How to Program a DR-06T — Step by Step

Alinco's single-band FM mobile, sold as a 6 meter, a 10 meter and a low-band radio out of one manual. Six keys, a dial, and a settings list with names instead of numbers.

This page covers: Alinco DR-06T, Alinco DR-M06R, Alinco DR-135LH, Alinco DR-03T, Alinco DR-M03R. The keystrokes are the same across all five radios. The starting values are not, and the manual's own factory settings table is the place to check yours: the DR-06T and DR-M06R come up on 51.000 MHz with a 900 kHz offset, the DR-03T and DR-M03R on 29.000 MHz with a 100 kHz offset, and the DR-135LH on 40.000 MHz with a 900 kHz offset. All three arrive with a 20 kHz step, high power and squelch at 2, with the tone and DCS functions switched off and 88.5 Hz and 023 waiting as the values they will use. A good deal is marked DR-06T only and is genuinely absent on the others — the display dimmer, the wide and narrow switch, the packet mode, the supply voltage display, the optional digital voice unit, and on the hardware side the external power jack, the DSUB-9 data connector and the ignition-key switching that goes with it. Where one of those comes up on this page it says so.

One keystroke saves a channel in VFO mode and erases one in memory mode

This is the thing to understand before you touch the memory at all. Press FUNC, then press MW while the F icon is showing. In VFO mode that writes what you are looking at into a memory channel. In memory mode the memory chapter says the identical keystroke deletes the channel you are sitting on. Alinco prints both on the same page, as steps 4 and 6 of one procedure, and there is no confirmation screen either way — the radio beeps and it is done. Two things complicate it, and both are the book's doing rather than the radio's. The front panel table puts “Erase the memory” on a different FUNC layer entirely, the one where you HOLD FUNC down rather than pressing and releasing it. And the scanning chapter gives the press-and-release version a third job again, setting the scan skip flag. So on this radio the question before pressing FUNC and MW is always which mode am I in, and the question immediately after is what did the screen just do: a flashing M means the channel is gone, a lit decimal point in the 10 MHz position means it was marked as a scan skip. There is one piece of mercy. If you delete a channel by mistake, doing exactly the same thing again puts it back — but only until you change channel or change mode, and after that it is gone.

It can be part of an APRS station, but none of the APRS settings are in the radio

This one deserves a straight answer rather than a flat no. A DR-06T can absolutely run APRS, and the manual has a chapter about it — but everything that makes it APRS lives outside the radio. You need the optional EJ-41U internal TNC or an external one, a GPS receiver plugged into the front data jack, a computer, and APRS software. Your callsign, the beacon interval and the path are typed as TNC commands from that computer, not set on the radio, and the TNC remembers them afterwards. The radio's entire contribution is one keystroke that puts it into data mode. So the APRS and GPS pages on this site describe settings that are not in this radio to find, which is why they are not listed as gaps. The same goes for digital voice: the optional EJ-47U unit gives the DR-06T a digital voice mode, and it is Alinco's own, not D-STAR and not C4FM. Those pages describe other manufacturers' systems and this radio cannot be made to join either of them.

One book, five radios, three different bands

This manual covers the DR-06T and DR-M06R, the DR-03T and DR-M03R, and the DR-135LH together, and they are not the same band: the 06 is a 6 meter radio, the 03 is a 10 meter radio, and the 135LH is low band. The keys and the procedures are identical across all of them, which is why they share a page here. What differs is where they start up and a couple of features. Alinco states plainly at the top of the operating chapter that every frequency and value printed in the book is for the DR-06T. A number of things are marked DR-06T only and are genuinely absent on the others: the display dimmer, the wide and narrow switch, the packet mode, the supply voltage display, the optional digital voice unit, and on the hardware side the rear external power jack, which is what the ignition-key switching uses, and the DSUB-9 data connector. Nothing in this book is a DR-06TA — that model name does not appear anywhere in it.

