The Heathkit HW-101 Single Sideband Transceiver

[@mikecunningham7621]

Thanks for this video. Just bought an HW-101 and getting back on after 35 years.

[@binder098]

My god man, I can’t remember another video with so much condensed and clarified information in so short a time. I just got a Hw-101 and will be referring back to your video on so many different levels. Thanks for the effort you’ve put in making this video. Amazed!

[@Beemerider1150r]

Excellent video Jeff. I built a 101 in 1978, much of the construction time spent with my infant daughter sitting in her playpen beside me. I now have a substantial stack of old Heath rigs sitting in and on a large shelving unit. I have two operational HW-101's sitting on the top shelf, one of which I'm planning to fully restore. I'm currently working one of the HP-23's. Your video sure brought back some great memories.

[@TheREALJosephTurner]

I was just poking around to see what I could find on this radio, and stumbled onto this video. Wow. This is some quality content right here!

[@W8TJM]

Great review! I built one when I was 15 and enjoyed it greatly. I even built the mobile power supply and worked 80 meters and 10 meters with it. Plenty of DX mobile on 10 back then. Thanks for the memories!!!

[@stevencole6459]

Thanks for a most informative presentation of this classic transceiver. My first HF transceiver when i was licenced in 1970 was a HW32A 20m single bander and I made many QSO's mobile in a Ford Popular 100E and Vauxhall Viva HB series car. Those were the days when you could install such equipment in cars as there was sufficient room - not like those of today!

[@paulrose6359]

I had an HW 101 in the 70's and have been keeping an eye open for years to find one again, but it had to be clean and unmodified. Well at the swap, one was on a table for sale with the power supply AND the SWR/watt meter, AND the CW keyer for $90 dollars ! The radio, PS, and Watt meter, (All Heath), were very nice so out went my wallet and I brought it home. It works great ! and I am having a ball using it. I own many newer radios but this is so much fun to use. I also picked up a mint Heath phone patch and a Heath speaker at the same swap after I bought the 101 just so I can have a complete 101 station. Fun Fun Fun. Now to figure out how to connect it to my SB 200.

[@d.jensen5153]

Great exposition! I watch nearly all HW-101 videos because the equipment and the era hold so much magic for me. OTOH, I'm far too indolent to restore or repair such gear. Powering up an IC7300, gazing at the colorful waterfall, and marveling at its rock-solid stability and accuracy is more my speed. ;)

[@raccoonnyc]

I very much appreciate you and others who go through the trouble of restoring our heritage.

[@robinburke1469]

Thanks for a trip down memory lane! I had a kit shipped to me in Iran via diplomatic pouch in 1971 when working for the US government and operating as EP2RB. I had many great contacts with that rig and finally donated it to a local ham club when moving to France (F4WCM) in 1996. Cheers, W2RSB / F4WCM.

[@ManVsOven]

Thanks for the detailed overview and operation of the HW-101... I have owned several of the other models mentioned in the video, but always wanted this model. I just got one, and have begun the restoration project in the last couple days.

[@mark5862]

I bought and built one of these when l was a teenager. Wow, that one looks brand new. Brings back fond memories.

[@poofygoof]

One of my high school teachers gave me his old HW-101 back in the early 90s after I got my license. Receive sensitivity always seemed poor compared to my neighbor's ham setups and even after a few tube replacements I never seemed to be able to improve it much. I hauled it with me to college, hoping to fix it, and a kind ham I met over the internet sent me photocopies of the manuals, but there was something in the alignment and calibration that stumped me and I never got through the procedure. After college I had a co-worker who inherited a basement full of tubes from his late father's estate, and he gave me some spares for tubes that seemed marginal, but by that point setting up a station was pretty low on my priority list, so it went back into a box in my basement. My HW-101 has since been moved to a storage unit, and I'm sure now a recap is in order, the belts need replacing, and some of the tubes may have completely failed, but "one of these days" I'd still like to get it going. The hum of it powering up, the glow of the filaments (and especially the rectifier), the scent of baked dust, and the frequency shift of stations while turning the dial (especially through the CW filter) are like a concentrated hit of nostalgia from the Elmers of my youth.

[@d.jensen5153]

The baked dust smell can still be called up from memory after more than half a century!

[@paultopolski6595]

Jeff, excellent video! My first HF rig in 1991 was an HW-101. I purchased mine for $50 and had to re-assemble it before trouble shooting and repair. I later sold the HW for $150 to purchase a modern Kenwood TS-680s. A friend gave me his father’s HW-101 who originally built the radio. This one I’ll pass on to my heirs. I love Heathkit gear for the very reasons you mentioned in the video, well documented and commonly available parts. Keep up the good work. Paul

[@erin19030]

My single sideband days went go back to 1962 and my first job at a company called Barker and Williamson. We made SSB radio equipment for HAMS and the US Army. SSB was a revolutionary concept.

[@solarflare8905]

I have a B&W Audio signal generator and still works great!

