| W4CP |
Rating:      |
2020-03-31 | |
| GREAT fun contesting from my fixed station |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
During college when I was "off the air" from my gear at my parents' home, I sold that equipment and got an Atlas 180 transceiver. (See my review for it, it was a piece of junk.) But before I realized it would NEVER be more than a piece a junk, I thought that more power might be the ticket.
So I was fortunate enough to get a used HA-14 with both the 120V & 12V power supplies! The Atlas 180 was hopeless, and I never put the HA-14 in the car, but I borrowed a friend's Yaesu FT-101E and paired it with the HA-14 (on 120VAC) for the ARRL Bicentennial Contest in 1976. I had a BLAST!!
I had a Mosley TA-33JR that I had purchased used, up about 55 feet, and dipoles for 80 and 40, The extra power gave me enough punch to slug it out with the Big Boys, at least once in a while, for short periods of time. Since I felt that a contest was perhaps a little higher duty cycle than the HA-14 was designed for, I put a regular "desk fan" over the amp, where it would keep a lot of air flowing across the finals of the HA-14. It never hiccupped!
The TA-33Jr was only rated for 300 watts AM, but it was old and old-school (so it was probably over-designed), and it didn't have any problem at all with the HA-14's output either. I used an old, old low power Johnson Matchbox to extend the 80 meter dipole's frequency range, and it handled the power fine as well!
I had to sell it and most of my ham gear shortly thereafter (college expenses and all that), but I still remember what fun that equipment combo and the contest was. (BTW, the Atlas 180 crapped out permanently and was worth ZERO, and somehow disappeared into the ether and I really don't know where it went-- REALLY. In over 50 years licensed, it's still the only HF rig I ever purchased new!)
But my memories of the HA-14 are very fond, and I'll always wonder how the extra punch would have helped when mobile! |
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| W5DTW |
Rating:      |
2020-01-08 | |
| Ran one in the 70s |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I ran one of these mobile in the 70s, there were NO LDMOS or even bipolar units at that time, would put out 600W SSB no problem, in fact I am thinking of pulling it out of mothballs, rehabbing it and installing it in my HMMWV if I can find any decent 572s |
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| KH6VP |
Rating:      |
2014-09-19 | |
| What a gem! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have many linears but I really like this one the best! I bought this a year ago, but only yesterday managed to make a cable and connect it to the PS.
What a gem! no noise, easy 600Watts out, two perfect 572B tubes, and so lightweight! OK, it doesn't have a load control (so you need a 50-80oahm antenna), but then that's what tuners are for!
And the tubes (mounted horizontally) are held in place by clamps to ensure they don't come off!
I had to replace the capacitors (with much smaller and better ones) and that was it!
Heathkit was way advanced back then. Now am looking for a HP-14 to run it mobile.
And I bow to the engineers who designed it (in case any of them is reading this!) |
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| KG7D |
Rating:     |
2008-02-29 | |
| Like a John Deere Tractor, just keeps working, its green too. |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I have two of these, bought one for a backup in case the other one failed, but it has never failed. I use it mobile with a TS-50S and a Webster bandspanner antenna, Small package, easy one knob tuning, doesn't build up too much heat even though there is no fan, could use a fan for long QSO's, no fan means quiet, 500 watts all bands,80 40 20 15, 400 watts on 10, input tuning good for solid state transcievers, Heath Engineers of the 60's were ahead of there game on this one. |
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| W7MY |
Rating:      |
2006-12-18 | |
| I modified one for 6 meters |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Thanks to EBay I bought a second HA-14 about a year ago. Just for fun I thought I'd try to modify it to 6 meters. It took a bit of work but its worth it. My modification works great; I get 500 watts out with 60 watts of drive. I really like having an amp that is instant warmup; one flick of the power switch and I get my 500 watts in seconds.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by W7MY on 2005-07-06
I have had mine for about six years and have had no problems at all. I have an AL-1200 as well but like the HA14 because I can band change in just seconds, have a zero time warmup, and totally quiet power. I refer to it as my quick 6 (DB) amplifier. Its only on rare occations I really need the additional 6 DB of my other amp. I also have a Radioshack small muffan fan on top of the amp. I put a voltage doubler on the 6.3 vac internally and added a phono jack for the fan. |
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| N6MYA |
Rating:      |
2006-05-21 | |
| Great little amp!! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I bought this amplifier used, over one year ago complete with used tubes and it has never let me down! Puts out 500 watts and does it quietly. The only modifications i have made to it so far is to replace the on off switch, replace the RCA input jack with a chassis mount BNC, mount two Pentium style 12 VDC fans to the back with nylon stand-offs, and mount a bail type stand to the bottom to tilt it up. I made a "soft key" interface to connect it to my Ten Tec Jupiter and i have the soft start module from Harbach that i have not yet installed. After a lengthy telephone conversation, it was determined that the soft-key module from Harbach will not directly interface with the power supply, hence the roll-your-own type of interface. I forgot to mention that the amplifier had the parasitic kit installed before i purchased it. I am completely pleased with the performance of this unit. |
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| K1FPV |
Rating:      |
2005-07-06 | |
| Compact Amp - Great Price |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
The HA-14 wasn't made to be a high end amp. It was made primarily to satisfy the need for mobile power with the option of using it in a fixed shack. I've owned 2 of these amps and think for the price, they are great. I don't know why people chop up something because it doesn't have all the bells and whistles. If you want all the bells and whistles, then buy something with them. Don't buy a lower priced item and then complain that it doesn't have the additional features of the more expensive items. I've seen it all after over 42 years as a ham.
