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| Reviews Summary for Radio Shack DX-394 |
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Reviews: 29
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Average rating: 3.6/5
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MSRP: $399.95
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Description: General Coverage Communications Receiver Rating (1-5): H (1)
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Made In: China 1995-1998 Voltages: 120 VAC 12 VDC
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Coverage: 150-30000 kHz Readout: Digital LCD 0.1
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Modes: AM/LSB/USB/CW Selectivity: 7.2/6/5.7 kHz
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Circuit: Double Conversion Physical: 9.125x3.5x7.8" 5 Lbs.
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Features: ¼" Head. Jack, S-Meter, VRIT Tuning, Dial Lamp, Keypad, NB, Fine Tuning, Clock, 5-Event Timer, Scan, Sweep, Standby, Lock, Record Jack, Sleep Timer, Four Tuning Steps.
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OE3SGU
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Rating: 4/5
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Nov 22, 2006 01:35
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Not that bad
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Considerung the price of the receiver its quite ok. A friend gave me his to try as he didnt like it to much. I have tested it for some days now and for general broadcast monitoring its quite ok. The speaker sound is not good, but an external speaker helps out. It cant compete with a decent FRG-7700 or 8800 or some of the Icoms, but for normal monitoring of the stronger broadcast stations its quite ok.
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WD9DUI
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 22, 2003 22:49
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Nice receiver
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I picked mine up at a local swap meet for $40. It replaces an older Sony receiver. I did not know what I had picked up until I got home with it.
The radio has a “B” tag on it; I have had no problems with it so far.
I probably will not be doing any mods to it as for what I use it for it works just fine.
I do not care for the small speaker mounted inside the radio. I have noticed some AC leaking in; this seems to distort the audio. Will have to put on a DC supply to see if it goes away.
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N7BUI
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Rating: 0/5
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Jun 22, 2003 22:27
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Poor radio even with mods.
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Good radio? Hardly. Poor performance on intermod. The "Kiwa" filter does help it out lots on AM, but on SSB/CW this thing is truely a piece of junk. I believe its because they didn't take the time to design a product detector for it. The receiver swamps out on strong signals and you have to turn down the RF gain to almost minimum to get a readable signal on SSB. The selectivity is very poor and signals 15 Khz away can cause "thumping" (overloading) of the frontend on SSB. Mines going up for sale very soon as my old DX-400 portable from Radio Shack can out perform it by a long mile. All the mods in the world can't really help the poor design. They're just band-aids.
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M3ZOM
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Rating: 4/5
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May 9, 2003 11:43
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Cheap RX
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Well I paid £29 for mine when Tandy decided to close all there stores over here.
Good Radio looks nice certainly couldn't have done better for the money.
Like the idea about the lead must try that.
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DT593
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 14, 2003 11:54
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For The Money Its "GREAT"
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Now Remember I'm writing this bearing in mind and considering what I received for what I paid ($129 NEW). I've had mine for over 10 years I thinks it's been, and again...for the money it is the best deal I've ever come across in over 40 years of playing with radios. There are a few websites on the net dedicated to this radio which I have contributed some tech stuff to, Try searching dx-394 on yahoo and you should find them. Since I saved so much when I purchased it at RS as a "FINAL FINAL" Closeout I went ahead and ordered a shop manual for it when I purchased the radio, the manual sure helps when trying to find out why published mods with faults in them are tried and don't work. I have done a few of the mods found "out there" but the need to do ANY of them is debatable...One thing for sure.. the radio usually needs a frequency/readout alignment right out of the box. There is some sort of mistake given in the mods over the net regarding what to turn and what not to turn..I think the better dedicated websites have the matter cleared up...once you do the alignment CORRECTLY the readout is surprisingly accurate. I added some lead to the inside of the tuning knob to get a better "feel" which I dont believe is a commonly found mod. The sensitivity is just fine (for $129) and the selectivity has been tight enough for my needs even when connected to various LARGE amplified antennas.
I wish it came with a metal case but once again $129 got me alot and I shouldnt be too picky about it. I have a ICOM PRC-1000 (plus many other receivers)the 394 is a better radio (for what you pay) hands down. I have sat the PCR-1000 right next to the 394 with an antenna switch capable of changing various antennas back and forth...in all cases the 394 outdid the Icom...this is sort of like comparing apples and oranges but its the only radio I actually did a side by side test with.Again I will say....for the money ..you can't go wrong...If you can get one in decent shape for under $150 GRAB IT!!!Then go to one of the webpages dedicated to this radio and align it... You wont be dissapointed.
