RadioShack / Realistic DX-200 reviews

Imagine your a 12 year old kid and its Christmas 1981.
Their is no Internet to keep ya busy, and the best video games were the not to thrilling Atari 2600 vintage stuff.

You read every library book you could get your hands on about ham radio, and shortwave, and dreamed someday to have something better than a modified AM radio you built to try and pick up shortwave.

FLASH its Christmas morning 1981, and you get a big box under the tree. You open it up Christmas morning, and it's a
REALISTIC DX 200 WOW there is A SANTA CLAUSE..
It was my dear Mother. She really tried to get me something nice.
I would use that radio for a solid 2-3 years everyday 8-10-14 hours a day.
I know this radios many features and faults by heart.
FEATURES.
1. BFO to tune in ssb.
2. A noise blanker & crystal calibrator.
3. A oscillator to hook up a Morse code key
4. A real great looking radio had a great look
5. A main tuning dial & a fine tuning dial
6. A place to mute the radio so you could transmit and receive with this gem
7. A cool lighted meter & needle pretty accurate.
8. The audio was pretty good from its speaker
9. Dipole hookup & a gnd hook up.
10. Overall coolness factor a 7 out of 10

Faults.
1. Its tuning dial was not accurate or calibrated whatsoever or ever made to be accurate. you would calibrate it and then the other bands would be off.
The tuning was stiff and was extremely hard to tune to a freq you wanted to hear. it was better to just tune a band and stop on stations by hunting and pouncing then trying to find a certain freq.

2. It was a drift monster. you had to be close to that radio within a few minutes it would be off frequency. i use to use it as a cw receiver and if you would bump the table the radio was on the freq went off hard to old a cw qso.

3.The radios inability to handle strong stations would swamp the front end, and make it hard to tune in stations to weak or to loud.

4.The radios look was very appealing its performance was like a moped on the Indy speedway. Way to underpowered to be a real useful receiver for a serious application.

As a boy i was thrilled to own my very first shortwave, and it was a cool looking radio. But reality was this radio was a drifter, and not that sensitive, and was made from cheap clear plastic thrown into a black painted tin box which was like a dumb blond. Looks great just don't expect a lot of work from her or it will be a very big disappointment.

So i loved this the best present i have ever got from anyone. Yet this radio was not the race horse you want or need on raceway, but
just a show horse, which looks better than performs.

Joe Leto W0IW