| KC3BKJ |
Rating:  |
2016-09-08 | |
| Wake Up Call |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've owned the SR9 for two years now, and it's time that people come to grips with the reality of this rig and the SR-9T.
THESE TRANSCEIVERS ARE NOT SDR CAPABLE!
I have gone on a grand quest to find anyone who has gotten one to transmit in SDR mode. This includes all three of the national service centers that Alinco has designated. I have not found anyone who has gotten a unit to work properly. Everyone gets the same error message in trying to transmit. Most people have gotten limited success in receive.
It's not a bad radio when operated from the front end, but I paid $825 for mine, only to watch the price drop $200 as the ham community begins to face the reality of its limitations.
Want some good advice? Wait for the price to drop some more. It will.
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| KZ4B |
Rating: |
2016-08-04 | |
| Little known "optional" Collins Mechanical Filter upgrade. |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
DX-SR9T Transceiver advertisements up until last year mentioned the availability of an "optional" plug-in (high performance) IF selectivity filter board (Part # EJ-59U @ $28.00 each) which can still be purchased from either the distributor (ALINCO/REMTRONIX) or most ALINCO Dealers (DX ENGINEERING, etc.). These boards can accept up to three seven or eight-pole Rockwell Collins Mechanical Filters in solder-in positions labeled AM, SSB, and CW. Only one, two, or all three filters may be installed as desired. Jumpers on the Main Board (into which the "optional" (EJ59U) board is plugged) allow the "optional" Collins Mechanical Filters to replace the "stock" (nominal 4 pole) MURATA Ceramic Filters when removed as directed by the instructions that come with the EJ-59U Board.
The presumed reason that ALINCO no longer mentions the Filter Board in their advertisements is that Rockwell Collins announced as of January 1, 2016 that they would no longer manufacture/sell their mechanical filters. The good news is that VIBROPLEX/INRAD wisely bought a large stock of the needed filters before they became unavailable. Be sure to specify to INRAD that only "bare" filters are needed as many applications have custom mounting boards which in the case of ALINCO is the EJ-59U Mounting Board. ALINCO recommends the following Rockwell Collins Filters: for AM use 5800 HZ Wide @ 6 DB Down (INRAD # 707 @ $140 ea.); for SSB use 2500 HZ Wide @ 6 DB Down (INRAD # 706 @ $160 ea.; & for CW use 500 HZ Wide @ 6 DB Down (INRAD # 705 @ $140 ea.). There is also a 300 HZ Filter available from INRAD for the "serious" CW operator. The writer has optioned two different DX-SR9T Transceivers--one with the configuration detailed above, and the other with a 2000 HZ @ 6 DB Down Filter in the CW Position (INRAD # 720 @ $160) in place of the 500 HZ CW Filter. The DX-SR9T allows "Narrow" as well as "Normal" Filter selection in each of the three Modes (AM, SSB, & CW). In both configurations AM Wide is 5800 HZ. with AM Narrow being the SSB Filter Width of 2500 HZ. (Note that very few transceivers have provision for such high quality filters in the AM Mode) In the first configuration SSB Wide is 2500 HZ.--but SSB Narrow is the CW Filter width of 500 HZ. (which is useless/i.e. too narrow in the SSB Mode). In the second configuration SSB Wide is the same 2500 Hz., but SSB Narrow is now the 2000 HZ. Filter Width in the CW Position (which is a very useful Narrow SSB Filter Width). With the first configuration CW Wide is a seven-pole 500 HZ. Collins Mechanical Filter while CW Narrow is a relatively broad-skirted 500 HZ. MURATA Ceramic Filter. With the second configuration CW Wide is the 2000 Hz. Narrow SSB Mechanical Filter while CW Narrow is the relatively broad-skirted 500 HZ. MURATA Ceramic Filter.
