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| Reviews Summary for Heathkit HR-10B |
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Reviews: 14
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Average rating: 2.2/5
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MSRP: $89.95
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Description: The Heathkit Model HR-10B Basic Amateur Band Receiver is designed for use as a high-performance economical station receiver. Frequency coverage of the Receiver includes the amateur bands, 80 through 10 meters, only. Each band is separately calibrated on a large easy-to-read slide-rule dial. The dial is illuminated and provides approximately 6 inches of bandspread for each band.
The receiver features a signal strength "S" meter, a front panel dial calibration control that operates in conjunction with the 100 kc crystal calibrator provisions (optional), a tuned RF amplifier stage, a crystal filter (2 pole), and an automatic noise limiter circuit.
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N6SFC
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Rating: 2/5
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Jun 3, 2006 10:25
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decent RX for the $, needs help for CW
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Having struggled with one of these radios as a novice a zillion years ago, I felt compelled to add my opinion to the forum here. This is a very simple receiver and one should not expect too much in terms of performance especially on 15 and 10. For what it is, it works pretty well and it's easy to work on for the inexperienced wanna-be radio expert. One nice feature of the HR-10 is the front-panel "cal reset" control. This allows you to electrically adjust the dial calibration to a marker. Virtually all other receivers of the era had a hokey mechanical adjustment to shift the dial index back and forth, and the "cal reset" control actually trims the oscillator frequency in the HR-10. That's nice. If you're planning to buy and use an HR-10, by all means get a calibrator accessory for it. Heath made an optional accessory 100 kHz crystal calibrator for the HR-10 that they called the HRA-10-1. This was a neat little sub-chassis that plugged in to an octal socket inside the receiver, switchable from the front panel. My radio did not have one, and I sure could have used it. The biggest problem I had with the HR-10 however was poor CW selectivity. This receiver would have benefited greatly from a switchable 500 Hz IF filter like the HW-16 had. Since this receiver was used mostly by voiceless novices of the era, it's a shame that Heath did not think of this shortfall when they designed it. The 3 kHz crystal lattice filter works great for SSB, but QRM was a constant problem on 40M CW. The HR-10 uses an oddball IF of 1680 kHz, so readily available Q-multipiers set up for the more common 455 kHz IF are not compatible. If you're planning to use an HR-10 and are more clever than I am, do yourself a favor and build a "Select-O-Ject" and modify it for 1680 kHz. Better yet, save your money and buy a Drake 2B or a Hallicrafters SX-111. These are vastly superior radios. You definitely get what you pay for. HR-10s are cheap and common as dirt. I've seen many of them at flea markets for $25. A working 2B will probably set you back $200 or so. SX-111s are usually a little cheaper than that, but they are huge... almost twice the size of a 2B or an HR-10. If you get yourself an HR-10, tune it up and you'll be surprised at how well it works for such a modest investment. Don't expect too much, though. It is what it is.
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VE3EFJ
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Rating: 2/5
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Apr 28, 2006 08:25
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Nostalgia - but thats it.
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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As an HF SSB/CW receiver, its a struggle to say something really positive and yet be honest. I rate it a 2. Price does not enter into the picture. I was going to rate it a 3 to be kind, but after reading my review, it truly "needs help".
First, its amazingly stable and its not that bad for selectivity on SSB. One needs to fiddle with the RF Gain and BFO for a decent copy. Recovered audio is OK. While the slide rule dial does not give that ultimately accurate a read out, it tracks well from band edge to edge. And thats... about it.
Where the HR-10 fails is that its deaf as a post on 15 and 10 and there is no product detector. It should be MUCH more sensitive on the two bands mentioned. The problem is in the front end and there's not much you can do about it. Without a product detector, received signal strength is a signifigant factor for good copy, and there is no AGC for SSB/CW. The novelty wears off quickly.
Contrast the HR-10 with the HR-20, the mobile SSB RX. Both were made at the same time and yet the '20 will run rings around the '10. The HR-20 has a similar design, yet it is sensitive and nice to use. No contest.
As a "nostalgia radio", I can see why one would want to duplicate their first station with the DX-60. Great fun. But as a receiver for SSB/CW there isn't a lot to recommend it. The point is that even Heath made a better radio of similar design at the time. Yes, Heath packaged this radio so a radio novice could successfully construct it, and selling price was a concern. However, the end result just doesn't age well at all. Today its a reminder that "the good old days" sometimes had a different benchmark for usability. I'd have an HR-10 again today if I had specifically unique reason for having one. An "inexpensive HF SSB/CW receiver" wouldn't be it.
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WB0FDJ
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Rating: 4/5
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Feb 2, 2006 16:34
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A simple and solid receiver
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Bought mine from a good ham friend, back in '71 when I got my novice ticket. $50 and he threw in the Dow Key Relay. Used it with a HT-40. Tubes. Heat. A front in big enough to drive a truck through. Noisy. But very, very simple. Easy to work on and repair. No bells and whistle to go wrong. Reliable. Every time I fire up the receiver on my TenTec Omni V, I think about the days of copying other novices through 40 mtr QRM on a hot summer night with no filters. Oh yeah....
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W4WLR
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Rating: 4/5
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May 25, 2005 09:22
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A good little receiver.
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Got this from the Internet. In fact, I ended up with two of them. Did a "front-end-ectomy" to get the good-looking one working properly. This was not a difficult operation as there is lots of room to work inside. Once I got the alignment completed, it works quite well, although it could use passband tuning. Overall a nice boatanchor!
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