Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes

Reviews For: Radio Shack HTX-252

Category: Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Base/Mobile (non hand-held)

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : Radio Shack HTX-252
Reviews: 107MSRP: 179.95 plus tax
Description:
2 meter FM moble tranceiver, mini size. 10 memories, 10/25 watts, DTMF mic, 144-148 tx, 136-174 rx
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.radioshack.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
141073.1
VA3MKS Rating: 2007-03-31
Neat Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought mine for around 100$ on ebay.

The good;
-Can listen to 130-174mhz
-Internal speak is decent.
-The size! It's tiny! Great for installs with limited space.


The bad;
-Only 25w
-Audio a *little low*
-Hard to use in the car... I hate programming or changing freqencies. Most of the radio is controlled from the MIC.

No problems really.. It's not worth 150$ But it is worth 60-100$ easy. (assuming you get one in decent shape)
K4XZ Rating: 2006-08-29
For $60.00 a buy Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had this little rig for 3 years.Its been in 2 trucks,then as a base,and now it' my back up.About as big as 2 packs of cigarettes.No complaints here.Always worked no problems.For $60.00 I'd say it's bargin.

Joe K4XZ
KM5TC Rating: 2006-08-29
Good Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Got this in a trade. 25/10 watts-great, audio is
very good(mod may have been done/unk)The super
small size fits perfectly in my Impala LS/the space just under the radio. 10 memories, ok, but
could have been better with more. Takes just a
few minutes with the book and you're good to go
with setting it up or changing freq/pl tones.
For me, it's a decent little radio-73's
WB4QNG Rating: 2005-04-27
Decent Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I noticed it has been about 4 years since I did my review of the rig. Since then I have bought two more. I think I gave about $50 a piece for the next two. They work. They were cheap. They are small. They fit in my cars. What more can I say.
Terry
WB4QNg

----------------------
Earlier 4-star review posted by WB4QNG on 2001-07-11

Second review. The rig is Ok for what I paid for it. I still believe it could have more and better features but it sure beats the old cystal rig. I did turn up the deviation on RV2 by about 3/4 turn. Now I get good audio reports. This made me feel a lot better about the rig. After this I would consider buying another.
----------------------
Earlier 3-star review posted by WB4QNG on 2001-02-18

Good points - small size and has excelent receive audio. Real good sound comes out of small speaker.
Bad points - Audio on output seems low but usable. The thing I dislike the most about it is it is too much trouble to change from + or - for the repeater offset. You could never do it while driving. They need to change the button that allows you to hear the input freq. and let it have this feature.
Conclusion - Would be a great radio for a person who has small space in a car especially if he monitors only one repeater. It would not be a good radio for a person on the road but then with the PL's 2 meters isn't that great anyway. A first time operator wouldn't be that disappointed if he just couldn't wait and bought one of these rigs. Still think you would be better of with one of the big three. Not worth 179 Ok at 149 would think about buying another for around 99.
KG6RXG Rating: 2005-04-20
Excellent Little Radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is the only 2 meter radio I use. I'm using it as a base connected to a ringo ranger. All you have to do is take the time to read the manual and you will have all of the radio's compact features figured out. I got mine for $50. For good audio and 25 watts of power I can't complain.
WB2GOF Rating: 2004-10-30
Not bad for $75.00 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Picked up one of these on eBay about two months ago for $75 plus shipping. I needed something small to fit in the car, but removable to switch between cars as necessary with the XYL. I use it mostly with my car w/ a dual band mag mount. Bare bones two meter only rig. Both my IC-706mkIIG (as a base) and my Alinco DJ-596 HT have 2 meter/440 MHz coverage, but I compromised for the very small footprint of the HTX-252. Definitely not worth the MSRP, but worth the price if under $80. Both my other radios have over 100 memories, but this RS thing only has ten, so pick those favorite frequencies real carefully. Don't like when you first turn it on, it goes automatically to VFO mode, not the memory channels. Just a dumb design. Good output, but a clumsy mike and a little muffled on the audio. Too many little buttons on the mike, and with all of those numbered buttons, no direct entry of frequency. Channel change knob is too sensitive; sometimes one click turn of dial will make it move two channels or more in either direction. I have a bogey or two on one of my favorite repeater channels. I installed a ferrite coil on the DC line but still a few birdies & bogeys. Adequate and a good performer, but bad design and ergonomics. It is what it is, but the small footprint and 25W make it decent for my purposes. I cansee why RS got out of the Amateur Radio business
KD5VHZ Rating: 2004-04-23
No frills 2 meter FM Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've owned my HTX252 for over a year now. This is a difficult radio to review.... I'll look at it this way, I bought it for $60.00 on clearance and initially used it mobile and it worked fine. When I upgraded my mobile radio I put it in the house with a small vertical antenna (it's the only FM radio in the shack as we speak) and it worked fine. At various times I've loaned it (and a quarter wave mag mount) out to new guys until they could get their own radio and it worked fine. I've even hooked it up to a cigarette lighter plug and have taken it on trips with the wife's car, yep it worked fine. No bells or whistles with this radio and it has a few quirks such as a sluggish squelch but for such a tiny / inexpensive radio I have to rate it as good.
KD4COX Rating: 2004-04-06
Good enough for the Price Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought one on clearance after someone borrowed my truck and my old Icom got soaked when they left the window down (took the mike out, but he had it on because he liked listening to the chatter).

Though I don't use it heavily, I do get good reports from it. No mods. A very no frills radio, but I'd definatly pay the $60 again.
KF4YTR Rating: 2004-03-29
Great little rig Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I got mine the same month they came out. It has been, by far, the most durable and efficient rig I've owned. I haven't experienced the memory issue that W4TQI and others have seen; I've had no problems reprogramming a single channel. It's laid out very well in the user manual.

I haven't tried any of the mods yet, although I may soon be doing the MARS/CAP mod when I join my local CAP squadron. I've gotten reports of excellent audio and signal strength, even on simplex at 10 watts. I will concede that it performs much better with a 5/8 wave antenna (as does any radio), but even with the glass-mount antenna on my old truck I had surprisingly good performance.

Overall, if you can get one in good condition, you will have an excellent backup radio or even a main rig if you're on a strict budget. This is the longest I've kept a single radio, and I don't foresee parting with it at all.
KD8NX Rating: 2004-01-20
Excellent for what it is Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I've had this radio in my car for about a year now. I actually traded a Yaesu FT-2600 (to my dad, so I know I can get it back someday) for it, primarily because of the compact size of the HTX-252. Since I drive a somewhat compact car, this radio is small enough to mount on the side of the center console, and still not cramp my wife's leg room too much. 10 watts on low power and a quarter wave mag mount is more than enough for repeater work in and around the city, and there's the ability to bump it up to 25 when needed. The receiver in this unit is quite sensitive and also does the job (though it can get overloaded in high intermod corridors and near paging transmitters). Having expanded receive is convenient when you want to get weather service forecasts.

I have found operation to be fairly straightforward. Controlling the radio with the mic buttons while on the go took some getting used to, but it's certainly no more difficult than other radios on the market. I have not done the transmit audio mod, but have always gotten good audio reports. 10 memories is more than enough for the half dozen or so repeaters I monitor, .52 simplex, and two weather channels (US and Canadian).

It has a few quirks, and it's not filled up with every bell and whistle imaginable, but for what it is, it's a solid performer, and worth what you would usually pay for one.