[@manuelalbertomarques4575]

Great video about HW "Hot Water" 101 . I see this video 2 or 3 times-. Thanks Jeff for this SUPER WORK! GOOD LUCK!

[@CharlieTechie]

Excellent video. I have recently purchased an HW-101 and SB-102 on eBay and plan on getting them up and running. Your video has been a great introduction and overall view of the HW-101 transceiver. Thanks for taking the time to created and share with us. KE8FNA

[@DonDegidio]

Jeff, Great video. I started with the HW-16 and 10B VFO. Still have them. :-)

[@scotmsilv]

My late model HW-101 (series no. 34-43996, bought in the Philadelphia, PA Heathkit store) has the little circuit board replacing the phase shift module for CW sidetone, as well as carbon film rather than carbon composition resistors, and a dial string rather than O-ring for the final tune variable capacitor. This takes stress off the capacitor's bearings and is a good mod for units using the O-ring. (I've actually seen units with worn capacitor bearings and intermittency in the capacitor.) Also, I always used mine with a low-speed muffin fan over the finals, which kept drift minimal and kept the whole unit cool. I recommend this for all tube gear. The 6HS6's are very high-gain and can cause SSB distortion on receive; 6AU6's can prevent that with a slight drop in sensitivity though mine still has the 6HS6's installed. My HW-101 took me over a month of after-work evenings to build. 73 de KU3E

[@msf60khz]

Really enjoyed the video - very concise and clear information.

[@prabhupillai9386]

Very good explanation ..Thank you

[@Satchmoeddie]

The SS9000 synth transceiver was sold under the Heath brand, and was sold fully assembled. The SS9000 sold for $2700 in 1983. I have the HW101 with the CW crystal filter, Q multiplier, preselector, station monitor scope, and an HP 23B power supply, but I do not have the speaker. The 12AT7s were pretty iffy, and the 6GW8 was pretty much toast. A diode was cooked, but everything else, except the belts were still okay. Most of the electrolytic caps had already been replaced. I have one more I should swap out, but it's a dry cap. Lots of the coupling caps were also probably replaced as there is a wild mixture of brands ranging from Paktron to Philips. My 101 also has an Amphenol SO 239. I paid $120 for my HW101, and all the other goodies. I am elated to have the CW filter.

[@greggaieck4808]

Jeff tranter your ham Transceiver is cool

[@richardbutterfoss2353]

Well done! RWB

[@transcanada9028]

We also had a Heathkit Amateur radio setup in a cabinet at the back of the Electronics classroom . This was in 1977 and there was a large 4 or 5 element HF beam antenna on the roof. This school didn't happen to be in Newmarket Ontario did it?

[@jefftranter]

No, it was in Mississauga. But I expect it was not uncommon to have ham radio clubs in high schools at that time.

[@transcanada9028]

@@jefftranter Ya I was thinking a lot of High Schools would have bought Heathkit test equipment for their electronics classrooms as well. They were cheaper and the students could learn and build.

[@josueamodeo6293]

precioso equipo. yo repare y restaure el mio lo mejor posible... el suyo esta genial.. una pregunta... ¿ se le podria pone un frecuencimetro en vez delndial analogico?

[@jefftranter]

Heathkit no lo ofreció, pero hay diales digitales disponibles para el HW-101. Heathkit did not offer one, but there are digital dials for the HW-101 available from third parties.

[@josueamodeo6293]

@@jefftranter se le podria poner un frecuencimetro de eliexpres??

[@jefftranter]

@@josueamodeo6293 I'm not aware of anything from AliExpress that is suitable. If you Google for "amateur radio digital display kit" you should find some options. No conozco nada de AliExpress que sea adecuado. Si busca en Google "amateur radio digital displau kit", debería encontrar algunas opciones.

[@drstrangelove09]

Does CW transmission just transmit a sine wave? And then it is turned on and off with the key?

[@jefftranter]

Yes, that is essentially correct.

[@drstrangelove09]

@@jefftranter Excellent!!! Thank you! I've wondered about that for a while and googling did not help. Is there something that I said that was not correct? (you said "essentially")

[@jefftranter]

@@drstrangelove09There are some other minor details, like "shaping" of the signal on/off so that it doesn't generate clicks or thumps in the received signal.

[@drstrangelove09]

@@jefftranterAha! OK! Thank you!!!!

[@hunt555fish]

Jeff were are the parts available for the HW101?

[@jefftranter]

There is no one source for replacement parts - you will have to search the Internet depending on what you need.

[@hunt555fish]

@@jefftranter Thanks for replying to my guestion.I would like to replace 6CL6 driver tube and the 6CB6 2nd transmitter mixer tube.Do you have a good source for tubes.Also wood like to replace the rubber belts because I see cracking.Where did you find replacements for yours?Any info would be appreciated.Ron NB3W

[@jefftranter]

@@hunt555fish I found some suppliers of HW-101 rubber belt kits on eBay. Tubes can be found on Amazon, eBay, and from suppliers like tubesandmore.com