|
New to Ham Radio?
My Profile
Community
Articles
Forums
News
Reviews
Friends Remembered
Speak Out
Strays
Survey Question
Operating
Contesting
DX Cluster Spots
Propagation
Resources
Calendar
Classifieds
Ham Exams
Ham Links
List Archives
News Articles
Product Reviews
QSL Managers
Site Info
eHam Help (FAQ)
Support the site
The eHam Team
Advertising Info
Vision Statement
About eHam.net
|
|
You can
write your own review of the HEATHKIT SA-2040.
|
AC8DE
|
Rating: 4/5
|
Jul 20, 2009 13:52
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Good old tuner
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
I recently rebuilt the SA-2040 (s/n 01005) for a friend and put it into service in my shack for a few months. I can't review it on 160, but everywhere else it is a champ. I think you could tune a dead cat with it. And it is definitely a beast with big heavy components.
Being fair, I won't compare it to the geared down capacitor drives on a Palstar, as that is hardly fair, considering this tuner's vintage and the market they went after back then. Of course, this tuner would benefit in operation from an aftermarket crank and take off the original adjsutment knob on the inductor.
My biggest beef with it concerns the drive shaft for the roller inductor and the gear drive for the indicator. The nut that holds the roller inductor to its drive shaft slips too easily. A better arrangement could have been used here. There was also a problem with the blind hole that allows the small setscrew that holds the bevel gear in place that drives the indicator. This setscrew is clearly supposed to just nest into this hole with no slop and not be tightened per se. It just keeps the bevel gear from slipping around the shaft and locates it properly. The blind hole in the shaft was drilled too small and would not allow the setscrew to slip into it. Therefore the orginal owner had overtightened this screw slightly and still did not have the bevel gear held in place well. So he used sealing wax to hold it in place, which worked weakly. I removed all this and simply opened the blind hole up .015" and now the setscrew drops in the correct amount and takes any strain off the plastic of the gear. Luckily, the bevel gear wasn't broken. But if you have one of these old girls, make sure that setscrew drops into the hole properly and is not just sitting on top of the metal surface of the shaft, otherwise you are risking breaking this bevel gear, which is probably pretty hard to replace. So due to the small QC problem on this shaft arrangement and so-so engineeing on the gear drive, I give it a 4.
Other than this mechanical QC or design issue, it is a great old tuner. It is working well in my shack.
|
|
K6RF
|
Rating: 5/5
|
May 12, 2009 12:30
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Excellent Tuner !
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
|
I just aquired my second 2040, my son taking my first one for use in his shack. I tried several other tuners, Dentron, MFJ but found nothing to compare to this old boy. My recent one was very nicely constructed and looked like the top cover had not been removed since being built, everything brite and shiny inside. Doubt to ever be parting with this one. You can't go wrong, find yourself one and hang on to it. Plan on painting the top cover as most have had other gear sitting on it through the years.
|
|
W0PJH
|
Rating: 4/5
|
Feb 1, 2009 13:12
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Great Tuner Needs 1 Mod
|
Time owned: 3 to 6 months
|
Great tuner but has 1 flaw.The rotary inductor was built with a hotmelt or epoxy adhesive to keep the phenolic end caps in place and it is the only thing that keeps the front end cap (insert)from indexing.
I bought mine with the front insert loose and after review decided to improve the design by taking it all apart and adding pins in 4 places around the outside diameter into the end disk.
Now it is properly centered in the inductor and should never again need repair in this area.
A Great legal limit tuner now better than new!
