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You can
write your own review of the Allied AX-190.
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W8AAZ
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Rating: 4/5
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Apr 11, 2009 19:01
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Too much now?
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I will say that I had one of these as a youth. I liked it pretty well and enjoyed operating it. I thought it worked really pretty well at the time, if you are comparing it to current radios, forget it. We did not have that reference point at the time. Just this though, nice ones are selling on ebay for too much, in my opinion. They are selling for collectables prices, not a price that reflects a fairly decent but obsolete receiver that is maybe not quite old enough to be antique. So you have to decide if you are a collector or a practical user, as I think the practical performance does not in itself justify the prices we are seeing online for nice ones. Sorry.
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KN6LE
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 3, 2008 08:00
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STILL HAS STYLE
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Very happy with my AX-190. Workmanship and styling superb. Very stable, reasonably sensative. Very firm feel. When I use it, puts me right back into the early 1970s
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KY4Z
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Rating: 4/5
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Nov 27, 2007 22:20
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Worth a look as a second rcvr
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I remember when the Allied AX-190 was new; I was a very enthusastic SWL'er who wanted a ham bands only receiver. I never bought one, but my admiration for this receiver and its SWL companion, the SX-190, never subsided.
When I had a chance a couple of years ago to pick up an AX-190, I wasn't disappointed with it. It is what it is, however -- don't think that it will outperform your high-end Icom ham rig. The AX-190 holds its own for what it is -- a 35-year-old mid-range priced receiver.
The selectivity is a compromise. It's a bit narrow on AM and a bit wide for SSB. While it doesn't offer DSP or a range of crystal filtering for SSB and CW, the Q-Multiplier is effective and can be used to help cut down interference under crowded band conditions.
As with most other receivers from the early 1970s, sensitivity drops off some on the bands above 20 meters. I've found the rig receives best on resonant antennas for whichever band you're using. I use mine with my external antenna tuner in my shack and it does a respectable job.
My AX-190 is quite stable; its a joy to tune and the audio quality is very good (depending on mode). I love the styling of this rig; even after 35 years, its still a beauty.
If you're looking for a bit of nostalgia and would like a receiver that will give you stylish good looks and decent performance, you won't go wrong with the AX-190.
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KB1GMX
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Rating: 4/5
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Sep 10, 2005 10:55
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Good for the era and price and possible used buy
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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First, I got mine in 1974 used and have had it since. It is the ARS AX-190 version. It is a GRE chassis. I have the matching speaker. The first task was rebuilding the VFO tuning mech as the original owner must of like to bang against the stops damaging the brass gears. Then I realigned it very carefully. It has been my standby reciever and used to calibration agains WWV (15mhz). Over the years I've been watching for the matching transmitter, they were very scarce.
A few years ago I opened it up and replaced the 2SK19s in the frontend (it was getting deaf)
with MPF102s and did a complete realign by the book. It does good or better than spec for sensitivity and selectivity still. Properly aligned the VFO tracking is +- 500Hz which is
not bad considering.
Excellent sensitivity for 80-20m, Ok for 15 and tepid for 11 and 10m. Typical for midrange RX of that era. Like many transistor recievers of the time RF overload of the front end is typical, the RFgain control does help this. Also a Tuned antenna works best (or random wide with antenna tuner).
Selectivity is fixed by IF can mechanical filters that are not very narrow. They are narrow enough to be on the tightside for AM phone and wide for SSB. The Q-multiplier when properly adjusted can provide a good notch or peak and makes the selectivity passable. With some imagination adding a good 2.7khz (or 500hz)ceramic or mechanical filter to the 455Khz IF could be done.
Handy items: front pannel headphone jack, Rear pannel VFO, HFO outputs and runs nicely on 12V.
There is also a rear pannel speaker jack, Mute
and line audio.
Watchout fors: If you find one used the VFO drive
may have dead grease or other damage making it stiff and jumpy tuning. This is NOT normal but with a bit of work can usually be repaired. It should tune very smoothly. Dead or partaially dead audio amp outputs that give fuzzy audio.
I've seen a few with "deaf as a stump" complaints and replacing the 2sk19s on the front end board
works here. If it has been "golden screwdrivered"
an alignment will be needed and could be a pain if they cracked the slugs. Also bad or missing crystals in the front end. Dead crystal calibrators are common. For any radio this age the pots maybe bad from use/abuse.
