[Mishmash] Whatever Happened To Heathkit?

[William Smyth]

>>   I'm with you, Fred.  My first ham rig, way back when, was a
>> Heathkit DX-20, a little two-tube box
>> running a 6CL6 oscillator/multiplier driving a 6DQ6A sweep tube final
>> to about 50 watts in. When I got
>> my general and was no longer rock-bound, I added a Heath VF-1 VFO
>> and, built from scratch out of an
>> article in Popular Electronics, a one-tube Heising amplitude
>> modulator that I could run with the
>> -20 at about 30 watts in.   This was the golden era of sunspots,
>> circa 57-60, when 30 watts of AM
>> would get you 30 over nine reports out of the West Coast and 50 watts
>> of CW would literally
>> work the world with now (given the sad state of sunspots) incredible
>> way-over-S9 reports.
>
>    My first novice rig was a Globe Scout (that we never got to work very
> well, me and my 'Elmer').
>
>    I went to another hamfest, sold it and got a Heathkit DX-60A.
>
>    When I became a novice, the 'rock bound' rule had been lifted.  But I
> didn't have a VFO so I was rock bound anyway.
>
>    It took me quite a bit until I got it right.  But I finally got it
> working.
>
>    A good friend of mine loaned me an old Hammarlund HQ-129X, which was a
> hot (though somewhat out of date) receiver.  I later bought a Hammarlund
> HQ-110A receiver, which did well for me until I got my General and I 
> craved
> working SSB on HF and FM on VHF.
>
>> Ah, those were the days.....


My first station consisted of a Central Electronics 20A which was designed 
as an exciter with 20 watts of transmit power and a fancy-looking but 
unstable general coverage receiver with a lightning-damaged 75/80 M portion 
which forced me to run no lower than 40 M (the 6 M converter in that 
receiver did work).  I almost gave up until I lucked into a Drake 2-B which 
made all the difference in the world.

Bill in SC