I have a Radioshack DX200 that recieves poorly. When I remove the case and touch the tuning capacitor the recieve come right up to where its supposed to be and sounds very good. Has anyone experienced this before? What do I need to do to fix it?

Hi,
This reciever is supposed to have an external antenna. If you do not have one, that is the likely source of the problem. If you can string a long wire out the window, this will work well, otherwise, 10 to 20 feet around the room if you can, will give acceptable results. Also too, if RF gain is turned fully counter clockwise, you will not recieve much at all. Adjust this to the maximum position, and only reduce it when a signal starts to sound distorted (it is actually clipping at that point).

There are a few quirks that come up from time to time with this unit, but not often.

:I have a Radioshack DX200 that recieves poorly. When I remove the case and touch the tuning capacitor the recieve come right up to where its supposed to be and sounds very good. Has anyone experienced this before? What do I need to do to fix it?

I should add that a good ground helps a lot, either tying to a waterpipe ground, house electrical ground, or even stringing out ground radials will help.

:Hi,
:This reciever is supposed to have an external antenna. If you do not have one, that is the likely source of the problem. If you can string a long wire out the window, this will work well, otherwise, 10 to 20 feet around the room if you can, will give acceptable results. Also too, if RF gain is turned fully counter clockwise, you will not recieve much at all. Adjust this to the maximum position, and only reduce it when a signal starts to sound distorted (it is actually clipping at that point).
:
:There are a few quirks that come up from time to time with this unit, but not often.
:
:
:
:
:
:
::I have a Radioshack DX200 that recieves poorly. When I remove the case and touch the tuning capacitor the recieve come right up to where its supposed to be and sounds very good. Has anyone experienced this before? What do I need to do to fix it?

Thanks John for the reply,

I have a 530 ft long wire that is grounded at the feed point and use it with great success with my other recievers. I have the wire connected to the High Z input and have tried it on the other antenna connections. I can also touch the tuning slug for the band the reciever is recieving and get the same result!
The recieve comes right up to where it should be. I had experienced the same phenomenon with my other recievers and grounding the set always took care of the problem. It recieves very good as long as I touch the tuning slug for that band or touch the tab on the variable cap. Additional suggestions are appreciated!

Sincerely,

Steve....N3GOV

:I should add that a good ground helps a lot, either tying to a waterpipe ground, house electrical ground, or even stringing out ground radials will help.
:
:
::Hi,
::This reciever is supposed to have an external antenna. If you do not have one, that is the likely source of the problem. If you can string a long wire out the window, this will work well, otherwise, 10 to 20 feet around the room if you can, will give acceptable results. Also too, if RF gain is turned fully counter clockwise, you will not recieve much at all. Adjust this to the maximum position, and only reduce it when a signal starts to sound distorted (it is actually clipping at that point).
::
::There are a few quirks that come up from time to time with this unit, but not often.
::
::
::
::
::
::
:::I have a Radioshack DX200 that recieves poorly. When I remove the case and touch the tuning capacitor the recieve come right up to where its supposed to be and sounds very good. Has anyone experienced this before? What do I need to do to fix it?

Hi,
If the bandswitch has not been cleaned, I would try that first, LPS1 is a pretty good choice here. My bandswitch had some significant dirt or corrosion, and this helped a lot, but it also took the little red tube to direct the spray into where it needed to reach- it is not the best design. But if that has been done, then I would take a look at the boards in general for bad solder connections first, then take a look at Q103-2sc181s Q105-2sk19, Q106-2sc1815, Q203-2sc1815, Q204-2sc1815, as well as Q101-3sk45, Q102-2sk19 and Q104-3sk45: Their solder connections, and whether they have started to break down and exhibit excessive leakage. Simple noise injection with a screwdriver should be enough of a test signal for testing those portions of those section's overall performance.

D103-FCS3M is a varactor, (as is D206-FC53M), and these are not really known to fail, but I would hold out on these as the last items to look at if the other items checked fine, but- There were some of the DX-200s produced with very poor quality control of components and solder joints. I had to replace all of the 1N60 diodes as they all had incredible amounts of leakage. D104, D105, D201, D202, D204, D205, D207-210,

If all of that checks out, Q203 has bias pots for Base and Collector bias voltages, as these may have been adjusted incorrectly.

