ALINCO Mobile Radios
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DR-119T and older radios
As radios get this old and older you run into the problem of age and abuse. Not to say the older ones were not good, just their time has past. And the old ones do not have anywhere near the memory channels needed. Some Alincos of this generation have real trouble with backlights on displays going out.

DR-130T / DR-430T
The oldest series of radios I can recommend, even then it can be tough to find one in good condition. 20 memories is just enough, Upgradeable to 100 which is plenty. No frills, no extras just good performance! A DR-230T would have been nice.

DR-140T / DR-140TQ
A step back in a way, despite the added features of Alpha Numeric tags for memory channels and AM modulation receive as well as coverage down into the aircraft band. The electronic squelch is the main detractor! What the heck is up with this? High and low? Modular mic jac? Flimsy! Persistant rumors of CPU lockups on the radio persist. Lastly…. Where is the 70cm mono band, the DR-440T?. Btw the TQ has the tone decode board, shared with the DR-130T and DR-150T pre installed.

DR-150T / DR-150TQ
Now this is truly a -nice- radio, all the features added to the DR-140T except the Alpha tags. With 70cm receive added on and the squelch knob returned! Radio is also capable of direct frequency entry with the EMS-12 mic. More bells and whistles then I care to describe but at it’s heart, it’s still a simple alnico monoband, or if you will, a one and a half bander! Shame there was no DR-450T or DR-250T. TQ is the same at the TQ on the DR-140TQ

DR-135T / DR-235T / DR-435T
These radios have gone thru a few permutations and revisions, even a color or two! They are all very good radios, perhaps not quite to the standard of the DR-150 but still very good. 440 receive is gone from the DR-150T but in it’s place we have a full line of 222MHZ and 440MHZ radios. Alpha tags are back. And a new mic… mixed reviews on the mic, the slide hanger is gone replaced with a hanger. I like the slide hanger. At least it does not have that idiot modular jack. The neat feature is the 9 pin plug with full Motorola style COS and other signaling. This makes these radios an experimenter favorite.

Dualbands.
I am not a fan of dual bands…. They are at best a compromise radio. A compromise I am yet unwilling to make. You sacrifice a little on each band for convenience. I will however make a few notes. The DR-605T/ TQ shares the problems of the DR-140T/TQ. Rumors persist of intermod problems with the DR-620T and DR-635T models…
There is -one- Alinco Dual Band radio that does tempt me from time to time. The DR-610T/TQ. It shares the great features of the DR150T/TQ series. It may be one dual band radio I do purchase. If I could find one reasonably priced.


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