How to Program a DJ-500 — Step by Step

One key turns the keypad into a second set of functions, and one of those opens a numbered list of 31 settings. Nothing here is typed by number — you step through the list with two keys and turn the dial to set the value.

This page covers: Alinco DJ-500T, Alinco DJ-500E. They share the same firmware, so the steps below are identical on all of them whatever name is printed on the front.

There are two numbered menus, and both of them start at 01

This is the thing to get straight before anything else. The one you will use daily is the function menu — press A, then 8 — and it runs 01 to 31, starting with 01 T-CDC for your transmit tone. The other is the set mode, and you cannot reach it while the radio is on: you hold the PF2 side key and switch the radio on with it held. That one has two items, and they are also numbered 01 and 02 — 01 DSP for what the screen shows, 02 RESTOR for the factory reset. So a bare menu number means nothing on this radio unless you also say which menu. Every step on this page names the route as well as the number.

This radio has no digital mode

The DJ-500 is analog FM only. Its 5-tone, DTMF and DCS features are analog signaling, not digital voice. The C4FM pages on this site — callsign registration, digital mode selection, DG-ID — describe Yaesu's System Fusion radios, so those tasks are not listed here as gaps waiting to be filled. Nothing on this page needs them.

Two different radios have been called the DJ-500T

Alinco used the name twice, about thirty years apart. Everything here is the current radio — the one built from 2014 onward, with 200 memory channels, alpha tags and a color-selectable backlight, sold as the DJ-500T in the US and the DJ-500E in Europe. There was also a DJ-500T in the late 1980s with ten memory channels per band and no numbered menu at all, and none of these keystrokes apply to it. If your radio stores ten channels a band, you have the older one. The current T and E share one manual and one set of menu numbers; the differences are regional. The T transmits on 144 to 148 MHz and 420 to 450 MHz, the E on the European 144 to 146 and 430 to 440. The 1750 Hz tone burst European repeaters want is at function menu 29 TBST on both.

What you can do on this radio

Rather do this on your phone, standing at the radio?

The app walks you through the same steps one at a time, on a screen sized for a phone.

Open Radio Rosetta

Save a repeater to a memory channel on a DJ-500

This radio builds a channel out of whatever is on the screen at the moment you save. So you put the frequency up first, hang the offset and the tone on it, and only then write the whole thing into a channel. Do it in that order and the channel comes out complete.

Have these to hand before you start

  • The repeater's output frequency — the one it transmits on, and the one you listen to.
  • Its offset: which direction it listens, and how far away.
  • Its tone, if it uses one. Most do.
  1. Press C until the channel number disappears from the display.CThe screen should show: A frequency with no channel number beside it.C swaps between channel mode and frequency mode. Only frequency mode lets the keypad type a frequency, and only frequency mode lets you build a channel from scratch.
  2. Press B until the little arrow sits beside the line you want to program.BThe screen should show: The pointer moves between the top line and the bottom one.The DJ-500 shows two bands at once and works on whichever line the arrow is on. Program the other line and the radio will look right and do nothing.
  3. Type the repeater's output frequency straight in — six digits, no decimal point.type 146940The screen should show: Your frequency, and the decimal point puts itself in.Watch out. Six digits, always. 146.940 is 1 4 6 9 4 0. There is no decimal key to look for, and a number the radio cannot use is rejected with an error beep rather than a message.
  4. Press A, then 4, until the offset direction above the frequency matches your repeater.A›4The screen should show: A small plus or minus appears above the frequency. No sign means simplex.This is which way the repeater listens — above what you hear, or below it. It is a shortcut on the F layer, not a menu item, so this is the whole setting.
  5. Press A then 8 to open the function menu, step to item 11 OFF SET with B and C, turn the main dial to your offset, and press # to accept.A›8›▲▼ 11 OFF SET›dial → 0.600›#The screen should show: OFF SET on the top line, 0.600 and the item number 11 underneath.Watch out. The dial moves this value in whatever step size item 07 STEP is set to. If the offset you want will not appear, set 07 to 5 kHz first, then come back — 0.600 and 5.000 both land cleanly on a 5 kHz step.
  6. Still in the function menu, step to item 01 T-CDC, press 1 until it shows CTCSS, turn the dial to your tone, and press # to accept.A›8›▲▼ 01 T-CDC›1›dial → your tone›#The screen should show: T-CDC on top, then your tone as a whole number — 88.5 Hz shows as 885HZ.T-CDC is the tone you send, and sending a tone is all a repeater asks of you. Item 02 R-CDC is a different job: it also silences your radio until a matching tone comes back, and it is the usual reason somebody sits there hearing nothing on a repeater that works fine for everyone else.
  7. Now save it. Press A, then C — the channel number starts blinking. Turn the dial to the channel you want, then press A and hold C for two seconds until you hear two beeps.A›C›dial → an empty channel›A›hold CThe screen should show: The channel number blinks while you choose, and two beeps confirm the write.Watch out. Deleting a channel starts exactly the same way and ends by holding B instead of C. Two seconds on the wrong key, from the same screen, is the difference between storing this repeater and erasing whatever was already there.

