Radio Shack DX-392 manual

Cat. No. 2 0-219B OWNER’S MANUAL PLL ALL-BAND PORTAB LE RECEIVER Plea se read before using th is equipm ent. DX-392 WITH CASSETTE RECORDER 20-2 19 .fm Pag e 1 We d nes day , Au gus t 4, 1999 9: 23 A M[...]

2 FEA TURES Your Radio Shack DX-392 PLL All- Band Po rtable R eceiver w ith Cas set te Recorder brings the voices of the world to you. In the 13 in ternational short - wave (SW) b ands , y ou can hear ne ws broadcasts and other programs from sources s uch as the B ritish Br oadcast - ing Company, Radio Cairo, and Radio Mo scow . You can get emergen[...]

3 MW Step Setti ng — l ets y ou choo se the correct s etting for w hat e ver part of the world y ou are in. AM RF Gain Control — lets you ad- just t he re ce ive r’s s en sit ivit y wh e n yo u listen to S W t o prov ide th e be st p os si- ble reception. Narro w/W ide C ont ro l — le ts you re- duce interference from other st a tions when [...]

4 CONTENTS Prep arati on ..... .. ... .... ... .... ... ..... .. ..... .. .. ..... .. ..... ... .... ... .... ... .. ..... .. ..... .. ..... .. ..... ... .... ... . 6 Set tin g the MW (AM ) T un ing Increm ent ... ... .. ..... .. ..... .. ..... .. ..... .. ... .... ... ..... .. ..... . 6 In stal ling B ack- Up Bat teri es ..... .. .. ..... .. .....[...]

5 Recor din g ... ..... .... ..... ..... ..... .... ..... ..... ..... .... ..... ..... .... ..... ..... ..... .... ..... ..... ..... .... . 20 Recor din g from the Radi o .... ....... ..... .. ..... ..... .... ..... ..... ..... .... ..... ..... ..... .... . 2 0 Recording from the Radio Using the Standby Feature . ....................... ... 21 Reco[...]

6 PREP ARA TION SETTI NG THE MW (AM) TUNING I NCREMENT In the Uni ted States, the F ederal Com - munications Commi ssion (FCC) as- signs frequenc ies for stations in the MW band in 10-kilo hertz incremen ts. (In the United S tates, we commonl y call the MW b and t he AM band.) In E u- rope and some other parts of t he world, MW f requen cies are as[...]

7 3. Replace the cover , or install addi- tional batteries for primary power as described in “Internal Ba ttery Powe r .” To check the bac k- up batt eries’ pow er level, disconnect the receiver from the primary-power source. Then lo ok at the recei v er’s dis play . If it is di m, re - place the back-up batteries. CONNECTING T O PRIMAR Y P[...]

8 receiver or the ad apt er. Follow these steps to us e AC power. 1. Set the adapter ’s voltag e switch to 6V . 2 . Li ne up t he 5.5 mm out er di am- eter /2. 1 mm inn er diamet er b a r r e l p lu g w i t h the a dapt er ’s socket so it reads –TIP , and insert the pl ug. 3. Insert the barrel plug into the re- ceiv er ’s DC I N 6V j ack. 4[...]

9 US IN G TH E FO LD I N G ST AND AND M EMO P AD You can position th e receiver m ore se- curely and p ossibly improv e the sound by resting the receiver on its stand. Lift the latch on the back of the receiver to open the s tand. Y ou can u se the memo pad under t he recei ver’s stand to record help ful information, such as the memory location n[...]

10 2. P ress the number buttons (and decimal bu tton where appropriate) to enter the fr e quency . If you make a mi stake, press C (cancel) to erase the last digit. If you wait more than 15 seconds to press a b utton, the previous f re- quency returns to the display and you mus t be gin again at St ep 1. 3. Press ENTER . The s elected fr e- quency [...]

