HTX 245 $99 A Great Bargain

[AE5J]

The other day I happened to be in a local Radio Shack looking for some hook-up wire when I noticed a “clearance” sign. The item in question was an HTX 245 dual band (2m/440) talkie. Well, surely you’d never catch me with a “Rat Shack” radio? I found what I needed, then came back for some reason for a second look. On closer inspection my interest began to quicken. This is a pretty neat little radio—and the price! $99.00. I finally succumbed and laid out the cash. After all, $99 was not much for a dual band radio.

After getting the little rig home, unpacking it and loading it up with some fresh batteries, and poking all the buttons, I naturally came to the least important part, the instruction manual. I discovered some very neat things here. For instance, the radio has a built-in charger for Nicad batteries. So, a quick flick of the switch located inside the battery compartment and in went three fresh 1000 Mah AA’s. Then I got all the local repeaters programmed up and gave it a try. Amazing! It has nice, crisp audio and, at 700mw, hit all the local repeaters easily from my home.

After two months of using the 245, including a jaunt all around the state on New Mexico on vacation, I can honestly report that this is probably one of the best bargains I have ever found. Now granted, it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that some of the higher priced name brands have. Quite frankly though, having grown up with tube radios, the first Wilson 2m handie talkies (remember those bricks?), the ICOM 2AT and such, I cannot seem to figure why we need to listen to dual bands (or 3 bands) simultaneously. I have enough trouble carrying on one QSO at a time. The HTX 245 fills my needs quite nicely. I realize this is an “after the market” review (the 245 is officially discontinued), but some of you may need a good, solid back up talkie and I don’t think anyone can argue the value at $99. If you can find one, this is a great bargain.
73
Pete, AE5J
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[K9DRX]

This thing is only 1/2 watt average out. EEK. That's hardly satisfactory for doing anything but hitting repeaters within a 5 mile range. Spend only another $70 or so and you can get a high quality dual band HT with 5 watts and a decent brand name. Remember, things that are on "Clearance" are usually for a reason. 9 times out of ten a bad one.

[KB9VRP]

Hello, I agree about the low power issue-however,if you have the need for a radio like the HTX-245,you'd better move quick since Radio Shack has discontinued it and the last clearance price when I got mine was for $40.00!! A good deal,and it may be even less now-Radio Shack drops the price on discontinued products to unbelievably low prices and I've always made it a point to check with the salesperson because the prices marked as clearance keeps going down until all stock is gone. When they discontinued their all-band scanner ground plane antenna,I had them track down all the stores that still had them for $1 each!!-I installed twenty two of them for people for $30 each and made a killing! There are also a number of mods for the htx245 besides the instructions for MARS/CAP extended freq. coverage that comes in the box with it.-I hope this info helps someone out. 73 de KB9VRP