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Reviews For: Radio Shack DX-160

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

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Review Summary For : Radio Shack DX-160
Reviews: 48MSRP: $160 (ca 1975)
Description:
General coverage receiver, solid state, analog readout, single-conversion, AM - SSB, coverage 150Khz to 30 Mhz.
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00483.6
N7WIS Rating: 2007-06-05
Back to the future Time Owned: more than 12 months.
In December 1970 Ma bought Dad the DX160 for christmas. He had a Hallicrafters before that. I don't think Dad ever got to use the DX-160 as he was in the last stages of lung cancer. Ma took it back to Radio Shack after the funeral and they refunded the money.
In 2002 I found a DX-160 at our local Goodwill store for $29.95. It had been refurbished(whatever that means) It had the tecknicians label on the back.
The rig works very well. It has a quieter circuitry than the Radio Shack DX302 I have and therefore pulls in the stations in the forty meter band and lower clearer.
I tuned the pot for the highest band at WWV 15.000 to peak up that segment without much success. Considering I'm running both radios on fifteen feet of wire perhaps more antenna and outside placing would help.I am near above ground utilities(sixty feet) and the buzz except late at night makes reception a chore.
Being single conversion there always seems to be background am when I listen to the marine band(Coastguard) at 6.506 and Australian Marine at 6.509.
It is a icon and I need a way to mount it on my 1958 Sears J.C. Higgins luggage rack.
Lee M.
NIGHTHAWK Rating: 2005-10-01
Great Radio! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I purchased this radio off of eBay for a total of $62.50 in May 2005. I wanted an older radio because I like all the dials and knobs on it, kinda makes me think back to the old days that my grandpa tells me about. When I got this unit, it was well packaged and not a scratch on it, it has a copy of the original owners manual (one owner).

This unit for the most part outpreforms my Grundig S350 and most other radios that are two times its cost, I know this unit isn't the best but preforms a lot better than I expected. I like the antenna tuner and the operate/stand-by switch on this so that I don't have to turn the whole unit off everytime I do something else. I have heard the low power WWV and CHU time stations that operate on 2.5 and 3 kw (I'm in Iowa) usually I don't get those with other units. This radio does pretty good an AM too, I have gotten 720 WGN from Chicago a lot and a lot of other clear channel stations from out east.

I have 75 ft of longwire for an antenna strung out on my apartments porch, it seems to do pretty good with not a lot of interference comming from any of the telephone wires near-by.

Overall, this is a good radio apart from the inaccurate dial. I would reccomend it to anyone because these units are starting to get more scare and harder come by as the years go on.
KB3LYP Rating: 2005-08-22
You always remember your first rig Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I got my 160 as a boy back in 1977. It replaced my old Heathkit AR-2. I did a lot of great DXing with the 160 and I kept it until I was able to upgrade to a digital rig, the DX400.

I remember the 160 as a good, basic, sensitive rig. The antenna tuner was a plus that I wish all rigs had. Of course, you had to get real handy with the bandspread. A 500-khz marker would have been nice to help align the main tuner on those little stars so you could use the bandspread. Remember all those frequency graphs you drew up to use the bandspread? Those were the days, hi! But that was a nice, fat bandspread dial that was relatively easy to use.

I always wondered why Band C covered so little of the SW bands (1.8-4 mhz) while Band E covered 15-30 mhz. Talk about cramming the frequency spread! All these analogue radios did that. But having the longwave bands covered was a plus.
K2VI Rating: 2005-08-06
vintage at it's best Time Owned: more than 12 months.
although one should not pay more than 50.00 for this radio unless it has the original manual and box.This recievers tuning accuracy is usually always off,the reciever drifts quite a bit so you would have to touch the bandspread every few minuites.The sensitivity is excellent and the selectivity is very good as long as you listen in ssb mode using the bfo to zero beat.I personally love this well constructed radio and for the vintage collector its super,if you want accuracy and stability get a sangean ats 909.
KE0VH Rating: 2005-04-29
Great Old Radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I really enjoy my DX-160 and will probably keep it forever. I use mine to work HAM-AM with an old restored ELMAC AF-67. I listen to EWTN regularly with it and BC AM too. Great receiver, not full fidelity sound but good enough. I just love the radio. I did the non-abtrusive mod to connect to my freq counter to see the frequency digital, and it enjoys a prominent part of my shack. www.qsl.net/ke0vh/station.html Also, if you need a service manual and/or owners manual, I will be glad to email you the file. ke0vh@qsl.net

