The Heathkit GC-1A Mohican Shortwave Receiver

In this video I show the Heathkit GC-1A "Mohican", a radio receiver suitable for shortwave listening or amateur radio use.

[@thomasmackenzie7811]

I just bought a 1962 model , with the optional battery pack !!!! Perfect condition+Works Great !!!!! All for $60 bucks!!!!

[@bobnelson4882]

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I built one in 1967 while I was stationed in Turkey. I used it mainly to listen to the BBC and the VOA to get news and happenings. We had no TV and only had old newspapers. Also did some listening on the ham bands. We were not allowed to transmit.

[@janezjonsa3165]

Sorry you had to be stationed in Turkey.

[@WilliamJCroft]

Jeff and Bob, thanks for this memory jog. I built one around the same timeframe as Bob, and had it for ~35 years. William, KD6RG.

[@mickbradford3167]

Jeff, I picked up a GC-1A two years ago at the Memphis hamfest for $45. It is in mint condition with both power supplies and has been re-capped, plus it came with a nice clean copy of the manual and tuneup instructions. It also included a color copy of the restoration for the GC-1A. I don’t know if it was for the one I have or a different one, but it is very detailed. The owner told me that it might be a little dusty inside, so when I came home and opened it up I was expecting layers of dust, cobwebs, dead bugs, spiderwebs, etc., but it was spotless! I don’t know why he thought it was dusty because it was absolutely mint inside. As I mentioned before, it was re-capped with no evidence of previously ruptured caps or overheating. It was a single-owner radio built by the Ham that sold it to me when he was a young man. When I get the time, I will take a picture of it and upload here. I want to thank you for all you have done by taking time to make these videos of Heathkit products. I’ve probably built most of the ones you have demonstrated and some, more than once. 73 - de Mick - WB4LSS

[@leilanirocks]

Wow. What a shiny and spotless specimen, inside and out. I have seen so many rusty Heathkits over the years.

[@rogersmith9808]

Brings back memories. Back in the late 70's a friend of mine gave me one of these that he had found in a garage sale or something. When he found it didn't work and not being into electronics he passed it on to me. After many hours of troubleshooting, I found a suspicious looking solder joint (pretty much the only wonky looking solder joint in the whole radio) and when I re-flowed the joint with a little fresh 60/40, the thing came to life and worked perfectly! I bet the guy who built it would have screamed if he found out that one bad solder joint in the literally hundreds of good ones he did stopped this from working! A nice old "boat-anchor" to be sure!! 8^)

[@janezjonsa3165]

Wow, what a detail. Me and my two buddies, all aged 14 to 15 back then, using two stroke mopeds, stole 2400 cb stations, walkie talkies and hams. Turned out to be, state customs magazine we found, in never finnished tunnel. It was before Gorbatchev came to my city. 1989, i think. Yugoslavia.

[@patrickwall8517]

Beautiful radio, it is in great condition and you did a great job of explaining how it works. In addition to being a back up receiver it would also have been the type of receiver that a new ham would have used in their first station.

[@wa9kzy326]

Your presentation of this radio brings back memories. Back in the day, I was impressed by this radio; maybe more about the appearance with its shiny, silver knobs than its performance. Then a friend brought one over for repair. Now I was impressed with the innards. His radio had an open coil; one of the bigger ones. Of course, Heathkit stocked them and sent it right away. Thanks for the memories.

[@roneymonte]

What a BEAUTIFUL radio! I would love to have one like that...

[@sarjim4381]

Thanks for the review, Jeff. I picked up a mint version at a thrift shop for $70. It has the AC option but no battery pack. It's about 500 kcs off in alignment but I'll take care of that as soon as i can get my hands on a signal generator. Surprisingly sensitive, and the "transfilter" makes for very sharp selectivity. I've only used it on the (original) 54" rod antenna and I'm able to pick up all the usual standard shortwave stations plus hams from 10 meters down to 160. BFO works very well for CW and SSB. It is single conversion, so it does have some image problems, but far less than most SC receivers. I got mine for nostalgia's sake, since this is the first radio I ever built, way back in 1963. It's not as selective or sensitive as my Tecsun 600, which I consider the best portable available for less than $400, but it's close, especially for a radio now over 50 years old. Well worth the money as a standby receiver and general casual listener.