I just retired a little early due to medical reasons. I began my career in 1968 as a broadcast engineer and retired from the local ABC affiliate TV station. In my years, I've worked on a lot of transmitters and high power amplifiers. The HA-14 is sweet and I intend on using my HA-14 a lot in retirement. |
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| WIRELESS |
Rating:   |
2004-10-24 | |
| Crude |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I don't know how others came up with 5's for this amp. It has no load control (fixed loading), it has a power supply that puts out only 2000 volts allowing only 450 - 500 watts out, no forced air cooling, typical Heath low duty cycle (cheap)components, poor metering, ugly green color, poor fit and finish. If I was in the market for a small 600 watt amp I would buy a solid state unit before messing with this Heath Junk design. |
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| K0VH |
Rating:      |
2004-10-24 | |
| Heath "mobile" KW a good deal |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I just picked up a used Heath HA-14 mobile KW with AC supply from a friend who had got it at an estate sale. While I have been playing with QRP the past few months (recently getting an ICOM 703), going QRO seems a bit illogical ... but is it during declining sunspots and for cold weather wintertime operating when the QRP rig is retired to indoor CW/PSK use? Anyway, I had almost purchased a used Ameritron AL80B earlier in the summer but buying both that and a QRP rig exceeded the yearly HR budget. I had used both SB200s and 220s in the past so I was somewhat familiar with the old Heath gear; when I got my ticket in the mid 60s my first novice setup was all Heath too.
The HA-14 was only made for a few years in the late 60s and is simply a two part SB200 using the twin 572-B tube combination. My particular unit is pretty much "stock" other than a former owner added a 2A and 3KW DC plate metering on the AC power supply, which feeds a separate high voltage line to the small RF deck. I had to rig up a TR switching relay as it uses -120VDC and my ICOM 746 and most modern solid state transcievers can only switch 12-20 VDC (note Harbach electronics makes a solid state switching kit for the SB220 which I assume would work here and I may adapt to that in the future). I won't do a thorough technical review here other than to say this KW support the 5 bands 80-10 meters and a simplified tuning proceedure to just do a peak MAX output vs standard dip/load of other KWs. A big negative for some would be it's only speced for SSB *NOT* CW like the SB200 or 220. There is no cooling fan and after one short 20m QSO without running a fan, I am running temporarily a muffin fan on the unit (so another possible mod: looking for a smaller fan to add to rear that can be powered by voltages in the unit).
Using a temporary key down, I can get 450-550 watts out of the unit and I suspect with new tubes it would provide 600+. A pair of 572-B tubes are $90 at Taylor tubes and I hear buy the US version, not imports for horizontal mounts like this.
NET: so why a 5 vs a 4 rating? It does what I need - - a SSB medium power KW that did not cost an arm & a leg and fits compact on the desktop. Heath did not make many of these so finding one is rare, but if you can get one for $200-400 depending on tube condition go for it! It will suffice until I maybe find my "dream" unit: a stealer price on one of the Icom solid state KWs (IC2K etc). |
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| K6DXX |
Rating:      |
2004-07-03 | |
| Great Little Amp |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I picked the amp up second hand at a flea market. I have used it on several Dx'peditions to the Pacific and it "just keeps ticking". It's gone thru 2 CQ World Wide DX Contests without missing a beat. I'm currently using it in my home station whilr i repair my SB-220. If you can find an HA-14 gobble it up! |
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