Fred’s idea really resonated with me. My first SSB rig was an HW-32A, the 20 meter version of the rig shown above. If — as I suspect — these rigs are anything like the HW-101, they are not aging well. Heath’s drive for economy resulted in rigs that don’t hold up to well over time. I remember the sound of the plastic HW-101 dial clutch cracking when I pushed the button.
BITX40 Modules to the rescue! Put a mono-band board inside an old mono-band rig. There are a lot of possibility here. Some ideas:
— Put that Heath VFO to use. Maybe convert it to solid state. Or just put the LCD from an Si5351 in the window (Pete did this with an HW-101).
— Get the S-Meter wiggling.
— Keep the final amplifier circuitry in there and let the BITX drive it. This will give you a QRO option. (Uh oh, we’re in trouble again!)
Probably more stable than the HW 22.
Nice!
How to not use a boatanchor !! 🙁