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

Wed Aug 8 09:01:05 EDT 2007

The Tener, Sixer and Twoer use Superegenerative detectors, 1930's 
technology. In order to obtain the excellent sensitivity the detector is 
actually oscillating at the frequency it is tuned to. If coupled directly to 
the antenna it could radiate for many miles. Heath uses a preamp stage which 
reduces the radiation by maybe 15 dB but there is still leakage.

Ive worked several Sixers over the past few years and with my large antenna 
(8 el on 38' boom and on top of a hill) I can hear a trace of unstable 
carrier at 2 miles from one fellow only when pointed right at him. A popular 
modification at the time was to add another tuned stage between the preamp 
and detector but its probably not necessary today unless you are in a high 
activity area. Just dont try tuning down into the CW/SSB section.

Carl
KM1H

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Duane Fischer, W8DBF" <dfischer at usol.com>
To: <heathkit at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2007 12:59 AM
Subject: [Heathkit] Re The Twoer - Fact Or filament fiction?

>
>
> 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
>
> _______________________________________________
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