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You can
write your own review of the Radio Shack HTX-242.
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NY4T
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 1, 2004 00:48
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Good bang for the buck
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Bought the 242 at a hamfest about 3 years ago. It has been in rough use in my work vehicle. I am a road construction inspector and this rig has been subjected to lots of vibration, dust and extremes of cold and heat. Lesser rigs have succumbed to the abuse but the 242 not only works great but still looks great whenever I bother to knock the dust off of it. Most of my projects are in a large city and intermod is not an issue. I get good reports on my audio and signal. Only downside is that it is a bit of a current hog so I don't recommend trying to run it on a cigarette lighter plug.
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K7VO
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Rating: 4/5
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Dec 26, 2003 14:03
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Solid, reliable, not completely intuitive, low TX audio
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I've had an HTX-242 in my car for quite a few months now. Does it work? Yes. Has it been reliable? For me, yes, but one local ham has had three with display failures, which worries me. Radio Shack is out of the ham business and is unlikely to have parts or repair the rig if it needs it. RX audio is fine. TX audio is a bit lower than most other rigs, though not as low as the HTX-252. I'll have to open it up and adjust it eventually. Programming isn't intuitive and I had to get the manual to change things around. Plenty of memories and bells and whistles.
In summary: the HTX-242 is a decent 2m FM rig with some flaws. If you can pick one up very inexpensively on the used market it's probably fine.
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KB5IYB
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 1, 2003 00:14
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Great Radio- Pot settings
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I love my HTX242. Bought it new from the shack and have never regretted it. I also have a Yaesu FT2400, FT2600, FT8100R and just sold my Icom IC228H. I really like the 242 for ease of use and the great audio. It does everything I ask of it. It isn't botherd by the pager towers surrounding my QTH. I have never had any problems with the radio, although I have aquired a couple of "bad" radios through swaps, nothing serious and always an easy fix (bought the shop manual a great investment).
So here it it for all you folks that need to crank the pots:
Main Board
RV1= AF deviation adjustment.
RV2= low power adjustment
Digital Board
VR603= CTCSS deviation adjustment
VR604= DTMF deviation adjustment
Hope this helps....
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KD8ZP
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Rating: 4/5
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Jun 17, 2003 10:00
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Good radio!!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have owned the HTX-242 for several years now (don't recall what year, but it was a Christmas present from my wife). I have not had the TX hanging problem, and virtually no other problems, with the exception of losing all memory presets a time or two. I've seen one other review that mentioned this problem. Overall, I've been pleased with the rig.
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KF6ZTY
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Rating: 3/5
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Mar 6, 2003 04:34
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TYPICAL RADIO SHACK
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I recently did some horse trading with one of my
friends,and i ended up with an radio shack
htx-242,and iam an long time radio shack
customer,and tandy does sell good cb,phones,
ham radio gear etc.
But as usual radio shack allways throws there
two cents worth of there own indivdualized,
way of designing or should i say amending,
somebody elses design and putting there name on
the radio.
I do have some opinions about the htx-242,
for onr thing the radio is hard to modify
out of band not like some radios you just cut
an little red wire!!!and this is good!! too!!
The fact is the receive is tight!!and the audio
is definitely,right,on or maybe even an little
low,so if an loud operator this is the radio
for you!!
I dont particulary like the microphone,its cheap
and i like the old eight pin mic jack better.
The display is too dim and the programming is
different from,adi,kenwood,even though it looks
like ther related there not!!for one thing
the radio bracket is not compatible with,the
adi,kenwood,and the same with the mic,s too.
See the adi,and kenwood the mic,s and the brackets
are compatible,even the final modules are
similar,and by the way the htx-242 finals are
completely different no brick,the finals look
like cb finals too me attached to the heat sink.
Another noticiable item is that the tuning
control pots for deviation and power are friendly
for the amateur,and you could probably use an
flat edge screw driver for adjusting but i dont
advise this,i would use an ramsey plastic
tuning wand that you would get with there kits.
The tuning pots are plastic insulated inserts on top of the pots,but unfortunately,they are
marked vr,blaaaaa,1,2,etc!unkike adi kenwood,
the control pots are marked dviation,low,power,
and high,etc.In my opinion radio shack wants
your service business,by making this amendment
to the radio,clone of kenwood,adi,etc.
All,in all,its an good radio,and i have heard
that tandy has several amateurs on the top
end of radio shack that make these decisions,
so they are taking the fate of ham radio
seriously and being responsible,conservative,
and saving face to the amateur community.
PS:DOES ANY BODY KNOW WHICH POTS ARE FOR POWER
SETTING,S PLEASE?
THANK YOU 73,S DE KK6NJ/KF6ZTY/MCARC:
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VE3TMT
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 29, 2003 16:30
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Excellent radio!!!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Currently on my third and forth ones, sold the other two. Dumb move. I keep one in the car and a backup in the house. Great intermod, fantastic audio, and easy to use. To the ham who said they don't work below 32 degrees, I've turned my car on at minus 32 and the thing works just fine. Maybe mine has a built-in block heater!! For what they are selling for now you can't go wrong. My only complaint would have to be with the tuning knob. It doesn't change frequency with each click, unless you turn it very slowly. But if you give it a big twist, it might only turn 15 khz.
Buy one, you won't regret it.
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KC8PUY
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 29, 2003 13:07
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Great Radio
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Great little unit. I have two of them, one mounted mobile and one as a base at home. Both have been trouble free now for over 2 years. The base unit has been pulled out and used at field day stations and at JOTA stations several times now and works well, has held up to some really rough treatment and most importantly has been very easy to operate.
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KI7AZ
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 1, 2003 21:33
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Great rig!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I've had it over a year now, a good little rig. Audio is crisp and clear, no problems with transmit or receive. It's never given me problems after hours of use.
73,
Matt - KI7AZ
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AD5BN
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 18, 2002 10:33
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Great radio...high price
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Well, I was a sucker and bought this baby for about $300 when it first came out in 1997. HOWEVER, the radio was actually very functional and had great intermod rejection and was easy to program and navigate. It had everything a mobile radio needed - CTCSS encode/decode, DTMF paging and memory, etc. - I had a great experience with the radio, absolutely no complaints!
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KE6TNN
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Rating: 2/5
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Jun 13, 2002 20:36
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Problem child
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I've been a HTX-212 owner for seven years and a HTX-242 owner for over three. The squelch has to be turned almost completely clockwise in order for it to work satisfactorily. The speaker volume is entirely too low to be heard while driving. My 242's receives the local repeaters at two S levels below what my 212 does. This I discovered after suffering through lousy reception for the past few years. I had thought that it was just the area that I moved to, but swapping in the 212 in my car gives great results. The function button sticks, and sounds like I'm breaking something every time I push it. The VFO dial often requires about six clicks to finally change frequency. This is even after I sent it in for warranty repair. They sent it back in the same condition. The dealer had the nerve to demand $80 for the "repair", even though he had proof that it was under warranty. Compared to my 212, this radio's quality is a great disappointment.
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