11 T uning w ith the Arrow K eys You can select a lower or higher fre- quency by pressin g MANUAL/AUT O or . T he frequency chang es in the following increm ents. Scan ning To auto mati cally tun e up or down t o th e next act ive f requen cy in th e se- l ect ed ba nd, pr ess and hold down MANUAL/AUTO or for about 2 seconds. The receiver scans up [...]

12 M emory T uning For e asy sele ction, you can store t he frequencies o f your f avorite st ations in memory. You can store up to 18 SW and 18 F M frequenc ies, a nd u p to 9 frequencies in each of the o ther bands . Follow these s teps to store a freque n- cy into m e mory. 1. Use direc t-access or manual tun- ing to tune to the frequency you wa[...]

13 SW — Fu lly extend the ant enna and point it st rai ght up. CONNECTING AN EXTERNAL ANTENNA To i m pr ove SW rec e p tio n, yo u c a n con nect a port abl e ex tern al an ten na (su ch as Ra dio S hac k Cat. No . 278- 1374 ) d i re ctly t o th e tel e sco pi ng a n- te nna or y ou ca n make a n ant enna us ing a s ho rtw av e ant en na kit (su [...]

14 AM RF Gain The AM RF GAIN control affects s ignal strength for SW recep tion. If the signal is weak, turn AM RF GAIN toward MAX . If the sound is distorted, tu rn AM RF GAIN toward MIN . BFO S witch and BF O Dial Some SW an d LW s tation s transm it in Morse Code us ing a form of trans mis- sion called continuous wa ve (CW). Some SW stations use[...]

15 If y ou then want t o set t he a larm agai n, press ST ANDBY . Whil e ST ANDB Y flashes, pr ess ENTER . USING T HE SLEEP TI MER The sleep timer sets the receiver to turn off after a length of time you s et, so you can fall asleep as you listen t o the re c ei v er . 1. When t he receiver is off, press SLEEP . The recei ver turns on, and appears [...]

16 USING THE CLOCK R ADIO Your recei ver ha s tw o cloc ks. We rec- ommen d you set t h e primary c l ock for local time an d the secondary clock for UTC (Coordinated Universal Time — formerly called Greenwich Mean Time), becaus e most shortw ave st a- tions annou nce broadcas t times in UTC. The time z one ma p on th e back o f the receiver show[...]

17 Ch anging th e Clock D isplay To change f rom one clock displ ay to the other, p ress the right DUAL TIME button. appears or disappears to show you which clock you are v iewing. To briefly ch ange the clo ck d isplay, hold down the left DUAL TIME but ton. Re le as e th e le ft DUAL TIME b ut to n to return to t he previous clock display. USING T[...]

18 PLA YING A CASSETTE T APE 1. Set ST ANDBY R EC to OF F . 2. Set TAPE SELECT to either NOR- MAL or Cr O 2 ac cording to the type of tape you are going to pl ay . 3. Press PLA Y . The P LA Y indi ca- tor lig h ts. 4. Adjust VOLUME t o a com fortable listening level . 5. T o s top the tap e, press STOP/ EJECT . Pr ess STOP/EJECT again to open the c[...]

19 RECORDING Re co rd ing fr om th e R ad io 1. Set ST ANDBY R EC to OF F . 2. Load the cass ette tape you want to record on. 3. Set T APE SEL ECT t o e ith er CrO 2 or NORMAL accordin g to the tape you loaded. 4. T une to the desired station. 5. Adjust VOLUME to a com fortable listening level . Note: The Automatic Le vel Co n- trol autom atically [...]

20 6. While STAN DB Y flashes , enter the starting time o f the program you want to record. Then pres s ENTER . STAN DB Y stops flas hing. Note: Be sure the clock displ ay is set to show the desired clock when the alarm time arri ves. 7. Load a tape with adequate length for the period you are goin g to record. For instance, load a C-60 t ape f or r[...]

21 ADDITIONAL FEA TURE S CONNECTING HEADP HONES For privat e li stenin g and f or stereo sound during FM stereo broadcasts, you can conne ct o ptional stereo hea d- phones w it h a 1 / 8 -inch plug. Your local Radio Shac k store sells a wide sel ec- tion o f stereo headphones . Insert the h eadpho nes’ pl ug into the receiver’s jack. T his disc[...]

