New Alinco DJ-X100 wideband receiver

[W4KRR]

I am looking into a possible hex edit of the software to push the upper frequency limit past 470 MHz. In my area, even 475 MHz would allow a slew of additional monitoring. I think it might be possible if one knew where the frequency limits are stored.

 

[AlexCA]

P25 is a very costly option. To expensive for the japanese market.
Same with TETRA.
Outside of europe, TETRA is not used much, and most of those systems are encrypted anyways.

May I correct you? It’s not that important unless you actually license the hardware or software codec from DVSI.

C4FM is basically a derivative standard, and adding P25 would’ve been easy. Open-source P25 implementations already exist on GitHub and in other public projects, so that wouldn’t be a problem. Plus, P25 is the number one public safety standard in the world by the number of systems and users (except for China, probably, where they have their own standard and codec, PDT). That’s why radios like the AOR DV1 and DV10 support it, and AOR is just as much a local manufacturer as Alinco.

I agree about TETRA. It’s complicated to implement and not really needed in North America or Japan.

But skipping P25 was a mistake. Without it, I’m not interested. I don’t care about C4FM, but if they ever add P25, I’ll buy three to five units right away for myself and some friends.

 

[imkesun]

May I correct you? It’s not that important unless you actually license the hardware or software codec from DVSI.

C4FM is basically a derivative standard, and adding P25 would’ve been easy. Open-source P25 implementations already exist on GitHub and in other public projects, so that wouldn’t be a problem. Plus, P25 is the number one public safety standard in the world by the number of systems and users (except for China, probably, where they have their own standard and codec, PDT). That’s why radios like the AOR DV1 and DV10 support it, and AOR is just as much a local manufacturer as Alinco.

I agree about TETRA. It’s complicated to implement and not really needed in North America or Japan.

But skipping P25 was a mistake. Without it, I’m not interested. I don’t care about C4FM, but if they ever add P25, I’ll buy three to five units right away for myself and some friends.

You're forgetting one thing.. The DJ-X100 was primarily built for the japanese market, The European and US-Version are an add-on to lower the per-unit cost of the hardware. The only P25 Systems in Japan (to my knowledge) are the US-Bases (same in Europe, plus some ham-operators). In Europe Law-Enforcement, Fire, and Rescue are on TETRA (Fully encrypted). Businesses in germany run on DMR,dPMR, or Analog. Some public transport systems are on TETRA.
Most Japanese governments, police and fire, self-defense forces and ex-national railroads use Japanese-made CODEC such as CELP and other formats that receivers are not available for public. Most land mobile use DCR format, that is a cousin of NXDN and dPMR made by Icom and JVCK

Cheers

 

[lamarrsy]

Hello, just to chime-in about my latest acquisition : DJ-X100E.

The radio is on version 4.00-04 DSP 1.07 AMBE 009.
AIS and ACARS works correctly, dPMR is available on the radio and in the CPS software (even if it as no use for me, i just wanted to add this info for others to see).
The special code opening the "maintenance" menu works OK too.
But no dice for the SC and POCSAG special code punched into the CPS while displaying the version info, no POCSAG menu appears after doing this and uploading the config to the radio.
The radios has very good decoding of DSTAR, C4FM Fusion, and DMR (displaying TG).
Its a nice "plus" being able to monitor the 3 ham modes on a single radio !
But i really hope someday Alinco will allow us to enter a series of TG to monitor in DMR mode, as for now it is "ALL" or any single TG we can enter, but no series of 2 or more TG.
The audio leveling/amp/eq works wonder !
The battery life is more than adequate, giving plenty of listening for a whole day without problem.

But i have no luck so far in decoding NXDN 4-channels trunked site programmed as 4 individual channels, either in NXDN(N) or NXDN(VN); I must say that this system has conflictual info posted, whereas it is identified as a 9600 NXDN system, but where my BCD436hp tells me it is a NX4 system.

 

[imkesun]

Hello, just to chime-in about my latest acquisition : DJ-X100E.

