[HBR] Building the HBR

[LeeCraner at aol.com]

Tom,
 
No HBR is "easy."  You've got to collect the parts; not an impossible  job, 
but not easy.  And, you've got a lot of sheet metal work ahead of  you.  
Certainly doable, but not easy.  In my estimation.  Those  are the two 
toughest challenges to building an HBR.  Once you've gone that  far, all that 
remains is assembly, wiring, troubleshooting and aligning.   All relatively 
straightforward.
 
So the bottom line is that your challenges are about the same for any model 
 HBR you attempt.  The HBR-16 has the highest tube count of the "published" 
 HBR's, the HBR-8 the least number of tubes.  So your parts hunting might 
be  a bit easier for the HBR-8 and, of course, you'll have half the number of 
tube  sockets to mount.  But the HBR-8 doesn't have the capabilities of the 
rest  of the HBR line (fewer IF stages, no S meter, etc.)
 
If I were to give you once answer to your question, it would be to consider 
 building the HBR-8, but do so with the intent to upgrade to the HBR-11,  
just as Ted Crosby intended all HBR-8 builders to ultimately do.
 
If I were to give you one HBR to avoid, it would be the HBR-14.   Ted 
learned quite a bit between the HBR-14 and the 16.
 
73 es GL
Lee WB6SSW