From the Eham web site -
The HW-16 is not a transciever except in name only.
It is a separate transmitter and receiver housed in a single cabine
which happens to use the same power supply.
Which leads to another note... the HW-16 uses an integral power suppl
on the chassis.
You don't need to possess or go looking for one of the HP supplies t
run it.
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 th
AT-1 transmitter days) after converting it from cathode-keying t
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 powerin
it.
If you get a run-of-the-mill HW-16 today, you've got some work to do i
order to get on the air, and you need to be savvy with electroni
repair, or have a good friend who is.
First, the filter capactitors are almost certainly on the brink o
destruction. You may get some hum in the receiver... you will get a LO
of hum on the transmitted tone. And, if you keep the rig powered u
without replacing the capacitors right away one will do the Pop'n Smok
Boogey right in your face. It may take a few hours after powerup, but i
will happen and leave a very oily mess to clean up to say nothing of th
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 replac
these three capacitors as a minimum.
Get the construction manual and do whatever voltage/resistance check
you can. You'll have some resistors which have changed value and whic
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 substitutio
checks. If you plan on keeping and using the HW-16 you'll need to stoc
up on some replacement tubes.
Sidetone. The HW-16 uses the infamous neon relaxation sideton
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 ou
the neon bulb and partially unmute the receiver during transmit. Thi
allows you to hear your transmitted signal as well. If you want to kee
the thing original, there's a wealth of information on the Web abou
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 o
chirp in this HW-16's signal anyway. Some HW-16's have more chirp tha
others and despite much discussion on the subject I still don't kno
exactly why.
There are some modifications on the Internet which claim to eliminat
chirp by powering the oscillator from the receiver's share of the powe
supply instead of the higher powered transmit side, and/or using a
0A2/0B2 voltage regulator tube on the power line.
There are a load of mods for this rig. Be careful when using them. I'v
tried them all. Some mods don't work at all, others work/don't work an
induce entirely new problems.
No SSB RX due to the CW filter only. The side tone was disgusting. Th
neon relaxation oscillator was horrid. It did not have a loading contro
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. Th
compactron tv sweep tube in the final must be hard to find now. It wa
Xtal controlled so you need a VFO for modern use
--
Channel Jumper