To put a name on it, see the naming page — it is function menu item 12, it only works in channel mode, and the name stays invisible until you switch the display over to NAME in the set mode. Channels run 000 to 199, and in channel mode you can jump straight to one by typing its three digits.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Set the transmit tone (CTCSS / PL) on a DJ-500

The tone you send lives at function menu item 01, T-CDC. The T is for transmit. This is the one a repeater wants.

  1. Press A — an F appears in the top left corner — then press 8 to open the function menu.A›8The screen should show: The F icon, then a menu item with its number in the bottom right.
  2. Step to item 01 with B and C. The top line reads T-CDC.▲▼ 01 T-CDCThe screen should show: T-CDC, with 01 in the corner.
  3. Press 1 to choose between CTCSS, DCS and OFF.1The screen should show: A small CT or DCS label above the value.Watch out. 1 changes the kind of tone. The dial changes the tone itself. Miss the first and you will be turning the dial through a list the radio is not going to send.
  4. Turn the main dial to your tone, then press # to accept and leave.dial → your tone›#The screen should show: T-CDC with the tone as a whole number — 885HZ is 88.5 Hz, 1000HZ is 100.0 Hz.The radio prints these without the decimal point. The list on this radio runs to 51 tones, 62.5 through 254.1 Hz, plus a user-defined slot — longer than the 38 most radios offer.

If you picked DCS instead, the * key switches the code between normal and inverted — that is the N or I after the three digits, as in 023N. Inverted is unusual; if you are copying a repeater listing and it does not say, it is the normal one. Item 03 RT-CDC sets the transmit and receive tone together in one pass, which is handy for simplex with a club but is not what a repeater needs.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Set the receive tone on a DJ-500

The receive tone is item 02, R-CDC, and it is a mute: with it set, the speaker stays quiet unless an incoming signal carries the matching tone. Useful on a busy simplex frequency, and a good way to make a working repeater look dead.

  1. Press A then 8 to open the function menu, and step to item 02 R-CDC.A›8›▲▼ 02 R-CDCThe screen should show: R-CDC on the top line, 02 in the corner.
  2. Press 1 until it shows CTCSS, turn the dial to the tone you want to listen for, and press # to accept.1›dial → your tone›#The screen should show: R-CDC with a CT label and your tone.Watch out. Set this on a repeater channel and you will only hear the repeater if it sends a tone back. Plenty do not.
  3. If you want to send and listen for the same tone, item 03 RT-CDC does both in one go.A›8›▲▼ 03 RT-CDC›1›dial → your tone›#The screen should show: RT-CDC, with 03 in the corner.This is the tone squelch setup people use for a simplex net: everyone runs the same tone, and nobody hears the rest of the channel.

