[Boatanchors] Heathkit HM-10-A

[K6SDE]

Jeff,

I bought one direct from Heathkit decades ago (or could it have been around
a half a Century ago?) and assembled it.   Got rid of it and went back to
the original Heathkit GRID dipper that worked well.   For all practical
purposes it was a piece of JUNK when it arrived from Heathkit and wasn't
worth messing with.  Temperamental, unreliable and a waste of time to try to
get it to work well.   More like something unstable than a piece of test
equipment.

For that reason it could be "valuable" these days I guess but only as an
item on the shelf showing one of Heath's failures.

The best dippers were some of the post WWII ones from major WWII era
companies but way outside of a new novice's budget.   I still use the old
original Heathkit GRID Dipper from time-to-time.   Unfortunately few hams
these days realize how great a test instrument it can be nor how to use it
and a simple circuit tracer to find the source of problems without getting
out the oscilloscope.

Ian, K6SDE

-----Original Message-----
From: boatanchors-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:boatanchors-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of n2lxm at juno.com
Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2012 2:36 PM
To: test-equipment at mailman.qth.net
Cc: boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Boatanchors] Heathkit HM-10-A

Good Evening All,

        I have been catching up on small project of late. One I what to
finish up on is a Heathkit HM-10-A Tunnel Dipper. I have had this one for
awhile, seems to work O.K. after some TLC. But setting the meter is a bit
of a pain. I found a modification in a back issue of 73 magazine. You
remove the meter set control and replace it with a smaller value, and
then add to fixed resistors to make up the difference. has anyone
performed this modification and if so how well did it work. I have all
the parts on hand. But in order to perform the work you fist must
disassemble the unit. But if I move a head with this I will also redo the
dial drum overlay. I think I may pull if off and scan it for future
reproduction if needed. Any suggestions or comments are welcomed.



                                Jeff N2LXM