[@texhow1]

A very good demonstration Jefff there was was one on the UK Ebay Ham Radio Receiver site a few weeks ago in very good condition I was tempted but have too many Short Wave receivers at the moment thanks for the Demo.

[@bill-2018]

A nice looking set, equally well in the home as well as the radio shack. I've never had any Heathkit but the circuitry and manual must have been reliable for so many people to be able to construct them.

[@Froggy19510]

Very good video.

[@GeoN0JRJ]

What a nice looking rig! Thanks for sharing!

[@Varianna12]

Beautiful!!!

[@AndyDaviesByTheSea]

I imagine whoever built this radio originally would have felt like king of the hill when he got it up and running, no doubt slowly breathing life into it one bit at a time, you just wouldn't be able to resist listening to each band as it sprang into life. I was just thinking about posting a Heathkit GD-1u grid dip meter when I found your site. Thanks for posting. Kind Regards ... Andy gw0jxm

[@nobodyyouknow222]

Beware ! This is a Positive Ground Radio !~! ! Pay Attention if you use an external power supply... and be super careful if you hook it to your ham station 12 v supply and use coax which is connected to a common station ground ( through an antenna switch or swr bridge).. as all modern 12v radios are Negative ground... best to use it with an entirely separate power supply or batteries. Heath did great engineering on the dial mechanism, and the bandswitch and coils for the rf, osc, sections is very much better than cheap Japanese multiband radios that came later. The germanium xstrs are actually pretty high gain. My dirty example has very poor AGC.. but I have not replaced any paper / electrolytic caps in it yet. Leave ceramic and mica caps alone ! Sure would like an original manual and antenna for mine. 73 W6WUH

[@jefftranter]

What you can get for it depends on condition but mostly on whether you can find a buyer interested in it. A recent check of ebay showed a number of them that sold for between $30 and $200in the last few months.

[@captlarry-3525]

All my radios with Germanium Transistors still work just fine. The oldest dates from about 1957-58. These include Regency ATC-1 ham band converter, heath GC-1A Mohican, SBE-34 transcievers. The Mohican is well worth having for general listening. Remember it is a Positive Ground radio... do not blow it up !

[@vonzigle]

This is another gem that I used for many years... It's performance was fair, but it did tend to drift some. Nonetheless it gave me many years of pleasure and was sold to a guy who still might be using it!

[@wa1ufo]

A showpiece!

[@MIKROWAVE1]

Some giveaways to discovering a factory wiring job is if the leads all are stripped the same amount and are generally stripped longer than you would - and mechanically sound wraps on every strip and lastly, excess wire - no banjo strings.

[@bob02911]

Wow great Video I just got one from my dad,it's in great shape!!! Bob

[@n4vg]

beautiful radio. I need to re cap mine wish I could find a kit with all of them in it 73 Mike N4VG

[@PdxGxs]

I used Heathkit radios in Jr. High School for starters. Cannot remember the model(s) any more but our school would get loaner transceivers now and a again a Yaesu and Icom I remember. Been out of the loop for too long and trying get some airtime again. Nice rig. I've some older rigs stored away I need to get set up again - KD7CEO.

[@KB5WQW]

I had one of these years ago and sold it like a dolt. Cool rig.

[@ronalddaub9740]

Nice radio 🔘

[@SDPlainsman]

Thanks, you did a great job.

[@ronaldgarrison8478]

I had one of these in the late Sixties, and built it from a kit. I thought its electronic performance was impressive. I ended up using it mostly for AM radio listening, and at least got the benefit of outstanding sensitivity and selectivity-not so far from what you could do anyway, relative to the theoretical limits of that type of broadcast. I got to listen to Cousin Brucie in Michigan. I guess that's worth something. . In other respects, it was pretty clunky. I even thought so at the time. No rechargeable battery, the handle was not retractable (and the antenna not fully), and the way you switched between power packs was especially crude. It did not use its interior cabinet space effectively-lots of wasted room. The dial would have worked much more smoothly as a vernier, circular knob. But what really irritated me, more than anything else was that, if you ran from AC power, noise, from things such as fluorescent lighting fixtures, came through the power line-whereas it didn't with batteries. . Shortwave radios have come a long way. I see there's an ICOM that does direct digital sampling and displays the spectrum in real time. I think it's smaller than the Mohican! Alas, there isn't much to listen to on those bands any more, especially if you only speak English. Truly, we have some very old wine available in very new bottles.

