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write your own review of the Heathkit HW-16.
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KD0QV
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 10, 2011 20:18
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My first kit & it worked great!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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In 1975 the XYL gave me my Heathkit HW-16 as a Xmas gift. I still have the Heathkit HW-16 & the catalog & it was just $100.00 + shipping. I was not even a Ham yet, but I wanted to learn The Morse Code & to have a Short Wave Radio to listen to it on. This little Transcever had everything A newbie could ask for, & at such a reasonable price! I put the kit together with no troubles at all. My Elmer, WA0IYT--RUSTY,(sk), aligned it for me. I used it all Winter on recieve & got pretty good at copy. I took the Novice test & passed in 1976. Waiting for the ticket, I put up an Inverted Vee for 40-M on a 40 ft. pole. This also worked great on 15-M. When the ticket arrived in the Mail, I was ready to operate! I had several XTALs for 40-M & 15-M, & burned up the Airwaves. The HW-16 was a pleasure to operate. Later that year, the F.C.C. allowed Novices to use V.F.O's. My Elmer Rusty found me a used HG-10 VFO unbuilt Kit. I bought it & put it together also. It worked very well also, & was the perfect addition to the HW-16. The station was lent to my Brother who got his Ham ticket also. I still have both the HW-16 & the HG-10 VFO, and they are still in great shape. Many of my Ham friends have used Heathkit products & there are still lots in use. Sure miss their Kits, as they were fun to build & run!
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KA4DQJ
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Rating: 4/5
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May 21, 2011 21:29
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Nostalgia is a heck of drug.....
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I remember when the HW-16 was the rig to have for the ham who worked CW on a budget. Three bands (80/40/15), CW only, crystal OR VFO tuning, and 90-watts input to a single final tube. I always wanted one but never did, now to make up for it I have four of the beasts. :)
The HW-16 was specifically targeted for the Novice licensee who in those days was restricted to crystal-only transmit, and 75-watts input to the final amplifier. And Novices did use the HW-16 enmasse. Of course you needed a double-handful of those pricey crystals in order to cover all the frequencies on those three bands. The front panel even accomodated two crystal sizes... the older FT-243 and the then newer HC/6 size. When tuning, the Novice was supposed to be careful not to advance the drive past the red mark on the plate current meter, so as to prevent surpassing that 75-watt limit. When run at full power the HW-16 would easily go past the power limit.
Another interesting thing to note is that the HW-16 is not a transciever except in name only. It is a separate transmitter and receiver housed in a single cabinet which happens to use the same power supply. Which leads to another note... the HW-16 uses an integral power supply on the chassis. You don't need to possess or go looking for one of the HP supplies to run it.
The HW-16 was designed not to go obsolete once the Novice upgraded to General. The rig could of course now be run at full power, and more importantly the crystals could be stored away because the HW-16 accomodated a grid-keyed VFO via connectors on the rear panel. Heathkit recommended the HG-10 VFO, which was "rig ready" for the HW-16, DX-60 and others. You could also use the older Heath VF-1 VFO (from the AT-1 transmitter days) after converting it from cathode-keying to grid-block keying. If you hear a VFO-equipped HW-16 on the air today, it's almost always going to be one of these two VFO's that are powering it. Getting a VFO "air-ready" requires a separate treatise I won't go into here.
If you get a run-of-the-mill HW-16 today, you've got some work to do in order to get on the air, and you need to be savvy with electronic repair, or have a good friend who is.
First, the filter capactitors are almost certainly on the brink of destruction. You may get some hum in the receiver... you will get a LOT of hum on the transmitted tone. And, if you keep the rig powered up without replacing the capacitors right away one will do the Pop'n Smoke Boogey right in your face. It may take a few hours after powerup, but it will happen and leave a very oily mess to clean up to say nothing of the stink and the wife's nagging.
There are three "cans", an aluminum one and two black "cardboard" ones. The first one to go "POP" is the cardboard one nearest the front panel. The other paper capacitor will follow in time. So, you've got to replace these three capacitors as a minimum.
Get the construction manual and do whatever voltage/resistance checks you can. You'll have some resistors which have changed value and which must be replaced, any you may find a leaky AC cap here or there.
Of course check the tubes. If you can't check 'em, then do substitution checks. If you plan on keeping and using the HW-16 you'll need to stock up on some replacement tubes.