22 LOCKING THE CONTROL S T he l o ck fe a tu r e pr ev en t s y ou f r om ac - cidentally turning the receiver on or off, changing the band or frequenc y, or s e- lecting front-panel buttons. Set the loc k swi tch to to lo ck all the front -panel bu ttons a n d t h e ROT A- R Y TUNING d ial. You ca n still a djust VOLUME , TO NE , and other cont ro[...]

23 To convert kH z to MHz, divide by 1,000. For example: 2780 kH z ³ 1000 = 2.780 MHz To convert MHz to me ters, divide 300 by the number of MHz. For example: 300 ³ 7. 1 MH z = 4 2.25 m eters To convert meters to MHz, divide 300 by the number of meters. F or exam - ple: 300 ³ 42.25 meters = 7.1 MHz BAND ALL OCA TIONS Certain bands are set aside [...]

24 ti m e ). * These bands are reserved for s ta- tions i n tropical areas. ** Interference is heavy in the 41m band (7.100 –7 .300 MHz) bec ause am - ateur radio op erators and international stations share this range. Airc ra f t Fre q ue n ci es Aircraft on i nternational routes some- times use SW. Mos t transmiss ions a re in SSB, although you[...]

25 2,500 kHz 5,000 kHz 10, 000 kHz 15, 000 kHz 20, 000 kHz CHU in Canada: 7,335 kHz VNG in Au stralia: 4,500 and 12,000 kHz Lo ng w a ve Ba nd The 150–519 kH z range is k n own as the lon gwave ba nd. Mo st stations in this range serve as beac ons for ai rcraft and marine n avigation by cont inuou sly transmitting their call letters. Recep- tion [...]

26 4,755 Imo Regional Radio Imo, Nigeria kHz Station Location Remarks Page 22. 4,777 Radio/TV Gabo n Libreville, Gabon Programs in French 4,795 Radio Nueva Am er ic a La Paz, Boli vi a Pro gr ams in Spani sh 4,820 Radio Paz y Bien Ambala, Ecuador Programs in Spanish 4,832 Radio Reloj San Jose, Costa Rica P rogra ms in Spanish 4,855 Radio Clube do P[...]

27 5,954 Radio Casino Puerto Limon, Costa Ri ca kHz Station Location Remarks 5,960 Radio Canada International Mon treal, Canada 5,980 Radio RSA Johannesburg , South Afr ic a 6,005 CFCX Montreal, Canada 6,025 Radio Malaysia Kuala Lumpur, Malaysi a Programs in Chinese 6,045 Radio Australia L yndh urst, Australia 6,055 Nihon Shortwav e Broadcas ting C[...]

28 9,530 Spani sh F oreign Radio M adrid, Spain kHz Station Locati on Rema rks 9,535 Swiss Ra dio International B erne, S witzerland 9,540 Radio P ragu e Prague, Czech Republ ic 9,570 Radio Buchare st Buc harest , Romania 9,575 Italian Radio and T elevision Servi ce Rome, It aly 9,610 Radio-TV Algeria Algiers, Algeria Program s in Arabic 9,620 Radi[...]

29 1 1,745 V oice of F ree China T a ipei, T aiwan kHz Station Location Remarks 1 1,815 Radio Japan T o kyo, Ja pan 1 1,825 Radio T ahiti Papeete, T ahiti Programs in T ahitian 1 1, 835 4V EH Cap Haitien, Ha iti 1 1, 8 45 Radio Canada International Mon treal, Canada 1 1, 850 Deut sche Welle Cologne, Germ any 1 1, 890 V oice of Ch ile Santiago, Chi [...]

30 15,205 All India Ra dio New D elhi, India kHz Station Location Remarks 15,260 BBC London, England 15,265 Finnish Ra dio Helsinki, Finland 15,275 Radio Sweden Stoc kholm , Sweden 15,305 Swiss Radio International Be rne, Switze rland 15,310 Radio Japan T o kyo, Ja pan 15,320 Radio Australia Mel bourne, Aust ralia 15,400 BBC London, England 15, 430[...]