The radio is on version 4.00-04 DSP 1.07 AMBE 009.
AIS and ACARS works correctly, dPMR is available on the radio and in the CPS software (even if it as no use for me, i just wanted to add this info for others to see).
The special code opening the "maintenance" menu works OK too.
But no dice for the SC and POCSAG special code punched into the CPS while displaying the version info, no POCSAG menu appears after doing this and uploading the config to the radio.
The radios has very good decoding of DSTAR, C4FM Fusion, and DMR (displaying TG).
Its a nice "plus" being able to monitor the 3 ham modes on a single radio !
But i really hope someday Alinco will allow us to enter a series of TG to monitor in DMR mode, as for now it is "ALL" or any single TG we can enter, but no series of 2 or more TG.
The audio leveling/amp/eq works wonder !
The battery life is more than adequate, giving plenty of listening for a whole day without problem.

But i have no luck so far in decoding NXDN 4-channels trunked site programmed as 4 individual channels, either in NXDN(N) or NXDN(VN); I must say that this system has conflictual info posted, whereas it is identified as a 9600 NXDN system, but where my BCD436hp tells me it is a NX4 system.

On the unit itself the TG can be programmed.
As for software to programm the unit, I use the software from RT-Systems. It also let's me set the TG.

Cheers

 

[lamarrsy]

On the unit itself the TG can be programmed.
As for software to programm the unit, I use the software from RT-Systems. It also let's me set the TG.

Cheers

Ok yes, thanks for the cue about the tg setting on the unit itself !
I too, have bought the RT Systems software, nice addition (as like other versions I have for different radios), but haven’t explored it much yet.

I only wish we could enter a few TGs, aka the concept of « TG Lists » on other brands / models of radios / scanners.

 

[dsankir]

Hello, just to chime-in about my latest acquisition : DJ-X100E.

The radio is on version 4.00-04 DSP 1.07 AMBE 009.
AIS and ACARS works correctly, dPMR is available on the radio and in the CPS software (even if it as no use for me, i just wanted to add this info for others to see).
The special code opening the "maintenance" menu works OK too.
But no dice for the SC and POCSAG special code punched into the CPS while displaying the version info, no POCSAG menu appears after doing this and uploading the config to the radio.
The radios has very good decoding of DSTAR, C4FM Fusion, and DMR (displaying TG).
Its a nice "plus" being able to monitor the 3 ham modes on a single radio !
But i really hope someday Alinco will allow us to enter a series of TG to monitor in DMR mode, as for now it is "ALL" or any single TG we can enter, but no series of 2 or more TG.
The audio leveling/amp/eq works wonder !
The battery life is more than adequate, giving plenty of listening for a whole day without problem.

But i have no luck so far in decoding NXDN 4-channels trunked site programmed as 4 individual channels, either in NXDN(N) or NXDN(VN); I must say that this system has conflictual info posted, whereas it is identified as a 9600 NXDN system, but where my BCD436hp tells me it is a NX4 system.

For nxdn same here no luck to decode 5 channels...Even my other Uniden s can decode all the way...

 

[DANY]

Hello!
I am about to purchase a Radioscanner, but I still have doubts about which one to choose: the Alinco DJ-X100E or the AOR-DV10 (DV-10´s units starting with the AA6336XX series manufactured from 2022, which I understand no longer have frequency stability issues).
I should mention that I live in Germany. So, I am not interested in TETRA (everything is encrypted in Germany), APCO P25, or trunking.
Which one has better reception for: AM, FM, dPMR, DMR, D-Star, FM-Fusion, C4FM, and possibly NXDN?

Is there anyone who owns both radios and could advise me? Thank you in advance!

 

[W4KRR]

Hello!
I am about to purchase a Radioscanner, but I still have doubts about which one to choose: the Alinco DJ-X100E or the AOR-DV10 (DV-10´s units starting with the AA6336XX series manufactured from 2022, which I understand no longer have frequency stability issues).
I should mention that I live in Germany. So, I am not interested in TETRA (everything is encrypted in Germany), APCO P25, or trunking.
Which one has better reception for: AM, FM, dPMR, DMR, D-Star, FM-Fusion, C4FM, and possibly NXDN?

