio and its a personal preference, is the clunky/big DTMF mic. But since its a node radio i never use the mic anyway so its a moot point for me.
I've actually had many compliments on the quality of my audio through IRLP on this node. Operation couldn't be easier, the node audio/ptt cable plugs into the rear DB09 connector of the rig.
Except for the loose squelch when the radio heats up and the awkward mic, i am pleased with my 2 rigs. Perhaps i've just been lucky, i've not had the problems others have mentioned. Of course, your mileage may vary...
Kevin VE7OVY/ZL1OVY
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KC6AGL
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Rating: 4/5
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Nov 11, 2006 13:01
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Alinco Works Well 4.5
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Review by: Ray, KC6AGL email: Ray1776@yahoo.com
Amateur Radio equipment: Alinco DR-435 T MkII 440 MHz - IRLP Ready RADIO
Dummy loan: DECIBEL db4303b 100 watts continue duty
Antenna: COMET GP-3 dual band 2m /440MHz gain antenna
Power Supply: Samlex SEC 1223
Power meter / SWR meter: DAIWA cn-801v
I got my Amateur Radio License in 1988, it’s been a fun journey and I am very happy to present this review to the Amateur Radio Community. I have several of these radios in my lab and I have two running full time for testing purposes. I also have an IRLP node, which uses the Alinco DR-435 T MkII radio. These radios make super
IRLP nodes. I have been using this radio for about 3 months. I have operated this radio with and without a fan on all power levels. The transmit radio frequency ranges from 430-449.995 MHz. Overall the new MkII works very well, the heat sink dissipates heat properly. The heat sink has a unique design over other mobile radios in a way the air flows between the heat sink fins. I have used a fan where the fan was set to blow air over the fins as suppose to pull air and this has proved to work the best with this radio.
Note: If you have a high SWR the radio heats up quickly, this applies to all radios. Please be sure to check the SWR before permanently installing the radio in your car or at the base. IRLP users: consider installing a RF choke, this applies to all radios. The
RF choke will minimize the RF power getting back into the radio and surrounding hardware such as a PC or server configured for IRLP.
The radio is right on frequency even when it got really hot. I installed this radio on an IRLP node and tuned it to a net on the IRLP network where the transmitter was continuously transmitting on high power for over an hour. Note: Please consider using DC, 120 mm cooling fan as it is required / recommended.
The radio puts out ~ 30 watts on a dummy load model DECIBEL db4303b. I used a Samlex power supply model SEC 1223. The radio pulled about 10 amps on high power. Next: I attached a COMET antenna model GP-3 to the radio. One thing I realized right away is that the COMET db antennas are tuned for a specific frequency. At 430MHz the radio showed an output power of 41 watts and on 449.995 MHz the radio showed 36 watts of output power. Keep in mind that that radio’s specification calls for 35 watts on high power and the radio’s actual RF power output is 30 watts on a dummy load. Note: at the factory the radios are tested with antennas and not dummy loads. After I tested the radio with a dummy load as well as with an antenna I was very please with the overall general results. A quick note about antennas: the resident frequency of each antenna is based on its tuned frequency or center frequency; therefore a power output variation is completely acceptable.
Overall, I highly recommend this radio; I have given this radio a 4.5 out of 5. No Amateur Radio Manufacturer has ever made a perfect radio and if a perfect radio were to exist, this hobby would not have been as much fun. Please enjoy, use, promote and test your Amateur Radio equipment under generally accepted Amateur Radio gentleman’s agreement. 73s
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KJ4PR
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Rating: 3/5
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Jun 11, 2006 07:42
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works for me.
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Does anyone know how to dim the display lights on this radio? I use mine for an ILRP node only (never had a mike attached to it since I purchased the radio) and the instructions are not clear on dimming the display. If anyone can help my email is KJ4PR@yahoo.com. For my application this radio works fine. I am in a rural area and intermod is never a problem. It does run warm however so I have a fan attached to the heatsink.
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M0PZT
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Rating: 3/5
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Jun 4, 2006 04:12
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Could be better
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I've had this radio a week (from new), and although I didn't expect it to make coffee for the £149 that it cost, I didn't expect the radio to:
*) Get hot just as much at 5w as it does at 35w
*) Take around 4s for the squelch to close when decoding CTCSS with the squelch open.
