Hi Tom,

I agree with you 1,000%. And I too saw the 4 star Radio Netherlands review
of the original DX-394 prior to buying it. Between that review and what my
ham friend thought of it (he had one of the original ones), I bought it. But
he insisted I find a "B" model since they were the same discontinued price
here in Cananda. That receiver basically brought me back into SWL. I loved
it contrary to the frequent put down in this newsgroup of that receiver. I
added good external speakers and eventually a DSP-40 unit to it. Eventually
I graduated to a Sat-800. Now my best friend has it and he too loves it. It
serves his needs quite well.
To each his/her own.

Take Care
Abb N
VE3003SWL
Windsor, Ontario, Canada

"Tom Holden" wrote in message
.. .
WG wrote:
What is misleading about the truth. The rig is junk. You
don't say what you are comparing to. I have mine side by
side with a Yeasu FT-100d and I must say that even
without the AM filter the Yeasu's receiver beats the
394's hands down. You may want to look up some of the
less then good reviews in most of the radio publications.
Radio Shack had to give them away at less then 1/2 the
list price in the last year of its run.

If it's "junk",
- why do you keep it?
- why do you use it?
- why don't you give it someone who appreciates it?
- why don't you sell it?
- why don't you throw it out?
- why don't you improve it? You'll be pleasantly surprised at the results.
- why don't you do something about it?

Comparisons: I have a Drake R-4B, great radio in its day, but the DX-394
beats it hands down when it comes to warmup time and drift, speed and
convenience of tuning, sensitivity above 15MHz and frequency range
covered.
The R-4B wins on immunity to overload and selectivity - both front end and
IF - and it smells (that could be positive or negative) of warm dust and
resins.

Reviews: both the ARRL Lab and the Radio Netherlands rated it good value
for
money, 4 stars from the latter, when it was still selling for $300, before
upgrades. The majority of personal reviews on eHam.net agree; a small
minority of extremists rate it the way you do.

Radio Shack consistently sells off old stock at half price or less. Seven
years after it was introduced, Radio Shack Canada cleared them out at what
was then around US$85. Nothing unusual in that. That's what got me going
again in this hobby. Why was there leftover stock? Perhaps they
overestimated the potential market for mid-range, tabletop communications
receivers. I daresay that more than 10,000 were manufactured - a large
number for this market - hence the RADIOSHACKDX394 SIG is one of the
largest
receiver-specific communities, exceeded only by the DX-398 SIG.

Tom

Mike Maghakian wrote:

all these issues are covered by easy fixes, if you don't want to do them
, then the DX-394 is NOT the radio for you. My 394 is selective (mod),
quiet (inherently), has no pops(mod) and is a very nice radio.

I would pay a lot lot more than $50 for one and buy a dozen at a time if
I could.

What are the main weak points of the DX-394 that need to be addressed to
make it a decent receiver?


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starman wrote:
Mike Maghakian wrote:

all these issues are covered by easy fixes, if you don't
want to do them , then the DX-394 is NOT the radio for
you. My 394 is selective (mod), quiet (inherently), has
no pops(mod) and is a very nice radio.

I would pay a lot lot more than $50 for one and buy a
dozen at a time if I could.

What are the main weak points of the DX-394 that need to
be addressed to make it a decent receiver?

By joining the RADIOSHACKDX394 SIG at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RADIOSHACKDX394/, you will automatically
receive the DX-394 FAQ and an index to over 50 mods. From the FAQ:

Best Mods
Much depends on your listening objectives and the radio frequency
environment in your area. The DX-394 is certainly deficient in the areas of
selectivity, overload and shielding so these are areas of improvement that
are probably of common interest and benefit. Other modifications may be of
more special interest. Here are the key mods and tips:
1. Frank Cathell's Crosstalk mods are a must to correct a design deficiency
in all models that results in strong stations 15-40 kHz away from the
desired frequency being detected as though they were on frequency.
2. One of the IF filter mods is also highly advisable - Frank's "Poor Man's
Kiwa" that changes the logic to force the narrower filter in all modes is
the easiest.
3. The DX-394 is susceptible to overload from strong signals and internally
generates multiple appearances of them. Countermeasures depend on the
desired frequency band and the frequencies of the offending signals:
a) For SW listening bothered by LW/MW overload, a 1.8 MHz outboard high pass
filter is a great start.
b) For SW listening suffering from SW overload, a passive pre-selector
(tuned or fixed bandpass) or a high quality active pre-selector may help on
SW bands removed from the interfering frequencies.
c) For LW and MW listening, it may be necessary to shield or disable the
built-in antenna and use a tuned loop external antenna for added selectivity
and directionality to discriminate against the strong signals.
d) An outboard attenuator may also be necessary in difficult conditions in
any of these cases.
Fortunately, apart from shielding or disabling the ferrite antenna, all of
these are tips, not modifications of the DX-394, but are covered under Mods
because overload is such a common problem.
4. Shielding is also essential for the suppression of interference picked up
from computers and CRT's operating in close proximity to the DX-394. Its
plastic case is useless in this respect - SW signals can be picked up even
with the whip antenna removed. Tom Holden's "Ultimate Shields" mod is among
the most effective for both RF and magnetic screening

