Flashback To The 90s. A Look At My Radio Shack DX-390.

A quick look at My Radio Shack DX-390 from the mid 1990s.

[@RETROTV1394]

Used to have this radio . Great receiver. Dont know what happened to it. Miss it though .

[@anthonyfranz8317]

That was my first shortwave radio.

[@lonnieclemens8028]

I am happy to see your review. I have the Sangean ATS 818 CS. I absolutely love this radio. Using a 25 ft longwave antenna with it. I find no fault with this receive. I listen to stations all over the world. As a matter of fact I would like to buy another one.

[@robertwynn5844]

I have the Sangean version with the cassette. Very good SW and AM reception.

[@SouthernIllinoisShortwave]

I got my DX-390 sometime around 1996 or so. Passport To World Band Radio didn't rate it real high, but I always thought it wasn't that bad. Mine still works just fine all these years later. It has a pretty good sound to it. I'm glad I kept it.

[@michaelmiller9483]

Remember, since short wave stations are going extinct, you can listen to ham radio operators, or try looking for pirate radio stations.

[@johnyoung4039]

I have a DX 390. I like it better than my cc ssb skywave because the 390 has a much bigger speaker which makes listening more pleasurable. My only complaint is that It needs a clear plastic cover for the LCD display and face plate. I wish I could get it but I don't think they can produce since this model is discontinued

[@SouthernIllinoisShortwave]

I don't know if I mentioned it in the video or not, but the only issue my DX-390 has is that it is just a little deaf on the telescopic now. It's not bad, not what it was when it was new. Now, the external is perfect and doesn't overload. I know exactly what you mean by the speaker. I hate to say it, but my DX-390 sounds better with the stock speaker than my Icom IC-R8600 does with its stock speaker. That's the reason I only use external bookshelf speakers with my Icom 8600. But I think the DX-390 is a pretty decent receiver for its time and price. I'm glad I kept mine all these years. I would try E#bay, you might find a 390 cheap that you could use for a part radio. That would give you the clear plastic cover you need.

[@johnyoung4039]

@@SouthernIllinoisShortwave You did mentioned that. Maybe the antenna connector inside the radio is dirty. I pick up stations ok wth the telescopic antenna but it's not as good as my outside antenna which is nothing but a long wire. Shortwave has changed so much. I used to receive stations all over the dial but now I have to have an outside antenna to pick up stations better

[@johnyoung4039]

@@SouthernIllinoisShortwave Thank you for sharing, it's a great radio

[@SouthernIllinoisShortwave]

@@johnyoung4039 Thanks for spending some time watching. I really miss how shortwave was from the 80s up to the early 2000s. So many big power stations. I have my big outside antenna in a pretty quiet location. I can receive a lot, but it's mostly non English. I go through periods that I don't even want to turn any of my radios on. I just have a half dozen or so stations I like to listen to now. The rest is just tuning around, maybe do a decode now and then. I'm not into the Ham Radio side so I don't do anything their. But, I'll keep listening to shortwave as long as I can. I just don't listen every night now.

[@johnyoung4039]

@@SouthernIllinoisShortwave You sound exactly like me. I've learned that it'll be much better if I learned Spanish. It's very nice chatting with you!

[@josephmcnicholas1877]

Thanks for your video. I found mine in storage. Must have bought it in the 90s after my grandfather taught me how to use a short wave radio. We would have a night cap and listen to far off stations. Question. I don't remember can it operate by plugging it into an AC power source. Could be easier than batteries sometimes.

[@SouthernIllinoisShortwave]

You can run it off AC. It's a 6 volt power adapter. Not sure of the politarity. The jack is on the left side of the radio as you face it. I haven't used mine with AC for years. I'm pretty sure you can still get the AC adapter.

[@josephmcnicholas1877]

Thanks. I just ordered a power coord on line. I'm using the batteries now but like the option of a power coord.

[@dieselten01]

Very nice! I picked one up on ebay about a year ago, new in the box. It was still in the sealed plastic. I was concerned it might not work after all This time! Works fine and I did the anti muting mod and I also did a mod to eliminate the annoying noise from the small secondary speaker not visible when the unit is assembled. I think it used to beep on band changes or maybe it was an alarm. Whatever it was mine was pretty annoying so I cut that wire too.

[@SouthernIllinoisShortwave]

I never done the beep mod just the muting. I think I've used this radio less than 20 hours since the late 90s. I've always been a tabletop user. But, nothing wrong with portables.

[@KarlWitsman]

Very nice. I should have picked one of these up while I still had my Radio Shack employee discount. But I ended up getting the DX-400 or something like that.

[@NsndoBrasil]

Friend all good. I have a radio from this Radio Shack DX 398 it worked great but now it started having problems. It takes time to get the clock to synchronize, when it synchronizes hours late, it's always wrong. What do you think it could be. Any help will be greatly appreciated, thank you all.

[@shaunsiz.itsbetterbytube2858]

Green

[@dxbandit1683]

Nice... I actually picked up a dx392 at goodwill last week. They had it marked $5.00 because it wouldn't come on... but when I was testing I noticed it tried to power on if I wiggled the power cord. Took a chance and brought it home... and it works great if you use batteries...!!! Just has a broken AC adapter input... It has very nice audio quality... like the battery indicator too... Its the same radio you have but it has built in cassette deck... very cool...

[@SouthernIllinoisShortwave]

That's an awesome find you got on your radio. I always thought the DX-390 and 392 were nice radios. My DX-390 is a little deaf on the telescopic antenna, but fine on external. Probably from touching the telescopic and static. They are easy to take apart. I bet you could fix the AC adapter. But if it works fine on battery, then all is good.