OK, the radio doesn't have a fan - but is built very well, and you'd think that a 40w UHF PA wouldn't mind running 5w without getting too hot to touch - No such luck. The CTCSS decoder and open-squelch bug is a major issue (which I notice has been picked-up on here) - Most radios drop the squelch at around .2-.5s which is the ideal. 3seconds is not!
The 9pin data connector is just the link 6pin miniDIN you get on other rigs - With the exception of the squelch pin - It's shorted to ground when there's a signal (as opposed to going +5v). This radio will not work with EchoLink's "COR" feature without a transistor mod in your interface.
Apart from that, it's a fine radio - Would really suit a packet station, where the short TX times will keep the radio from getting too warm.
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149
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Rating: 0/5
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May 28, 2004 04:36
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intermod box
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Ive only had this thing for a short while but i must admit that I'm getting used to the i mod front end overload that i get 90% of the time .
it keeps me awake while I'm driving around.It's almost like a strange being out there thats trying to talk to me in i mod language.
Maybe there out to get me.
Anyway perhaps a close encounter.
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NO6B
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Rating: 1/5
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Jan 18, 2004 19:28
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Nice try, but radio N.G.
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I ordered the DR-435 because I wanted a 440 MHz radio with a decent front end (thinking a single-band radio would have a better 440 RX than a dual-band), & split-tone capability (encode/decode different CTCSS tones; note that Yaesu misuses this term by attempting to define it as encoding DCS while decoding CTCSS. I fail to see how this can be "split-tone", since DCS is not "tone" at all!).
Anyway, I have to give the radio a 1 because I had to return it twice, the second time to get my money back as the 2nd radio had the same problem as the first: spurious oscillation in the front-end, causing a rather high noise level over a 40 kHz bandwidth that would drift with temperature. If the ambient temp. was just right, the noise would completely swap out the repeater I was trying to use. After this happened a couple of times, I decided that this behavior was unacceptable & returned it for a replacement. To my amazement the 2nd radio had the same problem, just over a different frequency range. I suspect that all DR-435s have this problem; it's just the luck of the draw as to whether it will cause anyone a problem in the reception of their favorite repeater(s).
The other problem I had was that the CTCSS decoder took a VERY long time to release, especially on noise. For some reason, it always took 1 second if a quieting signal was present but took anywhere from 1 to 10 seconds if there was no signal on channel & the carrier squelch was set to 0. This is just way too long. Because of the decode function being implemented within the CPU, there is no way to modify the decoder to fix this problem. At least it never falsed.
I never got a chance to do a 2-tone IMD test on the RX, but it seemed to be somewhat prone to IMD as it picked up a bit more IMD than my Kenwood G707.
I'm giving it a 1 instead of a 0 only because I appreciate Alinco trying to make a radio with split-tone. But unless the basics work right (TX & RX), it's of no use to me. Also I give an honorable mention to the service dept. in Covington, OH. They did try to resolve the problem & when they couldn't, they arranged to get my money back. Note that Alinco no longer has any U.S. service center at the time of this writing, so buyer definitely beware!
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WA7HAA
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Rating: 2/5
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Jun 6, 2003 20:26
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Problem out of the box.
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I wanted separate VHF and UHF tranceivers for my shack. Having good luck with previous Alinco products, I chose the DR-135T for VHF, and the DR-435T for UHF. The VHF model performed flawlessly, but from the beginning, the 435T had problems. The main problem occured after the radio had been on, and sat idle for a period. When keyed up, the xmit light would come on, then go off, along with the display blanking out. This was about a half second in duration, then things worked normally, and would continue to do so until the radio sat idle again. Thinking it might be an SWR problem with my antenna, I connected the radio to a Bird Termaline wattmeter as a load. When the problem occured again, the power output was noted to be zero until after the xmit light and display came back on, then it was full power. The second problem was a noticeable "pop" from the speaker whenever the PTT switch was depressed or released. The unit was sent to Alinco for warranty repair. After it was sent back, there was a note about the partial fix to the speaker "pop", but no mention of the power output problem. The radio was connected back up, and the speaker problem was still present, but not as bad as before. The power output problem however, had not been corrected. It was still present, just as it had been. I bought the rig at Ham Radio Outlet, but it was past the time for them to be able to take it back in exchange, so I am going to have to send it back to Alinco for the second time. I would prefer that they exchange it for another radio, or fix the present one once and for all. The added shipping cost to return the radio twice for repair has quickly dashed the great value price that I paid for this radio initially. Note: Am using an Astron RS-35 power supply, which powers the other equipment in my shack without problem.
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