:Thanks John for the reply,
:
:I have a 530 ft long wire that is grounded at the feed point and use it with great success with my other recievers. I have the wire connected to the High Z input and have tried it on the other antenna connections. I can also touch the tuning slug for the band the reciever is recieving and get the same result!
:The recieve comes right up to where it should be. I had experienced the same phenomenon with my other recievers and grounding the set always took care of the problem. It recieves very good as long as I touch the tuning slug for that band or touch the tab on the variable cap. Additional suggestions are appreciated!
:
:Sincerely,
:
:Steve....N3GOV
:
:
:
:
::I should add that a good ground helps a lot, either tying to a waterpipe ground, house electrical ground, or even stringing out ground radials will help.
::
::
:::Hi,
:::This reciever is supposed to have an external antenna. If you do not have one, that is the likely source of the problem. If you can string a long wire out the window, this will work well, otherwise, 10 to 20 feet around the room if you can, will give acceptable results. Also too, if RF gain is turned fully counter clockwise, you will not recieve much at all. Adjust this to the maximum position, and only reduce it when a signal starts to sound distorted (it is actually clipping at that point).
:::
:::There are a few quirks that come up from time to time with this unit, but not often.
:::
:::
:::
:::
:::
:::
::::I have a Radioshack DX200 that recieves poorly. When I remove the case and touch the tuning capacitor the recieve come right up to where its supposed to be and sounds very good. Has anyone experienced this before? What do I need to do to fix it?

Thanks John for your input,
I will look at the items you recommend and let you know how it goes.

Steve Spiker

:Hi,
:If the bandswitch has not been cleaned, I would try that first, LPS1 is a pretty good choice here. My bandswitch had some significant dirt or corrosion, and this helped a lot, but it also took the little red tube to direct the spray into where it needed to reach- it is not the best design. But if that has been done, then I would take a look at the boards in general for bad solder connections first, then take a look at Q103-2sc181s Q105-2sk19, Q106-2sc1815, Q203-2sc1815, Q204-2sc1815, as well as Q101-3sk45, Q102-2sk19 and Q104-3sk45: Their solder connections, and whether they have started to break down and exhibit excessive leakage. Simple noise injection with a screwdriver should be enough of a test signal for testing those portions of those section's overall performance.
:
:D103-FCS3M is a varactor, (as is D206-FC53M), and these are not really known to fail, but I would hold out on these as the last items to look at if the other items checked fine, but- There were some of the DX-200s produced with very poor quality control of components and solder joints. I had to replace all of the 1N60 diodes as they all had incredible amounts of leakage. D104, D105, D201, D202, D204, D205, D207-210,
:
:If all of that checks out, Q203 has bias pots for Base and Collector bias voltages, as these may have been adjusted incorrectly.
:
::Thanks John for the reply,
::
::I have a 530 ft long wire that is grounded at the feed point and use it with great success with my other recievers. I have the wire connected to the High Z input and have tried it on the other antenna connections. I can also touch the tuning slug for the band the reciever is recieving and get the same result!
::The recieve comes right up to where it should be. I had experienced the same phenomenon with my other recievers and grounding the set always took care of the problem. It recieves very good as long as I touch the tuning slug for that band or touch the tab on the variable cap. Additional suggestions are appreciated!
::
::Sincerely,
::
::Steve....N3GOV
::
::
::
::
:::I should add that a good ground helps a lot, either tying to a waterpipe ground, house electrical ground, or even stringing out ground radials will help.
:::
:::
::::Hi,
::::This reciever is supposed to have an external antenna. If you do not have one, that is the likely source of the problem. If you can string a long wire out the window, this will work well, otherwise, 10 to 20 feet around the room if you can, will give acceptable results. Also too, if RF gain is turned fully counter clockwise, you will not recieve much at all. Adjust this to the maximum position, and only reduce it when a signal starts to sound distorted (it is actually clipping at that point).
::::
::::There are a few quirks that come up from time to time with this unit, but not often.
::::
::::
::::
::::
::::
::::
:::::I have a Radioshack DX200 that recieves poorly. When I remove the case and touch the tuning capacitor the recieve come right up to where its supposed to be and sounds very good. Has anyone experienced this before? What do I need to do to fix it?