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write your own review of the Alinco DR-605TQ.
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K5RIX
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 2, 2012 18:59
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Reliable
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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This is a review of my DR-605T I bought new in (I think) 1995. It is in its fourth vehicle. I may retire it to the shack. The rig has never given me any trouble whatever. At one time I was into using the cross-band repeat function and it worked very well. I also like to chase trains and this radio has been great for scanning the local railroad freqs. The receiver sounds fine through the internal speaker, even in the cab of a pickup. I still have the manual, although the radio is easy to use. This has been an exceptionally good radio for me, and I hope it continues to be so. I almost never run the transmitter on high power, by the way. On high power the heat sink gets quite hot (duh!). If I need to replace this one, I'm sure I'll grumble about the cost! This one, though, has been well worth the dinero.
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W4KVW
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Rating: 4/5
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Jan 20, 2012 19:36
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UPDATE
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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Just picked up a used final for the 2 meter side for $30 & the rig now operates 100%.It is VERY easy too program even without the manual.NO menus but it now has a SMALL place in my shack among all of those ICOM rigs & signs for my 2 meter & 440 FM usage which is pretty small.Don't see why the labor is so HIGH & would NEVER pay $93 an hour to repair it even if I were RICH.LOL I will give it an HONEST & FAIR chance too keep it's place in my shack & hope it stays operational or it will be GONE & FAST.
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KG4LOV
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Rating: 4/5
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May 17, 2011 17:53
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Good but too complicated for ne
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I sold this and purchased a Kenwood 271. The 605 was okay, but was too complicated for me. Others may like it, rx was good but tx reports left a lot to be desired
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KC7OAW
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 7, 2010 08:48
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A Sturdy Workhorse
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have been rough on mine since I bought it used years ago and it still performs excelent so it has earned this review. I have had Yeasus and Icoms but have not been nearly as impressed with as this Alinco. It has out lived several cars and is currently being used in the shack.
The cord on this radio is still in great condition but I do have a DR-M03 that I bought with a mic cord problem. I see a mic cord as a very easy fix!
I live in an area where I had an intermod problem with some radios I have owned but not on the DR-605. I am very happy with the RX as well as the TX. I love the tone quality of the DR-605 and have never even considered an external speaker for it. My DR-605 has always transmitted a good clean claer signal for me.
What more can you ask of a radio? Good software interface. This where the Alinco falls short. You can clone it easy enough but have yet to find software for programing it from the computor.
I still am looking to buy anouther one eventhough I love software interface simply becouse the performance of this workhorse of a radio out ways missing one fansy extra feature. I know its going to work when I turn it on and would not be surprised if I still have it in service anouther decade from now!
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W2HP
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 31, 2009 16:50
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Great radio
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I own 4 605's. My oldest is 12 years old and one of the first. Never a problem. But the mike cords are. I purchased a new 605TQ and found the mike cable peeling from the end. I fixed than and the rest of the cord was also deterorating. I purchased from an Alinco Distributor 4 cable only with plugs attached. I did the swap myself. Two of my 605's are in my mobiles. One is a base and another is a carry with radio when I go traveling. The 605 on 2 meters has the best intermod rejection of any radio I have ever used excepting the Kenwood TR-7950 with the helical resonators and its Ham Band only radio! The 605 goes nearly anywhere frequency wise. Too bad they discontinued this model. The 620 was terrible! and my first 635 wasnt that good either. Peter
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VR2YWW
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Rating: 3/5
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May 25, 2009 10:02
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Not bad
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I recently got a used 605T with the following problem. When scanning the VHF channels, it stop on call channel and everything dead except the display. I needed to turn it off and then on again. It normal when scanning the UHF channels. It lock the machine everytime I tried to scan the VHF channels!! I did reset many times but it just don't work. Did anybody got a similar problem and any input are all wellcome. Thanks a lot 73.
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K2LGO
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Rating: 3/5
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May 25, 2009 04:51
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POOR COMMUNICATIONS
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have sent two emails to the ALINCO distributor in Texas, with jpegs of the microphone cord problems, and they do not answer my emails at all...The least they could do is acknowledge receipt, even if they intend to do nothing about it...Two perfectly good 605-s, but the microphone cords are virtually disintegrating from the sun(UV)...any similar problems en counted by other users of the 605??? Other than that I would say the radio has been a good performer...Shame that a major player in amateur radio would ignore this situation..
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KA5KBM
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Rating: 4/5
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May 2, 2009 21:59
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mic cord problem
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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i have owned the 605TQ for 7 years, i won the radio at a local hamfest, so it was very affordable! all things considered, this is an excellent radio, with one glaring exception. the mic cable is not uv resistant, the cable in my radio has been breaking down for about 2 years.i have had to tape up the cord in about 3 different places...the radio still works fine, but i am concerned about the deteriorated mic cable..i'm wondering if anyone else is having this problem?..is the cable replaceable by itself? or will i have to replace both the mic and cable? this could be an expensive propisition! any comment alinco? de ka5kbm.
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W0RMS
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Rating: 4/5
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Feb 6, 2008 21:42
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Great Dual Band For Money
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Got 605TQ used so dont know how it was used befor I got it...Had to replace finals after 6 months. I enjoy being able to listen to both bands at same time but think it is not as easy to program as other rigs...just MY opinion. Also had it lose all programing a few times when turning the power off...still have not figured that out. Over all I still like the radio even if I dont use near all the features.
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OE5BFM
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 25, 2007 03:29
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Just a trouble-free radio!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I own this DR-605E now for three years, used as a base-station and sometimes mobile too.
In my opinion, especially when using a rig mobile, you should use the brain for driving and not thinking about using / programming the radio. And here is the big advantage of the DR-605.
When using this rig the first time, I tried all functions once with the manual. And then, I was able to use this transceiver without reading the manual any more. Great! I also had the Yaesu FT-7800E for 2 years. This rig had all bells and whistles, but it was a pain, especially during driving, e.g. to program a new repeater.
So the advantages of the Alinco DR-605 are:
Rugged
Really easy to use
Good readably audio in RX and TX.
The only one disadvantage I could find:
There are only two steps of power output. Because there is no fan mounted, the DR-605 gots relatively hot, when using the high-power for a longer time. Anyway, I do not know any failures because of heat. But a third power-step in the middle would be great. But itīs not difficult to mount a little fan from the pc-industry, probably with a 100 Ohm resistor for slower and quiter running. Then the DR-605 gets just hand-warm, wven when using the high power.
So I sold the newer Yaesu FT-7800 because I want a radio for talking and not playing with - and thinking about menues, and so the DR-605 was my choice.
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