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Reviews For: Alinco DJ-X7

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

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Review Summary For : Alinco DJ-X7
Reviews: 1MSRP: 170
Description:
Wide Band Hand Held Communications Receiver 100 Khz - 1.3 Ghz 1000 Channels
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.alinco.com/usa.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0014
W2DI Rating: 2005-12-28
Good things in small package Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just got this tiny receiver and so far I think it's good - for such a small package. There are good points and not so good ones as you would expect in this type of radio. Here are my initial impressions - just my opinion.

Pros
. Size - Small and thin. Just over the size of a credit card.
. Easy to program once you get the system down. Even though there is no numerical keypad, it's fairly easy to navigate around. I don't have to refer to the manual much.
. Good performance in the VHF/UHF range with the supplied antenna. Not spectacular, but respectable and consistant, throughout a broad range of frequencies. I receive AM air, 2M, 70cm, WX channel, TV audio, FM broadcast, etc., all well compared to other receivers and HTs. Using an 18" dual band antenna doesn't seem to make a huge difference over the supplied antenna.
. Good audio. For such a small radio, the audio is nice. Plenty of volume. Squelch works good and tone squelch is very useful if your repeater transmits a tone.
. Good battery life. The supplied battery is a 600mAh Li-ion. It's still on its first charge and I've had it turned on quite a bit programing memories. It only needs about 2.5 hours to recharge.
. Useful memory mamagement. The banks are a nice feature and can be linked for scanning. 1000 memories are plenty for me.
. Good, not great, reception in the AM broadcast range with the internal bar antenna. I can pull in a news station from Phila, inside my work building. That has been my unofficial standard test for AM reception. Not all radios, even some larger portables, can do this.

Cons
. No alpha channel tags. Not a big deal, but a nice feature in some radios.
. Slow memory scan rate. The scan while in VFO mode is good but rather slow in memory mode. Of course this is not a dedicated scanner.
. On SW the reception is not great, at least I haven't found that so far (I've only had the unit for a few days and propagation may be poor). The built in SW bar antenna doesn't perform well, nor does the whip - as you would expect (you can switch between the SW bar and SMA antenna connector). Using an 18" whip doesn't help much on SW. If, however, you connect a 6-8 ft wire to the SMA, the reception improves. I can receive many BC stations as well as WWV and CHU. Also, with the supplied 4" antenna brought in close proximity to my Cable TV wire, the reception again improves as with the wire. This is all done inside my home.
So the performance for SW is, IMO, still questionable, but I will do some further experiments. Of course, short wave is tough for any radio this size, but I had hoped the SW bar woluld perform better.
Also, the selectivity on AM SW is somewhat broad, but the specs do indicate this to be the case.

In summary, I think the DJ-X7 is a fine wideband receiver for its incredibly small size. The price is reasonable and you can certainly take it anywhere. If you are interested in SW this may not be the rig you want, unless used with a length of wire. Other offerings may do better in this range. But for a good utility receiver with respectable performance in the AM and FM broadcast bands and also in the VHF/UHF amateur, TV, air bands - with the supplied antenna configurations-it will do a good job. Once again, just my 2 cents!

Enjoy,
Joe -- W2DI