From: dlp@zule.Eng.Sun.COM (Dan Pritchett - SunSoft Engineer)
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc
Subject: Re: Seeking comments on Alinco DJ-F1T
Date: 10 Oct 92 00:03:24 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: zule

In article <9210081706.AA28589@nms1.abb.com>, jennings@abb.COM (UPAC01::JENNINGS) writes:
 
|> I'm getting ready to buy a 2 meter HT.  The one I'm
|> thinking about buying is an Alinco DJ-F1T.  Has any one
|> out there have any experience with it?  October's 
|> QST has a review of it and comments that the battery
|> attachment is weak.  Any problem wiht it?  Hopefully if
|> I can get to Syracuse this Saturday, I may buy one!
|> 
|> Thanks for any info
|> 
My comments are based on the 2 radios in our family, and a friend's radio.
I wrote a response to QST about the comment on the weak battery connection
and I believe we agreed to disagree, on very friendly terms though. All are
DJF1T's bought in the last 12 months.

My radio has been dropped about a dozen times. It also fell out of my
bike bag once and was drug by the coax attached to the antenna connector
for about 50 yards starting at about 15 mph. The case is gouged and
scratched, including some good dings in the battery. The radio works
fine. My wife drops her radio so much I put a soft case on the unit
to protect if from scratches. Of the 3 radios I am familiar with, none
of them have experienced a failure. I consider the radio as tough
as any on the market and think I have empirical data to back it up.
The QST reviewers dropped the radio 3 feet and the battery broke off.
I'm not sure why there is such a vast difference in our experience.

The disadvantages to the battery attaching to the back of the radio
are that #1 you need a belt clip for every battery and they don't come
with the spare batteries, and #2 the radio heats up a lot because the
heatsink for the final is up against the battery where it can't dissipate.
I have run my radio for several hours at 5 watts in a bike bag with
no ventilation. It doesn't seem to mind, it is just very warm to the
touch. The radio does have a built in thermal sensor that decreases
power before it will damge the final.

My only complaints about the radio are:

* It gets beat up a lot by intermod. This seems to be common though
in wide band tiny HT's.

* The "MONI" function is brain dead. It is supposed to apply a repeater
offset and open squelch so you can "Monitor Input" to a repeater and
see if simplex is possible. None of Alinco's HTs do this. I guess they
don't spend enough time playing with ICOM, Kenwood, and Yaesu before they
build the clone.:-)

* The DTMF pad gets disabled if you use the handy remote mike that lets
you change frequencies. The remote mic and DTMF are mutually exclusive
which is kind of a pain. I would not recommend buying the remote mic, but
get the regular mic.

Given these few problems and all of the features you get for your money
I highly recommend this radio to anyone wanting a small HT.

73

Dan Pritchett               | ARPA/Internet: dlp@zule.Eng.Sun.COM
SunSoft Desktop Prod. Tools | GEnie: D.PRITCHET3
                            | Packet: KM6PR@N0ARY.#NOCAL.CA.USA.NA
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I used to think that I was cool.
Running around on fossil fuel.
Until I saw what I was doing.
Was driving down the road to ruin.
            James Taylor
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc