HW-101 CW Keying

[Stewart D Lyon]

Hi Ed,
I recently acquired a SB-401 and experianced the same problem you are
having with your HW-101. I concluded that  A)the tone generator amplitude
was too high, B) the anti-VOX adjustment had a great effect on how the
relay pulled in and dropped out (what was good on phone was not right on
CW) and C) the way Heath did the mode transfer is a Rube-Goldburg
arrangement at best.

I have just finished a circuit that keys the relay amplifier directly
without using the tone generator thru the VOX amplifier. The circuit is
pretty simply - using three resistors, a diode and a couple of  zeners
and seems to work pretty well.  I have yet to put it on the air (have to
relearn the code 1st!) so it's not completely checked out.  The next step
is to apply it to my SB-101 which should be pretty easy since the -101 &
-401 are very similar in that area.  If you are interested I'll keep you
informed in how it works.

However, I don't think there is a way to beat the relay delay on the
first dit. It has something to do with physics.  In the case of the -401
there are two relays in series and there is quite a delay. Motorola
builds a very complicated IC to speed up the pull-in of car fuel
injectors but that's not a route open to us. Maybe AE5P's foot switch is
the way to go.

I guess I won't sell my HX-1681 after all - it uses a solid state
switchover.

73, Stu - W6CUX
Winnetka, CA
ARRL Life Member

On Wed, 10 Jun 1998 06:43:56 -0500 Sandra Silanskis
<sandys1 at IX.NETCOM.COM> writes:
>Hi Fellow Green Machine Users,
>
>Glad I finally found the list and have learned a lot already but now I
>need
>some help. I have also searched the archives and haven't seen anything
>about this problem.
>
>I have had my HW-101 for about 25 years and have used it alot but
>never
>really been happy with the way that the cw keying worked ( relay
>chatter at
>slow speed) but have used it anyway.
>
>I recently got the bug to get on the air, but my old baby no longer
>keys
>properly. It misses the first dit or dah of a character. PTT and tune
>positions work fine and the relays pull in immediately but not with
>CW, and
>it does make it kind of hard for people to copy me HI.
>
>I have been over the service bulletins and they haven't helped. I have
>changed tubes and components, but still have the problem. I must be
>missing
>something. Anybody else had a problem like this? Is there a quick fix
>or
>mod to improve the cw keying?
>
>BTW the rig was at one time aligned and checked out by the factory, so
>at
>one time at least it was totally up to spec.
>
>Any and all help would be appreciated.
>
>TNX es 73, Ed WA9YYF

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --
To subscribe: listserv at listserv.tempe.gov
and in body: subscribe HEATH yourfirstname yourlastname
To unsubscribe:  listserv at listserv.tempe.gov
and in body: signoff HEATH
Archives for HEATH: http://www.tempe.gov/archives
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --