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Reviews For: Radio Shack HTX-252

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

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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
K2LAW Rating: 2004-01-19
Good Performer Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned my -252 since May 2001- and have not had any problems with it- used it mobile in my 97 Breeze- ran it off the lighter socket with a mag mount on the trunk- good sig reports. Only came out of the car when it was traded for a Honda CR-V and I wanted a rig with a remoteable faceplate and 440. Now serving as my home APRS node rig at 10W- 24/7 for the last couple months. Have used it as a GO-KIT rig for over a year, where it's light weight and low power consumption are plusses, and the much complained of missing bells and whistles aren't a big factor. It has served us well as a Net Control station thru numerous call outs and drills. I didn't know I had bought a "turkey" until I read the reviews. I paid full price and have definitely gotten my money's worth. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good....

Howard
K2LAW
KD2DBM Rating: 2003-12-16
No Problems since day 1 Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have owned this radio for almost a year now, it is my Primary Mobile rig even up here in the Andirondak Mountains with the cold weather winters (and I mean COLD) this little gem has worked Flawlessly. I have been able to work repeaters from 80 to 100 miles away with 25 watts and get AWESOME signal reports. The receive is great and I especially like the scan feature. I do admit it is a little annoying trying to program the memories but what do you want for a discontinued item. I bought this radio on clearence for $60.00 and would not part with it for any reason.
KC7UMB Rating: 2003-10-14
Ok for backup or the old truck Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought this radio at RadioShack on clearance, and I use it in my old truck. I had to make some minor adjustments to the TX audio, but it works decent. It's only advatages seem to be it's tiny size, and it's cheap price. It would be good for a beginner, as a backup radio, or to put in the work rig where you don't have to worry if someone steals it. Overall, ok radio, but I could have spent $30-$40 more and bought an FT-1500 or eqv. radio, and gotten a 10+ times better radio.
KC8WLB Rating: 2003-10-05
Useless Paperweight Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had this radio for one month and I have had it in my possesion for two days!
I just can say DO NOT BUY THIS RADIO!
It would not hold it`s memories, transmitted when it felt like it, and not user friendly.
There was only one good thing about it, it had a little bit of power that is it.

73!

KC8WLB
W4TQI Rating: 2003-09-08
Deaf as a post, but not a total loss Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Like many of the other reviewers, I got mine as a "last one" closeout. The price was excellent, so I figured I could live with a few of the inconveniences.

On the positive side, The size makes it quite adaptable to many mounting situations. The selectable 10- or 25-Watt output gives a lot of "oomph" to the signal, and once properly adjusted, the audio on transmit is quite good.

As noted elsewhere, the memories are one-time writable and all must be erased and rebuilt in order to reprogram one. Operation is not really intuitive, requiring a combination of hand-mic and front panel controls. The mic, while having a DTMF generator and several radio controls built into it, cannot be used for direct frequency entry.

As with others, the squelch on my unit was very sluggish, to say the least. I was also quite surprised, having heard reports of the "hot" front-end, that mine was having difficulties hearing very strong local signals. Performing the capacitor mod sped up the action of the squelch, but did nothing to help the lack of sensitivity - I was just hearing more bits and pieces of signals it should have had no problems hearing. Even after obtaining a copy of the service manual, double-checking all the solder joints, and maximizing the reception, it has difficulty getting full-scale reception of the local repeater with a J-pole.

I would be sorely disappointed if not for the fact that I ended up with a good, cheap, synthesized 10- or 25-Watt transmitter with CTCSS and several other features, that isn't much bigger than a used HT (at considerably higher output). I may not have gotten a great deal on a mobile 2-way rig like I wanted, but I can still salvage it for use as a decent APRS or foxhunting transmitter.