One thing though...I dont listen to much Broadcast and most of my listening is on SSB military and other utility stations...even with the small ammount of BC I have listened to I found no problems at all (for $129 worth of radio)
Bear
Western NY
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G7VAK
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Rating: 4/5
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Oct 10, 2002 08:14
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A good receiver for SSB/data
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I was offered the DX394 second hand for £60. I snapped this up and was pleasently surprised when I switched it on for the first time.
The two outstanding negative points about this receiver are the flimsy tuning drive and the poor audio. A 100n capacitor across the LS sorted the poor reproduction out to a degree [external LS was better] and pushing some lead sealed with some 'Blu Tack' behind the tuning knob gave the RX the 'feel' I desired.
Sensitivity was as good as my FRG-100. I have yet to deal with the timers, the 'manual' is very poor in that respect and a circuit would have been useful.
I did add an SSB filter between the Audio Gain control and the AF Amp giving better selectivity.
The seller has seen this and stated that he had never heard it sounding so good.
All in all, a good receiver that could have been better. I use exclusively for data reception and it is very stable.
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VE3MEO
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Rating: 4/5
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Aug 10, 2002 08:32
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Great for what I paid, good overall, easily improved.
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I bought a DX-394 'A' version for CDN $130 in the last Canadian clearance. At that price, with its features and performance, I rate it great! It compares favorable with receivers selling for 3-6 times that but does not stand comparison with the truly great receivers that cost a lot more. Overall it's a good receiver with compromises in design that affect performance in favour of lowered cost. It's much loved, there's a user group with some 140 members at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RADIOSHACKDX394/, it's much maligned (check out old UseNet threads by searching on DX-394 OR DX394 on http://groups.google.com/), and much modified (see http://www.mods.dk for the most complete collection).
Out of the box, mine was misaligned by about 1.4 kHz on AM but that has negligible effect on finding a station from its published frequency because the filter is so wide. SSB/CW alignment was another matter - one wonders if the factory alignment procedure was wrong. Mine has trim caps for the SSB/CW BFO's and I was able to adjust for zero beat with WWV reading bang on for both USB and LSB modes and the filter skirt ended up close to carrier so that it was truly single sideband detection or as close as you can get with the shape factor of the filter.
I have spent a lot of time fighting front-end overload from strong MW transmitters, first conversion images from VHF-FM transmitters when using the whip, and shielding for electro-magnetic interference from a computer and its CRT. All receivers suffer from these problems, more or less - as a low-budget tabletop general coverage receiver, the DX-394 suffers more than some.
There may well be differences between the three versions of the product that it is not possible to generalise from my experience: the original DX-394, the 'A' and 'B' versions. At some point, the manufacturer changed from a Japanese factory to a Chinese factory (serial nums beginning with 'C').
Recommend a good antenna tuner connected to the Lo-Z input, shielded transmission line, and, for those with strong local MW signals, a 1.7 MHz high pass filter for SW reception.
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TUBESAREKING
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 7, 2002 08:54
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Hacker's delight!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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The DX-394 is my first and only table top SW receiver. I also have a DX-440, Sony ICFSW-77, and my pride and joy, a Zenith Trans-oceanic H500 restored by me. I also have a ZTO Y600 which sort of works, but has very little audio output before distortion. Yes, it has good tubes and has been fully recapped.
Several years ago I bought my DX-394 - on sale. A very nice little rig, but I didn't use it much. While it is very sensitive on SW [although a dud on BCB and LW]its selectivity was very poor. Radio Netherlands, RCI etc. would drown out a nearby lower power station.
Recently, I installed the Kiwa filter upgrade. What a difference! Now my DX-394 is getting lots of use, giving my ICFSW-77 a break. For the most part, I don't miss the fact that the 394 does not have a synch detector - its only on occassion that I reach for the Sony for this reason.
There are a few DX-394s available at Radio Shack stores in Canada for about 150 CDN! If you like to tinker, get one. You'll have a great little rig with 5 nifty timers too! If you want to tape using the timer, get a vox recorder - or better yet, get a vox kit to add to your recorder - try Canakit or Ramsey for this! As for DX on the standard broadcast band, a GE SR III [available at Walmart and Canadian Tire for great prices]with a Select-A-Tenna [CRB Research has good prices on them] does wonders, although the GE SR II is a better DX machine than the III. The ICFSW-77 is very good on standard AM too - especially with the S-A-T.
OK, the DX-394 is no AOR 7030 - but its a lot less expensive!
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STEVE
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Rating: 4/5
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Feb 15, 2002 18:43
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not bad
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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hmm well i tryed one of these tandy rx,s &i did not expect it to be that good.After a few weeks i soon sold it on,but to be fair i am not going to give this radio a bad report it worked well & did the job i wanted it to do, some good dx has been had with it.looks cool works well is dead cheap to buy,what more do you want its no jrc but then the price is not.if cash is short this kit will keep you going till better days come.
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