Is there anyone who owns both radios and could advise me? Thank you in advance!

I own both radios. If I had to pick one, I would pick the DJ-X100. The screen is easier to read, and it is color customizable, and is easier to program, IMO. The only downside is the frequency coverage of the DJ-X100 is less than the DV-10, and the DJ-X100 doesn't cover the HF bands or sideband modes. The DV-10 has poor battery life; I get only about five hours on a charge. However the DV-10 works fine for what it does.

I have not tested dPMR or D-Star, as those modes are not used around my area.

 

[DANY]

I own both radios. If I had to pick one, I would pick the DJ-X100. The screen is easier to read, and it is color customizable, and is easier to program, IMO. The only downside is the frequency coverage of the DJ-X100 is less than the DV-10, and the DJ-X100 doesn't cover the HF bands or sideband modes. The DV-10 has poor battery life; I get only about five hours on a charge. However the DV-10 works fine for what it does.

I have not tested dPMR or D-Star, as those modes are not used around my area.

Thank you for your advice. For me, Alinco would be perfect if: had automatic modulation recognition, could covered the CB band, and could capable between 77-87.5 MHz NFM and not just WFM (which is not optimized for the European version where the FM broadcasting band starts at 88 MHz and not at 77 MHz)."
Despite all these minor shortcomings, I will probably buy the Alinco. Thanks!

 

[palmerjrusa]

Hello!
I am about to purchase a Radioscanner, but I still have doubts about which one to choose: the Alinco DJ-X100E or the AOR-DV10 (DV-10´s units starting with the AA6336XX series manufactured from 2022, which I understand no longer have frequency stability issues).
I should mention that I live in Germany. So, I am not interested in TETRA (everything is encrypted in Germany), APCO P25, or trunking.
Which one has better reception for: AM, FM, dPMR, DMR, D-Star, FM-Fusion, C4FM, and possibly NXDN?

Is there anyone who owns both radios and could advise me? Thank you in advance

I would think really hard about purchasing an AR-DV10 (I own one but not the Alinco DJ-X100E). In my opinion the AR-DV10 is way over-priced and lacks features that should be standard at this price point (no GPS, very primitive recording feature, P25 decoding is very mediocre, no dual scanning etc.). It seems to have been released mid-way through development, there's a whole bunch of just empty lines in the menu as if AOR intended to include features but didn't bother. The only two positives are the radio's construction is very high quality and there's plenty of volume available. I would think about buying a second-hand Icom IC-R30 (they are no longer in production). As others have noted here many times the IC-R30 is hands down the best handheld wideband receiver ever produced. It's very sensitive, more so than the AR-DV10, doesn't suffer from intermod (I have to use a filter when monitoring milair frequencies, something my IC-R30 handles easily without breaking sweat) has a GPS, has dual scanning and sophisticated recording ability. The only thing the IC-R30 lacks is DMR decoding ability. You could buy a second-hand IC-R30 and have plenty $$$ left over to buy another scanner that decodes DMR signals. My AR-DV10 doesn't seem to have the frequency drift issue others have noted in their units though.

 

[palmerjrusa]

Hello!
I am about to purchase a Radioscanner, but I still have doubts about which one to choose: the Alinco DJ-X100E or the AOR-DV10 (DV-10´s units starting with the AA6336XX series manufactured from 2022, which I understand no longer have frequency stability issues).
I should mention that I live in Germany. So, I am not interested in TETRA (everything is encrypted in Germany), APCO P25, or trunking.
Which one has better reception for: AM, FM, dPMR, DMR, D-Star, FM-Fusion, C4FM, and possibly NXDN?

Is there anyone who owns both radios and could advise me? Thank you in advance!

My AR-DV10 also has this issue with its squelch control, I assume they all do.
You try and get the squelch right to catch weak signals and it starts making a clicking sound when scanning that opens the squelch and activates the display light when there's no signal present. You increase the squelch level to stop the clicking and now it doesn't open for weak signals.

Battery life is also mediocre and the battery display icon is very poorly calibrated, it will indicate "empty" when there's still a lot of power available.