Would I recommend one to someone else? Probably. Having read other reviews of the radio, I'm sure I just got a dud. At the ever-shrinking price these things go for, you can now buy a 25-watt mobile for less than a well-used HT. I say go for it, but don't expect miracles; with fewer units left, there may be a rising occurrance of bad units to be found.
KF6GOM Rating: 2003-09-08
Bargin For $39.99 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
picked one up at a Local Radio Shack,was last one
and decided to give it a try.Great size made it a
Breeze to install it in a 2003 Nissan Frontieer.
Nice audio reports and im running the unit at 10
Watts all the time.Seems all the adjustments are
on the spot.(checked with servive monitor).Im Happy for the price of a FMS radio This 2 Meter
Mobile is working for me. if you can find one the
Cat # is 19-1127. just ask to check there inventory even if there computer dosnt show any stock on hand.(there sales staff is questionable)
KG6FHG Rating: 2003-06-03
Good simple repeater radio. Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
The Radio Shack HTX 252 has run in my car for about a year now and I love it. I bought the unit on sale and installed it the same day. If you are looking for DX, filters, a scanner to listen to utility frequencies, or lots of bells and whistles this aint it. I wanted a radio to replace the handheld I was using as a mobile. I got that. I haven't noticed any of the paging interfeence I would occassionally get in the downtown area. I receive good audio reports and have plenty of power to hit all the local and not so local FM repeaters on 2 meters in my area. I like the multi function hand mic as it makes operation while driving at night easier. The scan mode is slower than my scanner but it allows you to catch more of the conversation that way.
One might have to get used to the radio powering up in VFO mode instead of memory mode but I simply set the VFO to my favorite repeater and then switch to memory mode via the hand mic when I want to scan.
I mounted the radio in dash under my cd player and the speaker is blocked due to the traditional mobile radio speaker location. I think most modern vehicles will necessitate a speaker consideration in the future for DIN or Half-DIN mounting like a car stereo equalizer as most modern mobile interiors increasingly disfavor the aftermarket installation of any personal devices. I got around the sound problem by using a low level adapter and routing that RCA plug output to my car stereo's aux input. Wired for sound you might say. LOL. The only reason I didn't give this radio a 5 is I reserve that rating for new technologies or breakthroughs in radio design. Have fun hamming. 73 DE KG6FHG
KC2IGY Rating: 2003-06-02
Worth $69.97 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought this radio for 1 reason only. It only costs $69.97. For the price, it is worth it. The radio totally lacks any features, and performance is only fair, but it does work. The are 2 mods that improve performance somewhat. I did them both, and they help.
For $70, you can't go wrong. It's a "4" at its current price. At its full price, it would have been a "2".
N2KMF Rating: 2003-05-20
Not bad, for closeout price. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I haven't actually had the HTX-252 that long, but after a few days of use this is my impression:

First, this radio was not worth the $170 retail when it was a current item at Radio Shack. For the same price, or less, you could purchase a 2 meter mobile from one of the big three that would have double the wattage and 10 times the memories. However, I happened to find one that had been 'lost' in the stockroom, then found during an inventory and marked down to $69. While it is by no means a $170 radio, it is a decent $70 radio.
I bought it having already read the reviews here on eHam, and having heard a couple on the air. I knew about the tendency to have low transmit audio, and I also knew there was a simple fix for it. However, after I installed it in my car I solicited comments from people who know what I sound like to see how it sounded. Comments ranged from the audio being 'mellow' to 'smooth', and while a bit lower in volume than either my HTX-202 handheld or my Kenwood TS-700A, perfectly acceptable. I use an external speaker in the car, and there is plenty of audio on the receive side to compensate for noise at highway speeds.
One of the things I don't like is the limited number of memories. While I could understand having only 10 memories if this was a 2 meter only radio without extended receive, it makes it difficult to decide what extended frequencies to save. I ended up just putting in the local National Weather Service frequency in the last memory location.
The 25 watt output limitation, on the other hand, doesn't bother me. I had been using a handheld radio as my mobile rig, so even the 10 watt low power setting was more that I was used normally. Unless you live in the serious backwoods (where you would be better served by 6 meters, or even HF), you don't really need 50 or 75 watts of power.
Programming was fairly straight forward, but another frustrating thing was not being able to enter the frequency directly from the keypad on the microphone. Although, with only 10 memories, this wasn't that much of a chore. Another quirk is that you have to use both the buttons on the mike and on the front of the radio to program it. Don't try to do it while driving.
One really nice thing is the size of this unit. It is small, and fits just about anywhere you would care to put it. The flip side is that even at the low power setting of 10 watts, the heatsink on the back gets quite warm after a few minutes of a QSO.
I haven't had any real problems with intermod, even in some fairly RF intensive areas. The only places where this radio breaks squelch unintentionally are the same areas where my bullet-proof HTX-202 breaks, so I can't fault it there.
Overall, I have to say this is a decent radio IF you can find one cheap, and IF you don't mind having to adjust the deviation if necessary (I didn't have to, but I was prepared to). It won't compete with a current single bander from Kenwood, Icom, or Yaesu, but it should be able to hold its own against older radios from those companies.
K2VI Rating: 2003-05-06
wonderful rig! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
had it in my car now for a month,purchase it at clearout sale for 69.97 at RS.for the money its tops.great audio reports and no sign of any intermod.i got a good one.I was wondering if maxon makes this radio?anyone out there know?