[Heathkit] Hamfest find: basket case HW-104

[Jim Shorney]

Hi all,

Found this at the Lincoln, NE, hamfest yesterday. I'm not kidding when I say it
is a basket case. A previous owner had partially disassembled it to remove some
mods, and never finished.

The front panel was completely removed and loose parts stored in a ziploc bag,
along with the knobs and dial pointer plastic. The dial pointer is yellowed and
brittle, and has the corners broken off, so I will probably fab a new one.
Knobs don't seem to be beat up too badly. The VFO was also completely removed,
presumably to remove a mod.

Going through the bag of parts and the paperwork with the unit, mods removed
were: the RIT mod, which used the VOX gain control for the RIT. I'll probably
leave that one out and restoer teh VOX gain control to normal operation. Also,
an NE571 compander circuit wired into the RX audio path. Not sure of the logic
behind that one, and I haven't bothered to look up the NE571 app notes to see
if it's configured to compress or expand. It will stay out too.

Also found in the bag was a Fox Tango 2.1 SSB filter. This more than makes up
for the price I paid for the rig. It will probably go into my SB-104A.

It has also apparently been modified to cover 12 meters on the top 10 meter
bandswitch position. It will be interesting to see how that works. 

This will be a fun project, but it will take me a while. The radio looks
substantially complete, but needs a lot of cleanup and rework.

Does anyone have a good solution for refurbing and preserving the small
aluminum knobs? They both have a fair amount of surface corrosion.

73

-Jim (the things I get myself into....)


--
Ham Radio NU0C
Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S.S.A.
TR7/RV7/R7A/L7, TR6/RV6, T4XC/R4C/L4B, NCL2000, SB104A, R390A, GT550A/RV550A, HyGain 3750, IBM PS/2 - all vintage, all the time!

"Give a man a URL, and he will learn for an hour; teach him to Google, and he will learn for a lifetime."

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