Beeper from on/off to hi/lo/off

Battery saver from on/off to long/normal/short/off

Clock

The keys come in a variety of types from the buttons and rocker switches on the side panel to the mode buttons around the speaker and the keypad itself.

The side panel keys are well spaced and have a decent feel. But since the entire area is contained under one rubber panel, the text for each button is difficult to read and since none of them light up via the backlight, users had best memorize the location of each for use in dimly lit or dark areas.

The rocker switches for Volume/Squelch and Up/Down are pleasant to use as well but those of us with wider thumbs find it a bit tricky to use due to their proximity to the raised side panel.

The power and mode buttons around the speaker have a very good feel to them; a short throw with a positive click when engaged. It's too bad that the keypad keys aren't quite as nice to use. These keys have short throws as well but there is no nice click when they make contact. This gives them a much more mushy feel and makes it harder to use when multiple keys are used in sequence.

Luckily, each keypress is accompanied by a beep which helps provide better feedback. The beep volume is not slaved to the audio volume and using the Set menu system it can be set to a low or high volume or turned off altogether.

To prevent accidental activation of the keypad there is a lock function. When activated, a key icon appears on the LCD and all keys are disabled except for Volume/Squelch, Up/Down, Lamp, squelch monitor and power. Unfortunately, the rotary control is not locked which means the current VFO frequency or memory channel can be accidentally changed. While accidental activation of the rotary control is not likely, I would prefer that this control be disabled as well.

One unique aspect of the X10 was that its LCD was colored green while the new X2000 uses a typical gray colored version. Splitting the LCD horizontally in half yields a custom-designed upper half and a two line "dot matrix" lower half.

On the far left of the custom half is the volume setting which consists of seven vertically stacked bars increasing in length as it goes up. Pressing the Volume switch provides a numeric indication of the current setting which can range from 0 - 32 (although 0 - 6 are essentially a mute setting). While the setting is displayed, the Up/Down switch can be used to adjust the volume.

Similar in operation is the squelch control which is adjusted by pressing the Squelch switch followed by Up/Down. The squelch can also be varied from 00 - 32 (which is much better than the 10 steps allowed on the X10). Accompanying the squelch is the monitor button on the side panel. Holding it down forces the squelch open allowing even the weakest of signals to be heard. Pressing Function then Monitor locks the squelch open until is is manually closed by repeating this keypress sequence.

Running along the top of the LCD are two rows of indicators which convey such information such as the mode, tone squelch, attenuator, battery saver, timers, priority, key lock and low battery.

Below these indicators and just to the right of the Volume graph is displayed the current receive mode. To the right of this is the S-meter which consists of 7 bars which increase in height as they progress to the right hand edge of the display. When the current step size is being set, the receive mode and S-meter are temporarily replaced by the step size selection menu.

The X2000 has an auto receive mode which is programmed to select a mode based on the current operating frequency. This is easily overridden and allows users to pick the receive mode from AM, FM, WFM, LSB, USB and CW. Also set for automatic selection is the step size. This too can be manually selected from one of the 23 supported step sizes (which includes the latest 8.33 kHz VHF aero spacing). There is also a user-specified step size which can be set between 50 Hz and 499.95 kHz in 50 Hz increments.

A note in the owner's manual mentions that the step size is fixed in the AM broadcast band to 10 kHz for the North American version and 9 kHz for the European version.

Overall, the LCD is easy to read and visibility holds up well when viewed from almost all angles (and you'll likely have little use for the Contrast setting under the Set menu). Due to the radio's small size, the numbers and indicators are a bit on the small side which might be a consideration for some users.

For nighttime use, the X2000 provides a backlight for both the display and the keypad. The backlight is adequate for both but could definitely be improved upon. Of course what you gain in illumination is lost in battery drain so there are always compromises to be reached.

The nicest thing about the backlight is its available settings. Using the Set menu, it can be set to illuminate only when the LAMP key is depressed, to alternate between on and off with LAMP presses or to automatically turn on for five second intervals when a control or key is used.

Another light is the receive (RX) indicator which is the small LED located in the upper right corner of the front panel. It is normally off but when a signal is received, it glows green for regular HF/VHF/UHF monitoring. If the unit is receiving a wide FM signal in stereo and headphones are plugged in, the LED glows orange (while true stereo is piped out the speaker jack). On the Japanese version, which contains the 250 - 260 MHz transmitter, the LED glows red while transmitting.

Speaking of headphones (or earphones), it's unlikely that most users will be thrilled with using them since there is a disturbing, low frequency "thump" which occurs when the radio comes in and out of the battery saver. And there's also some form of audio enable/disable since going in and out of the Set menu while sitting in VFO mode causes the same thumping sound.