What you can do on this radio

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Save a repeater to a memory channel on a DR-06T

Set the whole thing up in VFO mode and copy it into a channel at the end. Before you start, read the warning on this page about the storing keystroke, because on this radio the same two keys delete a channel when you are in the wrong mode.

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.
  • Its tone, if it uses one. Most do.
  1. Press V/M until the memory channel number disappears from the left of the screen, then turn the dial to the repeater's output frequency.V/M›dial → the output frequencyThe screen should show: A bare frequency with no channel number.Watch out. Check which mode you are in now, because it decides what the storing keystroke below does. The M icon is the reliable tell — no M and no C means you are in the VFO. The two-digit field beside it usually holds the channel number but not always: it shows the squelch level while that screen is up.
  2. Press FUNC, then press MHz while the F icon is showing to open the offset screen, and press MHz again for each step you want to move the direction.FUNC›MHz›MHzThe screen should show: The current direction and offset. Each further MHz press walks it: minus, plus, neither.Each press of MHz walks one stop. Neither icon showing is simplex. The offset amount appears on the screen while you are in here.
  3. While that screen is up, turn the dial to the offset amount, then press SQL to come out — any key except FUNC or MHz will do it.dial → the offset in MHz›SQLThe screen should show: The offset amount, up to 99.995 MHz.Watch out. Your radio came set to the standard offset for its band, so most people can leave the amount alone. Do not use TS/DCS to come out of here: the very next step counts presses of TS/DCS, and starting a step ahead lands you on tone squelch instead of a plain transmit tone.
  4. Press TS/DCS once so the T icon shows, then turn the dial to your repeater's tone.TS/DCS›dial → your repeater's toneThe screen should show: T, with a frequency such as 88.5.Watch out. Stop at T. With the T icon alone the radio sends the tone when you press PTT and receives normally, which is what a repeater wants. One more press adds SQ and shuts your speaker until the tone comes back.
  5. Press SQL to keep the tone. Alinco says any key except TS/DCS and the microphone UP and DOWN keys enters the setting, and SQL is the one with nothing stored behind it.SQLThe screen should show: The tone is entered. The book does not say what the display does at this moment.Do not use CALL here — it jumps to the call channel, where the dial cannot pick a memory number, so the next step would store to the wrong place. TS/DCS moves the tone on a step. V/M flips between VFO and memory, which on this radio is the difference between storing and erasing. Glance at the screen before the next step and make sure you are back at a plain frequency display.
  6. Press FUNC. A channel number appears with the F and M icons. Turn the dial to the channel you want, then press MW.FUNC›dial → an empty channel number›MWThe screen should show: A flashing M icon means the channel is empty; a steady one means something is already in it.Watch out. The flashing and steady M is the only warning you get before overwriting. There is no confirmation screen. 100 channels, numbered 0 to 99.

The radio beeps and the channel is stored. It keeps the frequency, the shift and offset, both tones, the DCS code, the scan skip and busy lockout settings, and on a DR-06T the wide or narrow setting. Alinco suggests blocking your channels out by purpose — local repeaters low, simplex next, and so on — which is worth doing on a radio whose channels have no names until you type them.

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

Set the transmit tone (CTCSS / PL) on a DR-06T

One key, pressed once, and then the dial. The icon that appears is what tells you which of the three tone modes you landed on.

  1. Press TS/DCS once so that the T icon appears on its own.TS/DCSThe screen should show: T, with a tone frequency beside it. A new radio shows 88.5.With just the T icon, the radio sends the sub-audible tone whenever you press PTT and its receiver carries on normally. That is exactly what opens a repeater.
  2. Turn the main dial, or use the microphone's UP and DOWN keys, to your repeater's tone.dial → your repeater's toneThe screen should show: The frequency changes as you turn.39 standard tones, from 67.0 up to 250.3 Hz.
  3. Press SQL to enter the setting. Any key except TS/DCS and the UP and DOWN keys does it, and SQL is the harmless one.SQLThe screen should show: The tone is entered. The book does not say what the display does at this moment.Watch out. Be careful which key you use. CALL is the one to avoid on a DCS screen in particular — Alinco documents it there as setting a DCS deviation option, and that option is itself stored in a memory channel. V/M switches between VFO and memory mode, and TS/DCS moves the tone setting on another step.

