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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
KD7PTN Rating: 2003-01-14
not real happy with radio shack Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought my 252 for a mobile rig to use between my two trucks. As far as getting out and being able to talk, I have no complaints. I have talked simplex some 30miles on high power, and have no trouble keying up repeaters.

The trouble I am having is, the slightest jar on the radio and the squelch opens up loud. The only way to silence the noise is to slightly and gently bump the the channel selector.

I sent an e-mail to radio shack and they were so concerned about my problem that they NEVER even replied. I simply asked for a fix to the squelch problem. So I am not happy at all with radio shack any more. They used to be knowledgable in radios. not anymore. I have walked in the local rad shack store with a question and get treated like some kind of freak.

Personally if I can demote radio shsack I will.
KD7PLU Rating: 2003-01-14
Need Mic to control radio Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have five of these radios- Three for APRS/Packet, one as a field-mobile and one as a throw-around, temporary vehicle-mounted unit. (In case I am the passenger in someone's vehicle)

If you want a cheap voice radio with modest power, You'll get what you pay for. Knowing it is a lower-quality rig should be enough warning. It has a birdie, it has a hum, it has poorly designed controls and configuration access. Try driving in rush hour while using the mic and front panel to change a PL and you'll see what I mean.

If I had it to do all over again, would have went for the FT-1500 or whatever that little radio was HRO had.

The 252 is great for beat-around medium power "One Way" missions, where you expect the equipment you're using is as expendable as you are. Fair market value in my opinion is between 40 to 50 dollars depending the condition of the rig and your personal needs.

Don't bother using it for packet/APRS unless you have a lot of time, want to do the mods and are fairly lucky. The two voice rigs are that way because they didn't work on APRS. Of the other three, two stayed keyed after TX, and one worked fine with no problems. There must be some big caps in these radios, they'll hold enough charge to stay on up to three seconds after power fails. And they back-feed that power back into whatever they're plugged into. Use a diode or other bleed-off/by-pass/isolator if you're going to wire it into a harness or shared circuit package.
KB9YNJ Rating: 2002-12-15
Simple,compact,functional. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I like this little radio a lot.It is easy to use and I get very good performance out of it.Have gotten many compliments on the audio quality and have made many contacts both near and far.I did adjust the transmit deviation a little higher because of what others have said about it being too low.I paid $99.95 for it at my local Radio Shack and like the fact that they back up their products and offer quick service.This unit has all the features I need,and works for me.I also have two Yaesu HTs and a Icom 2 meter Mobile.I find myself using this HX-252 instead of them.I like the squelch knob and simple controls.With a external speaker it sounds great.At home the built in speaker works fine.Good unit for the money!
AB9GO Rating: 2002-10-31
Much better out there for the $$ Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
There is a VERY LOUD birdie on 146.805 (So strong it bothers other nearby radios!!), the microphone is cheap and very lightly built, you have to push the memory button each time you turn the rig off ( rig reverts to VFO mode every time! ), no direct frequency entry from the keypad, only 10 memories. Glad I only paid $40.00 for it. On the good side it is small, doesn't draw over 5A on xmit. There is better out there for the same $$$. Don't waste your time on this turkey.
ab9ps Rating: 2002-10-30
I returned it. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Someone else mentioned trouble saving to memory. I made a mistake setting a memory location, and could not get the correction to take. As a last resort, I examined the manual carefully and found that a memory location cannot be changed once it is set. The only out is to clear the entire radio and start over.

I replaced it with an ICOM 2100H.
K3OGL Rating: 2002-10-15
great compact radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought this radio when I first got licenced because I could buy it then and there, and since then I never had any problems with it. Not alot of features for a base station but great and compact for mobile use which is what I use. Great radio for the dollar paid.
N2NHU Rating: 2002-10-15
needed audio mod Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Paid full retail $159, but this clunker has sold for as low as $89. If you need an "impulse buy" instant mobile rig that can be powered from the lighter in an emergency, this is it, but be warned, many others experienced QC problems. RV2 (middle of PC board in rig under spkr- is deviation) needs a 1/4 turn to fix "no punch" audio. With rptr TONE on using simplex hum was reported. Yaesu mobile 1500m is the same retail and much better deal/radio with high pwr, but you'll be running power cables to the battery.
Bottom line - don't buy it unless it's on $89 blowout - AND GET THE WARRANTY!!!!!
NX5DX Rating: 2002-10-04
Good liitle rig Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Well,

For me, I want a simple radio for the 4x4. IF I have to program a radio, it won't be while driving.
I have not had any reports of poor audio. In my driveway I can key up a repeater that's over 100 miles away. That's with 10 watts. I have not used 25 watts yet. No need to. I'm in New Mexico. Lot's of open territory.
This little rig is fine for me. Like it's small footprint. Dependable communicator.
KB3ING Rating: 2002-09-21
Problems with memory Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased an HTX-252 a week ago for $159, and went home to set it up. When I tried to save a chanel to memory, it wouldn't let me. I re-read the documentation to make sure I wasn't doing something wrong, checked Radio Shack's website, and searched for people with similar problems. Nothing helped. So, I took it back for an exchange, and got a second one. It had no problems saving to memory... untill I tried to transmit on the saved frequencies, then I got an 'E'. Thinking I might have mis-set the repeater shift, I went back and saved it again. Still the same problem. I checked the repeater shift saved for the frequency, and ended up finding that the plus and minus were set, the scan, and the shift was saved as a bunch of random segments on the 7-segment display. (IE invalid!) I took it back and asked for a refund, and ordered a Yaesu MT-1500M online. It was $30 cheaper, has twice the power, over 10 times as many memory channels, includes wx channels, a built in port for TNC, and numerous other features. Of course, I knew all of this before I bought the HTX-252, I just wanted to get a 2-meter now, and didn't want to wait for it to be shipped from an online retailer.

Had either of the 252 radios worked, I would have been pleased. All I wanted was a small radio for use mainly as a base-station on our local repeater.... Oh well, I ended up with a better radio, for a cheaper price...

**Note, as I haven't seen any one else complain about this I assume my local store just got a bad batch of radios...
KG6MGL Rating: 2002-09-17
Don't pay much for it. Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This is the only radio I've ever owned, but there must be far greater radios. I paid $80 for one alomost brand new, and I's so glad I didn't pay more. It's got a birdy on 146.805 so that's anoying. The features aren't very handy so its kind of a pain to opperate. It only has a memory of 10 channels so that sucks. The audio is poor and the reciever is weak.