Audio on the X2000 is just like the X10; loud and crisp. Some early X2000 users reported excessive audio hiss which, once returned to the factory for repair, was removed. The crispness of the audio does tend to enhance noise components and might annoy some users. Volume is plentiful and even when set at its maximum level there was little distortion heard.

Located under the Set menu is an item to configure the audio tone for high or low. While it's not specifically mentioned in the manual, I only found this setting to effect the audio quality of wide FM signals.

The squelch tail burst of white noise heard at the end of all signals is excessive on the X2000. For the money, one would expect a little better quality from this part of the receive circuitry. Unfortunately the CTCSS circuitry does not seem to be tied into the audio circuitry since enabling the CTCSS tone made no discernible difference in the squelch tail length.

One function which is tied into the squelch operation is the Bell. When enabled via the Set menu, the bell signal will be sounded for 10 seconds to let you know when the squelch has opened. Also, the bell icon flashes on the screen during these 10 seconds and then remains on (presumably as an indicator that you received a signal should you be away from your X2000) ever after.

Not included on the North American T version (due to US laws) is the voice descrambler feature which implements simple voice inversion which is used as a security measure to help discourage eavesdropping. When enabled, the rotary control allows the selection of the inversion point among 126 levels.

One feature found on all models is the digital recorder which can record up to 160 seconds of audio either from a received signal or via the built-in microphone (should you decide to dictate your grocery list whilst out and about, I guess). Recording can be started and stopped at will and as long as you don't leave the record screen, it can be paused and resumed. It is nice that when you're recording a received signal, the recording automatically starts when the squelch breaks. Too bad it doesn't stop/pause when the squelch closes!

Recorded audio fidelity is pretty good; it's just a bit muffled. The manual states that sound can be recorded 10,000 times (due to limitations of all read/write electronic media whose electrical properties eventually wear out).

A related audio function is the ability to pipe audio picked up from the microphone to an attached earphone or headphones (this function does not work unless there is something plugged into the speaker jack). Once this function is engaged, only the volume, rotary and CLR controls are active.

While it does do a decent job of picking up and amplifying audio, it is not directional and, even worse, any touch to the radio case or use of the rotary control results in very loud sounds being heard.

While the DJ-X2000 did not retain the time of day clock (dang!), it does have on and off timers. Both are simply 24 hour timers which can be set in 30 minute intervals and take effect from the point at which they are enabled. Once they are started, the timers simply count down and when the specified time has elapsed, they turn the X2000 on or off accordingly.

To help you make the batteries last as long as possible, the X2000 has an adjustable battery saver which engages whenever the unit is not searching or scanning and no signal has been received in a few seconds. Using the Set menu system, the amount of time spent asleep between wake-up intervals to check for signal activity can be specified as short, normal or long.

Another feature related to the battery is the X2000's ability to display the voltage left in the batteries (down to a tenth of a volt as long as external power is not used) and it's updated twice a second. This is a feature every radio should have since it is an invaluable tool for keeping the user apprised of how long it will be until the battery needs replacing.

And it will likely need replacing often if you stick with the stock NiCd battery pack because of the high battery drain. Sitting on a frequency with the squelch closed resulted in a 98 milliamps (ma) drain which dropped to 58 mA when the battery saver kicked in.

With the X2000's robust audio, users will be tempted to crank up the volume to fully appreciate it. But doing so will result in a hefty current drain. With the volume set at 12 (a decent low but still usable value) the drain was 115 ma (max). At a volume setting of 20 the drain jumped to 203 ma (max) and at 30 it was 292 ma (max).

One attractive trait of the X2000 to some is its huge memory capacity. With 2000 channels, it can take a while to fill it all up! Unfortunately the X2000 does not have a "true" computer interface but it does have a cloning feature which can be tricked into doing memory upload/download. The cloning feature was designed to allow one user to clone the contents of one X2000 into another. If you're interested in this, you'll just have to obtain the proper computer cable to connect to your PC and download the X2000 freeware from Alinco's web site.

Being the all-programmable device that it is, the X2000 allows its owner to program the LCD contents that are displayed when it is powered up. This consists of any characters in 3 rows of 12 characters each.

The last item to cover here are the radio resets of which there are two. The first is a system reset which resets user-adjustable features and settings but does not touch memory contents. The "all" reset does a system reset as well as erasing the entire memory contents.

Related to the Set menu system is the Help menu system. After pressing the HELP key, a menu is presented allowing you to ask for help on the function of a key or how to use a particular feature. Most items have English descriptions and most features will actually engage the feature once selected (just as though you had pressed the right key(s) on your own).

Considering the results, the X2000 proves it is a very sensitive radio but it is just a step behind the AR8200 MkII overall. There's not a real big difference between the two and some users might not even hear the difference, depending on which bands are most listened to.