The Best Shortwave Radio Made. The Realistic DX302 General Coverage Receiver.

Long overdue here, but I finally wanted to show off this masterpiece of a radio. This sweet looking monster does it all, and does it all in style with plenty of knobs, switches and dials!
The Realistic DX-302 was THE shortwave to own in the 80's and for good reason. It's built like a tank, looks like it belongs in a 60's fallout shelter, and has the best set of "Ears" I've heard on a shortwave. I have it hooked to an inexpensive MLA-30 active loop antenna and this thing can hear the entire planet!
I've got a part 2 and a part 3 that feature this radio. They cover the hobby of MW (The AM broadcast band) DXing as well as a video that covers some of what you will find on the shortwave bands.

There has never been a better time to invest in a decent shortwave receiver. We live in very strange times and being informed from sources other than cooperate sponsored sites is more important than ever.

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[christophersmith]

i was a teenager in the 1980s. no money. i always wanted this radio. thats a keeper. unlike most radios, it picks up SSB.

[normakers]

Nice radio! I have a Realistic DX-200 and a DX-160 that I still use. I miss Radio Shack! Thanks

[hillbillyhorticultureselki]

Think that radio is gona be worth its weight in gold after this Thursday. You guy got sum crazy shit happenin down there. Stay safe 73s

[weegeemike]

I own one of these! My uncle is a ham geek and when he updated his ham battle station in the early 2000s, he gave this to me to play around on to learn about HAM radio...after watching this video i dusted mine iff and turned it on for the first time in at least 15 years...had a great time figuring out how to use it again lol. Awesome vid!

[MLifeM]

She's a beauty! I need to get me a nice shortwave like that! Thank you for sharing!

[spresc]

I still have mine from 1980 and put mega miles of use on it for years and years and still often use it among my various other radios.
One thing of note is about that silver ring behind the frequency adjust knob. It is not enough to simply rotate it to put the MHz # that you desire on the display and then adjust through that range with the outer knob. When you rotate the silver ring to the MHz # you want and adjusted the preselector correctly and rf gain is up, , tweak the silver ring a little left and right and tune for highest signal on the meter. If the meter is sketchy you can also go by how it sounds. For the newbies you also have to readjust the preselector here and there as you move up or down the selected MHz range. Eric, You may have already known all that, but others may not. By the way, that type of tuner is called the Wadley Loop method. Happy dxing. .

[ELMI]

I have its twin the DX-300 on my beside table, still working well. Great to see someone else enjoying these classic radios! Don't know if you're a fan of the James Bond movies, but this radio featured a few times around the half hour mark in 'Never Say Never Again' :)

[skyboy]

Great videos Eric! Have a DX-160 I had for years.

[johndutton]

I just came across this vid and went - yay, I’ve got one of those over there. Never really played with it but am intrigued now - fab vid - thanks

[ravenwolf]

I just found one of these in the wild and decided to snag it a my local goodwill. Hardly ever see ham radio stuff. Got it home and surprise it seems to work great. After watching your video it helped me a lot to use it. So I downloaded a manual and it now sits next to my yaesu ft 101zd thanks for your video 73

[johnblanton]

What a great radio. Radio Shack made some great equipment back in the day. I have the DX 300, loads of fun pulling in broadcast with the telescoping antenna it came with. 73s

[ericfischer]

When we moved to Alberta in Feb. 1980, brought with us our Realistic DX-160. Still use it today on a daily/nightly basis with a long wire antenna. Never had an issue with the receiver. Works like new. Enjoy it tremendously, especially when you speak/write 4 languages fluently. 5 STARS for the DX-160

[imtheqman]

I have the DX-300 using a long wire. Love this thing!

[menotworking]

Bought mine new in the 80s and took it home on the bus. I've used it off and on ever since. The preselector started to slip (not uncommon, apparently), but youtube videos showed me how to fix that, and the radio is now ready to run another 40 years.

[dbergerac]

I had a DX-300 throughout the 80's-90's and it really pulled in some interesting things. I have a DX-302 now. Is it the best? NO, but it is/was "The best value radio" with good features and performance for an affordable price. SW broadcasting is not what it was, but it is still worth the effort. In this age of corporate censorship, I believe that the station numbers will be growing. Thanks for the informative, nostalgic video introduction to a great piece of radio history that is still relevant today.

[Harvestersz]

Every time I see those Radio Shack knobs, the memories come flooding back. Love using this radio, but the FRG-7 (FROG) has a slight edge simply because the main tuning is also analog.

[davidaaaa]

I did not know that was the best. I have a Realistic DX-440 and I thought it may be the best. Had it 30 something years. Works great.

[crabtrap]

DIFFERANCE BETWEEN DX-300 and DX-302: the 300 has a larger speaker and is better for general shortwave users. it has no IF filter or BFO but uses a micro tune knob for SSB. it also has an internal ferrite antenna for AM/MW...like most standard radios

DX-302 has poorer audio and smaller speaker. it is a setup better for CW code/SSB with its IF filter and BFO knob. there is NO internal antenna on the 302.

they both work much cleaner on 12v power source then AC

[barrybarker]

AOR 5000A +3 this radio will take some beating.

[aaronbenns]

I grew up in the 80s and 90s i remember my dad bought a realistic home entertainment system when cds first came out the quality of that stereo was incredible just the feel of the buttons and dials was incredible he still uses it today