Sidetone. The HW-16 uses the infamous neon relaxation sidetone oscillator. It growls rather than beep when you key the transmitter... some rigs more than others. One cure - the one I use - is to snip out the neon bulb and partially unmute the receiver during transmit. This allows you to hear your transmitted signal as well. If you want to keep the thing original, there's a wealth of information on the Web about Heathkit's idea of a sidetone.
Replacing the filter capacitors should eliminate any hum in your signal, and it may/may not eliminate the chirp. I would expect a small amount of chirp in this HW-16's signal anyway. Some HW-16's have more chirp than others and despite much discussion on the subject I still don't know exactly why, despite everyone having an opinion on the cause. As long as the rig doesn't go "whoop" when you key down you may have to live with it. If you find the cause and cure, I'd love to hear it!
There are some modifications on the Internet which claim to eliminate chirp by powering the oscillator from the receiver's share of the power supply instead of the higher powered transmit side, and/or using an 0A2/0B2 voltage regulator tube on the power line. Experience tells me this doesn't have much effect. I've asked around on the Yahoo users group and that seems to be the consensus with others too.
There are a load of mods for this rig. Be careful when using them. I've tried them all. Some mods don't work at all, others work/don't work and induce entirely new problems. I always try to remember that the Heath engineers who designed the rig might have considered alternate ways to build it, but chose not to due to the Law of Unintended Consequences. The only modification I wholeheartedly recommend is the sidetone modification which involves the replacement of a single resistor located nearest Q1... the ONLY transistor in the entire circuit.
Finally, realign the rig and try it on the air. How good it is? Depends. Appliance operators will tell you it stinks compared to their megabuck, wash-the-dishes-after-dinner, Model SUX-10000 Made-in-Asia rig. The tone might not be oscilloscope pure, it drifts for the first half-hour of warmup (and may drift afterwards too!), the transmit and receive don't track together, you can use the cabinet for a coffee warmer if you place the cup over the final, and operating the thing keeps your hands busier than a Tokyo traffic cop.
If you are nostalgic, have a minimalist approach to hamming, ultra-patriotic (Made in the USA), or just like seeing old things breathe new life, you might like it. For reasonS I can't put into words, I've been using the HW-16 in the evenings rather than my later-model Kenwood. I just find it more pleasurable.
Last, how much to pay? For me non-restored HW-16 is in the $30-60 range. If its really super clean I might spring for a bill. Peek thru the top cabinet holes at those two black paper filter caps at the rear middle of the chassis. If they are still there, it is guranteed that you will be adding to your purchase price (although I have seen some previous owners who have disconnected the factory cap, and installed non-standard replacements underneath the chassis). Unless you want to make a YouTube video of a capacitor smokefest. In that case just turn the rig on, leave it on and start the video. :)
If the rig has had the caps replaced, the sidetone fixed in some manner, and been re-aligned (and the seller can prove it all!), I'd go $175 or even $200 if the VFO is also present. Although remember that the VFO is another topic altogether.
Well, that's it. I wrote this all up late at night so hope it makes sense. I noticed that some hams are taking another look at the HW-16 these days, myself included, and wanted to tell what little I know about the experience.
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WV7R
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 12, 2011 08:13
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Was great in its day
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I took my Novice exam at Field Day 1969. As WN9CHX, my first (and only) rig as a Novice was the HW-16. Now mind you, 1969 was another era. This kit cost $149.95 plus shipping. The minimum wage back then was $1.25/hour. So, in today's money, this rig would have cost right around a Grand! The big players back then were Drake, HeathKit and Collins. If I recall, Drake had two rigs aimed at the novice, one was a transmitter and one was a receiver. Novices then were restricted to CW only on parts of three bands. A Novice could not use a VFO, so you had crystals that covered various frequencies in your band and after you called CQ you would dial up and down from your transmit frequency for a response as rare was the person who had the same transmit crystal that you did! And it was a "use it or lose it" license. Unless you up-graded within two years, you were no longer a ham.
This rig took about 30-40 hours to assemble. It glowed in the dark. But it had a very sensitive receiver for the time, and it was a real hoot to operate. Heathkit manuals were large and easy to follow. I had built a couple of Knight Kits prior so I was considered an "experienced" kit builder! Would I pay a grand in today's money for a kit like this? Not even consider it. But for back then, it was a great way for a Novice to get on the air and experience ham radio up close and personal.
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N8CMQ
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Rating: 3/5
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Jul 26, 2009 18:51
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Great first rig!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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While as WN8PAW, I had this rig and bought the accessory SWR indicator, and later, the VFO when the law changed.