31 BIRDIES Birdies are t he products of internally generat ed signals t hat make some frequencies difficult or impossible to receive. If you program one of these frequencie s, you hear only noise on that frequency . The most common bi rdies to watch for are listed below. kHz Station Location Remarks 17,720 Radio France International Pa ris, France [...]

32 T APE TI PS AND TECHNIQUES The following s uggestions will hel p you get t he best perf ormance from your c as- set te s and ca ssett e deck. STORING Y OUR CASSETTES • Keep them away from excess ive dust and dirt. • Do not expose them to moisture or high humidity . • Keep them away from strong m agnetic fields that can be generate d by oth[...]

33 driver. If you w ish to protect Side B (or 2), remove the Side B (or 2) tab. tect ion tab holes. Note: Removal of the eras e-protection ta b does no t prevent a bulk eras er from eras- ing the tape. Cautio n: When using a cas sette that has had the erase-protec tion tabs broken off, do not try t o f orce down RECORD . Doi ng so m igh t d amage t[...]

34 CLEANING THE T APE MECHANI SM After repeat ed use, dust, lint and tape oxides accumulat e on the tape-han - dling mec hanisms. For t he best perf or- mance and so und quality, clean the record/play hea ds, pinch rol lers, cap- stans, and erase he ad after app roxi- mately every 20 hou rs of use. You can use recorder c leaner a nd cl eaning swabs[...]

35 TRO U BLES HOOTING Your receiver shoul d give you years of trouble-free service i f you f ollow the i n- structions g iven in t his manua l. If you have problems, the chart below m ight help. If you still hav e problems af ter follow- ing the suggestions below, take the re- ceiver to your local Radio Shack stor efor assi sta n ce. Problem Cause [...]

36 RESETTI NG THE R ADIO If the radio displays random characters or the displ a y does not work prop erly, you might nee d t o reset it. Imp ort a n t : This procedure c lears all in formation you stored in the radio’ s m emo ry. Reset the radio only when you are sure it is not wo rking properly. 1. Remove t he bat tery compart m ent’s cover by[...]

37 MAINTENANCE CARING F OR THE RECEIVER Your Radio Shack DX-392 PLL All- Band Po rtable R eceiver w ith Cas set te Recorder i s an example of superior de- sign and craftsm anship . The following suggest ions w ill help you care for yo ur receiver so you can e njoy it f o r years. Use o nly fresh bat teries of the recom mended s ize and type. Nev er[...]

38 SPECI FICA T IONS Circuit: FMHeterodyne L W/ MW/ SW Dua l-Conversion Het- erodyne Fre que nc y Ran g e: FM87.5–108 M Hz L W150–5 19 kHz MW5 20–1, 710 kHz SW1.71 1–29.999 MH z SW Sub-B ands: 2.300 – 2.495 M Hz (120 m eters ) 11.600 – 1 2.100 M Hz (25 met ers) 3.200 – 3.400 M Hz (90 meters) 13.570 – 1 3.870 M Hz (21 met ers) 3.900 [...]

39 Battery Life (Alkal ine Batteries): Back-Up (R adio Off) . .................... ..................... .. ............... ......... Up to 375 Days Primary ...................... ..................... .. 75 Hours Continuous Operation @ 50 mW Dimensio n s (HWD) .. ..... ..... ..... .... ..... .. 7 1 / 2 ¥ 11 7 / 8 ¥ 2 7 / 8 Inches (192 ¥ 300 ¥ [...]

RADIO S H ACK A Division of T andy Co rporation Fort Worth, T exas 76102 3816526A 12A6 Prin t ed in T aiwan Limited Nin ety- Day W arrant y This pr oduct is warrante d by Radio Sha ck again st man ufactur ing defects in material and workm anship und er normal use for ninety (90) d ays from th e d ate of purch ase from Radi o Shack compa ny-owne d s[...]