| KC8RZO |
Rating:  |
2013-04-23 | |
| Great little unit but watch out for that coating |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I wrote a review for this radio a long while back. I've had it now for about 12 years and thought I'd update that review a bit. Search for my older review for more info.
This is a great little unit for a starter or carry around. simple operation, cheap, easy and fairly compact. Showing it's age and abuse though.
The battery compartment is still a PITA to open, but it's NEVER popped open when I've dropped it. I eventually figured out the trick to it by pulling the latch out towards me and then down. easy peasy then.
About 10 or 11 years on, the stupid rubberized coating that I loved so much... argh! What to say? It deteriorated and got really REALLY "sticky". As in, pick up the ht and it sticks to your hand like it was glued there. I used 1/2 a bottle of isopropal alcohol and I've removed all of the %@$* coating. Took forever. Tried some other things but many of them looked to also eat the plastic, so Iso it was. Guess $0.79 isn't too bad for cleanup.
Overall I'm still very happy with the unit. Screen lights look very dated and weak now. No backlit display, perhaps I can replace with LEDs?
Belt clip is still in one piece. Tough sucker.
Duck antenna is still trash though. If you get one of these units, get an updated antenna ASAP.
I had gotten the radio with some accesories as well. The handheld mic is still good, but the headset cushion is trashed.
Overall it's still a tough little HT that gets the job done for light duty and short to medium distance work on batteries. |
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| KC9SNB |
Rating: |
2013-02-08 | |
| ideal for the urban ham |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I picked up this little radio because it was cheap and small. I presently have a Yaesu FT-530, which is one of the great handhelds, but is also large, heavy, and expensive. The little HTX-245 will fit in a shirt pocket. I am able to hit all my local repeaters, including some over 20 miles away. Admittedly I live on a hill, and some of the far off repeaters have a bit of hash mixed in, but I still consider this to be respectable performance. For casual use, it is simple to toss this little guy in a pocket and forget about him, until a call comes through. With standard batteries you are limited to 700 mw; but with a 6 volt pack or adapter, the radio puts out a watt and a half. It is pretty flexible in selection of channel steps and offsets, as well as having the full selection of PL tones. There is also a dtmf pad, and a number of memories and programming options. There is a switch inside of the battery compartment that will allow for charging of batteries within the unit, and a charger/AC port, on the side. For those who are storm chasers, the radio will also receive the weather bands. Great little radio. |
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| AA4AN |
Rating: |
2011-01-23 | |
| Not bad at all |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I bought this new when they first came out for a small emergency radio to keep in the storm shelter. Used it a few times when it was new and then boxed it up and stored it. Recently I pulled it out to use with the local ARES net. It works well for what it is. RX/TX audio is nice. I use a RS speaker mic. 1 watt gets into the repeaters. My only con: - Batteries drain even when turned off so I have to remove them when not in use. Make sure you keep plenty of fresh AA's on hand cuz this thing eats them up like candy. Overall, it's not a bad little radio at all, and for the price, who's complaining. |
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| KF5FZM |
Rating: |
2010-04-21 | |
| Not bad |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I'm a new ham and a friend is letting me use this to get on the air. It's not a bad little radio, easy to program and use. Weather band and scan are nice features. Dual-band isn't of a lot of use since there's not much action on 70 cm in this part of Texas. On batteries it kind of goes through them quickly but that's a small problem, working well on Dollar General AA alkaline batteries and it'd probably do me to use the power saver function. There are lots of trees around here and the repeaters are a little far away and hard to hit with only 700 mW but a homebrew J-pole or mobile whip makes up for that nicely. |
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| KC7NOA |
Rating: |
2009-02-25 | |
| Still kicking |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
After owning this little radio for almost 9 years??(its been so long iv forgotten when i bought it exactly) This 2/440 transceiver is still working fine ... i never used the oem rubber ducky but bought a high-gain replacement from the same place.