[@abrahamantoniosanchezrubio7136]

Es una hermosa joya 😊

[@duanetrivett750]

I had one but with out the battery back up . it was great . wood love another one .

[@kargocult]

Unfortunately, Heathkit cut corners in the receiver sold in the U.S.A. by using a single gang bandspread tune capacitor.

[@captlarry-3525]

These are Positive Ground Radios.. do not blow them up by failing to pay attention !

[@captlarry-3525]

Jeff, I think this is a very good overview of the Mohican. One attribute with is actually exceptional is the very low current drain and long battery life. I think the current draw is on the order of 35 or 50 milliamps ( from memory) by comparison.. the portable FT-817 draws nearly 1 amp ( 200 times more) in the receive mode. The huge difference is due to the use of digital frequency sysnthisis, memories, and even filters. Of course they radically different capabilities.. but put some alkaline D cells ( not available when the Mohican was made) and the run time probably runs into months ! This is exceptional in anybody's book. True, there are many old analog Japanese Shortwave portable to be had that can do this.. but they lack the CW/SSB capabilities, antenna matching, and muting provision that makes this workable in an emergency or cabin ham set up. Careful cleaning and use of de-oxit D5 on the controls and yes the transistor's plug in sockets, and careful alignment and calibration.. will yield a decent reliable radio.. well engineered and built with high quality components.. that will out last us all. Penson is to be taken with a grain of salt ( maybe pepper cause he makes me sneeze ! ) .. since the SB series featured GC shortwave versions.. that rivaled Collins.. a far cry from the GC.

[@TheMihail1]

С большим трудом нашел в России этот приемник. Очень понравился, как работой, так и брутальным внешним видом. По возможностям напоминает наш Океан-209, но внутри все значительно удобнее и для ремонта и для всяких усовершенствований. На всякий случай размещаю перевод описания приемника на русский язык. • Полностью автономный • Десять транзисторов, схема с шестью диодами • Источник питания аккумуляторной батареи • Фиксированные, выровненные керамические IF-трансфильтры • Обрезает от 550 до 32 мк в пяти диапазонах • Качественный дизайн - полная переносимость Комплект Heitkit GC-1A «Mohican» GENERAL COVERAGE RECEIVER обеспечивает максимальную коротковолновую производительность с дополнительным удобством переносимости Теперь вы можете слушать радиопередачи «Радио Свободная Европа» из первых рук или настраиваться на BBC или Radio Moscow - просто включив свой приемник общего приема «Heihkit GC-1A» «Мохикан». Идеальный комплект для жадного коротковолнового прослушивателя, этот пятиполосный транзисторный приемник идеально подходит для многоборья и особенно удобен тем, что он оснащен 8 стандартными аккумуляторами фонарика для полной переносимости - вы можете взять его в любом месте, использовать его везде! Этот мощный и великолепно разработанный инструмент отличается высокой чувствительностью, селективностью и стабильностью, которые являются результатом множества «первых» приемников, встроенных инженерами Heathkit, которые его проектировали. Фиксированные керамические IF «Transfilters», используемые в «Mohican», которые были разработаны в основном для использования в военных целях, работают так же, как кристаллические решетчатые фильтры, чтобы сформировать полосу пропускания ПЧ и обеспечивают отличную стабильность и селективность. Другие особенности этого уникального приемника включают в себя: 10 транзисторов, шестидиапазонную схему, стабилизацию напряжения зенеровского диода, встроенную телескопическую 50-дюймовую хлыст-антенну, настройку маховика, измеритель настройки панели и большой шкалу управления слайдом для станций настройки точно и легко. Удобные панели управления включают в себя: регулировку громкости вкл. / Выкл., Шаг BFO с переключателем вкл. / Выкл., Усиление радиочастоты, настройку антенны, электрическое распределение частот (настройка генератора), включение / выключение ANL, включение / выключение AVC и переключатель диапазонов. GC-1A может быть легко преобразовано в ток постоянного тока 117 В переменного тока вместо источника питания аккумулятора, просто подключив блок питания Heathkit XP-2. Красивое оформление Heathkit «Mohican» включает в себя цельный металлический шкаф с удобной ручкой для переноски, литыми металлическими ручками, зеленой и серо-зеленой цветовой комбинацией. Опытные разработчики комплектов могут собрать GC-1A в течение 30 часов. ТЕХНИЧЕСКИЕ ХАРАКТЕРИСТИКИ: частота ПЧ: 455 КЦ. Полоса частот: от 550 до 32 мк в 5 диапазонах с калиброванными диапазонами частот (настройка осциллятора) для 80, 50, 20, 15 и 10-метровых любительских диапазонов и 11-метровой полосы населения. Селективность: ± 3 кг в ширину при 6 дБ. Чувствительность: полоса пропускания 10 мкВ, полосы коротких волн 2 мкВ для отношения сигнал-шум 10 дБ. Выход: 400 милливатт. Срок службы батареи: до 400 часов обычной прерывистой службы с использованием 6 стандартных корпусов «С». Размеры: 6 7/8 "H. x 12" W. x 10 "D.

