After months of waiting I finally heard an Alinco DJ-G7e in the wild. 0918 UTC on the 12th July 2009 I made contact with Ross G6GVI of The Four Metre Website fame on 23cms from Winter Hill. The G7e has been available in some parts of the world for a while but the first shipments to the UK only arrived a couple of days ago. It is a tri-band hand held transceiver for two metres, 70 and 23cms with wide band receive. Full details are available at http://www.nevadaradio.co.uk/acatalog/alinco-djg7e.html or on Alincos own website.
The interest for me is 23cms. At the moment during Summits on the Air activations I carry either the Yaesu FT-817 or the FT-857 plus sealed lead acid batteries, a Kenwood G71e which allows me to monitor 2m or 70cm FM while working HF, a Wouxun KG-699e for 4m FM and an Icom IC-12e for 23cms. The Icom is a relic and the size of a house brick. It weighs about the same as a brick too. Therefore the Alinco would allow me to swap two radios for one. The problem at the moment is the price - £359.95, which is more than I paid for my 817, one of my 857s or my IC-706 MkIIG. If the rig was only half that price I would buy two today (one for Helen GW7AAU) but I think I will just have to wait and hope that it drops soon. Which is all a great pity because I hope this new handy will boost the growing interest in 23cms amongst the SOTA community, and more activity might make a few more people realise just how far you can get and how much fun there is to be had on the higher bands.
I almost forgot...The audio from the G7e seemed excellent despite it being a waterproofed rig, unlike that from the Alinco DJ-V17e which a few of my RAYNET colleagues purchased when on special offer at £89.95 via the RSGB. The only way to sort out the muffled audio on the V17e seemed to be to remove or punch a hole in the waterproof membrane, which kind of defeats the object of having a waterproof rig.
I've just ordered one of these tonight so should be on 23cm from some hills soon.
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