tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156518320909350372.post6292410305813858532..comments2024-01-06T06:17:48.375-08:00Comments on N8ZYA's QRP Radio Blog: First SWL RadioUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156518320909350372.post-14068174079139614462009-10-31T18:41:03.965-07:002009-10-31T18:41:03.965-07:00Since your reply mentioned my Heathkit tour, I tho...Since your reply mentioned my Heathkit tour, I thought I would share a bit more. I lived in Cedar Rapids, IA at the time. Being a young kid it was no big deal to drive 500 miles to the east side of Lake Superior over night and stay up the next day. When I arrived, they apologized for my rig problems and took me straight to the tech repair area. They put the rig on a bench and said they already had a plan to make it more robust with bad SWR. I told them I was an EE student at Purdue so the first stop was to meet a few of their senior EEs who offered many words of encouragement. Then to the assembly line where they were filling orders. I discovered they used high precision scales to weigh component bags as a final check that the contents were likely correct. After a while they took me back to my rig. A tech invited me to tune the rig at full power into a dummy load. Then he disconnected the load, while still fully powered and handed me a screw driver and instructed me to short the output. The rig shut down gracefully under both these open and shorted conditions. They carried it to my car (a 1968 VW beetle) and I drove back home, never sleeping the entire time. No money exchanged hands.pidloophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11926741165545469440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156518320909350372.post-36740602210255723722009-10-30T19:40:02.899-07:002009-10-30T19:40:02.899-07:00Heathkit made some great stuff and I even owned on...Heathkit made some great stuff and I even owned one along with a Drake reciever at one time. Great stuff....honestly, it worked better that the majority of the new "solid state" gear now. <br /><br />Not much for camping or traveling tho....<br /><br />You were VERY fortunate to tour the factory!Jspikerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14751088160139882564noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3156518320909350372.post-40390501425460302872009-10-30T14:43:34.272-07:002009-10-30T14:43:34.272-07:00My first radio was the Knight Kit Star Roamer, a 4...My first radio was the Knight Kit Star Roamer, a 4 tube superhet design. AM only but I made a BFO for listening to the hams and replaced the tuning knob with a vernier dial. This was in the late 60s when I was in high school.<br /><br />My first real ham rig after getting my license in 1974 was the Heath SB104, their first rig with a solid state final. I blew the finals out twice from my improvised wire antennas and finally took it back in person to their HQ in Benton Harbor MI. They gave me a red carpet tour of the factory while they added a mod for protecting those finals. It worked fine every since. I no longer have either radio, wish I did. RIP Heathkit, I miss you.pidloophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11926741165545469440noreply@blogger.com