Alinco DR135DX

[Mudslinger]

It is still illegal to use it on CB even if you are a radio ham.

Not that anyone really cares these days, just buy it, program it and then use it.

[Road_Hog]

MMMMM.......... Good job i'm a radio ham then

Tell me where on your licence and band plans, it authorises you to use 11m and at what power restriction.

[bigyun2000]

can only use it legally on 10m but like many hams we all started on cb then onto 11mtr stuff with radios like president Lincoln, my radio of choice for many years. Also had Superstar, Tristar and a few others in my time

I was an Alfa Tango member for a few years always run from mobile. I used to go up top of a hill near Scarborough and use a 4 ele yagi. Australia, New Zealand and the States, Caribbean, S. Africa and Japan, they were a doddle. Alternatively i used a K40 and a Sirio 4000

Callsigns over the years: 13AT324 - 26AT324 - 26SD125 and my ham calls M3TDC, 2E0TDC and finally M0MTD.

[bigyun2000]

Hi all. Just found the original software for the Alinco DR-135DX Have a look here http://www.cbradio.nl/alinco/Software_A ... R135CB.rar

Just unrar with 7zip or winrar.

[Macman]

Can anyone give me any comments (good or bad) about this Alinco? I used 2 Alinco hf rigs over 12 years or so without any problems whatsoever and wondered if these were in the same league.
Thanks Richf

I paid £149 for mine, you certainly shouldn't pay more than that, it's a good DX tool and very good value for money. If you buy from Nevada, insist on the programming cable and software CD. I got both for free, and am programmed up.

Quirks? Yes it has a few, the layout is a little cramped and the clarifier is quirky, but after programming you don't really need to mess with them nags too much. I use a Euromaster power mic and a linear and get solid reports from USA and Europe. To sum it up, there are other radios which cost more and aren't as good. To wit, my PG11 which I'm trying to sell. The little Allinco outperforms it with ease.

[Road_Hog]

Can anyone give me any comments (good or bad) about this Alinco? I used 2 Alinco hf rigs over 12 years or so without any problems whatsoever and wondered if these were in the same league.
Thanks Richf

I paid £149 for mine, you certainly shouldn't pay more than that, it's a good DX tool and very good value for money. If you buy from Nevada, insist on the programming cable and software CD. I got both for free, and am programmed up.

Richf asked that question on 20th June 2014, I think he's probably made up his mind and bought by now. If not, he is at good at making decisions as a woman is when out shopping.

[Macman]

Can anyone give me any comments (good or bad) about this Alinco? I used 2 Alinco hf rigs over 12 years or so without any problems whatsoever and wondered if these were in the same league.
Thanks Richf

I paid £149 for mine, you certainly shouldn't pay more than that, it's a good DX tool and very good value for money. If you buy from Nevada, insist on the programming cable and software CD. I got both for free, and am programmed up.

Richf asked that question on 20th June 2014, I think he's probably made up his mind and bought by now. If not, he is at good at making decisions as a woman is when out shopping.

Oops, my bad

[stef1963]

Hi, can anybody help, i got me self a alinco dr135uk, and been trying to program it, the problem is the computer is finding the ports ok no matter what usb the lead is in, but i keep getting the same error message all the time.

Check Connection Retry or Cancel.

I have tried a second lead has i thought by message i had a faulty data cable, but still get the error message.

The software I am using is for the alinco dr-135CB does this make a difference or is the software all the same.

Any help would be great.

73s 26CT1681

[Admiral]

Are you using a 'proper' lead with the RIBless electronics built in or a straight through USB to Mini USB lead??

[Tempest67]

I'm using the Alinco DR-135DX. As Delboy says it's an Anyclone/Qixiang boarded radio. Same as a CRE8900.

It's OK. I got mine at a good price but I'm not sure if I would pay £199.95.

The build quality isn't that great, especially the ill fitting lids. I had a problem with mine as there was a bad connection with the channel selector (it would go up but not down) and had to solder a wire link due to a bad track/solder joint. Working fine now.

