[Elecraft] OT - Heath CW Twins

[David Wilburn]

Since there are CW and Heath enthusiasts in one place, I was curious 
about a set of twins I picked up 4 or 5 years ago.  You are welcome to 
reply off lists if it is not appropriate, as I do not wish to offend.

I picked up a Heathkit HR1680, and HX1681, complete with all manuals and 
power supply / speaker.  I have operated with them a bit.  I picked up 
some matching Heathkit paddles, and manuals, though I haven't tried them 
out.  I have only used the twins with a straight key.

I like the setup, but for now, I do not have the time to devote to going 
back over it and checking it out.  I was just curious about the opinions 
on these rigs from the folks that have experience with them.  I have not 
gotten much out of them, power wise, but assumed they just needed some 
attention.

The ham I got them from, was still using them, was retiring from the 
hobby, as he was up in age, and had to slow down to 35 wpm.  That was 
killing me as I was struggling at about 10wpm at the time.  I got the 
impression he was going to live with his daughter, but he did not say.

It was fun learning how to operate a split system and it was with these 
rigs that I learned, what little I have learned, about zero beat.  In 
one sense, I would like to keep these rigs for the day when I will have 
more time to pay attention to them, and go through and check them out. 
On the other hand, I have a bit of a situation here at home, and I may 
not really get a chance to do those sort of things, and it would be a 
shame for them to sit around when someone else could be enjoying them.

I'm hoping that hearing about the rigs, what they were capable of, and 
how well they worked, will help me tip the balance which way I want to 
go with them.  I really do like how they look on the bench, especially 
powered up with all the red lighting.  They are in my shack pic on QRZ, 
http://www.qrz.com/k4dgw , though they were not powered at the time. 
They do not sell for that much, as most folks are not interested in CW 
only rigs, so they would not do much to help me towards a K3.  Did I 
mention they looked cool? ;^) I sold my other rigs, TS-570, and IC-718, 
to pay for the K2 and all the goodies.  The 706 that is in the picture 
was put in the vehicle with a 20m hamstick, so I can listen to CW while 
I am driving.  Thanks.
-- 

David Wilburn
dave.wilburn at verizon.net
K4DGW
K2 #5982