Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Edward Ganshirt, who writes:
I have seen some very good radio cases for carrying your radio with you with a price tag.
I needed one for my DX-440 but did not want to shell out a hundred bux for it, so I made a home brew version out of packing foam, bubble wrap, Velcro patches, hot melt glue and lots of imagination. this is what I came up with:
Thanks for sharing, Ed! I’m sure your upcycled case will serve the DX-440 quite well. Bubble and foam wrap are durable materials and it’s always get to give them a second life!
Post readers: Have you made your own radio protective cases? Please comment!
Great job! I like Dennis Howard’s tip on older laptop computer cases. I got a protecting cover for a netbook and use it with my tablet and another cover for a 7″ tablet I use it with my Degen DE1103. The DX-440 was a “school” for me. It was my very first LCD Display PLL Synthetized radio that tought me how to tune ssb, attenuate rf gain for better SNR and introduced me to a radio layout that it is still broadly used. Not to mention its great audio.
I havent seen one of these for many years.Very basic yet very sensitive portable receiver with excellent SSB audio.They were under a different name over here in NewZealand.I owned one,only reason for upgradeing from it was because it had limited memories.Excellent battery life also.Thanks for youe post !!.
Despite the ubiquity of Tandy/Radio Shack, they were much more common here in the antipodes as the Sangean 803A (which, unlike the DX-440, had an aux out for recording). You’re right, they’re not a bad little radio, but the 9 memories was a bit limiting.
They also have an easily-accessible point to extract the IF, and space to mount a socket for it. The first DRM I successfully decoded was RNZI’s trials back in the mid-00’s, on a ATS-803A with homebrew downconverter.
Well done! That’s a nice job with the bubble wrap. My own advice on cheap cases is to look for older laptop computer cases. Around here I’ve seen laptop cases, including cases for those big early laptops, in thrift shops for as little as $2. Those cases are padded and, although a DX-440 might be a tight fit, they should hold most portable radios with plenty of room for accessories.