For an old radio it performs well and was better than the HW101 RX save for overload.
I gave it a 4 because it was good, noteably so for the time but for the dollar (as new purchase in 1973) it was expensive. As a used radio buy it can be a good deal for a first RX if in good shape or can be brought back to original. The ability to run off of 12V DC is handy for field use
Allison
KB1GMX
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TUBESAREKING
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 3, 2004 12:02
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GRE Wonder-Radio
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Hate to burst some peoples's bubble, but the AX-190/SX-190 is not a Trio-Kenwood. I just received my SX-190 via eBay and in the process of cleaning and fixing it up noticed that each PC board has GRE clearly marked on it. GRE is the company that made the DX-160, DX-150/A/B for Radio Shack. To my eyes, I can see the Kenwood resemblance. I'd say GRE was inspired by Kenwood, Collins, Drake etc. when designing this rig.
For the SWL, consider it a speciality receiver. It is not general coverage. It is not suitable as your only SW radio, or even your only good SW radio. But, as an addition to your shack, its a beauty. Coverage is limited, tuning is fantastically smooth, selectivity is awesome. Audio quality, is, well interesting. It is very, very narrow band for AM. SSB sounds very clear and crisp. AM sounds very fuzzy. But, unlike the narrow bandwidth on my Kenwood R-1000 and Sony ICF-SW77, it does not have that horrid muddy sound. After listening to the fuzzy sound, I came to like it for real DX work. For the easy stuff, I use the Kenwood on wide with its quasi HiFi sound. When the Kenwood is being trashed by adjacent channel interference, its this Realistic SX-190 to the rescue!
Build quality looks good. My SX-190 has Realistic and RS on it, not Allied, Allied Radio Shack, or ARS on it. Solder connections look good on it, likely due to it being a later model. Serial number contains 76 in it. The general consensus is that these were only offered from 1971 to 1973. Yet, the very first Radio Shack Canada catalogue I ever saw was from 1975, and I recall seeing this baby in it, and for the next couple catalogues as well. Perhaps it had a longer run in Canada?
With my 70 foot long wire V, keeping the RF gain all the way up results in warbles and whistles everywhere - just like a cheap 70s era multiband portable. Back the RF gain down to the 2/3 of the way up position, and it behaves beautifully. I'm sure wide open would be fine with a small antenna.
The preselector works well, but must be set up properly, otherwise you'll force images into it. Properly tuned, this baby is essentially image free.
This is a "hands on" receiver. You don't just tune in the stations. You tweak tuning, RF gain, preselector. You do math in your head to identify your frequency - 5.7 + 135 = 5.835 Mhz.
The gears for the tuning system tell you GRE put their heart and soul into this baby.
My SX-190 has a rather rusty top and bottom case, so come spring I'll be sanding, priming and painting. The dial indicator slips a bit arround "200", likely an easy fix. the ajustable marker dial did not work properly until I removed the tuning knob and reinstalled it closer to the front panel as it should be. Now the clutch system works great.
Not for the average Joe and Jane, but for the shack of a seasoned amateur or SWL, a hands on delight.
Be prepared to try it with different speakers until the audio is to your liking. If you need extra crispness, using a 6.5 inch closed back midrange speaker will peak up the mids, making it easier to hear tough DX. If you want more warmth, a 6x 9 car radio speaker with a whizzer in one of those carpeted 6 x 9 boxes [with a bit of fibre glass insulation inside]does a nice job.
The closest thing to a solid state boatanchor I've seen - a canoe anchor or a dory anchor. A poor man's Collins? Perhaps.
The knobs are solid aluminum - the tuning knob is very heavy, giving a decent flywheel effect.
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MMAGHAKIAN
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 15, 2002 17:59
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GREAT FUN COOL !
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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The person who said bad things about this radio needs to tune his up. These are awesome radios, if you can get one, be sure to tune it up !
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W6PMR
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Rating: 1/5
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Sep 12, 2002 02:44
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Am I on the same Planet ?
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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Wow, From reading the reviews from the other fellows about this radio one might conclude that it is an OK rig.....NOT.
I was suckered into owning this radio because I
will admit, it's a good looking radio but it leaves much to be desired.
It's numb as a rock above 10mhz, the audio quality is poor, it has a severe image problem and is overall a cheap, low-end Ham band only, table radio.
To read one of the other reviewers put this in the same sentence with Collins, ANY Collins made
me choke.
