[Hallicrafters] HA-6 and HA-2 transverters

[manualman at juno.com]

I built my first 6 meter transverter with a pair of 6146's in the final.
Used the Heath SB-10 to drive it, and the Apache to provide VFO control
and power for the SB-10. Transverter had it own power supply. I believe
the transverter was a QST article or maybe a Ham Radio Mag. article.
Still have the tranverter. Use it for years until I got my Kenwood TS-600
transceiver in the late 70's.

Pete, wa2cwa

On Mon, 9 Aug 2010 19:46:42 -0400 Peter Bertini
<radioconnection at gmail.com> writes:
> I was afraid Heath didn't offer a matching six meter mate for the 
> SB-500. I
> see quite a few of the Hallcrafters models, but they've all been 
> rust
> buckets and are always missing the cables and the even rarer power 
> supply.
> In almost 50 years of hamming I've never seen the P&H transmitter 
> converter,
> so that one wins the prize for rarity.  I'll keep poking around for 
> HA-2 and
> HA-6 combo. I'm almost tempted to find a Johnson 6N2 and use it for
> the start of a homebrew a dual band TX transverter :)
> 
> Pete k1zjh
> On Mon, Aug 9, 2010 at 7:24 PM, <N4ch at aol.com> wrote:
> 
> >  Good luck in your search for a tube-type transverter.   Heath 
> made just
> > ONE (the SB-500) transverter.......it would "convert" your 10 
> meter or 6
> > meter IF (U chose which IF U wanted, and used the appropriate 
> parts to build
> > it for that application) to 2 meters.   They never made any other
> > transverters besides this one (they made the SB-110/A transceivers 
> for 6
> > meters, but they never had any tube-type transverters for 6, or 
> SSB
> > transceivers for 2 meters).   Heath did make two different types 
> of receive
> > converters for both bands.......the XC-6 and XC-2 were from the 
> "Mohawk"
> > era.   Later, they made some smaller, less elaborate converters 
> for the
> > SB-300/301 receivers in the 1960s.   The SB-500 is quite rare, and 
> it's not
> > all that great a performer.   Another transverter series from this 
> era U
> > might want to consider (and these are a lot more common than the 
> SB-500 and
> > the Hallicrafters HA-6/2) are the various versions of the Swan 2 
> meter
> > TV-2.   These could be configured for either a 6 meter IF (to use 
> with the
> > Swan 250/C), or a 20 meter IF (to use with the 350/C, 500/C/CX, 
> etc).   I
> > bet I see about 8-10 of these for every SB-500 or HA-2/HA-6, and 
> they work
> > pretty well.   Swan made quite a few improvements from the original 
> TV-2
> > thru the TV-2C, but all worked pretty well, and are simple to use. 
>   The
> > main disadvantage the original TV-2 had was that U had to 
> "re-cable" things
> > to disable it, and use the IF rig as a stand-alone radio on its 
> original (6
> > or 20 meters) bands.   Later models added a front panel switch, so 
> one could
> > do this a lot easier.   I think all of the TV-2s had a 5894 final 
> (good for
> > about 100 watts out), and (like the SB-500) had a Nuvistor front 
> end.
> > Drake also had gear that would get U on VHF, but their offerings 
> are hard to
> > find.   They went a different route.........they made solid-state 
> receive
> > converters (that one could mount in a "console" box, along with 
> power supply
> > and crystal calibrator), and the tube-type transmitter converters 
> (these
> > were also available for 6 or 2 meters) were separate.   I think 
> their 6 and
> > 2 meter offerings all used a 20 meter IF.
> >
> > I still have the SB-500 I built about 40 years ago, and the TV-2 
> that I got
> > shortly after that.......made a ton of Oscar 6 contacts with 
> both.
> >
> > Good luck and 73, Herman, N4CH.