KEØVH
VO1MDS Rating: 2005-01-26
I LOVE MY THE DX-160s Time Owned: more than 12 months.
THIS IS ONE RADIO I WELL NEVER EVER GET RID OF, I JUST LOVE THE LOOK AND FEEL OF THESE OLD RADIOS, TO PROVE IT, I NOW OWN THREE DX-160S AND TWO MATCHING SP-150s, I AM NOW EVEN BUYING ANOTHER DX-160 FOR ABOUT $40.00 WITH THE SAME BOX AND SALES SLIP THAT WENT WITH HER.
THESE RECIEVERS GOT REAL EARS, THESE BABIES CAN HERE STATIONS THAT MY PREVIOUS ICOM-R71A WOULD NOT EVEN HEAR, NOW THAT IS WHAT YOU CALL EARS, OLD ANALOG RECIEVERS CAN BE VERY SENSITIVE TO LOW SIGNAL TRANSMISSIONS, ASK ANYONE THAT EVER OWNED A DX-160 OR EVEN LIKE MYSELF STILL OWN ONE AND THEY WELL TELL YOU THE SAME THING, GRAB EM WHILE YOU CAN, THERE GETTING MORE SCARCE BY THE YEAR.
KC8YHU Rating: 2003-10-13
Great for Ham listening ok for broadcast Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I received this radio from another ham for free who I thanked a lot and I still ow him a lot of thanks. Anyway this radio is great. I like the Ant Trim and the Opr Switch. However it is hard to tune into a specific station and mine is a little off due to age. But when scanning the ham bands it is great. The BFO works like a charm.
KABC7 Rating: 2003-08-08
Good Radio Enjoyed It Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Several years ago I had a DX 150. It was not in the best condition. I did not pay much for it either. I liked the radio. Since then I gave it away in exchange for some satellite work that I had done.

I am ging to purchase naother one of that model. I have located a brand new one with the box and all for only 90.00 This would be worht it being it covers all 150-30000 in frequencies.

It is too bad that RS and all the manufacturers do not make analog radios anymore.

Even my BIG peeve is car radios. I rerember then car radios had the best AM reception with out any of the modern day engine noise interfering with fantastic reception.

Now the radios are all digital and for AM LOUSY. If you out a good analog radio in a car and I had done this then there is all sorts of engine noise that is there. Plus people in the radio shops have no clue what AM radio even is because all the direction seems to be leaging to the big punding speakers/cd players and FM.

I have to confess though I did purchase a XM adapter and strictly listen to that now.
KD7UAK Rating: 2003-06-14
Nice Radio for Nostalgia Buffs Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I picked up my DX-160 at a swap meet about a year ago for $30. It was in fairly good condition and worked well. I like old analog receivers, particularly the vacuum tube boat anchors. Although this receiver is 100% solid state, it appealed to me. I use it a couple of times a week for general SW and amateur listening.

In its day it was a good receiver, and in some ways it still is. A good antenna is important for top performance (true for any radio!) but even a 15-ft piece of wire stretched across the floor provides reasonable results. Sensitivity above 12 MHz doesn't seem to be as good as below. Tuning accuracy is acceptable for an analog receiver but the main dial pointer is too thick. The bandspread dial is nice. Selectivity is OK for AM, so-so for SSB, and inadequate for CW. The product detector works very well - it's really easy to tune in an SSB signal and tweak it for good sound. After being first turned on, the DX-160 drifts a bit, but it's not too bad, settling down after about 10 min. Because it's a single conversion receiver, there are prominent images, of course. Also, there are quite a few birdies all over the dial. I find the audio to be tiring to listen to for a long time. It seems fine at first but there must be some subliminal harshness or distortion that wears me out after a while. The overall appearance of this set is pleasing, and it has plenty of knobs for those who like to twiddle them.

Considering everything, at only $30 this receiver was a great buy. For me it's a keeper.
RENTON481 Rating: 2002-10-18
Fond memories -- but still a good radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I got my DX-160 for Christmas in 1977. It was my first radio with SSB, and with it I learned to DX the shortwaves and AM band. Over the years I have bought other receivers -- mostly portables by Sangean and Sony -- but I still find my DX-160 useful.

I've found its selectivity useful for the AM band, and its BFO acts sort of like a passband tuner, which makes it more selective when tuning the ham bands.

I've only made one modification to the radio over the years: my uncle, a ham and ship's radio operator, suggested I remove the resistor across the AM band tuning coil, to increase sensitivity -- and it did increase this radio's performance on the AM band. I also have been able to DX longwave beacons with the DX-160, using an external loop antenna.

The weaknesses of this radio the others here have covered well: the frequency will shift a bit, and the readout isn't digital. The sensitivity drops a bit above 15 meters. There are overload images, but that's what antenna tuners are for. :-)

But for just listening to the bands, it's very adequate. While listening to one ham contest I was able to read stations on the DX-160 that were buried on my Sangean 818 and Yaesu FRG-7 -- you turn the BFO control to the USB or LSB side, it increases its selectivity on SSB.

It's a fun radio.