In summary, the optional Collins Mechanical filters give the "entry-level" ALINCO DX-SR9T Transceiver the IF filtering capability of a "loaded" Classic Collins 75-A4 or similar hi-end receiver. This is not to say that the selectivity of a "stock" DX-SR9T with MURATA Ceramic Filters isn't remarkably good to begin with. It is unfortunate that the previously (a year or two ago) $75 to $100
Collins Filters are becoming ever more expensive due to scarcity. A long shot perhaps--but just maybe someone will step-up to produce the filters again as YAESU, ICOM
and TEN-TEC (among others) have used these identical filters in hi-volume transceivers.
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| K2SOG |
Rating: |
2016-02-28 | |
| Basic HF SDR |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I purchased the Alinco DX-SR9T knowing what it is. A budget HF amateur/general coverage radio with the opportunity to experiment with SDR. I picked this over the Icom 718 due to FM operation capabilities and SDR. I do not expect Lamborghini performance from a Hyundai. I ordered the radio from HRO on line and was dismayed to learn they shipped the radio from HRO Phoenix, not the nearby New Castle, DE store (8 day arrival). Once received, setup was without issues. I tuned to 10M (my preferred band) and made a quick contact to AZ from NJ. Audio report was good with stock mic. Freeware programming software and freeware SDR software are a definite plus. I purchased two 6 foot 3.5mm stereo cables from K-Mart (Radio Shack had none, LOL). My trusty old Yaesu VX5 serial programming cable works fine with this radio. The SDR software (KG-TRX)is NOT plug and play. I purchased a new Sound Blaster ZX sound card, installed in my Dell XPS desktop with Windows 7 and spent a few hours tweaking settings. After a full weekend, I must say I really enjoy the SDR features of the radio and software for MW/SW/Amateur frequency hunting. On MW AM, I logged Chicago, Canada, and Boston stations from my location in NJ in between local NYC powerhouse stations. SW/Utility/Amateur HF had similar results on receive. I have not tried SDR transmit (no microphone yet). Cons have already been noted on this radio. No variable power, tuning dial on SSB limited to 10hz on SSB. Mic gain, beep volume, side tone volume, and QRP power adjustments require removing the cover and turning a pot. I find no need to make adjustments at this time. High power SSB PEP 120 watts, Low power 8 Watts, Super low 1.8 Watts.
Summary: I think I found the perfect radio for my needs and budget which are MW/SW/Utility/Amateur frequency hunting via SDR and casual HF Amateur transmit operations. Your results may vary. Thank you Alinco. |
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| W6GF |
Rating: |
2015-09-26 | |
| Great find |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
When I was in Tokyo a few months ago I bought one. It cost $500.00 new It is a Japanese domestic radio so I had to "modify" it for USA use. It two jumpers to do that
All I can say good receiver, a 150 watt transmitter, and great audio reports. I use a Kenwood 60 desk mic with no mods
I am happy with radio
73
de
George, W6GF |
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| AE5YJ |
Rating: |
2014-11-15 | |
| my final review after extensive use |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I wanted to like this rig, I really did. The SDR shortcomings are likely not ever going to be addressed as it seems Alinco is pushing HRD's latest buggy support of this radio as it's recommended option.
SDR aspect is great for receive only. As stated before this does not merit the significant price increase over the SR8. It's bandwidth is narrow and software is buggy. Using it with other 3rd party SDR programs is cobbled and problematic at best.
Alinco really pushed the SDR aspect of this radio, and when it fell short, they seemed all too happy to abandon it to third party developers, none of which seem interested in producing a working solution.
I tried, I really tried to work digital with this rig using the DVOX option. Since this basic rig has no method of measuring or adjusting ALC, you are forced to do the soundcard "slider dance" in an attempt to be a considerate operator and emit a clean signal. After way too long trying to get everything to play nice together, click on another spot in the waterfall and you must do the slider dance again. I am done. This could be fixed if RF power could be adjusted incrementally instead of Alinco's arbitrary three settings. It could also be fixed with ALC metering. No dice.
