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Reviews For: Radio Shack HTX-242

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

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Review Summary For : Radio Shack HTX-242
Reviews: 63MSRP: 249.99
Description:
10/45 Watt 2-Meter Mobile FM Amateur Transceiver
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.radioshack.ca/en/templates/ProdTemp.asp?dept%5Fid=92
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00634
KC0KTX Rating: 2001-08-31
Good little radio Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
This is a good little radio! I receive many compliments on the audio. I had it in my vehicle but desired something with a few more features. I also needed more memories as I travel alot, 40 was not enough. The ICOM 2100H was an improvement due to more features, more memories and the alphanumeric display is real handy when mobile. The HTX-242 does not have all the features of the ICOM, and did not make a very good mobile rig. I now use this as my primary radio in the shack and it is a great performer, although it is very picky on power, any thing less than 12.5 volts, it wines and will not transmit on high power, only 10 watts. Good little rig for the money. You get what you pay for, and this is one solid little radio!
WD8WV Rating: 2001-06-06
Great rig Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned both the HTX-212 and 242 for more than 4 years now, in fact I still own them. The only problem I have had is that the display light went out and I took it in to be repaired.

I use both everyday. One in the car and one for a base station. The one for the base station is used to also transmit SSTV, PSK31, Hellschrieber, RTTY and even CW using the new computer digital software. It works great.

I wish they still made the things. The new one is a disappointment. It seems that Radio Shack is slowly doing things to discourage hams from buying from them. The new HT's are a joke. 500 or 700 milliwatts just don't cut it in my home state. You need an HT with 4 or 5 watts to work most repeaters, unless your under them. I hope Radio Shack comes back with normal radios.

Just my 2 cents worth.

73
Juddie, KC8CON
VE7TLH Rating: 2001-06-06
So far, so good Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had it for a couple of months now. In spite of other opinions expressed here, it has done all that I have asked of it. The Canadian price is $199 which is hard to beat. The only thing taking points off for me is the lack of a professionally printed manual (R/S explains the photocopied manual supplied as being more up to date & cost effective -hard to argue that point) and that mine came with a mounting bracket for some other radio. I wasn't going to use it anyway so not an issue for me. Beyond that, it talks well - repeaters 40 miles away from inside my garage with a 1/4 wave antenna no problem on low power. Average to very good receive and no intermod in spite of living in sight (less than 1/2 mile) of 30 plus commercial broadcast antennas ranging from 250 to 100,000 watts.
WB9YCJ Rating: 2001-04-29
Big Dice Roll ! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I Bought it "new" on clearance sale - $99 (returned?). I never took it out of the box. Still in the box and within 90 days, I decided to sell it as such ("as new"). Fellow I sold it to reports mic defective and will attempt to get Radio Shack to try to fix or replace the entire radio or mic (one yr warranty). After reading all the reviews here about this radio, I may purchase a Yaesu FT-1500.
VE1NN Rating: 2001-04-28
looks like a nice rig, but problems encountered Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Used one for a week before returning it for an exchange for another one. Returned second one as well. Both rigs exhibited the same problem. An intermittant "rushing noise" on both received signals and my transmitted signal. Sounded like a noisy frequency synthesizer. might be considered OK on strong signal QSO's, but not satisfactory on weaker signals. Unacceptable audio rating from the other hams I spoke with while using it. When this noise was not present on both receive and transmit, I liked this rig.......good buy at the price.....if it works.
W2TMA Rating: 2001-03-11
Great at 99$..Not so great at 200$ Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is certainly a good radio for 99$....However if I had payed full price I would not be so happy. The included mic is a joke....no audio and cheap as can be. Do yourself a favor and wire up an astatic M6 or something and it will be like night and day. The problem with locking on in high power appears to be caused by something getting back into the radio (bad ground?) and It seems to happen only when holding the mic in close proximity to the radio. I don't think it is a case of the individual radios being faulty, since so many people have experienced it, but more likely simply bad design. Oh well like I said great 99$ radio, not so great for those who paid more.
N2OIO Rating: 2001-03-03
You Gotta Get It Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Fantastic radio, I bought 2 !
The best low price rig for the money, with all the bells and whistles, even extended receive!
Excellent audio reports, no intermod.
Found programming it to be a little confusing, but for the price ($99.00) who can complain!!
Could it be better? Sure, anything could be improved, but this radio will do everything you need it to do and more..
Do NOT hesitate.
KF4UQL Rating: 2001-02-12
Great Radio Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I've owned the HTX-242 for almost a year already and use it as a base station. Although I probably use 50% of its bell and whistles it has been a great radio. The controls on the mic and radio console were well laid out. The scan rate is great and the 5 frequency skips were an even better touch.

I'm disappointed that radio shack has discontinued selling this radio. Its successor, the HTX 252 is a disappointment.
VE3PXK Rating: 2001-01-18
Big bang for the buck Time Owned: N.A.
Although this rig's relatively large size and limited features make it somewhat outdated, its very low price makes it a good value. It has assets that some up-to-date rigs don't have. It should be easier to modify than some of the new rigs, and its large chassis (the entire case is a large heatsink)radiates enough energy to prevent the finals from getting excessively hot. This isn't a rig you'll be able to fry eggs on, even if you're long winded. The mediocre audio, which I believe is caused by the tiny, cheap speaker, isn't a problem, because there is enough empty space to replace the standard speaker with a larger one with better sound.
Its plain, but everything it does it does well. Just a week after I bought it, I drove the I-75 through Detroit, Dayton and Cincinatti, and used it the whole time without once hearing a squawk from a paging transmitter. I don't mind trading a few bells and whistles for good receiver perfomance. If you do a lot of travelling, though, you will probably want to pay a few extra dollars for 100+ memories. For travel convenience it would be nice to store all popular repeater pairs in memory. Auto shut-off would be nice too, as well as 5 bands, SSB, DSP, 200 watts... Ok, I'm kidding. This solid performing rig is heartily recommended for basic users or users on a budget. It's the Checker cab of 2 metre mobiles. And, like a Checker, you might have trouble buying one now.
KD7TA Rating: 2001-01-10
Great for packet Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I've only used it a few times on voice but the reports on the TX audio were *extremely* favorable. So, consider it for that use too.

I don't really need much in the way of bells and whistles for APRS use so I ended up mounting this rig in a closed cubby in the back of the SUV. It does get a little warm there but it wasn't hard to cut a couple of holes in the vehicle for air flow. This summer I might add a small quiet fan too.

I only programmed one frequency into it (so I don't have to worry about mystery QSYs from starter system transients while the radio is out of sight), set the display to "dim" (there's no "off" setting), and locked the freq. There's been zero problems in 8 months of daily use, all kinds of weather from -25F to +160F as experienced by the rig.

On packet it has absolutely equal modulation on the two 1200 baud tones (and equal received tone levels too), which helps explain why I easily get digipeated from over 100 miles at the low power setting. And the sensitivity is great as well (that's how I know I get digipeated from that far away).

It ranks as one of the better ham purchases I've made. I got it during the early part of the closeout, at the "relatively high" price of $149. They were sold out locally before the price fell to $100 but I have no regrets.