Two things worth knowing. The tone you set here is a VFO setting until you store it into a channel, and each channel carries its own. And Alinco is explicit that CTCSS and DCS will not run together — a channel can have one or the other, not both. If your repeater wants a DCS code instead of a tone, press TS/DCS twice more so the DCS icon and a three-digit code show, and set the code there.

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

Set the receive tone on a DR-06T

One press further round the same key. With tone squelch on, the radio stays silent until somebody sends the tone you are listening for.

  1. Press TS/DCS twice, so that the SQ icon joins the T.TS/DCS›TS/DCSThe screen should show: T and SQ together, with a frequency.The cycle is T on its own, then T with SQ, then DCS, then nothing. T alone sends. T with SQ sends and listens.
  2. Turn the dial to the tone you want to listen for.dial → the tone to listen forThe screen should show: The frequency you chose.Watch out. This is the decode tone. Set it on a repeater that does not send a tone back and the radio will sound completely dead while getting out perfectly well.
  3. Press SQL to keep it.SQLThe screen should show: The tone is entered. The book does not say what the display does at this moment.

Alinco says the encode and decode frequencies may be set differently, and then describes how they relate in a sentence that can honestly be read two ways — the encode setting relates to the decode setting, but the decode setting does not affect encode. There is no worked example anywhere in the book. The practical advice is to set the transmit tone first, then the receive tone, then check both before you trust them. And remember that DCS is all or nothing here: its encode and decode cannot be separated at all, and Alinco says so plainly.

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

Set the offset direction and amount on a DR-06T

Direction and amount are on the same screen, reached by one keystroke, which is neater than most radios manage.

  1. Press FUNC, then press MHz while the F icon is showing.FUNC›MHzThe screen should show: The current direction and offset amount together.Watch out. The manual calls this the F key in this section. There is no key marked F on this radio — F is the icon that appears after you press FUNC, and FUNC is the key it means.
  2. Press MHz again to walk the direction round.MHzThe screen should show: A minus icon, then a plus icon, then neither.Neither icon is simplex, which Alinco calls shift release. The icons live at the top of the display and are the only indication once you leave this screen.
  3. Turn the dial to change the amount, which moves in whatever channel step you have set.dial → the offset in MHzThe screen should show: The offset amount. It goes up to 99.995 MHz.Watch out. Press FUNC again while you are in here and the dial jumps in 1 MHz steps instead, which is faster and much easier to overshoot. That range is far wider than any repeater needs — an unnoticed digit here puts your transmitter somewhere you did not intend.
  4. Press SQL to keep it and return. Any key except FUNC or MHz will do.SQLThe screen should show: Back to the frequency, with the direction icon showing.

If the offset takes your transmit frequency outside the band, the radio will not transmit — it shows OFF when you press PTT instead. That is a useful safety net and also a useful diagnostic: OFF on PTT almost always means the offset or the direction is wrong rather than anything being broken.

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

Set the squelch on a DR-06T

A key and the dial, with an actual number on the screen — which not many radios give you.

  1. Press the SQL key.SQLThe screen should show: The SQL icon appears and a number takes the place of the memory channel at the left.21 levels, 0 to 20, with 0 the loosest. A new radio sits at 2.
  2. Turn the main dial, or use the microphone UP and DOWN keys, until the background hiss just stops.dial → until the noise stopsThe screen should show: The level counts up or down.Watch out. Higher settings keep the radio quieter but start losing weak signals. Just past where the noise stops is the right answer, not as high as it will go.
  3. Then leave it alone. After about five seconds the radio stores the level and goes back on its own.Wait about five secondsThe screen should show: Back to normal.Waiting is the safest way out of this screen. Alinco also offers PTT or any panel key, but V/M is the one to avoid: it switches between VFO and memory mode, and on this radio that is the difference between the storing keystroke and the erasing one.

