Alinco DX-SR8T

[w8srb]

Over all a nice radio for what it is and the price.
Has anyone that owns this radio run into issues running any type of audio racks and studio microphones on it?
With the stock mic that came with it, works wonderful, but when attempting to use the audio rack system it doesn't like it and seems like the audio drops way back, almost like the audio circuit is setup not to accept such a thing.
Maybe it's just me and not getting something correct, but I have double checked all the wiring and made sure everything was wired correctly but still a no go with several different racks and microphones unless I'm doing something incorrect somewhere.
Any suggestions out there?

 

[Moleculo]

I don't know anyone that has that radio. Can you give us a review on it with the rundown on its features?

Thanks!

 

[w8srb]

I don't know anyone that has that radio. Can you give us a review on it with the rundown on its features?

Thanks!

Well the radio is about as basic as you can really get to be honest, most people expect a Ferrari on a Volkswagen pay, but over all if a person is looking for a nice hf radio and not a lot of $ to play with, this is the way to go and I have no real regrets yet getting it.
So far I have not learned everything on it yet, but there is 3 power settings, Qrp, 10 watt, then 100 watt. A lot of things on it is still menu operated.
It has a nice receiver, but is a little noisy at times, and you don't see a lot of difference with the NB activated. The vfo wheel is very smooth but very lite to the touch, least little touch or bump and it will go no-mans land. It has real good audio with the stock microphone, but if a person wants anymore audio than what it produces and intends to keep the original mic, you have to go inside the radio and adjust the potentiometer for audio because there is no setting or regular adjustment, which I don't like that idea and rather have the rack on it. It does have a built in compressor which you have to go into the menu to turn on or off.
It has a very bright and large display especially for people that are somewhat vision impaired and the brightness can be adjusted.
The if-shift and rit work very well.
Like I mentioned, I ahve not learned everything on it yet, but by the time I figure it out others will probably already have one to..LOL
The direct frequency keypad is nice, just hit the enter button and then enter your frequency and your there without having to ware out your knob to get somewhere.
Hope this little bit of info helps.

 

[Mudfoot]

I bought one from Universal Radio when they first came out.

It looks rugged and kinda cool. The display is nice and is remote mountable with optional cable. Has standard filters like the DX-70. No DSP, which is no big deal for me. It had good audio reports with the stock mic. The mic is also much bigger than the old DX-70 mics.

I paid $650.00 for mine before Universal lowered them to $519.00

The direct entry keypad is nice, but the buttons are crowded up against the VFO knob. VFO rate is fixed, which blowed. The encoder shaft is plastic with no draq adjustment. The weighted knob is sloppy and wobbly. I imagine it would flop up and down driving on a bumpy road. You'd need to set your frequency and lock the display, or pull the knob off and lay it on the seat, lol. Don't get me wrong, it does have smooth tuning, it's just a cheap feel.

The extended transmit mod is done by bridging a pad.

It's a decent radio for the money. They should start showing up priced cheap at the fests. GRE does the parts and service for Alinco now and has good customer service. I'd own another one, given the right circumstances.

 

[RatsoW8]

What interface are you using to convert the line audio from you rack gear to mic audio for the rig?

 

[doctor]

ALINCO

Is there a connection in back to hook up the data cable to.
I own a old old dx70t for many years and it wrks very good have had no trouble with it, but the data cable connection unfortunately has to go to the mic connector, so I do not run on digital on it, just hf only it is a spare radio but opened up for MARS.
DOCTOR/795

 

[Warbird]

Is there a connection in back to hook up the data cable to.
I own a old old dx70t for many years and it wrks very good have had no trouble with it, but the data cable connection unfortunately has to go to the mic connector, so I do not run on digital on it, just hf only it is a spare radio but opened up for MARS.
DOCTOR/795

Still the same with SR8. The only thing on the back is the so-239, the tuner connector, ALC, key, relay, and power connectors. I've had mine for about a week, so far no complaints. It's everything I expected. I bought it for HF phone, and it will be going mobile.

 

[Rb30]

My mate had an SR8
It did have an issue when the agc was set to slow and the radio would create a sqeal/fart sound on tx (only whilst keying up ssb) in the presence of any signal over s1 (typical of 11m). He sent it back and got a replacement which had the same fault. He ended up giving it the flick for an ic7200

 

[w8srb]

sr8

Well guys, I finally found the problem, very small and minor.
It was the brand new cable that goes into the mic plug from the rack, but the strange thing was, testing the cable by itself would read ok on a ohms meter, so it must have had a break in it somewhere and just had to move it a certain way before it would cause havoc with the radio.
After replacing it with another one I had to build up from scratch, everything is a 100% now. Getting reports that the radio has massive audio with the rack and studio microphone now with studio quality sound.
I sure do appreciate all you guys though that did take the time and post here in regards to the radio.

My rack consist of the Yamaha MG102C and the MXL 63V microphone.
My wife's setup is the Behringer eurorack UB802 with the MXL 990 with the Nady GEQ131 EQ.<<More audio>>