The three items are independent — 01 sets only what you send, 02 only what you listen for, 03 sets both. To undo a mute you only have to set 02 back to OFF; your transmit tone at 01 stays where it was. And if you want to find out what tone a station is using, A then 3 runs a tone scan on the channel.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Set the offset direction and amount on a DJ-500

The offset is two separate settings on this radio, in two completely different places. The direction is a shortcut key. The amount is a menu item. You need both.

  1. Press A, then press 4 to step the direction through plus, minus and off.A›4The screen should show: A plus or a minus above the frequency; nothing at all means simplex.Plus means the repeater listens above the frequency you hear, minus means below. On 2 meters in the US it is almost always minus with a 600 kHz offset; on 70 centimeters, plus with 5 MHz.
  2. Press A then 8, step to item 11 OFF SET, turn the dial to the amount, and press # to accept.A›8›▲▼ 11 OFF SET›dial → 0.600›#The screen should show: OFF SET on top, the amount underneath, 11 in the corner.Watch out. The dial steps this value by whatever item 07 STEP is set to, and the factory setting is 12.5 kHz. If 0.600 will not come up, set 07 to 5 kHz first — then 0.600 and 5.000 both land exactly.

The range runs from 0 to 69.9975 MHz, which is far more than any repeater needs and enough rope to set something meaningless. Check the direction icon on the display before you key up: the amount is invisible once you leave the menu, but the plus or minus sits over the frequency where you can see it. Item 10 TALKAR is a related thing worth knowing — talk around transmits on the frequency you are listening to, ignoring the offset entirely, for working somebody directly when the repeater is not needed.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Set the squelch on a DJ-500

Two ways to do this, and the quick one does not involve a menu at all.

  1. Hold the PF2 side key and turn the main dial.hold PF2›dial → 00 to 09The screen should show: The squelch level, 00 through 09.This is the one to learn. It works from the normal operating screen and takes about two seconds.
  2. The menu route is the same setting: A then 8, step to item 23 SQL, dial the level, # to accept.A›8›▲▼ 23 SQL›dial → 03›#The screen should show: SQL on the top line, the level underneath, 23 in the corner.Watch out. 00 is not off in the useful sense — it holds the squelch open, so the radio hisses continuously. The factory setting is 3, which is a sensible place to come back to.

Holding PF2 on its own also opens the squelch momentarily, tone mute and all, for as long as you keep it held. That is the right way to check whether a weak station is really there rather than winding the squelch down and forgetting about it. The radio leaves the factory on level 3.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Change the transmit power on a DJ-500

One shortcut, three levels, and it applies to the line the arrow is on rather than to the whole radio.

  1. Press A, then 9, until the level you want shows beside the frequency.A›9The screen should show: H, M or L to the left of the frequency.H is 5 watts, M is 2.5, L is 1. The radio leaves the factory on H.

Power is set for the line the arrow is on, so check the arrow before you press. Low power is also the honest answer to a hot radio: five watts continuously out of a handheld this size makes it warm, and dropping to one watt costs you very little on a repeater that is already strong.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Listen on the repeater's input on a DJ-500

Reverse swaps your transmit and receive frequencies, so you hear the repeater's input directly. If you can hear the other station that way, you are close enough to talk to them without the repeater at all.

  1. Press A, then 7.A›7The screen should show: An R appears above the frequency.The tones swap with the frequencies, so the channel stays coherent while reversed.
  2. Press A then 7 again to put it back.A›7The screen should show: The R disappears.

The same setting is in the function menu at item 09 REV if you would rather see it written out. One thing to know: reverse will not work while talk around, item 10 TALKAR, is switched on — they are two ways of ignoring the offset and the radio only lets you have one. And do not leave the R up. Transmitting reversed puts you on the repeater's output frequency, which is the one thing on the channel everybody else is listening to.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Name a memory channel on a DJ-500

This radio will show you a name instead of a number, which is worth the two minutes it takes. There is a catch: naming a channel and displaying the name are two different settings, in the two different menus, and doing only the first looks exactly like the feature not working.