[@patbyers1284]

I built a GC-1A and power supply when I was in high school. I spent most of my summer earnings on it. I looks a lot better than it works. Pat VE3EUR

[@mike54101527]

Interesting--thanks!

[@Meta963]

Nostalgic,,,,!

[@ys1rs]

You did an splendid job! That receiver is really suitable for Ham Radio. Too bad those are out of reach and no longer made. Thanks for sharing. 73 de Rob. YS1RS

[@justinellison4214]

I like it want one

[@jve07]

Nice at 07:17. The dutch international service could be heard.

[@greggaieck4808]

Jeff tranter your Hathkit GC_1 A Mohican shortwave receiver is cool my hobbys are painting pictures and lisining to shortwave and ssb iam thinking about getting my ham license I have 4 shortwave receivers me and my cousin are going to a Swap meet June 5th 2022 Sunday morning at 8 am in Milwaukee

[@yardleybottles6025]

Very nice! But I hear a bear to align

[@THOMMGB]

Jeff, Thanks for showing your radio and sharing all the information you have on your GC-1A. I just got one and surprisingly, it came with the AC power supply and battery holder. My radio works, but I've got a hairline crack in one of the electrolytic capacitors, which I'll replace. Should I replace all the electrolytic capacitors? Regards, Tom

[@jefftranter]

I would recommend replacing the electrolytic caps if you plan to use the radio on a regular basis.

[@MrBugsier5]

+Jeff Tranter Y would only do that if they are defective, agree most off the oldies are out off spec's, but that doesnt matter that mutch, iff the selectivity drops, its a good idea to investigate,or re calibratem butt to change caps just because there old is a hoax., iff there defective, it will show!

[@ronalddaub9740]

I wish I could add a bfo or a band that spread to a shortwave radio that did not have it.

[@Michigan_Tactical]

I just found one of these with the battery pack.

[@robertfallin9733]

A single IF stage made this receiver prone to images but there were fewer sources. At the time the Mohican was a decent performer. Put it in a typical home of today and the IF shortcoming would be readily apperant.

[@cliffordnicholls4067]

The mohican has 3 IF stages

[@johncliff5417]

A very nice looking receiver but with it being Positive ground same as the Eddystone EC10 it was a awkward git to match to any other system. It was a shame that both of them were designed using PNP germanium transistors. That is what were available at the time. I was going to have a go at converting my old EC10 to modern transistors and never got round to it, thank God. 73 de John - G0WXU.

[@greggaieck4808]

Jeff tranter my other hobby is lisn to music records and CDs and fmstreo on my Yamaha reciver

[@choppergirl]

OMG, the Realistic DX-160 was a complete rip of this unit which predated it by how many years?

[@captlarry-3525]

A real plus is the Extremely Low Power Consumption for battery operation.

