[Heathkit] Re The Twoer - Fact Or filament fiction?

[Duane Fischer, W8DBF]

Hi All,

I have heard many a tale about the Heathkit lunchbox wonder, the HW-30 
Twoer. Some are probably true, others doubtless somewhat colorized for 
literary enhancement and a few just fabrications full of fun filled fibs!

The very first Amateur Radio transceiver, or transmitter for that matter, I 
cut my ionospheric incisors on was the HW-30 built by a high school 
classmate, Mark R. Decker, K8UZJ. (SK in 1996) I vividly remember that sunny 
Saturday May afternoon in 1962 when Mark gave me the tour of his Ham Shack. 
One wall was decorated with colorful QSL cards from places I had heard of 
and some that I did not know even existed! Mark built most of his equipment, 
as the majority of Hams did in those days. (Remember when you went to the 
FCC office and took your exam and were expected to assemble what was shown 
on a schematic from the box of parts supplied?) He had a two shelf bookcase 
of sorts with all kinds of radio magazines and technical books about 
circuits, tube testing, antenna construction, Meteorology and wave 
propagation

Among other pieces of radio gear on his wooden desk, was the Heathkit Twoer. 
I remember looking at the hand mike and wondering how to key it when it had 
no push button! Mark showed me how to operate it and how the mike was keyed 
using the three position switch on the bottom right.

He turned the little two meter rig on, I heard a faint hum, some air noise 
and then silence as he set the squelch control. He put out a CQ and someone 
answered him almost immediately. He chatted with the other Ham for a minute 
or so, told him that he had a friend with him who was a short-wave listener 
and radio tinkerer and hopefully he would make a Ham out of one day soon. 
Mark handed me the mike, pointed to his General class license on the wall to 
remind me of his call letters and told me to have fun.

I do not remember the QSO, but I do recall that another Ham joined us and I 
had a blast.

I knew my code and enough theory to pass my Novice test, but got distracted 
by go-cart racing, baseball and then drag strip racing. I was shot by a 
careless stranger who was hunting Pheasants with a twelve gauge shotgun on 
the eve of my eighteenth birthday. My world changed, instantly.

For whatever the reason, after I was totally blind I could not tolerate 
repetitive noises, including Morse Code. Because of the CW requirement I did 
not pursue my Ham ticket. Although I did remain a MW DX and SW listener and 
got very much into stereo audio reproduction and sound recording.

When I decided to get back into radio in January 1997, I bought a new DX-392 
(Sangean 818cs) from Radio Shack for the on sale price of $200. My elderly 
mother was being slowly stripped of her humanity by Demencia, we lived only 
several hundred feet apart and I was at her house many times daily helping 
to care for her. I decided that I had to have some form of distraction that 
I could take with me. If you have ever had to watch someone you cared about 
being stripped of every memory and their very personality by Demencia, then 
you know the Hell it is for them, as well as for yourself. I doubt there is 
any illness that is more cruel.

I decided in June 1998 that I was going to get my Ham ticket, come what may. 
I took the Novice and Technician exams in August. I passed them both. When 
my license arrived, KC8KTX, I showed it proudly to my Mother, but I doubt 
she understood what it was. Just the same, she seemed pleased. She passed 
away early in October before I passed my written and CW exams in late 
October.

I have a like new fully operational Heathkit Twoer sitting on a shelf in my 
Ham Shack. Both as a tribute to SK K8UZJ and as a fond memory of my first on 
the air experience. I am still searching for some local Ham who is loco 
enough to work some two meter AM with me!

Now that you know how I came into Amateur Radio via that HW-30 regenerative 
'splatter jamming device', tell me about the tales of its lineage that keep 
circulating. Could it really cause reception interference a quarter or half 
mile away by just powering it up? Some joked that working skip with it was 
making a contact across the street! Even the actual AM RF output amount 
seems to vary, depending on whom one talks to.

All in all, the Heathkit Twoer and Sixer lunchbox rigs were built, 
frequently used and definitely enjoyed  by a lot of Hams then and are still 
being enjoyed in one form or another several generations later! So tell me 
your tales, your experiences, your best DX contacts, the quirks and oddities 
of the rigs, your favorite antenna and orientation and ... Whatever! Let's 
hear from those who have been there, built that and spun both a VFO tuning 
knob as well as a few tale twisters too!

Thanks for sharing your memories -

Duane Fischer, W8DBF/WPE8CXO
dfischer at usol.com
HHI: Halligan's Hallicrafters International
http://www.w9wze.net

HHRP: Historic Halligan Radio Project
hhrp.w9wze.net