W0PJH
|
|
KI6RSE
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Jan 5, 2009 00:25
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
EXCELLENT
|
Time owned: 6 to 12 months
|
|
IVE USED MINE FOR ABOUT A YEAR NOW,FIRST ON 11 METER THEN WHEN I GOT MY TICKET ON 10 METER AND ITS AN EXCELLENT TUNER, SOLID BUILT , SMOOTH CONTROLS, TUNES EVEN THE WORST SHAPE ANTENNA TO A 1 TO 1. EXTREMELY PLEASED, THE ONLY WAY I WOULD PART IS TO UPGRADE TO A 2060 MAYBE.
|
|
WB4TJH
|
Rating: 4/5
|
Oct 26, 2008 09:43
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Solid, simple unit
|
Time owned: 0 to 3 months
|
|
I recently obtained an SA-2040 that a previous owner had installed an SWR bridge inside of. The installation almost looks "factory", it was done so neatly. I have found this tuner to be a very good, heavy duty, simple tuner that is much smoother to use than my old MFJ 962D. It lacks the features of the MFJ, but the the parts quality, especially the roller inductor, are several steps in quality above the MFJ. I think I will look for a small crank knob to replace the roller inductor knob, to make it easier to use. But overall, this is a well designed, if simple, workhorse that will take a KW plus and give no problems.
|
|
K4JPC
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Aug 9, 2008 05:12
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Great Tuner
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
|
I have owned this tuner for a few years now and its rock solid with just a few breakdowns over those few years. The breakdown did not require any new parts. It will tune a chain link fence to 1000 watts. It has been replaced by a Palstar AT2K but the Heathkit tuner was moved to another location and still is use tuning a Hustler 4-BTV HF Vertical. Just make sure to carefully move the controls and not max the inductor setting or it will break the center wire in the drum.
|
|
N3WXW
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Jul 2, 2008 19:43
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
A WORK HORSE
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
This is a rock solid high power tuner. It will tune almost any thing you throw at it . It has only one small issue. Do not spin the roller inductor hard against the stops. The roller will derail. It is a easy fix. Just a pain if you forget and get carried away spinning the dial.
73 de ED
|
|
VE7AGW
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Oct 6, 2007 17:05
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Bullet Proof
|
Time owned: 3 to 6 months
|
|
I purchased my tuner from eBay as well and it's really bullet proof, borrowing a remark made by another amateur at a swap meet. I too haven't found an antenna I couldn't tune with it. And believe it or not it tunes my 80 meter full wave loop on 160 meters. I looked at a couple of Dentrons and wasn't impressed enough to spend very much on one. Don't know who assembled it but whoever did, impresses me. I didn't even have to lubricate the bearings, all I had to do was hook it up and tune. I can reset a band or frequency in a flash now. I too like to keep my meters seperate from my tuner. Running a Kenwood TL-922 thru it and the 2040 tunes up just great.
|
|
WB8ICU
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Aug 7, 2007 17:37
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
like a rock
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
|
I get a kick out of some of the reviews. I prefer separate swr meters and antenna switches. It gives me more flexibility. I bought my sa-2040 on ebay for a little over 200 bucks. What a bargain! I opened it up and was astonished how well it was built. I've built a few antenna tuners over the years, but this beats them all. I have never found an antenna I couldn't tune. The nice thing is....it's completely resettable. Most tuners, you make up your chart, but find you have to tweak a little each time to get it right. This one is dead on when reset to the same numbers. I even had it in the basement for a while , and had to run down to reset it when changing bands. Never a problem. You'll never go wrong with this tuner.
|
|
W3FLH
|
Rating: 4/5
|
Jun 28, 2007 20:04
|
Send this review to a friend
|
|
Really deserves a 5....
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
I've had mine for about 1-1/2 years now, and this tuner is rock solid. No bells or whistles, just a flat out over-designed, well built, easy to use tuner that does what it was advertised to do. I don't miss the meters, as I run a Heathkit HM-2140A (why hasn't anyone reviewed that? Maybe I'll do that next...) in-line. I'd give it a five, but it is a bit stark, and some people wouldn't appreciate it due to the lack of amenities. As far as performance goes, this is simply a straight forward, rugged tuner.
Tony, W3FLH
|
|
If you have any questions, problems, or suggestions about Reviews,
please email your Reviews Manager.
|
|
|
|
|