Look people, lets get real on these reviews, if you can pick this radio up a any swap for under
a hundred bucks, and I do see this all the time,
you figure out how good this thing is.
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VR2XMQ
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 12, 2002 00:34
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Very Good RX for Age
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I must say that I am quite impressed by the Allied AX 190 communications receiver. This set was recently purchased along with the matching SP-190 external speaker and arrived yesterday. It was connected up to the antenna and I found that the dial mechanism was really ultra smooth and had a rally nice feel. All the knobs are in aluminium including the VFO spinner knob - really nice touch and none of these cheap and nasty plastic ones you get on equipment these days.
Very good RX on 80 meters but a bit lacking on 10.
But for a RX built in 1971, top marks. The audio is very nice on both SSB and AM and I'm sure with an additional antenna preselector and a good audio filter it will work like magic on CW.
I'm really pleased I bought this radio. It might be worthwhile to get the sister SX 190 which is for the SW bands.This is a very attractive looking radio.
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VE2AKV
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Rating: 4/5
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Jul 26, 2002 17:47
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Great for the price!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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It`s a good receiver for the price....
Cosmetic is beautiful and a great receiver in the shack!
Well it`s a receiver made first for am brodcast.
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K9STH
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Rating: 4/5
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Mar 4, 2001 21:05
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Allied / Radio Shack AX-190 = good receiver.
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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First of all, the AX-190 IS NOT a general coverage receiver. It covers 80, 40, 20, 15, and all of 10 meters (this in 4 segments) plus 15 MHz for WWV and 27 MHz for CB. This is accomplished in 500 KHz segments. There is an SWL version of the receiver called the SX-190 which covers various SWL bands also in 500 KHz segments. The receivers are identical except for the front panels and, of course, the band determining crystals. The AX-190 has an optional position for a 500 KHz segment between 3.5 MHz and 10 MHz. The SX-190 has two optional positions, one of which is between 3.5 MHz and 10 MHz and the other between 10 MHz and 30 MHz.
The receivers are fully solid-state, and were, I believe, actually built by Trio (Kenwood) in Japan. Allied sold these receivers both before, and after, that company was acquired by Radio Shack. In fact, I have two AX-190 receivers, one with the Allied name on it and the other "Realistic" by Radio Shack!
Calibration of the dial is actually 3 marks, much like Trio / Kenwood used on the TS-520. One mark is for upper-sideband, the center mark for AM, and the third mark for lower-sideband. Each revolution of the main tuning dial moves the receiver 50 KHz. This dial is calibrated for each KHz, and, is relative accurate. The crystal calibrator has two positions, the first giving 100 KHz markers and the second giving 25 KHz markers.
Also included are an "S" meter, calibrated preselector, and a Q-Multiplier. The latter can be used for both rejecting interfering signals or to peak the desired signal (much like the old Heathkit QF-1 Q-Multiplier). The "mode" switch has five positions: LSB, USB, Stand By, AM, and ANL (automatic noise limiter on AM).
Using the receiver: The main tuning dial is extremely smooth in operation, much smoother than any of my Collins equipment (have 2 S-Lines, 75A3, 75A4) or Heath equipment (have SB-301, SB-303, and SB-401). The only receiver that I own that tunes any where near as smoothly is my Hallicrafters SX-100. The i.f. filter is reasonably sharp, SSB stations are easy to tune, as are AM stations.
RCA type phono jacks are provided on the rear panel to bring out the VFO and Heterodyne Oscillators (just like the Collins S-Lines and Heath SB-Lines) to transceive with an external transmitter (which was never sold). Other rear connections include an SO-239 (UHF type) jack for the antenna; external standby switch; speaker jack (standard 0.25 inch phone jack); and an output for received audio to drive a tape recorder. Also, a jack to run the receiver from a 12 volt DC supply is provided.
The drawbacks to this receiver are that no provision has been made for a sharper filter for CW operation and that the sensitivity drops off on the higher bands. This fact was made known by several reviews in 73, QST, and CQ magazines when the receiver was first produced. There were several articles published on improving the sensitivity on 20 through 10 meters.
The performance of this receiver is better than many similar priced receivers of its day (the mid to late 1970s). Stability is excellent, and selectivity is better than average.
Actually, the receiver is about a 4.5. It compares favorably (except for the drop in sensitivity) to my Heath SB-301 and SB-303 receivers, but, is not as good as my Collins S-Lines.
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