SB-301 & SB-401

[Stewart Lyon]

Hi Larry,

I have three 401/301 setups running now, all in the transceiver mode, and
I find they work well.

The first item is the interconnect cables. You can use RG-58/59 or video
cable for the LMO & BFO but be sure to use the prescribed 24'" of  RG-62
for the het oscillator. Otherwise the rx het oscillator may not start -
especially on the higher bands.

The Het signal is the most critical on both ends. In the receiver, you
should peak the oscillator sig (at the test jack) rather than shooting
for a set value as described in the 301 book. In the 401, you may have to
repeak the het coils for max grid current and this may be at a differant
place than was for the crystals.

You will notice both the LMO and the het frequencies will change when you
connect up to the 401. The change won't be much (~600 Hz) but it will
throw the rx calibration off a little.

The setup transceives very nicely on SSB but not well at all on CW in my
view. You are supposed to use the sidetone oscillator as a monitor but it
has a terrible tone and only outputs to the speaker. I prefer to monitor
my on-the-air signal with the receiver, using an external pot to control
the monitor gain. I've used this scheme for years and it works OK. The
problem doing this with the 401/301 is that the BFO crystal runs all the
time when the rig switches to transmit. This backs up through the BFO
cable and ends up with a note that wipes out the monitored signal.  I
fixed this by grid-blocking keying the BFO oscillator in the 401 but it
required a lot of tinkering to get right and not something I want to
descibe.

Good luck. I think you will like the transceive mode. On SSB anyway.

73, Stu - W6CUX


On Wed, 26 Jan 2000 18:40:46 -0600 larry grindel
<L_GRINDEL at EMAIL.MSN.COM> writes:
>Good evening Heath guys!
>I have been using the Heath SB-301 & SB-401 as seperates for about a
>year
>now, and they work very well. I have recently thought that I would
>like to
>try them in the "trancieve mode". Can anyone advise me if there are
>any
>adjustments that need to be made? I have been a ham for about 1.5
>years, and
>don't have too much experience or test equipment. I do have the
>correct
>cable. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
>Thanks in advance and 73
>Larry Grindel  KD5ECG
>KD5ECG at ARRL.NET

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