greets all,

I've been reading all the reviews I can find on the Alinco DJ-X2000 in an attempt to
find out what this radio's all about before either spending good or bad money.

Thus far, the two best reviews I've found (and maybe the only reviews) are he

http://www.strongsignals.net/access/...recv&num= 039

and

http://www.ukmidlandscanner.co.uk/djx2krev.htm

First things first:

The place I plan on ordering my unit from is www.Radio-Export.com, with a price
tag of $610.00 This is the "export" version ("E" model) with no blocked bands.

From The Reviews:

Perhaps most importantly, it seems as though the "early" models of the X2000 had
an unnecessary and annoying amount of audio noise (described as a light hissing sound),
but I'm gathering that this is a problem that has been fixed (or at least diminished to a degree)
in later models. Good quality of received audio is a must for me, as so much of transmitting equipment
has enough noise in it already, as most of us know. In this case, it's even doubly important
that the audio be as clear as possible. Perhaps someone who owns an X2000 could give me some
more info regarding this?

Another somewhat daunting prospect was the way the effectiveness of the "Flash Tune" was
described. A quote from the second review regarding the flash tune featu

"Although this feature does not appear to work that well, hats off to Alinco for incorporating it,
other manufacturers (Or Alinco themselves ) should maybe concentrate on perfecting this feature
in later models. NOTE: I have spoken to another user of the DJX-2000 and he swears by it, he
admits that he does sometimes get the false readings but that for him the flash tune works almost
every time."


Hmmm.

Granted, nothing's perfect, and you can certainly expect false signals from time to time,
but does it work, or doesn't it? For anyone who reads the entirety of the review, and the
way the flash tune performance is described, it's hard to believe that Alinco would release a
radio which had a feature which is that lacking and ineffective. This guy said he was standing
practically right next to a security guard keying up his walkie talkie, and The X2000, in flash tune
mode, failed to pick it up (and gives several other accounts of the X2000 completely failing to
pick up "strong" signals). He says the problem may be that he lives in an RF saturated area
which, in his opinion, may "confuse" the X2000. But realistically, how many of us don't live in
a somewhat RF saturated area? i.e. if you live in a near a city, as many of us do, you're in an
RF saturated environment.

The scan speed seems to be painfully slow. However, that is something that can't much be helped,
and in my case, isn't high on the list of priorities. The search speed however, is significantly faster,
which is important.

I would be extremely grateful to hear from someone who owns and has used an Alinco DJ-X2000.

Although I don't want it to become the central issue, it might be noteworthy to know that I am
a bit biased in my attempted assessment of this scanner, as I am contrasting it a bit to the
AOR AR8200 MkIII, A scanner which I have considered for some time. The AR8200, fine a
radio as it might be, lacks some of the features that the X2000 has which are important to me.
Namely the Flash Tune feature, the frequency counter, and the record feature.

Does anyone have this radio? Has anyone used this radio? If so, I would be most
appreciative of your feedback. Also, it may be nice to hear from someone who may have
bought a scanner from www.Radio-Export.com before. Reputable company?

Thank you

MJ

On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 08:30:21 -0500, Michael J. wrote:

greets all,

I've been reading all the reviews I can find on the Alinco DJ-X2000 in an attempt to
find out what this radio's all about before either spending good or bad money.

Thus far, the two best reviews I've found (and maybe the only reviews) are he

http://www.strongsignals.net/access/...recv&num= 039

and

http://www.ukmidlandscanner.co.uk/djx2krev.htm

First things first:

The place I plan on ordering my unit from is www.Radio-Export.com, with a price
tag of $610.00 This is the "export" version ("E" model) with no blocked bands.

From The Reviews:

Perhaps most importantly, it seems as though the "early" models of the X2000 had
an unnecessary and annoying amount of audio noise (described as a light hissing sound),
but I'm gathering that this is a problem that has been fixed (or at least diminished to a degree)
in later models. Good quality of received audio is a must for me, as so much of transmitting equipment
has enough noise in it already, as most of us know. In this case, it's even doubly important
that the audio be as clear as possible. Perhaps someone who owns an X2000 could give me some
more info regarding this?

Another somewhat daunting prospect was the way the effectiveness of the "Flash Tune" was
described. A quote from the second review regarding the flash tune featu

"Although this feature does not appear to work that well, hats off to Alinco for incorporating it,
other manufacturers (Or Alinco themselves ) should maybe concentrate on perfecting this feature
in later models. NOTE: I have spoken to another user of the DJX-2000 and he swears by it, he
admits that he does sometimes get the false readings but that for him the flash tune works almost
every time."


