DX 370

[Turkeytop]

The radio was new and in the box when my wife surprised me twenty-eight years ago for Christmas 1994. Up until then, it was the most advanced receiver I had ever owned. We were dirt poor back then and she must have really saved up to get it for me

A few months after that, I started a new job that involved a lot of time on the road and a lot of nights in hotel rooms. The radio became my travel companion. I took it everywhere. It survived a fall from my second story balcony in Mexico.

When I retired in 2010, the radio retired with me. It's old and beat up looking now, just like its owner. But it still works and I still use it every day.

[k8jd]

I had a desktop RadioShack SW rcvr for a long time. It was a DX3something. It had the digi display and was pretty good on SSB/CW and sounded good on AM for SW band BC listening. I took it camping lot and ran it on a 12 V rechargable battery.

[Turkeytop]

I had a desktop RadioShack SW rcvr for a long time. It was a DX3something. It had the digi display and was pretty good on SSB/CW and sounded good on AM for SW band BC listening. I took it camping lot and ran it on a 12 V rechargable battery.

Was it the DX 394? I have that one too, but I seldome use it anymore.

[k8jd]

Yes that's it !

[Ben Zonia]

What was the model that was out about 1979-1980 that had the d'Arsonval S-Meter and separate Preselector?

[Turkeytop]

What was the model that was out about 1979-1980 that had the d'Arsonval S-Meter and separate Preselector?

You might be thinking of the DX 160. I wanted one of those so bad, but never had any money. A couple of times I tried saving up for it, but before I even got half way, the car would need repairs or the kids would need new shoes. Always something.

[Ben Zonia]

The Knight Kit Star Roamer at $39.95 was what I once wanted. I never got it. In recent years, people have told me that it really wasn't that good. It didn't have an RF Gain Stage, and the CW/SSB capability was limited. Nowadays, I wouldn't want a Communications Receiver without a good FM BC Band capability. Another friend had the Heathkit equivalent. It came with a copy of the 1968 WRTH, my first time seeing one. That was within my range of buying, and I used an old Westinghouse AM BC SW Table Radio with a 6U5 Tuning Eye. I heard KPMC 1560 Bakersfield, CA with a long wire antenna after WQXR sign off one Night, the only time I heard it.



Better image.



Schematic diagram.

[Ben Zonia]

I think the Radio Shack DX-302 was the one I was thinking of. It was available in the early 1980s, one of the first with a digital frequency output.

[Ben Zonia]

Collins R-390A.



This is a rig that picked up WJR 760 in Ethiopia, so soldiers stationed there could keep up listening to Tiger Baseball. An MAB award winning radio engineer trained in the military told me that they used a large square loop antenna three or four feet on a side.

[Plate Cap]

I own a 390A.....was given to me as a gift years ago...never have plugged it in. Sad.....maybe a project for this summer.

[Ben Zonia]

This is what I used for over a decade. I had a lot of fun with it. Can't complain. I used a one transistor tunable RF preamp with the longwire antenna with it in later years. Retuned one IF transformer, which probably reduced the bimodal tuned audio bandwidth, but increased the selectivity. It had an electromagnet speaker and it sounded great. I hooked a wire up to the grid of the audio preamp tube and chassis ground and used it as a mono audio amplifier with other battery operated devices. Probably should have used as directed, but never had ground loop problems or bias DC to the battery operated output audio transformers. Seems like I used a capacitor and inductor in series with the wire to the tube grid cap to block the bias DC and reequalize the audio frequencies somewhat. Lucky I didn't get a shock or blow anything out, but I was very careful.

I could get WCFL 1000 all Day long with it in Genesee County, where the measured field strength was about 50 uV/m.

Not my radio, but the same model.

[Ben Zonia]

I own a 390A.....was given to me as a gift years ago...never have plugged it in. Sad.....maybe a project for this summer.

If you can find an electrically quiet location for the antenna, try it there.

Silent Key Chet, W8YPB in Sterling Heights, had a basement FULL of things he bought at Dayton Swap Meets, and I think he had two or three R-390s, among other things, but at 85 pounds, I would have needed a lot of help, and I was never able to arrange it. I told his wife not to junk it before an experienced ham and/or engineer went through it, but I don't think she did. They probably needed a lot of work, and finding a quiet location to use it would be difficult.