HW-2026 vs. HW-2036

[Terry Perdue]

Bob Groh's recollection is basically correct. I don't know that any returned HW-2026's were deep sixed in Lake Michigan; I doubt it. I remember seeing modules for them showing up in quantity at a local Heath surplus reseller.

The 2026 did have a transmit spur problem, as well as more than its share of receive birdies. Even though the transmit spurs were generally within spec, that wasn't good enough for use in the larger cities, where the spurs sometimes brought up repeaters other than the intended one. We initially suspected that the customers with problems had not aligned their units properly. There was one customer in Ohio that seemed to have a particularly bad problem, and several of us from engineering, marketing, and QC flew down with an armloadl of test equipment in Shlumberger's company jet, which was kept at Benton Harbor's Ross Field. We set up a spectrum analyzer which verified that the spurious were within spec, and quickly convinced the customer, and ourselves, that this was an isolated case of being in an unfortunate location. As we returned to the airport, we monitored the local repeater, and were happy to hear the guy telling all his buddies about how Heath had proved that there wasn't a problem with the radio. It was only a week or so later that we realized that we were kidding ourselves. Most of the owners returned their 2026s and eagerly awaited the 2036, but some who didn't notice a problem refused to part with theirs.

The party Bob referred to was a Christmas party held at the home of one of the other ham department engineers. Not willing to get burned again, the 2036 was very rigorously tested by the evaluation department, and the design phase was especially stressful on me. At one point during the party I was given a gift-wrapped 2036 and an ax, and led outside to vent my frustrations.

Terry K8TP
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