Tom

MY opinion is the following:


1) replace one or both of the IF filters, if both are done, a variable cap
must be added across X2 and a switch must be added to go between the
filters.
2) remove the purple wire and stop the tuning pops
3) add two caps for the Xtalk fix
4) add a cap to increase bass response
5) add a cap to further reduce AC hum

I would not do the hiss mod and I would either replace the speaker or use a
nice external one.

a lot of the other mods are a waste of time. I won't mention which they are
but I have tried most of them.

I think I recently made the worlds best DX-394 by doing all of these mods. I
used a Hi-Fi filter in the wide position, spec is 8/12. and a DX filter in
the narrow position, spec is 5/7. I can handle anything now

Mike


"starman" wrote in message
...
Mike Maghakian wrote:

all these issues are covered by easy fixes, if you don't want to do them
, then the DX-394 is NOT the radio for you. My 394 is selective (mod),
quiet (inherently), has no pops(mod) and is a very nice radio.

I would pay a lot lot more than $50 for one and buy a dozen at a time if
I could.

What are the main weak points of the DX-394 that need to be addressed to
make it a decent receiver?


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mike maghakian wrote:

MY opinion is the following:

1) replace one or both of the IF filters, if both are done, a variable cap
must be added across X2 and a switch must be added to go between the
filters.
2) remove the purple wire and stop the tuning pops
3) add two caps for the Xtalk fix
4) add a cap to increase bass response
5) add a cap to further reduce AC hum

I would not do the hiss mod and I would either replace the speaker or use a
nice external one.

a lot of the other mods are a waste of time. I won't mention which they are
but I have tried most of them.

I think I recently made the worlds best DX-394 by doing all of these mods. I
used a Hi-Fi filter in the wide position, spec is 8/12. and a DX filter in
the narrow position, spec is 5/7. I can handle anything now

Mike

What about the strong signal overloading (intermod's) that others have
mentioned?


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I just "built" one with two upgraded filters and some other bug fixes. it is
so superior to a stock unit ! the dual selectable filters are OUTSTANDING !
sold it for $205 including nice external speaker

I am the only one that I am aware of on the planet to build such an
outstanding 394. my other great 394 project was to build a portable capable
394. killer unit too !

got several more stock 394's coming so I can upgrade them too.

it is FUN to upgrade them and see how I have improved them !!!


Mike



"kamalakar pasupuleti" wrote in message
om...
I find couple of Radio Shack DX 394 on e-bay , is it woth bidding
considering the technology . If yes how much should I bid ? Any
feedback is appreciated .

Kam

mike maghakian wrote:
I just "built" one with two upgraded filters and some
other bug fixes. it is so superior to a stock unit ! the
dual selectable filters are OUTSTANDING ! sold it for
$205 including nice external speaker

I am the only one that I am aware of on the planet to
build such an outstanding 394. my other great 394 project
was to build a portable capable 394. killer unit too !

got several more stock 394's coming so I can upgrade them
too.

it is FUN to upgrade them and see how I have improved
them !!!

Upgrading DX-394's has been sport for many years. A search of Usenet
postings in r.r.s in particular shows the first reported upgrade - the Kiwa
filter - in late 1995. There are some 6000 messages posted in Usenet that
refer to the DX-394 (some may be just in the signature) - another 2300 in
the RADIOSHACKDX394 Yahoo!Group. The late 90's saw a flurry of
improvements - most of the key ones - pioneered mainly by the legendary
Frank Cathell who seems to have moved on to astronomy and other interests. I
sparked another round starting in mid-2002, posted many to www.mods.dk and
consolidated everything I could find at the RADIOSHACKDX394 SIG and its
offspring, DX-394C, which concentrates on computer control conversions. Mike
Maghakian has stimulated a lot of discussion with his filter upgrades, here
in r.r.s. and the SIG. Another Mike, lowbander on ebay, has established a
solid reputation in doing cost-effective, intelligent upgrades, with over
500 DX-394 transactions on ebay.

In the last 5 months, DX-394's have sold on ebay for as little as $100 (a UK
auction last week) to as much as $275 for a modified one. You'll find my
average monthly price graph on the SIG website.

To the person who complained that his DX-394 is unstable in frequency: I
have 3 and they are all very stable - little apparent temperature drift and
quite solid through line voltage fluctuations.

Tom