After the recent death of my trusty old Alinco DR-635 I had planned on getting another one. I liked the size of the remote head and how sensitive the radio is. It also had a great sounding TX audio according to those I communicated with.
While scouting prices on Universal’s website I came across the new Alinco DR-638. This is very similar to the DR-635 but was reported as Part 90 accepted. Thus it was listed as full TX from 400-480 and 136-174 MHz. Receive range is wider, with AM Aircraft and 220 covered.
I know a lot of people would mod their dual band ham rigs so they could get full TX in these bands and that the 635 was popular in some areas since it would work on part of the T-Band when most rigs stopped at 470. The problem is that it was not legal and the radios did not always work well out of band.
Now here comes the Alinco 638, which is legal on these bands but still retains the ham functionality of a VFO and direct frequency entry. Alas, GMRS users, it is not Part 95 approved, so while it works just fine on GMRS it is not technically legal there.
Since the radio is so new there is not a lot to read about it. Google searches showed 2 of the first 3 links as my various inquiries recently. I wanted to know if the 638 would work with my old 635 remote kit (it won’t I found out later) and if it would support full access to frequency programming, at least in the ham bands and receive (it does, and then some…).
So, after approval from the head office (AKA wife) I ordered the radio, the remote kit and programming cable from Universal. All in it was under $450, the radio itself is only $360. The radio was ordered on Wednesday and arrived at my office on Friday. The programming cable and remote kit were back-ordered, they should arrive pretty quickly.
When I first took it out of the box I checked how the head was connected to the radio, turns out it uses standard RJ45 8-pin Ethernet style connections. The 635 had used a 6 pin phone style modular connecter. This should make life easier for those wanting to do some custom installs.
I also noticed that the mic was larger and heavier. Later I discovered that there is a speaker in the mic to hear the radio traffic (very cool). This will come in handy when driving with the windows down or other high noise situations, just hold the mic up to your ear and voila!.
I brought the radio home and connected it to a power supply and antenna. The radio came to life and I started playing. I popped in a local 2M repeater and it worked fine. I then popped in a few from further distances and realized that, like the 635, the 638 was very sensitive. I then tuned into the 162 MHz. weather channels and received stations on all 7. I realized that the sensitivity of this radio was better than the R8500 I borrowed the antenna from. I then tried things on the AM aircraft band and was similarly impressed.
Without the programming cable and software I can see that programming anything other than a few standard offset repeaters and simplex channels is going to be a challenge. I imagine it can be done without a computer but I haven’t really tried yet except for a few channels. With over 700 various memory channels one wouldn’t want to rely solely on panel programming anyway.
According to the pictures it looks like programming is done via the mic jack instead of the speaker jack as the 635. This could account for the extra pins needed for the remote head. This also makes it simpler to connect to for installations in which the back of the radio is in a cabinet or otherwise difficult to access.
Some of the features that the radio has according to the brochure and manual include DTMF, 2-Tone and 5-Tone signaling, Ignition Sense wiring, 4 power levels (5-10-25-50 watts, 40 on UHF), VV and UU modes, Crossband repeat and a color-selectable display.
I am anxiously awaiting the programming cable and software for this radio, it will make a huge difference. For me this radio will replace 3 in my car, and since I am now in a much smaller one, that will really help. I had VHF and UHF LMR radios as well as the 635, and on UHF I need to be able to use 470-476 T-Band. Now I can do all of this in one radio. While it may not have the selectivity one comes to expect from a Motorola, nor MDC ANI it seems to be a worthy replacement for me.
If you need a low cost, analog only radio for VHF, UHF or both and want to be able to do LMR and ham in the same radio the DR-635 might well be an option for you. I would hesitate to recommend it to a city dweller do to the lack of selectivity, but in suburban and rural locales it works great.
I had bought my old DR-635 because the head was pretty small and would fit well in my wife's car, the 638 is the same size and will work well in the CR-V I now drive after downsizing from a van. With this I can still access my work channels as needed and still play on 2M and 440. The VV/UU function allows me to customize my listening. I like to use my dual bander while railfanning to listen to 2M and the local road channel, this will work great for that.
With the oodles of memory I can program in a ton of channels and set it up for various uses.
I bought mine from: Alinco DR-638T, Alinco DR638 Transceiver. I am very happy with the service and pricing from Universal and have bought from them several times before and will again many times in the future.