The squelch key is one of the few things that still works while the key lock is on, which is deliberate — it is the control you are most likely to need in a hurry. The monitor function is a different gesture on the same key: hold SQL for MORE than a second and the squelch opens fully whatever the level is set to, with the BUSY icon on. It stays open until you press a key on the front panel — it does not close when you let go — so it is the quickest way to find out whether it is the squelch or a tone setting keeping the radio quiet, and also the easiest thing to leave switched on by accident.

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

Change the transmit power on a DR-06T

Two keys, three levels, and an indicator that works backwards from what you might expect.

  1. Press FUNC, then press CALL while the F icon is showing. Each press of CALL steps to the next level.FUNC›CALLThe screen should show: Lo for low, Mi for medium, and nothing at all for high.Watch out. High power shows NO icon — an empty space where the power icon goes means full power, not a missing setting, and the radio arrives that way. Watch the F icon too: the repeat presses only step the power while F is showing. A CALL press after it has cleared puts you in CALL mode instead, where the dial will not change frequency or channel.
  2. The bar meter confirms it while you transmit: two segments for low, three for medium, five for high.Press PTT and watch the meterThe screen should show: The meter at the right of the display.That is a genuine cross-check, because the absence of an icon on high power is easy to misread.

Two things the manual is clear about. The power level cannot be changed while you are transmitting. And if the radio gets above about 80 degrees Celsius inside, it quietly drops its output by a fifth until it cools, with nothing on the display to say so — worth remembering before you go looking for a fault on a long hot drive.

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

Listen on the repeater's input on a DR-06T

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.

There is no reverse on this radio. Nothing in the manual swaps the transmit and receive frequencies — not a key, not a second function, not a setting in the parameter list. The contents list runs from the warnings through to the TNC command appendix and there is no entry for it. Here is what you can do instead.

  1. To hear the repeater's input directly, take the shift off: press FUNC then MHz, and press MHz until neither the plus nor the minus icon is showing.FUNC›MHz›MHzThe screen should show: Both offset icons gone.Watch out. This puts you on simplex on the repeater's OUTPUT frequency, which is not the same thing as reverse. Reverse listens on the input. This listens where you already were.
  2. To actually listen on the input, tune there by hand with the shift off.dial → the repeater's inputThe screen should show: The input frequency, simplex.That is what reverse does on other radios, done the long way. Work out the input yourself from the output and the offset — down 900 kHz on a 6 meter machine here, or whatever your band uses.
  3. If you do this often, store the input as its own simplex channel next to the repeater.FUNC›dial → a spare channel›MWThe screen should show: A channel number, then a beep.Two channels side by side is a reasonable substitute for a key you do not have, and it survives being turned off.

Be careful with that middle step. Tuning to a repeater's input with the shift off means your transmitter is on the input too — so you would be transmitting into the repeater on simplex, which is exactly what you do not want to do by accident. Set it up, listen, and put it back. Storing it as its own channel and being disciplined about which channel you talk on is the safer habit.

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

Name a memory channel on a DR-06T

Seven characters per channel, typed with the dial. The one thing that catches everybody is that the setting does not exist until you have stored a channel to attach it to.

  1. Get into memory mode and land on the channel you want to name.V/M›dial → the channel to nameThe screen should show: The channel number at the left.Watch out. Program the channel first. Alinco says twice that the tag setting will not appear in the list until memories have been programmed, so on an empty radio it simply is not there.
  2. Hold FUNC for more than two seconds to enter the Parameter Setting mode.hold FUNCThe screen should show: One of the eleven settings, probably STP-20.
  3. Step through the list with the SQL key or the microphone UP and DOWN keys until you reach the tag setting.SQL›AThe screen should show: A single flashing A.That flashing A is the whole item. On a DR-06T it is the last thing before the dimmer, so overshooting to LAMP-H means you have gone one too far; on the other four radios in this manual there is no dimmer and the tag is the last item in the loop, so an overshoot wraps round to the channel step.
  4. Turn the dial to a character and press V/M to enter it. The next position starts flashing ready for the next one.dial → a character›V/MThe screen should show: Your tag building up, seven characters at most.Watch out. 67 characters are available including the letters and digits. If you want to start over, CALL wipes everything you have typed so far.
  5. When you are done, press FUNC to leave.FUNCThe screen should show: Back to normal, with the channel showing its name.Watch out. The book gives two different lists for getting out of this one screen — the Parameter Setting page says PTT, FUNC, MHz and TS/DCS, and the tag page itself leaves MHz off. FUNC is on both, so use that. FUNC leaves the mode — Alinco's rule is any key OTHER than SQL and the microphone UP and DOWN keys, and SQL is specifically one of the keys that keeps you IN. But FUNC also puts the F icon on the display, and on this radio F plus one more key is the layer that stores, deletes and scan-skips channels. Make sure the F icon has cleared before you press anything else.