Sure it uses alkaline batteries but those rechargeable work fine too ... just cant recharge them in radio .. OHWELL !!!! |
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| K3VSA |
Rating: |
2008-08-22 | |
| Fairly Good Value |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| When my wife and I first got our tickets, we bought a pair of HTX-245s. (We've switched to Alincos now.) Our area has a pretty solid 440MHz repeater, so we had no trouble getting into the machine with only 750mW. Good points: inexpensive, very compact, easy to program and operate, tough (fell off the roof of the car several times and survived, looks like WWII surplus now!) Bad points: SMA antenna connector instead of BNC, OEM rubber duck antenna broke and was replaced with a better aftermarket antenna, will not really work with Ni-Cds, as it needs at least 3.9V or it acts crazy, you'll need a cheap source of alkaline AAs to keep it fueled and happy. I suspect the remote earphone jack is the source of many of the audio problems users are reporting, check the contacts. BUT--Just took it out of the drawer after a year's hibernation, cleaned out the sludge in the battery compartment, put in new AAs, and it powered up and pinged the repeater just fine. I'm gonna give mine to a newly licensed ham to use until he can buy better. |
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| KD7PTN |
Rating: |
2007-11-18 | |
| good beginner |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
this was my very first ht after I got my ticket. about a year after I bought the radio, the 70cm side failed. I program in the local repeater, key up and the display says "ERR"
it won't receive on 70 cm either. also recently the internal speaker gave out, I get very low audio out of it. I can plug in a external speaker in the ear jack, and it'll blow ya away. it still does a good job on 2m. I would like to find a ext. speaker/mic for it let me know if anyone has one laying around. |
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| K0TEX |
Rating: |
2004-10-30 | |
| A Big Surprise ina Medium/Small Package!! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Well I grabbed this from Ebay last year for about $55 and now how I wish I would've known about the close-out price, I would've bought at least 10-20 of these new!
This is not as slick and feature-filled by any means as my Yaesu FT-51R, or Icom IC-24AT. but what a neat little rig, and the audio is bass-rich, healthy and solid!
Not a lot of power but it seems to punch through better that I would've expected for 1 watt or so.
As I'm on my way out the door I'm finding I now grab this for repeater work, or just general what-ever more often than my FT-51R, IC-24AT, or VX-2R just because it feels good in the hand, not too heavy or light, nor too big or small, simply 'just right'.
Access to all features is so simple it's elementary level, and very quick, which leads me to this next statement; I want several more!
If you are considering one, go ahead and grab it, you won't be disappointed, and if by chance you are, I'LL BUY IT!!
For the manual: Radio Shack part 'RSU'# 12233383
If you have one you'll let go of call 916-759-6002, ask for Stan.
I gave it a '5' not because it can keep up in all ways with a much more powerful and feature laiden rig like the FT-51R, but for what it is, it's 'Spot-On', and almost intermod free!
Enjoy your little workhorse, & 73!
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| KC6VVT |
Rating: |
2004-01-26 | |
| It's Dead, Jim |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
An HTX-245 Radio Shack HTX-245 died here.
It might have been too much VSWR on the flimsy cable that frayed on this after market mag mount antenna. I found the possible cause of this problem, but the HT is still dead, even with the rubber ducky on it.
Anyone with any suggestions about how to go about a hard reset on this unit?
Any experience with RS Repair on this HTX-245 unit?
Looking for real experience on this particular problem only, please.
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| KF6UPN |
Rating: |
2003-08-21 | |
| Suprising durability |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I should have written this review after the Catalina Marathon back in March, but my attention has been elsewhere. This radio suprised me by its durability and transmit audio (as part of CARA, we provided radio communications for the event) during one of the worse rain/hail/wind storms to hit the island. The mile 21 checkpoint was without shelter and the weather claimed my ADI AT-201, but this little Radio Shack HT survived dunkings, near-freazing temperatures, and being generally beaten up. Even with the 40+ MPH winds at the summit, I was still heard, which helped at least 2 runners, and was able to coordinate with our base station.
Otherwise, I have found that the 1 watt of power sufficient to hit most local repeaters. Functionality is good, some menu functions are more complicated than needed, but overall easy to use. I am not a fan of the SMA connector, a BNC is more useful to me, for mag mount antennas, etc. Ergonomics don't equal, say the Kenwood Th-G71, but for the price I paid, $120 for 2 radios with Ni-Cads and chargers, I can't really can't complain.
A worthwhile buy if you can find them for cheap. Again, it suprised me on its durability.
73's
Jacoby Wilson |
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