Photos of HW-5400, a few thoughts (long)

[Robert S. Capon]

Hello Green (and Brown) faithful:

Yes, some very good Heathkits were brown.  Lest we forget.

I've posted seven photos of the HW-5400 in process on my AOL directory.  You
can go that site, and download the files:

http://members.aol.com/w3dx/HW-5400Photo1
http://members.aol.com/w3dx/HW-5400Photo2
http://members.aol.com/w3dx/HW-5400Photo3
http://members.aol.com/w3dx/HW-5400Photo4
http://members.aol.com/w3dx/HW-5400Photo5
http://members.aol.com/w3dx/HW-5400Photo6
http://members.aol.com/w3dx/HW-5400Photo7

I began collecting heathkits about seven years ago.  When I grew up, there
was a Heath showroom near my home in suburban Maryland.  I visited many
times, but didn't have the money to buy kits.  My first rig was an HW-16 that
I bought at a hamfest for $75.  Later, I bought a VF-1 for $15, and was in
hog-heaven without crystals.

So in 1993 I ran an ad in QST looking for unbuilt kits, so that I could build
them.  Collecting kits turned into a hobby, and occassionally I would build a
kit if I had doubles in my collection.

Over the past five years, I've built the ID-5001 weather station, SA-2060
antenna tuner, HW-8, HW-9, and SB-1000.  I've also built commercially
available kits, and was an original field tester on the Elecraft K2 and K1
(matching serial numbers 00005).  These are great kits.

EBay has come along and made some of these kits quite valuable, but my
interest in these kits has never been about money.  Now, when I build a kit
like the HW-5400 I have to ask is it worth it to turn a $2000 unbuilt kit
into a $300 radio?  In the case of the 5400, if it took 340 hours to build,
that works out to $5 an hour.  A bargain!

The 5400 was massively complex.  Even the types of tools needed to build it
is daunting: heat gun to shrink heat-shrink tubing, fine soldering iron, 100W
soldering gun for soldering countless wires to chassis parts, 4 types of fine
hand tools, socket set, screwdrivers, oscilloscope, RF probe, DMM, dremel
tool to clean parts and remove overspray, steel wool, solder wick, adjustable
crescent wrench, five types of tuning implements, etc.

The rig has two separate wiring harnesses of amazing complexity.  To label
the harness, I had to tape it down to a wooden floor just to get it to match
the drawing in the instruction book.  The rig has 14 circuit boards and
probably over 50 coax cables that had to be built.

Heath's early formula (circa 60's 70's) was to build something that was 80%
as good as a Collins for 1/3 the price; and the prime directive was that
everyone had to be able to build it.  By 1983 the economics had clearly
changed.  The HW-5400 cost $799.  Close to $1000 with keypad and crystal
filter (mine includes these features).  This probably compared to a good
commercial rig that was ready made.  So the only reason to buy a 5400 in 1983
was for the shear joy of building it.

As I built this rig (I really can't remember when I started on it, maybe six
months ago, maybe longer) I figured I would be lucky to have a 50-50 chance
of getting it to work.  Anyway, it was great fun.  And well worth the lost
value of the unbuilt kit.

On the air, the 5400 is a great rig.  80-10, cw/ssb, keypad, digital display,
RIT, Split, etc.  It has one amazing feature: on the tuning knob there is a
plastic dimple and a metal dimple.  Touch the plastic dimple and it tunes in
.05 Khz steps.  Touch the metal dimple and the last digits DISAPPEAR (very
cool), and it tunes in 1 Khz steps.  Good sounding receiver.  Nice reports on
the air.

That's about it.  It's a shame Heathkit is gone, so we can't hang out at the
showroom, and buy kits without being on EBay and competing at high prices.
The world has clearly changed.  I think we're dinosaurs.

73 & DX,

Rob, W3DX

Listserver Subscription:listserv at listserv.tempe.gov - "subscribe heath 'name' 'call'"
Listserver Submissions: heath at listserv.tempe.gov
Listserver Unsubscribe: listserv at listserv.tempe.gov - -"signoff heath"