This rig seems fine for casual SSB or CW operation at the arbitrary power settings that it has. That's it. The SDR was a disappointment, working digital as advertised with DVOX is impossible (if you don't want to emit a splattery signal) and lack of any real serious filtering leaves you with a basic rig, voice only. If that's what you want, please purchase the SR8 and save the cash. I am dumping this at the first opportunity, hopefully recouping enough to get something with variable RF out and ALC metering. |
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| KT9O |
Rating: |
2014-09-18 | |
| Look for the secret "Menu 24" option !! |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
This is my 3rd review on this radio. By now, if you have read the October 2014 ARRL review on this radio, you know that the rig has an extra menu that is NOT listed in the ops manual. It is Menu 24. (This means that the radio has 26 Menus in the parameter setting menus, rather than 25). This unlisted menu defaults to "S-RT-IF". What it means in not known to me at this time, but it absolutely changes the audio output characteristics. The ARRL review found good success when the setting was left at default. I found the muddy audio became full spectrum with the setting at "S-IF-RT". Experiment with it and see what it does for you. I now get good audio reports using my computer desk mic that failed to perform using the default settings. I hope this will be of value to those who are experimenting with the Alinco SDR.
73 and good luck.
Ted
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| VU2JE |
Rating: |
2014-08-14 | |
| SDR Settings Tricky |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
SDR needed some effort.. budget priced usb sound card did not work.. had to buy an expensive creative usb sound card.
Had to set a port setting through device manager in windows 7 to the port indicated (port2 in my case).. till this was done it showed "com fail"
The reception is still intermittent and will have to figure it out (now there is a general band hiss, but no stations are shown in the water fall)
THIS IS AN UNACCEPTABLE LEVEL OF PRODUCT TO BE RELEASED ON THE MARKET WITHOUT THE SETTINGS AND SOFTWARE BEING ADEQUATELY TESTED, WORKED OUT AND MADE USER FRIENDLY |
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| W9NMT |
Rating: |
2014-07-02 | |
| Surpring results |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I picked up a new DX-SR9T while at the Dayton show and took delivery a week later. This is a "first impression" review, which I intend to follow up later after I've had more experience with it. I have not enabled the SDR elements, as I'm still waiting for a new audio card to come in.
I have only used the xcvr on 40m, as that's all I have up right now: a 40m dipole at about 25' feeding the Alinco's 100W to it. I'm using the standard mic, too, and powering it with a Jetstream JTPS31MB power supply, which also seems to do a great job.
As a rule, if I can hear 'em, I can work 'em. A few weeks ago 40m opened up and there was a huge pileup on I2VRN in Italy. He came back with 58 on the second call. I also worked a little on Field Day and rarely had to make a second call. There were pile ups on several W1AW/? stations and I usually got through on the first call.
I'm still learning the all of the features the rig has, but so far, so good. The rig is larger than many similar units from Yaesu, Icom, and Kenwood, but I find these fat old finger work better with the Alinco. People sometimes ding it because of the front-facing speaker, but I think it is perfectly acceptable. Transmit audio is very good.
I'll be back after I get the SDR component working, as that's a major reason why I bought the rig. I should also know more about its many features at that time, too. |
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| KK4OWL |
Rating: |
2014-02-27 | |
| Outstanding |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| I've been searching for a radio that would do stand alone analog and sdr, wow this radio fits the bill. I've recieved signal reports from all over the world at a 5 9 plus 20 over in the continental United States and usually 5/4 to 5/6 into European Russia and Asiatic Russia. What a great performer! Pairing this with the Carolina curtain beam I've got a good match. SWR is usually 1.1 and 1.3 to 1. Reception is clear (even with the little speaker on the front). My only beef with the radio is that little speaker. Other than that an excellent choice for the. The guy at Ham Radio Outlet in Atlanta matched Giga parts on the price so I'm not complaining there either. If you want a good radio that won't burn a deep hole in your pocket I recommend this one. |
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| KF5WKL |
Rating: |
2014-02-03 | |
| Great Radio |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I just got the radio. Set up was easy. SDR was easy to get setup.
Only problem I have is the software will not tx in SDR mod. It gives me an error "TX frq out of range.
If anyone knows how to fix this please email me paul@kf5wkl.com |
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