DJ-X11 HF question

[Flatshovel]

Was thinking about getting this radio to take with me on my outings to listen to HF with and some VHF/UHF stuff as well. I have a HF receiver at home with a outside antenna that works well. I am interested in taking this along with me to listen to mainly HF with, I am not planning on hooking up antennas to it at the current time would just like to use what comes with it. Has anyone else used this radio to listen to HF with and how well does it work? I also have a HF related question, can you program in a couple of HF frequency's, turn up the squelch and put the radio in scan mode and let it pick up on a signal if it goes above the squelch setting? It that possible, what I am looking for is how it works for say conventional VHF frequency's is this possible? I have not actually tried it yet.

Thanks,
Joey

 

[ka3jjz]

Re scanning on HF - generally speaking this won't work well, due to the fact that noise levels vary from band to band (the lower the frequency, the ambient noise tends to be greater). In addition even a small little pop or any noise source would stop the scan. This is because AM is far more sensitive to noise than FM.

Haven't heard or seen any reviews on how well (or poorly) the DJ-X11 does on HF, but I'd suspect that the performance will be pretty poor - OK for hearing the stronger stations, but as one might expect, don't try to put any big antenna on it. It does have an attenuator, but that belies the issue in any case...

best regards..Mike

 

[skidplate]

I will second that scanning on HF is tough at best, it can be done if you keep your scanned frequencies more or less in the same bands. Depending on the environment you are in will also make or break the deal. When I am out in the bush I use my Icom R20 and a Miracle Antenna which is tunable and very compact. It wont work well for scanning more than 1-2 Mhz but it is great if I want to sit on 11175 or tune around the ham bands.
The Miracle Antenna when used with the R20 stock telescopic antenna really puts some giddy up in the HF signals. It even works with my stock duck antennas and my RH77's.
I wouldn't use a wide band receiver on HF without one.

 

[Flatshovel]

Thanks for the replys. I figured that scanning on HF would be a lot tougher than say VHF. I was just wondering on that, I really wanted to monitor a handful of HF freqs and have the radio open the squelch when activity was heard on it rather than have the radio just sit there on one freq and maybe miss traffic on another. I do have a IC706MKII that I use as my HF rig at the moment, I can try to program it and then do a scan just to see what happens. It may work or it may not, I am pretty persistent so even if I have to compromise a little it should be not big deal, I just wanted to get some ideas and comments on how good the radio worked. It looks good and the price is not all that bad for a rig that is so feature packed.

Thanks,
Joey

 

[perseus68]

Was thinking about getting this radio to take with me on my outings to listen to HF with and some VHF/UHF stuff as well. I have a HF receiver at home with a outside antenna that works well. I am interested in taking this along with me to listen to mainly HF with, I am not planning on hooking up antennas to it at the current time would just like to use what comes with it. Has anyone else used this radio to listen to HF with and how well does it work? I also have a HF related question, can you program in a couple of HF frequency's, turn up the squelch and put the radio in scan mode and let it pick up on a signal if it goes above the squelch setting? It that possible, what I am looking for is how it works for say conventional VHF frequency's is this possible? I have not actually tried it yet.

Thanks,
Joey

Hi Joey

I bought it 3 weeks ago (European version) but it did not came with the most recent firmware version.
Immediately I replaced the original antenna with a Diamond RH789 telescopic.
Very good performance at V/UHF for sure.
At HF (I was really interested to that band) I can clearly receive broadcast stations with the Diamond.
But utility stations like Shannon/NY Volmet are almost unreadable even with at maximum volume and on top of a 8000 feet mountain with low QRM..
For sure the audio of DJ-X11 is its poorest feature.
It should be stronger.
Buy a headphone set if you wanna hear something at HF which is not the usual strong station.
Unfortunately even after attaching a ~3 meter electric cable the reception at HF did not improve by much.
It's better but not great.
My nest step will be building a long wire+Balun.
I saw many videos on YouTube abou the Icom IC-R20 receiving HF stations with a indoor telescopic antenna and my Dj-X11 cannot compare to it. No way.
It could be my position (Canary Islands, Spain) or the old Firmware version but I'm a bit disappointed by the DJ-X11 performances at HF.
I plan to update the firmware as soon as I have the cable.
Just my 2 cents
73
Marco

 

[Flatshovel]

perseus68,
Thanks for posting the information. please let me know how you get out and what the performance is like after doing so. I have not purchased the radio myself yet, although i would like to. I was also thinking about getting the Icom R20 but I am not really sure yet. I do have access to a mobile HF rig, I have one but I have not installed it in my truck yet as I simply don't have a HF antenna to go on it. But the handheld would be great to take along with me when I am away from everthing else if it works. I know the antenna is a compromise on it but I was just wondering if it worked ok. please keep me up to date.

Joey

 

[perseus68]

perseus68,
Thanks for posting the information. please let me know how you get out and what the performance is like after doing so. I have not purchased the radio myself yet, although i would like to. I was also thinking about getting the Icom R20 but I am not really sure yet. I do have access to a mobile HF rig, I have one but I have not installed it in my truck yet as I simply don't have a HF antenna to go on it. But the handheld would be great to take along with me when I am away from everthing else if it works. I know the antenna is a compromise on it but I was just wondering if it worked ok. please keep me up to date.

Joey

Well after a long battle (thanks Alinco for not document all the things in the user manual) I could update the firmware to the latest 2.10 (E version).
I went outside with the Diamond RH789 antenna and tuned some Hams at 7.1 MHz or so.
I did not notice any significant improvement.
May be something better but it could also be a matter of better propagation tonight...

So I conclude that the HF sensitivity was not affected by the Firmware update.

Hope this helps
73s
Marco