Alinco: First Look at the Alinco DR-638

[methusaleh]

Rich, thank you for the reply!

I am waiting to pull the trigger now as my fiancée is now passing the General practice tests, and I'd much rather have her jump into HF if she can pass her upgrade next month (fingers crossed!)

 

[N9JIG]

In answer to varadero129: I have not needed or used any additional memory above the main bank, so I haven't the experience with it.

I still have not seen any software yet, I might check back with Chirp regularly to see if they come up with a solution.

 

[kny2xb]

Good Evening Rich;

Out of curiosity, have you tested your Alinco on marine, railroad and aircraft yet?

If so, how well does it receive those bands/services?

Thank You

 

[N9JIG]

Good Evening Rich;

Out of curiosity, have you tested your Alinco on marine, railroad and aircraft yet?

If so, how well does it receive those bands/services?

Thank You

It seems to receive very well on railroad freqs, which is what i use it for most these days. I am receiving detectors much further away on the 638 than I am with the BCD996XT that uses an identical antenna in the car.

I haven't used it on marine channels but I assume it will work just fine there as well.

Aircraft seems to work just fine as well, it is a little mushy sounding but not annoyingly so.

 

[KT0DD]

DR-638T GMRS legallity

I found this on a GMRS sales company's website... Take it as you wish.


The following is the specific section of the law that applies to GMRS equipment:

§ 95.129 Station equipment.

Every station in a GMRS system must use transmitters the FCC has certificated for use in the GMRS. Write to any FCC Field Office to find out if a particular transmitter has been certificated for the GMRS. All station equipment in a GMRS system must comply with the technical rules in part 95.

Many interpret that last sentence (our emphasis) to mean that as long as the radio is technically compliant with part 95, it is OK to use even if it wasn't specifically type accepted for it. Under this interpretation, Part 90 accepted UHF business radios would be allowed. (One caveat is scrambling. Some business radios support it but it cannot legally be used on GMRS.)

We Will Sell Business Radios For GMRS

We have never been made aware of anyone having a legal issue using a Part 90 radio for GMRS, and we will program a business radio for GMRS at a customer's request. Please understand, however, that the operator of the radio is ultimately responsible for using the device in compliance with the FCC regulations.

 

[radef]

Hello, and welcome everyone!

I'm a proud owner of the DR-638, it is the H or HE version, as I live in Europe, and ordered it from Germany. I asked the retailer to open the freq. range, so I can listen RX and TX on the full freq. range of the radio.

I use it as a base radio, and like it very much, works perfectly. I haven't found the software on the internet yet, and buying it with the cable is too expensive, so I started to program it manually. After the first few channels the practice helps and it's not a big pain.

What I don't understand and curious about your opinion is how the memory banks operation works. The manual says on page 5 that there is the normal memory with channels 1-200, then bank A, B, C, D, E, F up to CH758. That's fine, I programmed my channels according to this. But, when I use menu 55 (memory banks enquiry, BAK on the display) and set it to ON, then menu 57-63 becomes available with selecting bank A-F and 'Bank CH' which I don't know what it is, maybe the channels 1-200, and I can set them ON or OFF.

What is strange, maybe this is a firmware bug, not sure, that I need to be in banks mode (Func key then Moni key, asterisk sign is displayed) to work or not, but I tried every combination and it's not clear. Sometimes the channel dial is restricted into e.g. bank A when it is set ON or OFF, but scanning in memory mode extends to other channels in other banks, sometimes it's the opposite. So I cannot give an exact description but I don't have success in using this function?

Can anyone help me with this?

Have you figured out what is going on here? I'm interested in hearing about the bank features and how it impacts scan. Have any insight to share?

 

[KT0DD]

DR-638T Programming Software

I bought a DR-638T at Christmas and have not yet tried it out but am about to. I have looked all over for free programming software offered by Alinco and haven't found it offered. However, RT Systems has a programming kit available thru their home site and several amateur radio dealers offer it. The kit includes the cable and software.

The cheapest I found is Universal Radio, Item # APK-638. I paid just under $54. shipped to Colorado.

Don't know if Alinco will ever offer the software for free. The cable by itself is $37 + tax / shipping.

73. Todd - KT0DD

 

[MTS2000des]

One of the reasons I have avoided buying Alinco is their lack of service/support on the web.

Remtronix is their North American distributor. Not even on their website is a link to this "free" software.

If I cannot get software to program an LMR radio, it is of no use to me.
for the premium prices they are charging for obviously OEM'd Chinese radios, I would expect a higher level of service. At least put the programming software up for download.

https://remtronix.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=278

 

[KT0DD]

RT Systems Software issue?

Hello, I just programmed my DR-638 with the RT Systems software and have found a glitch. I now cannot get the radio to go into VFO mode with the front V/M button and the CALL and MHZ button functions seem not to work either. Have not tried mic buttons yet.

I did a full factory reset and then the buttons did start working, but as soon as I write to memory with the software, again the V/M, Call and MHz buttons stop working.

I wonder if this is how Alinco locks the radio into strictly LMR Part 90 mode, or did I get a defective one? I am programming both LMR and Amateur frequencies. It would be nice to save time with software, over manual programming.

Anyone else have this issue?

Todd - KT0DD

 

[KT0DD]

Disregard above post. RT systems resolved the issue on the phone. Not only does the channel lock have to be unchecked in the radio settings menu, you also have to set the display mode to frequency (not channel like I had) for the VFO to work after programming. Then after programming is done , if you wish you can go into the radio menu manually on the radio and set the display to freq/channel/name as you like.

73. KT0DD

 

[VK4ZDB]

does anybody have the mod for TX frequency expansion. I see someone in UK is doing the mod for 29 pounds.
VK4ZDB

 

[n5tbu]

I wonder if this radio has squelch tail elimination on CTCSS?
Also called reverse burst.
Mark

 

[SigIntel8600]

Hi Rich,

I know resurrecting old threads are generally frowned upon but I am just wondering how your 638 is holding up. I just received mine today. So far impressed with build quality and performance. Scanning speed is adequate.

 

[N9JIG]

So far so good. As typical for Alinco it is very sensitive. Since I live out in the desert, 15 miles from the nearest town I get no real interference or intermod. When I go into the city I occasionally get some noise, intermod or adjacent channel stuff.

I have had it for about a year and a half and I would still have bought it today if I needed it.

 

[SigIntel8600]

So far so good. As typical for Alinco it is very sensitive. Since I live out in the desert, 15 miles from the nearest town I get no real interference or intermod. When I go into the city I occasionally get some noise, intermod or adjacent channel stuff.

I have had it for about a year and a half and I would still have bought it today if I needed it.

Rich, thanks for the update. Glad to hear the rig is holding up. I am using mine in the shack on a Tram 1411 discone. No issues on my end at this time.

 

[N9JIG]

I just now figured out why I was never able to get the FCC ID search to work with this radio. You need to put a dash before the DR638 part.

https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/reports/GenericSearch.cfm then use "PH3" as the Grantee Code, then use "-DR638" in the Product Code. Use the Dash, but not the parentheses.

This does show that while the DR-638 is indeed Part 90 certified it is not Part 95. Whether this actually means one can legally use it on GMRS depends on your interpretation of the rules and I make no recommendation as to which way to go.

 

[Seven-Delta-FortyOne]

I'm getting ready to buy one of these. You still like it?

It does have a VFO for Ham use, right?


Delta

 

[N9JIG]

Yes I do and Yes it does.

 

[Seven-Delta-FortyOne]

Thanks!

Delta

 

[Seven-Delta-FortyOne]

Can you program a frequency for receive only, like you can with other commercial units?


Delta