Once a channel has a tag, memory mode shows the name instead of the frequency. To see what is actually behind it, press FUNC and the frequency appears for five seconds. After that it goes back on its own, or any key brings it back at once.

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

Delete a memory channel on a DR-06T

Two keys, no confirmation, and the same two keys that store a channel when you are in the other mode. The manual also gives those same two keys a THIRD job in its scanning chapter. Read both warnings below before you press anything.

  1. Press V/M until the memory channel number is showing at the left, and land on the channel you want gone.V/M›dial → the channel to deleteThe screen should show: A channel number and a steady M icon.Watch out. This is the step that matters. In memory mode the next keystroke deletes; in VFO mode the identical keystroke stores. Go by the M icon rather than the number beside it — that field also carries the squelch level when the squelch screen is up.
  2. Press FUNC, then press MW while the F icon is showing.FUNC›MWThe screen should show: A beep, and then a change on the display — either a flashing M icon or the 10 MHz decimal point lighting.Watch out. No confirmation screen, no are-you-sure. And there is a second problem the book leaves you with: its scanning chapter describes this identical keystroke — FUNC, then this key, in memory mode — as setting the memory SKIP flag rather than deleting, with the same repeat-to-undo structure. Both cannot be true. A flashing M icon is the best sign the channel is gone; the 10 MHz decimal point that marks a skip also lights for two unrelated things on this radio. Do not go changing channels to check, though — read the next step first.
  3. If that was a mistake, do exactly the same thing again straight away and the channel comes back.FUNC›MWThe screen should show: The M icon goes steady again.Watch out. This only works while you stay on that channel and in that mode. Change either one and the undo is gone for good, which in practice means you have about as long as it takes to realize what you did.

Because there is no confirmation, the habit worth building on this radio is to look at the left of the display before every FUNC and MW. Once you are sure you meant it, and only then, move off the channel — the undo above is gone the moment you do. Worth knowing separately that CALL, PL, PH and channel 99 are always skipped during a memory scan whatever you set, so if the thing you wanted was to keep the scanner off one of those, it already is.

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

Turn off the roger beep on a DR-06T

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.

There isn't one. Nothing in this radio sends a tone at the end of your transmission and nothing in the eleven-item settings list turns one on. If something is beeping at you, it is one of these three, and they are all in the same list — so you go in once and walk along it rather than starting over each time.

