HW-16

 source: https://wd8rif.com/img/hw16_1969.jpg

 

One thing I forgot to mention in the previous blog post on First Contact was that later that year (1972) I got an HW-16 as an arranged gift for Christmas.

Now before I got the HW-16 I remember talking to a student teacher in the radio club room.  He told me to forget the HW-16 and get an Adventurer (the rig I had been using) and a receiver.  However the teacher of our Novice class, Morrie WB9JHW, had an HW-16 and recommended it.  Besides, the HW-16 had a 500 Hz receive filter, break-in, grid block keying,  could muster 75 watts input (maybe on 80/40 :) and would be something I built.  The Adventurer would only be 50 watts and then I'd need a T/R switch plus a ham band receiver.  

So I listened to my Elmer and not to the student teacher and got the HW-16.  And had trouble with the HW-16 assembly (the transmitter part which was supposed to be simpler) but eventually figured it out (a defective band-switch) and got it fixed (no charge) at the local Heathkit store in Milwaukee.  So the student teacher might have been right at least as far as time spent.  But I learned a lot from finding the problem with the transmitter so I think the HW-16 was the better choice for me.

I still have the HW-16 but it hasn't been used for over a decade.  I remember one of the tubes must have been gassy and there was a little "nova" of bright light whenever the HW-16 was first turned on :)

Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm