New toys:HR-20/HX-20/HP-20

[wa1vwl]

Last weekend the Rochester Hosstraders Hamfest in Rochester, NH was
held. The fall event was great this year. For one thing, it didn't rain.
Later on, the sun was shining and I had to remove my jacket. Not a
typical crisp fall day in New England. Instead of rain, we had bees! I
don't know where they came from but they were all over the place.
Although attendance seemed a little sparse, there were a lot of good
deals available. I passed on a very nice DX-100B for $125 because a). It
weighed too much and didn't want to lug that beast and  b.) I don't have
room to put it. Also passed on a similar shape HRO-60 with a full
complement of coils for $175 for the same reasons. With so many goodies
at hand, one has to set limits in order not to go broke or have to build
an addition to the house.There was a chap with a very rare Swan 600-R
receiver and 600-T transmitter in excellent shape but he wanted $650.
Probably not out of order considering you don't see many of those
around. Saw a couple of R-390's, a lot of BC-348's.

I was looking for Heathkits and was amply rewarded. Saw an RX-1 Mohawk,
a TX-1 Apache,  many HW-xx single banders, and the usual number of
HW-100/101's. What really caught my eye was an HR-20 receiver, HX-20
transmitter, and HP-20 AC power supply for the grand total of $85! The
cabinets are a little rough and need repainting. The front panels of
both rigs are immaculate and after cleaning, look as new. This will be
my second HR-20 receiver. In fact I was looking for an HX-20 transmitter
and saw one for about the same price as the package I bought.

I tried repainting the cabinet of my first  HR-20 this summer but it
didn't come out like the original. Maybe I should have bought the R&R
green paint in a can and used a spray gun. Then cured the cabinet in an
oven. Instead I had the spray cans and they're only good for
overspraying. You know, what I really need is someone to do a
professional job of repainting cabinets. Anyone out there who can
suggest a good/decently priced spray gun outfit, please let me know. I'm
going to try that method next summer. As for the HX-20, it didn't work
on SSB. Found out one of the previous owners had replaced the matched
germanium diodes with silicon ones. Duh. Not being a fan of germanium
devices, I tried a pair of 1N5711 Schottkys and lo and behold, they work
just fine. Not too surprising considering they have similar forward
voltage drops. I did have to wait about 30 minutes before setting the
carrier oscillator and nulling the carrier, etc...I'd appreciate hearing
from anyone out there who had experience working on the HX-20.


73/Gerry/W1ID

A fellow had a sign on his table "BIRD SLUGS WANTED". Always willing to
help out a fellow Ham, I Kept looking at the ground, ready to scoop one
up with a piece of cardboard but didn't see any. Didn't see any pidgeons
either.

Sponsored by the City of Tempe 

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