  1. Hold FUNC for two seconds to enter the settings list, then press SQL until the beep setting appears and turn the dial to BEEP-OF.hold FUNC›SQL›BEEP-ON›dial → BEEP-OFThe screen should show: BEEP-ON or BEEP-OF. The name on the screen already tells you which way it is set.Alinco's own wording is that this beeps after CERTAIN keys are touched and when a setting is done, not on every keypress — so it is the first thing to try, but do not expect it to account for every noise the radio makes.
  2. One more press of SQL brings up the time-out timer. Just look at it.SQL›TOT-OFFThe screen should show: TOT-OFF if it is off, or TOT- and a number, which is SECONDS.Watch out. There is no ON setting here — turning the dial off TOT-OFF is what switches it on, and the number you land on becomes a limit on how long you can transmit, up to 450 seconds. So read this one and leave the dial alone unless you actually want a timer. If it is already set, it beeps five seconds before it cuts you off, and the penalty setting straight after it can then refuse to transmit for up to fifteen seconds more.
  3. Press SQL four more times to reach busy channel lock-out, which beeps and refuses to transmit when somebody else is on the frequency.SQL›BCLO-OF›dial → BCLO-OFThe screen should show: BCLO-ON or BCLO-OF. Off from the factory.A beep instead of a transmission when you press PTT on a busy channel is this rather than a fault.
  4. Press FUNC to leave the settings list.FUNCThe screen should show: Back to the frequency, with the F icon showing for a moment.Watch out. FUNC leaves the mode — Alinco's rule is any key OTHER than SQL and the microphone UP and DOWN keys, and SQL is specifically one of the keys that keeps you IN. But FUNC also puts the F icon on the display, and on this radio F plus one more key is the layer that stores, deletes and scan-skips channels. Make sure the F icon has cleared before you press anything else.

If somebody on the air tells you they hear a beep at the end of your overs, it is not coming from this radio. The repeater's own courtesy tone is far the likeliest answer. Worth knowing separately: this radio does have a tone burst for waking European-style repeaters, sent by holding the microphone's DOWN key while you hold PTT — that is a tone at the start, not the end, and it is not a roger beep.

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

Turn off the voice announcements on a DR-06T

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.

This radio does not talk, and no accessory makes it talk. There is no announcement setting in the eleven-item parameter list, nothing in the contents list from cover to appendix, and no voice guide unit among the options. The only audible feedback it gives is a beep.

  1. Hold FUNC for two seconds, then press SQL until the beep setting comes up, and make sure it is on.hold FUNC›SQL›BEEP-ON›dial → BEEP-ONThe screen should show: BEEP-ON.On a radio with a single-line segment display and no speech, the beep is doing more work than usual. Note that Alinco says it sounds after certain keys and when a setting is done, rather than on every keypress.
  2. If the reason you wanted voice is a display you struggle to read, keep pressing SQL round to the last item in the list, the dimmer.SQL›LAMP-H›dial → LAMP-H or LAMP-LThe screen should show: LAMP-H for brighter, LAMP-L for darker.Watch out. The dimmer is DR-06T only — on the other radios in this manual it is not in the list at all, so the list ends one item earlier.
  3. Press FUNC to come out.FUNCThe screen should show: Back to the frequency, with the F icon showing for a moment.Watch out. FUNC leaves the mode — Alinco's rule is any key OTHER than SQL and the microphone UP and DOWN keys, and SQL is specifically one of the keys that keeps you IN. But FUNC also puts the F icon on the display, and on this radio F plus one more key is the layer that stores, deletes and scan-skips channels. Make sure the F icon has cleared before you press anything else.

There is one thing here that sounds like it might help and does not. The DR-06T takes an optional EJ-47U unit for digital voice communication, and that is a digital transmission mode for talking to other people, not the radio reading its own settings out loud. If spoken menus matter to you, they are a model-by-model choice rather than a brand one — Kenwood's TM-V71A takes a VGS-1 that announces frequencies and menu numbers, and several Yaesu radios take an FVS unit. This is not one of them.

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

Turn off dual watch on a DR-06T

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.

There is no dual watch on this radio. It has one receiver and no key, setting or menu item that watches a second frequency alongside the one you are on. There is something adjacent, and it is worth knowing about because it is half of what people want — but it cannot be set up from the front panel.

