Alinco News

Just got this in my e-mail.

Belmont, CA, March 1, 2010 -GRE, Inc and Alinco, Inc. today announced an agreement under which GRE America, Inc. will distribute, offer customer support, and provide warranty and non-warranty repair for radios and amplification equipment under the Alinco brand for all of North America. Both the Amateur Radio and Radio Scanning communities will benefit from the alliance of these great companies.

Under the agreement, GRE, Inc. will be the exclusive distributor of Alinco products in Canada, USA, and Mexico and will handle all warranty service and parts orders. GRE will also provide out-of warranty service as will other currently authorized Alinco service centers.

Wayne Wilson, WR5S, Executive VP at GRE said, “Alinco is an important and popular brand in the Amateur Radio community. Alinco has regularly been an innovator and Alinco products offer great value for the features. On the GRE side, GRE remains the preferred OEM/ODM for the largest retailer of scanners and remains the #1 manufacturer of scanners for over 40 years. GRE digital trunking scanners are recognized as best performing and easiest to program and to operate. No one knows scanning receivers better than GRE.”

Wayne continued, “GRE has designed and manufactured technical products for decades. To do that successfully, we had to provide excellent customer service – GRE has a lot to bring to the GRE/Alinco alliance. With Alinco’s great products, this marriage of product and service will be quickly recognized by the Amateur Radio community. Of course, GRE will continue to develop and manufacture the world’s most popular scanning receiver products as well. Since these products share much of the same distribution chain, we see huge benefits to dealers and customers, too.”


About GRE:
Established in 1961, GRE Inc. designs, manufactures and markets the GRECOM line of analog and digital scanning receivers. Additionally, GRE is the world’s #1 largest private label Original Equipment / Original Design Manufacturer of scanning receivers. GRE also produces industrial and consumer communication and electronic products for a many of the world’s leading electronic companies and governments.


About Alinco:
Established in 1970, Alinco, Inc. manufactures radio and amplification equipment, and in the Japanese market, metal products, construction equipment, and exercise equipment. Alinco introduced their communication products into the US Market over 20 years ago.

Contact: GRE, Wayne Wilson at (650) 591-1400

 

FACT ABOUT ALINCO: Rhymes with El-Stinko

 

And GRE translates into muy el stinko. ;-)

 

Alinco & GRE

I have owned an Alinco HT & Mobile with no problems. I just ordered a GRE scanner and hope it does not turn out to be an el stinko.....I guess you can kind find a lemon in anything.

N8YN

 

I have an old DR590 that keeps going and going. I have had this radio for 20 years now; I've had several Icom and Yaesu rigs die, but this old radio keeps going.

I have several pieces of Alinco gear in my shack; their VHF/UHF gear in my opinion is as good as anything else on the market today.
I can't speak for the HF rigs, as I've never owned one.
73, John W4JPL

 

I guess I'll be the "odd man out" and defend Alinco. My very first FM rig was an Alinco DR-590T. At the same time, I purchased a DJ-580T handheld. They were purchased in 1991. The DR-590T is still in service (I gave it to a good friend) and I replaced it with a DR-635. The DJ-580 was lost or stolen about a year ago. The only thing I ever had to do to the DR-590 was change the memory backup battery.

In contrast, I've had to replace RF power modules in Yaesu sets for friends. I've had to replace myriad parts to resurrect a Kenwood TM-742, and know of another TM-742 that was never right from the factory. I've also replaced dozens of other parts on various Kenwood, Icom, and Yaesu rigs.

Am I saying that Alinco is perfect? No. Nothing is perfect. I won't even say that they're better than the "big three". But I will go so far as to say they are every bit as good, in my 19 years of experience as a ham who repairs rigs for others. And they're one heckuva lot more intuitive in the keystrokes required to perform an operation. I once bought a Yaesu FT-530 handheld, and sold it for $100 less than I paid for it around a month later because it was too difficult to operate.

As far as GRE scanners, they are the manufacturer of all (as far as I know) scanners sold under the Radio Shack name. I don't think any brand of scanner is "better" than another either. Oh some have different features that are not present on others, but as far as basic capabilities and physical robustness, they're all about the same. You pick your feature needs and you buy a scanner that matches that, it doesn't matter who makes it.

Every manufacturer builds a lemon from time to time. Perhaps you guys got some of them? Personally, I wouldn't swap my DR-635 for TWO radios from ANY other manufacturer!

A buddy of mine once went to a hamfest with me for the specific purpose of buying an Alinco mobile transceiver. The first dealer we went to asked him in a very insulting tone of voice: "Why do you want one of those, because it's cheap?" It was obvious he didn't sell Alinco radios. That dealer permanently lost a customer that day (and subsequently went out of business, probably because of his attitudes toward customers).

-AJ4VM

 

After getting a dud yaesu base/mobile right out of the box, as my first radio purchase. I think my next purchase will be an Alinco or Icom hand held.

 

Decent radios

I've had both the VHF/UHF units (still have an old DR570...works great) and the DX70/70TH radios. No problems with any of them except a "dead" DX70 I bought to tinker with....an ex-CB "modified" rig it turned out, with a toasted BPF board...an abuse fault, not a design or rig fault. I've had Icoms which have died, Yaesu rigs which were non-functional, etc. +1 on the other comments....no "perfect radio" but Alinco IMHO builds a decent rig. Currently I have rigs from 4 manufacturers in the shack, even the Alincos work fine.

Don't sweat it so much...in picking a rig, do your homework, look for the facts (not just opinions), get on the air, & enjoy the hobby!

 

Some Very Good Alinco Models

Alinco has produced some extremely good models over the years. Their ALM-206T 2m mobile had one of the best receivers ever produced in an amateur rig. The DR-570T dual-band rig also had a tremendous receiver and still commands a fairly high price when one can be found in good condition.

Like all other manufacturers they have also had a few not-so-good rigs (the ALD-24T among them) but those have been few and far between. Also, after scanning multiple reviews of Alinco products on eHam it would appear that Alinco's overall product reliability is at least as good (and perhaps better than) the big three.

 

An Alinco DR135 and Kantronics KPC3+ make a great mountain top digipeater for APRS or digipeater / mailbox / node for packet.

 

Great radio for the price!

I've had an Alinco 510 dual bander for many years, and it still has crisp and clear audio and gets great reports on transmit. Every fellow ham has told me to trade up for better, and like most of you, why unload something that does the job? Why does Alinco have such a bad rep.? Even my 196ht Alinco has been great. Perhaps the others have a better advertising budget? I own a Yaesu HF rig, which is not any better than my Alinco.

 

I still have really nice DJ-580 and 570 mobile -- both in great working condition. I don't believe this Alinco longevity is unheard of.

YMMV.

 

The HTs aren't bad

With the exception of the ridiculous "C" models, the HTs aren't bad. My first HT was a DJ-120, a radio they advertised as a 7 watt HT. It was, and then some.

I worked MIR with that HT.
John KB2HSH

 

Good News to hear that. Had my DR-600 for 2 years works great. ONly thing have had to do is change the Lithium bat. Not bad for 15 yr old radio.

 

DJ 580 and Satellite work

I have recently purchased a used DJ 580 HT from one owner.
I use this with a Diamond telescopic antenna to work AO-51
and HO-68 satellites. I am happy with the unit overall. There
minor difficulties to overcome, such as the readout being to
small to read comfortably and the dial light not working.
It is easier to just program in all the frequencies you are planning
to utilize and take it from there..

I give this unit a 6 overall.