[@mckessa17]

Do these actually work? Or do they make good boat anchors.

[@me3333]

Cool, last of the Mohican's LOL

[@mel6688]

Jeff, What do You know about those Majestic Radios from Germany?

[@jefftranter]

I own some radios made by Rogers Majestic and Grundig Majestic. Was there a particular model you were asking about?

[@bobrenfro3080]

That Heath S-meter seemed extremely liberal. I would like to hear how She sounds on SSB, it was designed when we were experimenting with product detectors and hang AGC etc. The Collins 75A-4 was the standard for SSB audio back then unll the Drake 1-A came out which became the new standard. 73, K4OF.

[@makyhsmakyhs6766]

What is the production year of that sw mohican radio .

[@Ziggysprints]

Do you know if this one was a factory-made? Its interior looks a little too neat to be kit-made.

[@jefftranter]

It is possible, but there were many builders back in the day that did a very good job of construction, so I think most likely it was a kit.

[@jchogue9400]

Dear Mr Jeff Traynor, These are excellent videos you have done. Sir do you know if there are any New Old Stock "Heathkit Shortwave Kits" for sale, by any person or company? Perhaps there is a successor manufacturing company similar to Heathkit, or Radio Shack. If you would advise me, I would be thankful. My interest in old tech increases daily! Kindest Regards Jeff

[@KevinMillard68]

cool rig id like to get my self an old unit my self

[@inventhead]

nice rig all u need now is a dipole longwire antena i had a tube one and there cool to use and owne this new stuff today sucks n made in china these heathkits also made u learn electronics by putting in a lil problem for you to find

[@patrickwall8517]

It would've been a decent receiver for a novice, though they probably would've needed help with the alignment. I think another reason the battery packs are rare is that people left batteries in them too long and the batteries leaked and destroyed the parts inside the pack.

[@pintakchan767]

Where can i buy one.

[@janezjonsa3165]

What a beauty... you had to be a human beeing in order to use it. Unlike "smart phone" psychopaths of today. Presidents included

[@patbyers1284]

This receiver was extra quirky in that it has positive ground which made operating it in North American automobiles gtricky. It overloaded very easily with an external antenna and no matter what care was taken in the alignment process the dial was horribly inaccurate. Regardless, it was a fun project and I used it for deveral years. I no longer have mine but I know where it is. 73, VE3EUR

[@boycoter]

sangean serai til nieu ke heatkit

[@choppergirl]

I put an internal speaker and extendable antenna in my DX-160, I'd like to see a head to head between this reciever and a DX-160. The DX-160 seems to be a total rip of it years later, so it'd be interesting to see if the DX-160 outperforms its grandfather or falls short. And that view of the underside point to point wiring.. 30 hours assembly time... bahaha... more like 150 hours, and then you get stuck with a useless box because you don't have a freqency generator to align the blasted thing.

[@baltimoreballs]

Hey, how many sw bands please? Thank you

[@jefftranterics]

5 Bands: 0.55 - 1.6 MHz (AM broadcast band) 1.6 - 4 MHz 4 - 9 MHz 20 - 32 MHz

[@arucasdx]

this video upload my page SINTONIA GRAN CANARIA. nice receiver.

[@animalcorvair]

i have one

[@NguyenQuynh-kq2ue]

how to buy this one?

[@jefftranterics]

My unit is not for sale. You can find these radios on eBay, but they can be quite expensive.

[@NguyenQuynh-kq2ue]

@@jefftranterics thank you Sir. I am really really fascinated by this one. If you have any supply source, kindly help to inform me.

[@freak55beat]

it fine for am, i found terible on ssb

[@Biffbradford]

Less talk, more radio sounds! :^] de k9rzz

[@UZI9MMAUTO]

There would eb MORE of these Radios around if WOMEN didnt throw men's stuff away!

[@waynethompson8416]

It wasn't only women!!! I had some very precious irreplaceable radios I was working on that my dad threw away!!!

[@kuniokikai2756]

trio,kenwood copied 9R59D

[@clickerbootsmoir1012]

Junk

[@mickbradford3167]

Why don’t you tell us how you really feel.😂