  1. Press C until you are in channel mode, and turn the dial to the channel you want to name.C›dial → the channelThe screen should show: A channel number beside the frequency.Watch out. Naming only works in channel mode. In frequency mode item 12 has nothing to attach a name to.
  2. Press A then 8 to open the function menu, and step to item 12 NAME.A›8›▲▼ 12 NAMEThe screen should show: NAME on the top line, 12 in the corner.
  3. Turn the dial to a character, press 1 to accept it and move right, and keep going. Press # when the name is done.dial → a character›1›dial → the next character›#The screen should show: The name building up a character at a time.The 4 key steps the cursor back if you need to fix one, and 1 is the only key that moves it forward — the dial changes the character under the cursor, it does not move along.
  4. Now make the radio show it. Switch the radio off, hold PF2 and switch it back on to reach the set mode, step to item 01 DSP, dial it to NAME, and press #.hold PF2›▲▼ 01 DSP›dial → NAME›#The screen should show: DSP on the top line, NAME underneath, 01 in the corner.Watch out. This is the other menu — the two-item one you can only reach while the radio is starting up. FREQ shows the frequency and the channel number, CH shows the number alone, and only NAME shows what you just typed.

Do the naming first and the display setting once, at the end, rather than switching the radio off after every channel. Remember that the display setting is radio-wide: put it on NAME and every channel shows its name, so it is worth naming the handful you actually use before you switch over.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Delete a memory channel on a DJ-500

Deleting a channel uses the same screen as saving one. The only difference is which key you hold at the end, so read the last step twice before you do it.

  1. From the normal screen, press A, then C.A›CThe screen should show: The channel number starts blinking.Blinking means the radio is in its store-and-delete screen. Nothing has changed yet.
  2. Turn the dial to the channel you want gone.dial → the channel to deleteThe screen should show: Each channel in turn, still blinking.
  3. Press A, then hold B for two seconds. Two beeps and the frequency disappears.A›hold BThe screen should show: The frequency vanishes and the radio beeps twice.Watch out. Hold B and the channel is deleted. Hold C, from this same screen, and the channel is written instead. There is no confirmation prompt for either one.

There is no undo, and no way to delete every channel at once from the keypad. If you want to start clean, the factory reset at set mode item 02 RESTOR has a FACT option that clears the channels along with everything else — and an INIT option that resets your settings and keeps the channels, which is usually what people actually want.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Turn off the roger beep on a DJ-500

This radio does not have this feature. What follows is what it does have, and why the thing you were looking for is not here.

Short answer: there is not one. Alinco's menu list for this radio runs 01 to 31 and contains no roger beep — nothing is added to the end of your transmission, so there is nothing to switch off. If a beep is bothering you it is one of two other things.

  1. Item 17 BEEP is the key beep — the click the radio makes at you when you press something.A›8›▲▼ 17 BEEP›dial → OFF›#The screen should show: BEEP on the top line, ON or OFF underneath.This is what people usually mean. It is the sound the radio makes in your hand, not the sound it sends over the air, and turning it off changes nothing anybody else hears.
  2. Item 29 TBST is the other candidate, and it is not a roger beep either.A›8›▲▼ 29 TBSTThe screen should show: TBST, with 1750HZ, 2100HZ, 1450HZ or 1000HZ.That is the tone burst some European repeaters need to wake them up, sent with the PF1 key while you transmit. It goes out at the start, on purpose, and only when you ask for it.

If you are hearing a real courtesy beep a moment after somebody stops talking, that is the repeater doing it, not your radio, and there is nothing at your end to change. Which tone burst frequency PF1 sends is chosen in Alinco's programming software as well as at item 29.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Turn off the voice announcements on a DJ-500

This radio does not have this feature. What follows is what it does have, and why the thing you were looking for is not here.