Squelch was too tight and wouldn't allow signals of less than S-3 to open the squelch. Had to realign the internal squelch pre-sets (W2 for AM/FM and then W3 for SSB). Now it's OK.

I was initially disappointed that there wasn't an Auto-Squelch. But I discovered this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfzbF1eInpM So I followed the instructions and now have AQ, which I find is ideal for mobile work.

Echo is crap, but that's not even on my list of things I wish for.

Mic gain in the menu is a bit low and needs turning up.

Power control works on all modes, 12 watts am/fm and 25 watts ssb out of the box. It has two IRF520's in the final TX stage and a reasonable heatsink. Is it worth turning the power up? I wouldn't bother myself.

Overall receive and transmit audio quality is fairly good. Has that peculiar SSB receive that Anyclones seem to have, but as long as you clarify the signal bang on it sounds OK. You don't have to turn the RF gain back on strong SSB signals thank goodness.

LCD display isn't bright in high sunlight and could be better. Looks nice in darker conditions. LED at least is usable in bright sunlight.

It's fairly small and compact for an all mode rig. I like the front panel layout. Easy to use whilst mobile, controls are small but luckily I don't have chucky fingers.

Depending what you wish to do with it, computer programming is useful and I wouldn't of bought it without that facility. First reprogramme was the UK40. As a mainly mobile operator it saves a hell of a lot of hassle and allows me to keep my attention on the road.

Unlike the Anyclone AT-5555, you can set the offset directly on the rig anything you like, whether it's 0.00 or 5.00 or 1.25 kHz, it repeats that throughout the bands. I like that myself, but it may not suit other operators.

On a technical note looking at the circuit diagram the receive "auto-tunes" itself depending on the band of operation. Unlike many other 10m/CB export rigs that just have a wideband receive (ie Lincoln 1) or just go deaf as a post outside mid band (ie Jacko 1). I wish I had a signal generator to do in depth tests.

Frequency stability is good for a 10m/CB export rig. Doing a quick test against my FT897 (with TCXO), it's drift was less than 100 Hz from cold. Will double check that against a frequency counter. Very (much more) importantly it does transmit and receive on the same frequency.

Overall I like it. It has it's quirks, but then all rigs do classic and modern alike. I enjoy using it and it certainly does the job that it was designed it do - CB/10m. Would I recommend it, yes and if it's well less than £200 then it's good value for money.

Hi RadioPixie

Can you tell me how you went about this? I've recently bought the Alinco DR-135Uk and find that S3 strength signals are also not getting through. I opened up the radio and found W2 and W3 but no matter how I turned them, signals with a strength of 3 still weren't getting through.

Cheers for any help you can offer. I'm really pleased with the radio other than this facet of it.

[RadioPixie]

Hi

You have to be very patient and adjust the pre-sets very carefully and slowly, and be careful not to damage them.

[Tempest67]

Hi

You have to be very patient and adjust the pre-sets very carefully and slowly, and be careful not to damage them.

Any tips on how to adjust the preset so the lower signals get through though? I took great care and tried for half an hour, but still only signals of S3+ coming through.

Think I might be missing something.

Thanks again.

[RadioPixie]

Sorry I can't suggest anymore about adjustment, you may of damaged the pre-set . It is useful to have a small signal source like a signal generator set at a low level that can give you a constant below S-3 signal. If you had access to one, it makes life a lot easier.

[Mudslinger]

My Alinco had S3 of noise even with no signals present.

But signals that I got through gave higher readings.

There is probably nothing wrong, it is just the sensitivity of them is similar to running a small pre-amp, and they bring in lots of noise.

[Tempest67]

Sorry I can't suggest anymore about adjustment, you may of damaged the pre-set . It is useful to have a small signal source like a signal generator set at a low level that can give you a constant below S-3 signal. If you had access to one, it makes life a lot easier.

No, the presets aren't damaged, but I still only get signals of S3+ coming through.

I think Mudslinger hit the nail on the head with his post anyway.

Cheers guys.