[Heathkit] Heathkit SB Essay.

[Van K7VS]

Hi Chris.  Well things a bit slow this evening.  As a matter of fact, I have 
several pieces of heathkit I still use on the operation desk, along with two 
FT-1000D's and two Alpha amplifiers.  I have two SB-614 scopes, two SA-2500 
auto tune antenna tunes, A HD 1790 IntelliRotor, two HM-2140 PEP reading 
Wattmeters,  a heath Umatic electronic keyer...let me look around...oh yes, 
a Heath ID-5001 weather station..  I have probably built 30 pieces of heath 
gear over the years up to and thru their pricey digital television set.  And 
I have in my shop on the shelves an AT-1, AR3, SB-303/SB401, SB-104A 
with/external VFO, SB-102 w/SB-640 VFO, HW-101A, HW-32, A Heath Morse 
Keyboard, SB-101, Unbuilt SB-220 still in kit form,  a  Heath digital scope 
that works that interfaces with my computer, DX-35 and some other stuff I 
can't think of right now.

Point being I HAVE found many cold solder joints, unsoldered connections and 
misplaced parts on their circuit boards on heath stuff I have purchased over 
the years.  But their stuff is easy to work on, is inexpensive and NO 
COMPANY before or since EVER sold as much ham equipment as Heathkit did.  I 
wonder why?  And by the way, all my dials turn nicely and their "LMO" units 
seem to track just fine and don't drift. but slightly on warm up.

I hate no-it-alls....

73 and keep your Heath gear on the air.  Van, K7VS first licensed in 
1953....first transmitter a Heath AT-1.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Codella, W2PA" <w2pa at arrl.net>
Cc: <heathkit at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 10:21 PM
Subject: Re: [Heathkit] Heathkit SB Essay.


>
> Just to add another two cents (what are we up to now?), I also have an 
> SB-101 that I recently bought as a junker in awful shape.  I had planned 
> to use it as a source of spare parts for my HW-100 that I built way back 
> in 1970.  But instead, I completely disassembled it down to the chassis 
> (except for the PC boards) and then cleaned and reassembled it by the 
> manual.  What a blast that was!  It works beautifully.
>
> As a teenager, I couldn't afford one back when it was originally sold - I 
> built the HW-100.  So using this SB-101 on the air was a new experience 
> for me.  My biggest surprise was how incredibly stable and well calibrated 
> the SB-series LMO is!  After a brief warmup it hardly drifts at all 
> (similar to my Drake B-line) and the calibration tracking across a 500kHz 
> band is even better.  The mechanical parts cleaned up well and the main 
> tuning is now very smooth, even though it was a basket-case when I got it.
>
> The engineers at Heath (and the LMO builders - in this case it was TRW) 
> did a magnificent job coming up with a high performance (for the time) 
> transceiver at a fairly modest price with the legendary Heathkit 
> step-by-step assembly procedure in which nearly every possible ambiguity 
> or vagueness had been worked out ahead of writing the manual.
>
> 73,
> Chris, W2PA
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