Tonight’s mission was a complete success … I put together my Heathkit SB-102 station and successfully checked in on my CW traffic net.
I didn’t get to the shack until about 40 minutes before the net, but I’m really surprised at how little drift the SB-102 has once its had 15 minutes to warm up. I used an online SDR receiver to listen for my transmission, and found out that the low end of the dial is significantly out of calibration compared to the high end. But I found the NCS and stayed with the net the whole time. The transmitter was perking along at about 100 watts; there was a QSO going on at net time, so the crystal filter was well-used this evening, hi hi!
HEATHKIT SB-102 PART II. I recently dug out a Heathkit SB-102 I bought on eBay a dozen years ago and earlier today I decided to try it out. Well, I received static on it, but didn’t really hear any signals. No transmit power out. The VFO was stuck, and then I heard a “pop” and the knob spun freely. Ugh!
A look under the hood showed nothing out of the ordinary; the belts were intact. The VFO needs work, that’s for sure. But not today. I buttoned it back up and put it on a shelf for now … I may well send it back to eBay. I have a third SB-102 that I checked out weeks ago that transmits with no receive. I have plenty of rigs to check out … lol! And — believe it or not — I have another SB-102 still under a table in the main shack to check out.
ATTIC EXCAVATION PLANS. I have made significant headway in freeing space in the attic, and I have additional items to list on eBay, including:
- a Hallicrafters TW-1000 portable shortwave set (think Zenith Oceanic);
- a Hallicrafters TW-2000 portable shortwave set;
- a Hallicrafters SR-160
- a Hallicrafters SX-101A receiver
- and a National NC-300 “dream receiver”
I haven’t laid my hands on all of these, but I know they’re there. Will I part with them all? Some –yes — but not all. If the SX-101A is in working condition, I’ll probably keep it. Same with the National NC-300. All the rest are subject to negotiation.
REPAIR PLANS. I still have several rigs to examine more closely to repair — the Swan 350 I have doesn’t transmit; the Heathkit HW-101 doesn’t receive, and one of the aforementioned SB-102s doesn’t receive. The truth is if I don’t get that “round tuit” and take a look at them, I’ll sell them as-is on eBay. I’m not going to hang on to them any longer, particularly if I’m not going to get them working again.
73 es CUL … de KY4Z … SK … SK …. (dit dit) …