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Reviews For: Realistic Star Patrol DX-120

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

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Review Summary For : Realistic Star Patrol DX-120
Reviews: 5MSRP: 69.99
Description:
Four band general coverage radio.
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0054
SWMAN Rating: 2021-06-14
Good radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Looks just like my old Hallicrafters S 120 radio. My first radio back in the later 60s. Fun times.
W2DDG Rating: 2021-06-14
Excellent and simple Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Good radio
KAPT4560 Rating: 2014-12-13
Nostalgia from when I was a boy. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I remember these receivers from my travels to Radio Shack with my dad and getting to try one on the demo shelf. (I also fondly remember the trips to Lafayette Radio).
To me this was where the good life was at, even though it probably picked up mostly the fluorescent lighting inside the store across the bands.
A friend found one at a thrift store about 6 years ago and presented it to me. It was in remarkably good cosmetic condition and worked, but had distorted audio and band 4 was quite deaf. At first I thought that the voice coil was rubbing in the Jensen speaker, but the reason turned out to be that the electrolytics had all dried up.
After replacing the electrolytics, cleaning switches and controls and peaking the coils and trimmers, the receiver became more impressive. Band 4 came back to fairly acceptable levels.
There were a couple of revisions in the front end with component changes (RF FET/OSC) that is covered in the service manual (available online). They may have changed the design to reduce images and improve band 4 sensitivity (mine is the earlier version).
Another thing I noticed was a constant slight hum in a quiet room whenever it was plugged in. I was always hearing the hysteresis of the 'always on' power transformer which was part of the design allowing mobile/emergency 12 volt operation as well. The power switch only switches the supply low voltage side.
All in all, it is a nostalgic receiver with features that would classify it as a communications receiver. For SWL use, it is OK but it's lack of stability would be frustrating for ham use. Especially if you are spoiled rotten by more professional receivers. Still for what it is, it is a simple, capable and listenable receiver.
For a kid in 1970, it was a wish-list receiver that you had a chance of talking the parents into getting if you were extra, extra good.

WA7PVE Rating: 2009-07-22
fun. realable little rig. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
As a kid just out of high school and heading to college this receiver was part of my first radio station. I coupled it to a Viking Ranger. The excitement of hearing a Ja station comming back to me on 15 meters will never be forgotten. Later as a Technician Class operator I acquired a Viking Ranger II and a nuevister receiving converter and bingo I was on 6 meter am. Workd abt 30 states in two years. Definately a fun rig to operate. lots of memeries.
KA8DLL Rating: 2009-03-23
The star patrol is a budget , well made communication receiver. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is a budget communication receiver made by Radio Shack. Made in the mid 60's with a proud statement on the front, solid state. This is a four band communication receiver that turns up at garage sales in the ten and fifteen dollar range. The construction is generally good and it has a BFO pitch control and a RF gain control. This is an economy radio that still gives good results without too many parts. It has a fairly stable BFO for the ham bands and the RF gain control is very useful for a long antenna. It even has a very small S-meter in the upper right hand corner. A standby switch can be noted on the right hand side. The band spread control has a direct drive which must be tuned quite slowly to tune in SSB signal. But it can be done fairly easily. Like it's bigger brother the DX-150 series, the back piece is mostly cardboard.
This radio shows that pretty good results can be produced on a quality budget. All in all, this is a nice beginners radio and does the job of wetting the feet of a potential new ham. Good sensitivity, fair selectivity, quality circuit boards, nice product from the Orient.