I have no business interest in Universal or Alinco and paid catalog price for this radio.
While scouting prices on Universal’s website I came across the new Alinco DR-638. This is very similar to the DR-635 but was reported as Part 90 accepted. Thus it was listed as full TX from 400-480 and 136-174 MHz. Receive range is wider, with AM Aircraft and 220 covered.
I know a lot of people would mod their dual band ham rigs so they could get full TX in these bands and that the 635 was popular in some areas since it would work on part of the T-Band when most rigs stopped at 470. The problem is that it was not legal and the radios did not always work well out of band.
Now here comes the Alinco 638, which is legal on these bands but still retains the ham functionality of a VFO and direct frequency entry. Alas, GMRS users, it is not Part 95 approved, so while it works just fine on GMRS it is not technically legal there.
Since the radio is so new there is not a lot to read about it. Google searches showed 2 of the first 3 links as my various inquiries recently. I wanted to know if the 638 would work with my old 635 remote kit (it won’t I found out later) and if it would support full access to frequency programming, at least in the ham bands and receive (it does, and then some…).
So, after approval from the head office (AKA wife) I ordered the radio, the remote kit and programming cable from Universal. All in it was under $450, the radio itself is only $360. The radio was ordered on Wednesday and arrived at my office on Friday. The programming cable and remote kit were back-ordered, they should arrive pretty quickly.
When I first took it out of the box I checked how the head was connected to the radio, turns out it uses standard RJ45 8-pin Ethernet style connections. The 635 had used a 6 pin phone style modular connecter. This should make life easier for those wanting to do some custom installs.
I also noticed that the mic was larger and heavier. Later I discovered that there is a speaker in the mic to hear the radio traffic (very cool). This will come in handy when driving with the windows down or other high noise situations, just hold the mic up to your ear and voila!.
I brought the radio home and connected it to a power supply and antenna. The radio came to life and I started playing. I popped in a local 2M repeater and it worked fine. I then popped in a few from further distances and realized that, like the 635, the 638 was very sensitive. I then tuned into the 162 MHz. weather channels and received stations on all 7. I realized that the sensitivity of this radio was better than the R8500 I borrowed the antenna from. I then tried things on the AM aircraft band and was similarly impressed.
Without the programming cable and software I can see that programming anything other than a few standard offset repeaters and simplex channels is going to be a challenge. I imagine it can be done without a computer but I haven’t really tried yet except for a few channels. With over 700 various memory channels one wouldn’t want to rely solely on panel programming anyway.
According to the pictures it looks like programming is done via the mic jack instead of the speaker jack as the 635. This could account for the extra pins needed for the remote head. This also makes it simpler to connect to for installations in which the back of the radio is in a cabinet or otherwise difficult to access.
Some of the features that the radio has according to the brochure and manual include DTMF, 2-Tone and 5-Tone signaling, Ignition Sense wiring, 4 power levels (5-10-25-50 watts, 40 on UHF), VV and UU modes, Crossband repeat and a color-selectable display.
I am anxiously awaiting the programming cable and software for this radio, it will make a huge difference. For me this radio will replace 3 in my car, and since I am now in a much smaller one, that will really help. I had VHF and UHF LMR radios as well as the 635, and on UHF I need to be able to use 470-476 T-Band. Now I can do all of this in one radio. While it may not have the selectivity one comes to expect from a Motorola, nor MDC ANI it seems to be a worthy replacement for me.
If you need a low cost, analog only radio for VHF, UHF or both and want to be able to do LMR and ham in the same radio the DR-635 might well be an option for you. I would hesitate to recommend it to a city dweller do to the lack of selectivity, but in suburban and rural locales it works great.
I had bought my old DR-635 because the head was pretty small and would fit well in my wife's car, the 638 is the same size and will work well in the CR-V I now drive after downsizing from a van. With this I can still access my work channels as needed and still play on 2M and 440. The VV/UU function allows me to customize my listening. I like to use my dual bander while railfanning to listen to 2M and the local road channel, this will work great for that.
With the oodles of memory I can program in a ton of channels and set it up for various uses.
I bought mine from: Alinco DR-638T, Alinco DR638 Transceiver. I am very happy with the service and pricing from Universal and have bought from them several times before and will again many times in the future.
I have no business interest in Universal or Alinco and paid catalog price for this radio.