Vintage Heathkit HW-16 Tube Ham radio Novice CW transceiver 40 meter QSO old school

Running a Heathkit HW-16 CW Transceiver. These were entry level units intended for Novice operation. I have owned several. They all seem to drift & chirp. Not sure if that due to age or just a cheap design. It is still a fun / challenging station to operate. Stations worked N9CJT, KA2Q and KC9VWC.

[@hodwooker5584]

I was an employee of Heathkit in 1977-78. I worked at the Phoenix Arizona store as a technician and i had a lot of fun doing it. Great products overall.

[@johnbellas490]

Hello Terry! Yea Heathkit HW 16 when I was going to school we had a Heathkit HW 16 at the school's radio station. My 6th grade science teacher A Mr Charles Stantial was an advanced extra class Ham radio operator and was able to get about 15 of us kids licensed at the time around 1968! we had 13 boys and 2 girls get our Novice class! We had a lot of fun with the HW 16 back then and on into High School years! I was able to purchase one about10 years ago and I refurbished it to usable nice condition and I still fire it up every now and then!

[@davenewmyer3735]

Had an HW-16 I got used from AES Milwaukee around 1975 and used it until going to college. Using crystals, it was chirpy, but building an HG-10B VFO solved that. I don't remember the receiver drifting on my unit. 40 meters was crowded in the novice portion in those days, and sometimes I would park zero beat on a broadcast station carrier. Just last fall I came across an HW-16 at a swapfest and bought it, but have not tried firing it up. 73 de n0km

[@twoheart7813]

This brings back so many memories. I used to take this setup, less the keyer, to the family cabin powered by a generator, worked all over the world with a simple dipole. The late 70's- mid 80's propagation was awesome

[@mackfisher4487]

Nice all Heath equipment, as a kid It was always exciting to get the new Heathkit catalog and wish you had enough money to buy stuff.

[@garywayland6168]

I built their GR2000 TV set. That was a hoot. Built many others, too. Those were fun times N4KTF

[@darrellh3769]

Built the Hot water 16 and HG10 back in 79 when I got my novice! Awesome video but add a 220 pf NPO cap between screen and ground.

[@jimgiordano8218]

Hey Terry, another Heathkit moment, I love the videos and keep them coming. BUTTTT, why don't you do a video on the antenna's you are using, I hink that would be a cool video.

[@JackKC8QPG]

Great Video ! My HW-16 is on the work bench. It hums. I got perf board. I ordered the assortment of capacitors from your HW-16 Re-Cap Video. In a couple weeks I'll be listening for you on 7.115.

[@n8iws484]

I surprised myself on how much code I remember. I need to find a copy of the manual for my SW7800 shortwave, needs some love. Condition of it is like new, just has tuning issues. Thanks Terry.

[@richardbrobeck2384]

Nice Terry ! that brings back old memories .

[@JobyP]

Zombie Apocalypse Approved!

I was a tech plus. Took the test in Fresno , California. Renewed my license at the FCC booth at the Las Vegas NAB show in 2002. I never renewed after that. Expired.

[@Tom-W7TMD]

Looked tuff! Pretty cool though! Thanks for sharing!

[@d-labelectronics]

Yes, they are a challenge, but fun

[@thomasmiccolis9051]

Terry, something is seriously WRONG with that HW-16. Could be power supply as receiver seems to drift too & the power to the VFO is supplied by the HW-16. Tubes for these rigs are inexpensive & if needed I’ll send you some for FREE! Check voltages per the manual & filter caps. These were solid rigs & especially nice if you installed the 400Hz CW filter in them from the HW or SB line!

[@stevendaniel7555]

Darn. I wish I'd known you were going to be on the air. I'd definitely have given you a call. Have tried you many times on 7.115 mhz, but my timing seems to be lousy.

[@dwightbehm2886]

Hot water 16 was a good radio. Wish it would hav had a 10 meter section as well 28.1 to 28.3? Because when the sun cycle is up you only need a few watts to talk halfway around the world. Like on a wet noodle. Thanks for the video. Dwight.

[@dwightbehm2886]

Thanks for the like who ever you are☺ why when I was on 15 meters one day many many moons ago I responded to a PY3 calling CQ and he called me back wway down in Brazil cool we thanked each other after a nice short converse I never forgot that on the hotwater16 I was running about 15 Watts. That radio did well.

[@davidwood351]

I’m watching this video, and my iPhone starts ringing from What’sApp Audio….how weird is that? Was it responding to the beeps in the video? Little spy!

[@bradbeasley7669]

👍👍

[@Benjamin5566]

Hey I was interested in getting a Tech ham license and I’m mainly just interested in cw and I wanna get an hf transceiver and play around in the allowed bands but am confuse about what I need extacly. All of this looks cool but super confusing at the same time. I know I would need a line a straight key to send the code and a cw transceiver like this one. I see some that like 300 bucks or 1000 bucks and I don’t wanna spend no where near that I just want an old used machine to see how I like the hobby but like I said I just care about cw for now not so much talking in a mic. Is it possible to get a transceiver a key nd an antenna to play around with Morse for like around 100 dollars? My main interest in sending Morse code back and forth from people far away in whatever allowed bands tech licsence allows

[@vfrfoxtrott6430]

73s

[@JasonCooper-em4gt]

K4

[@bobkozlarekwa2sqq59]

I have one that I just finished recapping it. It belonged to a friend who passed away. Hope that springtime can find it a new home at a local hamfest.

[@d-labelectronics]

Even though I recapped this one, it still has RX drift & TX chirp : (

[@buildstoys]

For the RX drift, change R-24 from 10K to 47K and change R-28 from 1 megohm to 270 K

[@d-labelectronics]

Thank you, I will take a look and make the changes