The DX-160 is a good performing solid state Long Wave, Broadcast Band, and up to 30 MHz short wave receiver. It will operate from AC or 12 VDC power. Be sure to get the mating connector if you plan to use it that way. It has a ceramic filter in the IF, a BFO for SSB and CW reception with AVC and S meter function on all modes. Sensitivity is surprisingly good even on 10 meters. I have received the BBC on Long Wave from upstate New York with a good antenna. It is a single conversion 455 KHz IF, which means that image frequencies will occur on the highest frequency of the band switch. There is some drift, but it is not bad for the time these radios were manufactured. These run anywhere from $40 to $100 dollars at swapmeets, depending on condition. The DX-150 is similar in appearance and features, but it uses much older bipolar transistors in its first revision. The later DX-150s were upgraded by FETs, which greatly improved performance. The DX-150 in an early bipolar transistor version is one that I would recommend you avoid. Unless you are an expert in parsing the various revisions, it is hard to tell what you are looking at. The DX-160 is much better, plentiful, and roughly the same street price.

The ceramic IF filter is so sharp that on short wave you have to tune with the bandspread. The main tuning is too fast on the upper band switch positions. This is a compliment, not a criticism! The filter is perfect for AM, OK for SSB, and way too wide for CW (unless you use an external audio filter), but nothing in this price range offers a choice of filters. You can add an audio filter to the speaker to sharpen things up for CW. I have used this rig as part of a small CW station. The DX-160 even has a standby switch for muting when using it with a transmitter. You have to take careful measures to protect the DX-160 if you are going to use it this way. I discuss this on my "high isolation" T/R switch page.

http://wireless-girl.com/Projects/TRswitches/Homebrew/

I have one in my ham radio room for casual monitoring, one on my test bench for evaluating transmitters I am testing, and one upstairs to SWL. I really like this radio for background listening. There are no tubes to wear out. (See the SWL main page.)

The audio amplifier built into the DX-160 does not have a lot of wattage. This means you have to attach a very efficient speaker. The speaker shown in the photo came from a thrift store; it was part of a cheap stereo with small amplifiers. Therefore, it was efficient and focused its response in the speech part of the spectrum. The Radio Shack Accessory Speaker is not as efficient and definitely does not have the wider frequency response of even a cheap stereo speaker. I have the Radio Shack accessory speaker and do not use it.

Another approach to the wimpy audio is to use self powered computer speakers, with a low DX-160 volume setting. A good external audio filter with its own speaker power amplifier also works well, if you use it for CW/SSB.

One problem I have not seen addressed is the poor voltage regulation of the stock single transistor and zener diode system. A modern 3 terminal regulator of the 78XX series or an LM317 would be perfect to solve this problem. I plan to get to this some time, as well as provide a detector audio pick off point for an external amplifier. Of course, there are many 12 volt auto amplifier chips to choose from, but this would draw more current; then you would lose the low current drain feature if you wanted to operate off the grid. Changing the audio output stage is major surgery. Connecting an external audio amp is not. When I do the 3 terminal regulator modification, I will post it here.

The reason the voltage regulation needs to be improved is primarily oscillator stability. In SSB/CW, with a strong signal, the changing load caused by AVC action (changes current drain of IF amplifiers) and audio amplifier current, "pulls" the BFO and HFO in frequency. This introduces an FM modulation that reduces intelligibility of SSB signals and adds a "chirp" to CW signals that makes them more difficult to copy. I suspect power supply voltage drift may also contribute to long term frequency drift, requiring periodic retuning in any mode. Installing a 3 terminal regulator is not major surgery. While I am comfortable installing modest improvements, I am reluctant to do major changes, unless there is an intolerable deficiency.

This is an analog frequency read out. You can use a crystal calibrator like the Heathkit HD-20 to set the band spread for ham bands or find your way around the SWL frequencies. This is the "old school method" we used with all the radios, back in the day. You can also add one of the external digital dials that are being offered these days, to return to your favorite shortwave station each day. This is not a simple frequency counter; it must be progammable for the offset of the 455 KHz IF, to get the actual receive frequency. If you do this, you will likely need a buffer isolation amplifier. Here is a well thought out modification for that feature: http://vk5tm.com/homebrew/dx160/dx160.php.

The DX-160 is clean of "birdies" or spurious responses from synthesized HFO (high frequency oscillator to convert the signal to the IF of 455 KHz). Many of the early solid state phased lock synthesized receivers suffered from this problem. On the top frequency range, it is possible to observe "image" responses which are due to the need for more filtering of the signal from the antenna. This problem manifests itself in the same signal being repeated at a lower amplitude, a distance of 2 times the 455 KHz IF away from the correct response on the dial. Compared to contemporary receivers, the DX-160 is still pretty good in this regard, only observing this on 15 and 10 meters. This can be improved with an external preselector or passive tuned circuit. Given the DX-160's remarkable sensitivity, even 5 watt CB signals can be heard better with this accessory.

The screw terminals for the antenna can be replaced with a coax connector. Often there is a hole under the serial number label that can be enlarged for a SO239 coax connector.