[Heath] HW-101 VFO

Sat May 12 09:30:14 EDT 2012

Please let me add my two cents (or a quarter's) worth. This HW-101 and power supply that David went through is now in my hands, and it is truly a sweet rig. Other than my digitally synthesized rigs (Icom 706 MKII-G and the Kenwood TS-430S), this HW-101 is more stable than my Hallicrafters SR-160, or even my Kenwood TS-830s hybrid. I can turn on the HW-101 from a cold start, find a nice two-sided QSO on 20 meters, dial it in, and maybe, after 10 or 15 minutes, just touch the VFO to move it 40 or 50 hertz and it's there the rest of the day. 
I have David's notes on the way to the post office today, and he will have them in a day or two and I'm sure he will share with the list-serve anything he has failed to cover here. The new Jackson drive is superb, smooth, solid, and a joy to use. 
Now this is the best part.  For those of you on the list-serve group that haven't heard this...this is the story of how I acquired this super transceiver.  David, W1EUJ, posted up that he had an HW-101 that would like to trade, but not for ham gear or other electronics. He was looking for something unique, and would be open to offers for two weeks, after which he would decide who offered the most unique item or items.  Since I am in northwestern North Dakota, the nation's #1 hot spot for oil exploration, drilling and production from the newly discovered Bakken (pronounced bawk'-ken) formation, I offered a pint of Bakken crude oil. I was amazed when David e-mailed me with his decision. I sent a bunch of 1.5 ounce miniatures labeled "Williston Basin Energy Festival, September 2011" along with a couple of bumper stickers, one saying "Rockin the Bakken" and the other "Fracturing the Forks".  The Three Forks/Sanish formation lies just 50 to 100 feet below the Bakken and is actually thicker and larger in size.  I also sent "Talkin the Bakken" a monthly oil patch publication, and of course I'd be remiss if I didn't send the state's latest North Dakota Travel Guide. 
In collaboration with David, I'm preparing to produce a video of the HW-101 in operation for posting on You Tube, also telling the story of how he graciously parted with his labor of love, to provide an old man some real pleasure and enjoyment of operating this venerable piece of gear.  I cannot stress enough the fine job David did in the restoration of this. It looks factory fresh (with a few tiny paint chips on the front rim) and runs like a fine-oiled machine. Lot's of QSO's thusfar, even checking into the Heathkit Net on a Sunday afternoon and telling "the story".  Hats off to you, David, and thank you.  73

Bernie in ND
WD0GMD
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: David Goncalves 
  To: Janusz Juryk 
  Cc: Heathnet 
  Sent: Saturday, May 12, 2012 4:04 AM
  Subject: Re: [Heath] HW-101 VFO

  I think, aside from one thing, this is what I did. I invented NOTHING here. My theory was that if the best minds in the hobby couldn't make it work over the last 40 years, that I'd take it out and replace with a highly filtered DDS VFO. 

  Refer to these: http://www.ultrawebb.com/OHP/SERVICE.htm
  http://www.ultrawebb.com/OHP/NRWILLIAMSON.pdf 

  0. Replace all resistors with new 1/2W 5% carbon film resistors (bought good stuff from Digikey), except change R947 to 1k (per service bulletin HW-101-2)
  1. Check PN of coil in VFO, change it according to HW-101 service bulletin HW-101-1 (mine did not need this)
  2. Change C947 to 47pF NP0 per service bulletin HW-101-19 and C951 to a 10pF N750 per Williamson (I have perhaps ONE to spare).
  3. Install a heavy wire per service bulletin HW-101-27.
  4. Hot-glue C946 per service bulletin HW-101-42.
  5. Verify that peaking of VFO coil is correct per service bulletin HW-101-45 and N.R. Williamson.
  6. If you find the VFO stops working in CW/USB on the upper end of bands, change R947 back to 470 Ohms (per service bulletin HW-101-52).
  6. Get the verniers working well. I ended up buying a new set from Jackson Brothers (see here: http://www.mainlinegroup.co.uk/jacksonbrothers/4511.htm) and get Model 4511DAF. Machine the shaft to the length of your original set, and install for that original 70's feel.
  7. Make sure your supplies to the VFO are stable. Particularly, upsize some of the resistors on the Power board (I'm getting to those notes soon!!). Make sure to redo your HP-23.

  That is what I did, and it works very well. I really think you have to go through the radio completely to really get everything stable and running sweetly. One could argue that some of these changes have more impact than others - and given the difficulty of finding N750 caps one might have to evaluate that - but I found that all the rest was easy and just did them all.

  Best of luck, 

  David Goncalves

  On Thu, May 10, 2012 at 11:05 AM, Janusz Juryk <ve2zhp at yahoo.ca> wrote:

    Greetings everyone,

    I'm rebuilding the VFO from a HW-101 and there are certain components that need changing. The crystal diode is one and need to know what equivalent could be used.

    Cheers

    Janusz  ve2zhp

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  -- 
  David Goncalves

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