Heath SB-301

[Multi-Volti]

I'm sure it's been said before...

I loved my SB-301, and RME-6900 and medium-heavily modded Drake R4C. I hated
the sound of the SB-303.

I worked a bunch of not very rare DX on 80m in the winter with about 35W cw
and a z-shaped inverted, uh, 'Z' with the first two receivers...

If I've shared the following story before, 'sorry'....

The -301/401 combo I had was notorious in eastern PA. The owner had glued
silver dollrs inside the vfo/LMO knobs and spray-painted them each a
horrible color right thru the cabinet. The circuit boards were essentially
conformal-coated with blue and either red or orange paint (perhaps time has
made me mercifully forget), allegedly to be able to tell them apart...which
is rediculous, but who knows maybe someone capable of doing that thinks
differently than the rest of the world. A couple of owners attempted to
clean them up. I had the cabinets sand-blasted to get to bare aluminum. The
shop couldn't see how it could possibly take more than an hour for the
pair...took 70 minutes of sandblasting to the owner's surprise. Many holes
in the cabinet were still plugged. The silver dollars were not removable and
I and the next owner (I think the guy I bought them from bought them back)
left them there.

The transmitter was the most reviled thing...it sounded like it was under
water...even on CW! Sounded like long path DX. A couple guys recognized it
on the air and asked me. I could tell they were laughing...I don't remember
about ssb.

The circuit boards were hopeless. I think my friend bought them back because
we both knew they were nearly impossible to sell. If you ever see them on
eBay...watch out!

Murray


----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Graalman WB8JKR <wb8jkr at JUNO.COM>
To: <HEATH at LISTSERV.TEMPE.GOV>
Sent: Friday, January 10, 2003 12:10 PM
Subject: Re: Heath SB-301


> I agree completely. I have an SB-301 here and with good
> tubes and a good alignment the measured MDS of this
> receiver on CW is -137 dBM or about .09 uV/10 dB s/n
> ratio. Just as hot as 90% of the receivers today.
>  More gain won't make it more sensitive, just more prone
> to overload and the SB-301 is MUCH better in that
> respect than the SB-303.
>
> 73,  Mark  WB8JKR
>
>
> On Fri, 10 Jan 2003 08:46:39 -0500 "Gerald C. Lemay"
> <w1id at FCGNETWORKS.NET> writes:
> > That sounds like the old chestnut about swapping the RF amplifier
> > tube for
> > another with higher gain. Yes, you will get higher gain in the front
> > end
> > but gain is not a problem in the stock receiver. The SB series
> > receivers
> > already have too much gain in the front end. Try tuning in 40 meters
> > at
> > night with a resonant antenna at reasonable height and you'll see
> > what I
> > mean. In my opinion, this is one instance where it is better to
> > leave well
> > enough alone. If your receiver has poor sensitivity, I would look
> > elsewhere.
> >
> > > Has anyone tried the "Soup up the SB301 for $7" mod listed in BAMA
> > (Boat
> > > Anchor Manual Archive)?
> > > It describes changing V1 and V6 to higher gm tubes. I was just
> > wondering
> > > if there is a noticable difference in sensitivity with the new
> > tubes.
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > > Al Schichler, NE2D
> > >
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