[Heath] Heath AR-3

[N4ch at aol.com]

I never built any of the early Heath SWL tube-type receivers  (the first 
Heath receiver I built was an SB-300), but I DID build one of the  competing 
receiver kits that Hallicrafters sold, beginning in about  1962.   This was 
their model S-119K (the "K" meant it was a kit), a  simple BC-16 MHz 3-band 
(and just 3 tubes !) SW radio that was marketed as a  special commemorization 
item, celebrating the 100th receiver model produced  since their S-19 Sky 
Buddy.   I first saw it advertised in Boy's Life  magazine, and it originally 
sold for $29.95 in kit form (later upped to $39.95),  and the wired version 
was $49.95.   I built mine when I was  12........took me a year to get it 
working right, and I still have  it.   The S-119K was also known as the Sky 
Buddy II.    Performance-wise, it wasn't much different from the S-38 series, 
but it DID have  one item that those receivers lacked: a 
transformer-operated power supply, so it  was inherently a lot safer.   Hallicrafters actually 
sold quite a  variety of kits, including the SX-140 ham-band-only receiver, 
the matching  HT-40 AM/CW transmitter (both covered 80-6 meters), and 
several simple pieces of  test equipment, including a VTVM, signal generator, and 
resistor and capacitor  substitution boxes.   I own a Heathkit AR2 and AR3 
(and even one of  the AR1 receivers that came before), but I'm still looking 
for the K1 and K2  receivers that used plug-in coils.
 
73, Herman, N4CH.
 
 
 
In a message dated 1/23/2016 3:57:32 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
k8tp at comcast.net writes:

I've got  to add my memories of the AR-3, which was my first receiver. I 
bought mine  in 1959, when I was in the 9th grade, and had it next to my 
bed, with a  longwire running through the window screen, and the chassis 
'grounded' to  the furnace register in the floor under the window. (I 
used to stand on  that register in the morning, and had to remember not 
to touch the window  hardware or I'd get a mild shock.)

I didn't have any equipment to align  it, but I knew the father of a 
classmate down the street was a ham, and he  was nice enough to help me. 
I remember him telling me that I did a great  job of building it. It was 
pretty impressive with its power transformer  and copper-plated chassis. 
I loved that radio, and scanned the shortwave  bands every night before 
going to sleep.

When I got my novice  license, I built the tri-tet oscillator transmitter 
from the handbook -  you know, the one with doorbell wire wound around 
lollypop sticks on a  wooden 'chassis'. Operating mostly on 75/80 meters, 
I didn't have any  problem with drift.

I don't remember where that receiver went, but I  bought another about 
ten years ago on ebay, reduced it to parts, and  rebuilt it as though it 
were 1959 again. It was great fun, but I was  pretty disappointed by the 
performance - not what I remembered. Band 4 was  pretty much unusable. I 
didn't keep it very long, but did enjoy the  nostalgia.

Terry K8TP
One of the (former) hams at Heath

P.S.  I found an S-38 at a local swap meet last year, and brought it 
home. It  was in terrible shape, and I didn't even plug it in, but tore 
it down and  rebuilt it on new, homemade chassis. Considering how many of 
this basic  circuit Hallicrafters sold, I figured it would be worth the 
effort, but it  wasn't. Even after replacing the regenerative BFO with a 
real one, and  putting in new tubes and realigning, it's terrible - much 
worse than the  AR-3, and I won't even waste time build a new cabinet for  
it.

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