It always worked well for me, and it was nice that a Lear/Jet engineer built it up, it was well built!
However, it did have it's short comings, and I upgraded when I became N8CMQ...
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K9PU
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 5, 2009 22:04
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Good RTTY rig
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I ran the HW16/HG10 back in my early general days (mid '70's), mostly on RTTY (I had far more primitive rigs as a novice). A good 90 Watt rig, zero beat your freq., and you are good to go. For RTTY I did a slight mod to the VFO (for FSK), then a HB tty demod, and a model 19. Actually a pretty decent rig on 80 and 40 meter RTTY as I remember (maybe back off the power a bit for 100%duty). As I understand it worked on CW as well, what more could you want? Never figured out why they didn't make a 5 band HW16. Good times.
Scott
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KE0MT
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 5, 2009 15:36
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Great CW Rig
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Now here's one of the most under appreciated rigs out there...I mean QSK 500 hz filter good rx good tx what more do you want? I've had a couple of these the one I have now I did convert 15M to 20M per QST and was a worth while Mod Change Xtal and Output taps retune rx for 20M an easy mod and makes the rig much more useful.
I use mine about once a week or so its just a fun rig and those tubes glowing...this is a
REAL RADIO
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WA7NCL
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Rating: 4/5
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Apr 23, 2009 15:34
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good in its time
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I had one as a novice in the early 70's.
It had a good RX. Filter was set up for CW only so selectivity was great. It covered the CW portion of the bands so tuning was good with plenty of bandspread. The price was good for a novice and it was a kit, so you learned by building it.
It also had some not so good things. No SSB RX due to the CW filter only. The side tone was disgusting. The neon relaxation oscillator was horrid. It did not have a loading control in the pi network so impedance matching was limited to 50 ohms.
For modern use there are also several things not so good about it. The compactron tv sweep tube in the final must be hard to find now. It was Xtal controlled so you need a VFO for modern use.
It might be interesting for a new ham, but only if it could be had for less than $50. I wouldn't pay $100 for it. On the whole its the sort of thing I'd expect to see given away to a good home.
I would never consider one for my primary rig in the 21st century.
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W8ZNX
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 19, 2009 13:00
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runs and runs
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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after a few years
had to re post yup it still works
this is one of the most for the least
radios ive ever had
its one great simple runner
mac dit dit
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KL7AJ
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 13, 2008 13:56
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Warts and all
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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One of my elmers had this rig, sans VFO, when I was first licensed. Put a lot of hours on the thing back in 1972, till I got my own station.
I now have my own HW-16 and HG-10 VFO as an integral part of the "vintage corner" of my shack. I don't know how many novices got on the air because of this rig, but it has to be countless.
Like any CW rig of this style, the way to operate it is with the audio gain way up high and just enough R.F. gain to do the trick. The break-in on this rig when operated like this is silky smooth....as good as anything out there, even by today's standards.
It should be required by law that every ham operate this rig once in his life.
eric
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W5JH
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 17, 2008 13:46
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Great Old CW Radio
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Like a lot of other hams, I owned one of these radios when I was a novice (about 1970). I bought it used from a local ham. It was the first time I had used a transceiver. My previous radio was a SX-99 and a Globe Scout Deluxe. I fell in love with this radio. I sold the radio somewhere along the way and have regretted it. A couple of years ago a member of the local radio club was selling 2 of these units for a very fair price. He said one was working and the other one had "major problems." I grab them both thinking I would find the time to rebuild them and use them again. Well it took a couple of years but I finally found time. My friend was correct. One was working and the other one....well it needs some work. I obtained a re-cap kit from Tom at http://www.Hayseedhamfest.com. I recapped the one working and it works very well. There is a simple mod to improve receiver sensitivity which I made and the receiver hears about as good as any of my other radios. Recently, I purchased 2 more HW-16s. I gave the 1st one to a friend who loves the thing. I have rebuilt one of the other radios I recently purchased. I use it with HG-10B VFO and it is performing very well and is a pleasure to operate. I am still working on the other two left to be fixed. I am not sure what I will do with these radios once they are working but I really enjoy fixing them and then operating them. The QSK works better than any I have ever heard. The double conversion receiver (someone below mentioned it is single conversion but that is wrong) works extremely well for such a simple design. I truly believe that this radio represents one of Heathkit's "finest hours." Find a Hw-16, rebuild it, use it. You will be a happy camper.
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