The DJ-500 does not talk. There is no voice guidance, no spoken menu items, no announced channel numbers — the published menu has no such setting, and no optional voice board is listed for this radio. So there is nothing to turn off, and nothing to turn on either.

  1. If the radio is making noises at you, item 17 BEEP is the one that exists — the key beep.A›8›▲▼ 17 BEEP›dial → OFF›#The screen should show: BEEP, ON or OFF.Beeps are all this radio says. Turning them off makes it silent apart from received audio, which is what most people are after when they go looking for a voice setting to kill.

If you need a handheld that announces what it is doing, that is a Kenwood or an Icom feature on this site — the TH-D75 speaks its menus, and the ID-52A does too. Worth knowing before you buy rather than after.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Turn off dual watch on a DJ-500

This radio listens to two frequencies at once out of the box, which is useful right up until the second one starts talking over the first. One key shuts it up — but that key cycles through three states, not two, and the middle one is what makes people think it is broken.

  1. Press the * key on its own — no A first.*The screen should show: The second line disappears and the main channel fills the display.This closes the sub channel entirely, so nothing on it can interrupt what you are listening to.
  2. Press * again and you get the OTHER band on its own — still single band.*The screen should show: One line again, now showing what used to be the sub channel.Watch out. This is the step people trip over. A second press does not bring dual watch back; it swaps which single band you are on. Press it once more.
  3. Press * a third time to return to the two-band display.*The screen should show: Both lines return.
  4. For a permanent answer, item 16 DSP SUB set to OFF keeps the second line off the display.A›8›▲▼ 16 DSP SUB›dial → OFF›#The screen should show: DSP SUB, with FREQ, VOLT or OFF.VOLT on that same item is a quiet piece of usefulness: it puts your battery voltage where the sub band used to be.

Alinco's own suggestion is worth passing on: battery save at item 30 works harder when only one band is live. They recommend 1:8 with a single band up and 1:2 with both, which is the difference between a radio that lasts a weekend and one that does not.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Lock the keypad on a DJ-500

  1. Press A, then hold the # key for two seconds.A›hold #The screen should show: A padlock icon appears.The same two keys unlock it again.

Locked is not as locked as it sounds: PTT, PF1, PF2 and the A key all keep working, so a radio in a coat pocket can still be keyed up. If that matters, drop the power to low before it goes in the bag, or use item 14 TX to disable transmit altogether — which is the only real way to make this radio safe to carry loose.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

Factory reset on a DJ-500

The reset lives in the set mode, which you can only reach while the radio is switching on. There are two kinds, and the difference is your 200 channels.

  1. With the radio off, hold the PF2 side key and switch the radio on with it held.switch the radio off›hold PF2›switch it on with PF2 heldThe screen should show: The set mode, showing item 01 DSP.This is the only way in. The set mode is not reachable from the normal screen at all.
  2. Step to item 02 with B and C. The top line reads RESTOR.▲▼ 02 RESTORThe screen should show: RESTOR on top, 02 in the corner.
  3. Turn the dial to pick what gets reset.dial → INIT or FACTThe screen should show: FACT?, INIT? or OFF.Watch out. INIT puts your settings back to factory and keeps every channel you programmed. FACT wipes the settings and the channels both. Almost everybody who says factory reset means INIT.
  4. Press # to carry it out.#The screen should show: The radio resets and returns to normal operation.This is the one screen where D really does leave without acting — everywhere else in the menus the manual gives D and # as two ways to confirm.

Worth knowing: Alinco's manual also mentions a power-on key combination for the factory reset and then never says what the second key is — the name is simply missing from the page. This route is the documented one, so it is the one here. If you are resetting because the radio is behaving oddly rather than because you want it empty, try INIT first; it fixes the same things and costs you nothing.

Taken from the manufacturer's own manual for this model.

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