Realistic STA-120B

[Tincap]

Well, I've done it again...I do have a soft spot for Realistic radios/receivers, so when I saw the STA-120B sitting there, in the local Goodwill, I coughed up the $15 (Canadian) and brought the beast home. No static from my wife either, because she thinks it looks cool. Bonus!

It looks as in this link (though the slider controls differ) ~> http://www.ebay.com/itm/1970s-Nosta...32329?pt=Receivers_Tuners&hash=item5d35d863e9

When I looked at the back of the unit, I lamented the fact that it didn't appear to have a ferrite bar antenna attached to it, however, I found out that it does have one (a nice big one), inside. I haven't yet hooked up an FM antenna to it, but the AM section sounds pretty good.

Is anyone familiar with the STA 120B (or closely related)? I wonder if its a decent DX machine? I can tell you one thing, the beast's so heavy, turning it to null might be an issue! What did I get myself into?

~BG

 

[spunker88]

Everything is written in cycles instead of hertz so you know its vintage. I'm not sure I would personally DX with an analog tuner since its harder to tell what frequency you are on, but the experience is so much more nostalgic than a digital tuner and these old units always have such better sounding audio. You can always hook up an external AM antenna, I have a tunable Kaito antenna that I use with various radios.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

The one on ebay has three gangs FM, three gangs AM. It doesn't get better for AM! I do note IF cans on the ebay unit - that could be a problem if somebody got in there and attempted an FM alignment without instruments. It should be a prime candidate for modding with ceramic filters - any interstage cap that isn't blocking DC can be replaced by a ceramic filter to improve selectivity.

 

[Tincap]

Everything is written in cycles instead of hertz so you know its vintage. I'm not sure I would personally DX with an analog tuner since its harder to tell what frequency you are on, but the experience is so much more nostalgic than a digital tuner and these old units always have such better sounding audio. You can always hook up an external AM antenna, I have a tunable Kaito antenna that I use with various radios.

spunker, you're totally correct about the nostalgia bit. Portables, like my G8, with its super fine tuning steps, are much, much easier to nail down specific frequencies with. Analogues are in deed a challenge (just ask any GE Super Radio owner ). But, for a 'home stereo' I like how these old better quality analogue tuners can pull in stations, which your everyday run-of-the-mill digital tuners, can not.

Re your Kaito, which model is it? I've read up on a number of external AM/MW antennas and the consensus seems to be that inductive coupling works better than directly attaching to your receiver. But, how well do these things work, if your receiver has no internal antenna, at all? My Technics ST-Z55, which is rare for a component tuner, in that it offers 9kHz steps on MW (and 50 kHz steps in FM), but has no ferrite bar antenna. I'd like to see what that thing is capable of doing .

~BG

 

[Tincap]

http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/html/1973/h028.html

8)

~BG

 

[boombox]

Nice find! Obviously built to last.

I don't find MW DXing with analog radios a problem at all, especially if the radio in question has halfway decent selectivity. It's usually easy enough to figure out where you are from the known stations on channels.

 

[spunker88]

Re your Kaito, which model is it? I've read up on a number of external AM/MW antennas and the consensus seems to be that inductive coupling works better than directly attaching to your receiver. But, how well do these things work, if your receiver has no internal antenna, at all? My Technics ST-Z55, which is rare for a component tuner, in that it offers 9kHz steps on MW (and 50 kHz steps in FM), but has no ferrite bar antenna. I'd like to see what that thing is capable of doing .

~BG

I have the Kaito AN-200 which can be used inductively or wired. Amazon had a deal back when I got my Tecsun PL-390 where there was a discount if you bought both. I find it works pretty well, I always choose a wired connection when possible as it seems to get better reception since I imagine there are some signal losses over the inductive connection. I've used mine on a Sony XDR-F1HD, a 2000 Ford stereo featuring CQUAM, and an 80s stereo system some what similar to the unit in this post in that it has an internal ferrite. It worked pretty well on all of them.

 

[Tincap]

I have the Kaito AN-200 which can be used inductively or wired. Amazon had a deal back when I got my Tecsun PL-390 where there was a discount if you bought both. I find it works pretty well, I always choose a wired connection when possible as it seems to get better reception since I imagine there are some signal losses over the inductive connection. I've used mine on a Sony XDR-F1HD, a 2000 Ford stereo featuring CQUAM, and an 80s stereo system some what similar to the unit in this post in that it has an internal ferrite. It worked pretty well on all of them.

OK, I went and ordered up a Kaito AN-100 (TTBOMK, same as 200, except for base design). 8)

Again, I read some more reviews, but one caught my eye. In all reviewer cases, inductive coupling worked better than direct hook up, which posed a problem for my tuner(s) without a ferrite bar. However, one reviewer Mcgyvered up an interesting solution. He first tried his AN-200 directly connected to his tuner, with mixed results. He then attached one of those cheap AM loop antennas to the back of his tuner and using plastic ties, he strung the loop up within the AN-200, producing an inductive coupling. He said the difference was incredible! Well, that sold me on the thing...ordered! ;D

Once I get it, I'll let you folks know what I think of it.

~BG