  1. Each memory channel can hold a priority monitoring frequency. That is all the book says about it — it is in the list of things a channel stores and nowhere else.Note the priority monitoring frequencyThe screen should show: Nothing — there is no display for it.Watch out. Alinco lists this among the things a memory channel stores and marks it PC programming required. There is no keystroke for it anywhere in the book — and no description of what the radio does with it either, so what you would get is not something we can tell you. Without the programming software you cannot reach it at all.
  2. Set the scan type first: hold FUNC for two seconds, press SQL to step to the scan type item, turn the dial to your choice, then press FUNC to leave.hold FUNC›SQL›TIMER›dial → TIMER or BUSY›FUNCThe screen should show: TIMER or BUSY.TIMER carries on after five seconds whether or not the signal is still there. BUSY stays until the signal goes. For listening to two channels, BUSY behaves most like a dual watch. Choose before you start scanning — a keypress while a scan is running just stops the scan.Watch out. SQL is the key that steps you ALONG the list, not out of it — Alinco's exit rule is any key other than SQL and the microphone UP and DOWN keys. FUNC is the one to use, and it leaves the F icon showing. That matters here more than anywhere: the very next step presses V/M, and V/M with the F icon up is the store, delete or scan-skip keystroke rather than the mode key. Wait for the F icon to clear before you go on.
  3. Then scan. Press V/M until the memory channel number is showing, then hold the MHz key for more than a second and it runs through your programmed channels.V/M›hold MHzThe screen should show: The channel numbers step past.Scanning a short list of channels is the practical substitute for dual watch on a single-receiver radio. It is not simultaneous, but it does mean you hear both.Watch out. V/M toggles, so press it until you can SEE the channel number — from the VFO you would get a band-wide VFO scan instead of your channels. On the hold: the scanning chapter says more than one second and less than two, while the front panel table says the scan starts within one second, so watch for the scan to start rather than counting. Any key except the microphone UP and DOWN keys stops it.

If watching two frequencies at once genuinely matters to you, this is the wrong radio rather than a setting you have not found — it has one receiver. The dual band mobiles on this site have two, and that is what makes it possible.

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

Lock the keypad on a DR-06T

Two keys, and a usefully short list of what still works while it is on.

  1. Press FUNC, then press TS/DCS while the F icon is showing.FUNC›TS/DCSThe screen should show: A key icon appears.The same two keys turn it off again, which is one of the few things you can still do while it is on.
  2. Five things keep working while it is locked: the PTT, the squelch setting, the monitor function, the microphone UP and DOWN keys, and the FUNC and TS/DCS pair that unlocks it.Try the squelch while it is lockedThe screen should show: The squelch level still responds.Watch out. The microphone's UP and DOWN keys still change frequency and channel, so this lock on its own does not stop a microphone swinging on its hook from moving you off channel. The microphone has its own lock switch for exactly that, listed on its own key table, and that is the one to use.

The lock does not survive a factory reset, which sets it back to off along with everything else. And if the panel has stopped responding with no key icon on the screen, the manual's troubleshooting table gives exactly one cause for keys and dial not working, and it is the key lock — so check for the icon again before you look for anything else.

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

Factory reset on a DR-06T

One reset, one keystroke, and it takes everything. There is no settings-only option, so every channel you have programmed goes with it.

  1. Turn the power off.Switch the radio offThe screen should show: Dark.
  2. Hold the FUNC key down and turn the power on with it held.hold FUNC›PWRThe screen should show: Every segment of the display lights at once, then the factory settings appear.Watch out. Hold FUNC down while you press PWR — this is the hold-and-press layer, not the press-then-press one. Pressing FUNC and releasing it before touching PWR is a different layer of the radio entirely.
  3. Read what the radio comes up on. That is your confirmation the reset actually ran.Check what came backThe screen should show: A DR-06T comes up on 51.000 MHz with a 900 kHz offset; a DR-03T on 29.000 MHz with 100 kHz; a DR-135LH on 40.000 MHz with 900 kHz.All of them come back with a 20 kHz step, high power, the lock off, the time-out timer and auto power off both off, and squelch at 2. The tone and DCS FUNCTIONS come back switched off — what the table gives as 88.5 Hz and 023 is the frequency and code they will use once you switch one on, not a tone that is already going out.

Alinco's own note is blunt: take special care, because all settings are initialized. There is no confirmation screen and no undo — the moment the display lights up all its segments, your 100 channels are gone. If there is any chance you will want them back, read them off with the programming software first. The clone function is the other route, and it copies a complete radio to a second one over a cable, settings and channels together.

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

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