I reviewed the DJ-X2000T (USA version) in June 2001 Monitoring Times.

I had fun with the limited range Flash Tune feature, but found
some drawbacks in the scanner I tested:

An annoying audio hiss was present even on the strongest of signals.
The 110 millisecond squelch tail noise at the end of each transmission
was too long and grew tough to listen to.

I measured the practical memory scan rate at a very slow 3 channels/second.

The DJ-X2000T is noew a few years old. Have you considered the newer
ICOM IC-R20? I reviewed one in November 2004 Monitoring Times.
The IC-R20 I tested required a better antenna for SW reception
below 30 MHz than the DJ-X2000T, but the IC-R20's scans memory at
16 channels/second and its feature set beats
the older DJ-X2000 in several areas.

--
================================================== =======================
Bob Parnass, AJ9S GNU/Linux User http://parnass.com

On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 15:53:23 GMT, Bob Parnass wrote:

I reviewed the DJ-X2000T (USA version) in June 2001 Monitoring Times.

I had fun with the limited range Flash Tune feature, but found
some drawbacks in the scanner I tested:

First, I very much appreciate your feedback on this.
How did the flash tune feature work for you? What is its limited range, and how
sensitive did it seem to be?


An annoying audio hiss was present even on the strongest of signals.


I understand that the "early" model X2000s had this hissing problem. I'm not sure,
but I think I may have read somewhere that this hissing problem had been corrected to
a degree on newer models. Have you heard any such tell?

The 110 millisecond squelch tail noise at the end of each transmission
was too long and grew tough to listen to.

I remember reading that as well. Primarily I am going to use this scanner for
listening on known, more continuous frequencies ... as opposed to doing a lot of
scanning for active frequencies. So in this instance, I could find it somewhat
acceptable to deal with a slow scan rate and longer squelch tails.

Probably my main concern would be whether or not the hissing problem has been
corrected, and just how well the flash tune feature works.

MJ

On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 13:10:45 -0500, Michael J. wrote:

First, I very much appreciate your feedback on this.
How did the flash tune feature work for you? What is its limited range, and how
sensitive did it seem to be?

From my DJ-X2000T review in MT:

"...The "Flash Tune" feature is amazing.
Set the mode (e.g., AM, NFM, WFM), initiate the Flash Tune,
and the DJ-X2000T sits quietly until it detects a
strong signal (approx. -30 dBm, approx. 7100 uV)
within the 50 - 1300 MHz range.
At that point, the display changes shows the approximate
signal frequency and lets you hear the action.
You must set the mode (e.g., AM, NFM) ahead of time.
We used it to find and monitor 470 MHz transmissions
from someone using a walkie-talkie 25 feet away,
though it didn't detect a low power 170 MHz
wireless microphone at 5 feet."

"Our DJ-X2000T's Flash Tune also finds portable
cellular phone transmissions, but it displays 823 MHz
because the USA version is cellular disabled...."


I understand that the "early" model X2000s had this hissing problem. I'm not sure,
but I think I may have read somewhere that this hissing problem had been corrected to
a degree on newer models. Have you heard any such tell?

I read that, but I don't know if it is true. Sorry.

--
================================================== =======================
Bob Parnass, AJ9S GNU/Linux User http://parnass.com

Thank you for your help Bob

MJ

On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 22:03:25 GMT, Bob Parnass wrote:

On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 13:10:45 -0500, Michael J. wrote:

First, I very much appreciate your feedback on this.
How did the flash tune feature work for you? What is its limited range, and how
sensitive did it seem to be?

From my DJ-X2000T review in MT:

"...The "Flash Tune" feature is amazing.
Set the mode (e.g., AM, NFM, WFM), initiate the Flash Tune,
and the DJ-X2000T sits quietly until it detects a
strong signal (approx. -30 dBm, approx. 7100 uV)
within the 50 - 1300 MHz range.
At that point, the display changes shows the approximate
signal frequency and lets you hear the action.
You must set the mode (e.g., AM, NFM) ahead of time.
We used it to find and monitor 470 MHz transmissions
from someone using a walkie-talkie 25 feet away,
though it didn't detect a low power 170 MHz
wireless microphone at 5 feet."

"Our DJ-X2000T's Flash Tune also finds portable
cellular phone transmissions, but it displays 823 MHz
because the USA version is cellular disabled...."


I understand that the "early" model X2000s had this hissing problem. I'm not sure,
but I think I may have read somewhere that this hissing problem had been corrected to
a degree on newer models. Have you heard any such tell?

I read that, but I don't know if it is true. Sorry.