For many of us, the 10 meter band was our first exposure to the HF amateur radio bands. Passing your Technician exam, you have operating privileges between 28.0 and 28.5 MHz, and if you don’t immediately upgrade to General, may find yourself exploring the phone portion of the band. When I was first licensed a quarter century ago, that exploration was made a bit easier with good HF propagation at the time and a marvelous little 10 meter transceiver from Radio Shack, the HTX-10.
This week’s video looks at the Radio Shack HTX-10 10 meter transceivers brief history, how it works, and put it on the air. You can watch: Is this classic ham radio still any good? Radio Shack HTX-10 here: https://youtu.be/8z2LydT08A4
Radio Shack HTX-10: https://www.rigpix.com/rs-realistic/radioshack_htx10.htm
Radio Shack Catalogs: https://www.radioshackcatalogs.com
Alpha Antenna HexTenna Deluxe Kit: https://www.alphaantenna.com/product/best-portable-hf-dipole-vertical-yagi-antenna-vhf-uhf-hf-hextenna-alpha/?aff=48
Radio Shack Memories
Ten years ago the Radio Shack we knew and loved for decades went out of business and closed all their company owned stores. There are a few Radio Shacks still in existence, but those franchise locations are nothing more than a name a far cry from “America’s Technology Center.”
If you are in a point in your amateur radio journey that you’ve needed to renew your license at least once, Radio Shack has most likely had a place in that journey. For me, that first ham radio experience was courtesy of a Radio Shack shortwave receiver.
My first radio was the DX-60 shortwave receiver. It was a Christmas present and I was about 11 or 12 at the time. I enjoyed tuning up and down the shortwave bands, listening to Voice of America and the other International broadcasters. At the time I even checked out a book from the library on the Novice test, but didn’t get any farther than that.
About that same time I was bit by the computer bug, our family owned a whole raft of TRS-80 computers: Model III, Model IV, the Color Computer, and a couple of their early PC compatibles. I’d make trips to the local Radio Shack downtown to play the the demo machines, before the salesman kicked us out. I was even a member of the ‘battery of the month club’ picking up my free battery along with my periodic visits.
Fast forward to the late 90’s when I purchased my first handheld scanner. A Radio Shack Pro-29. I still have it, although it’s seldom used as the public safety bands have gone digital. Using the scanner to listen to police and fire led to using the scanner to listen to 2 meters, which led to me getting my license. Long story short, I would have never become a ham if it wasn’t for Radio Shack.
I’m sure there’s countless other hams that can recount the same story- how Radio Shack was their access point to this wonderful hobby. I’ve bought so many things from the Shack, I can’t even begin to count them all. Unfortunately time and changing technological focus has caused the Shack to lose it’s way. I knew the writing was on the wall back around 2000 or 2001 when our local store drastically reduced its inventory in electronic components. Then within a year or so, they stopped selling amateur radios, and now you’re lucky if they have one or two scanner models on display behind the counter.
I do miss going to the local ‘Shack’ to pick up an electronic component or patch cable. Amazon’s fast Prime delivery has mostly scratched that itch, but it just isn’t the same. The loss has also forced me to keep many more little parts in my junk box just in case a project presents itself.
A part of me will keep pining for Radio Shack, but I know it is never more meant to be.
Finishing up
It appears that where I live, in Wisconsin, we are all but assured to have a White Christmas. We received another four inches of snow last night and the temperatures are going to stay quite cold for the foreseeable future. With frozen ground and snowed in wildlife areas, this will certainly change my activation habits. We’ll see what the weather brings.
Are you still looking for holiday gift ideas or would like to browse my list of favorite things? I have a curated list over on Amazon that may help: https://amzn.to/4iZMLfR (affiliate link) There are plenty of good things on it and shopping through it helps the channel.
I hope to get you in the log
Michael
KB9VBR
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