Had an Alinco dual bander abt 20 yrs ago. In fact, I think it's in the basement. Nice rig, it could scan several UHF public service bands as well as its ham functions.
I have the Alinco DJ500 from about 3 years ago. It works fine, they offer all sorts of useful accessories and it performs well. With an optional high gain HT antenna from Diamond I hit repeaters 20 miles away on the HT at times and when I used it in the Jeep with a Hustler MX2/440 I had a QSO with a Va ham on my way to work. They are inexpensive and reliable.. NO plastic feel or lightweight flimsiness. The supplied battery works well but if you will be stationary I suggest their battery eliminator with adaptor to battery pack out to a cigarette lighter plug. Easy 5 watts out all day long that way vs having to use 2.5 or 1 watt to save battery on long qso's. The programming is a bit of a trick, takes time to do but is doable if you are not easily frustrated. Chirp and the usual RF Systems programming tools work well with it. I take mine to work when the XYL has the truck and I can get into most of the repeaters around the area with no problem.
Thank you for the reply and I was wondering if you could explain the above a little better. I have no idea what all that is and didn't see it on their website. Thanks in advance!
Thank you! I didn't see that as an optional accessory for the DJ-VX50, just for the DJ-500. I will contact Alinco and make sure it will work for the radio I ordered.
or, instead of taking the HT mobile, get a nice 50W mobile rig. But see how you like this new HT first. I'll enjoy your post about it. And you being a newbie makes it better in some ways, what was easy, what was difficult to figure out, etc.
The Alnico DX-70 is one of the most underrated HF rigs ever made, they are amazing little radios. No menus and they came standard with filters. I see them used for $200-$300 all the time. What a great rig.
Well, have someone at Remtronix looking into the car charger issue for me. Also, since this radio is new, the programming software is just coming available today. He said he'd email it to me and I've already ordered the programming cable. Radio should be here Wed. and the mic will be here today!