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The CTO Radio Museum |
 The DX-200 was the second radio used for DXing at the CTO's predecessor, the Broome Hill Observatory, in Sooke, BC. Originally, a DX-160 was briefly used. In service at the BHO, this DX-200 was instrumental in logging approximately 200 stations in the AM band, as well as numerous shortwave services. The DX-200 covered 150-400 kHz (Longwave), 520-1600 kHz (Mediumwave), and 1.6-4.5, 4.5-13 MHz and 13-30 MHz (Shortwave). Old-fashioned controls such as a bandspread made fine-tuning easy, and could be exploited in various ways (for example, tuning to the very beginning of the 1.6 Mhz coverage area and use the bandspread to tune down into the AM band--with the superior performance of the shortwave receiver. Other features which are less-commonly found on receivers nowadays (and we're not talking about analogue meters and tuning drums) are a Calibrator function, that put out a reference signal every 500 kHz. The radio was notorious for its drift, though I found it rock-solid. With this receiver, I logged continental DX (including 760-WJR, Detroit, MI), trans-pacific DX (including 830-KIHI, Honolulu, HI). I had a long-wire antenna set up in my parents' backyard, and many a night I was late, wearing cans, twiddling the dials while my brother slept. This receiver also served us during the brief time we were established in Rockland, Ontario, in 1986. The kicker: after 43 years, it still works. This exhibit is currently being restored. |