WB0SMX

  Heathkit SB-104 Bargain Filed in SB-104 on Feb.13, 2019 On the last day of the Quartzfest event (near Quartzite, AZ), we walked through the swapfest there.  It had, I would guess, about 30 or 40 tables selling mostly used equipment. I came across a table that caught my eye.  He had an old Heathkit SB-104 for sale.  When I asked the price, he said it was $100, including the matching speaker, power supply and microphone.   Heathkit SB-104 I remember lusting over this rig when I was a teenager in the 70’s.  It was way beyond my means back then, but seems much more affordable, 45 years later!  So I quickly dug out a crisp $100 bill and handed it over.     SP-604 speaker & power supply     Matching Microphone Craig helped me carry it back to the RV, and we plugged it in to see if it was anywhere close to alive.  It did power up, the digits all lit, but showed an incorrect frequency.  atmospheric noise flowed from the speaker, but turning the VFO had no effect.  It was as

  Quartzfest 2019 Filed in Operating on Feb.13, 2019 Living in Arizona, it is questionable why I have never been to Quartzfest before.  This is a week-long Ham Radio event held in January of every year.  It takes place in the 14-day free camping BLM area south of Quartzite, Arizona. There are generally around 1000 hams that show up for this event, taking advantage of the low cost camping and abundant sunshine.  There are various radio-related presentations each day, and a nightly camp fire to gather and swap stories at.   QuartzFest 2019 This year, Tara & I got the opportunity to experience it for the first time.  We traveled with some good friends of ours (Craig NV1O and his wife, Karen, Dave KB7KY and Sandy N7QZB) to the hamfest on Thursday, January 24th. Sharing Craig & Karen’s RV was a little cozy, but not uncomfortable. Craig brought an old Icom HF rig, with his Kenwood Automatic antenna tuner and a Windom Off Center Fed antenna.  We made some HF contacts o

  HW-8 Bargain Filed in Vintage Radio on Feb.13, 2019 I was up early on a Sunday morning last month, and saw a notice that a Heathkit HW-8 had been posted to Facebook late in the prior evening.  He wasn’t asking much for it, so I decided to shoot him a note and see if it was still available.  The owner wrote back, and I agreed to come look at it.   Heathkit HW-8 bargain The owner stated that it was working when he last used it, but I really wasn’t concerned at the price he was offering it for.  I snapped up the deal, which included the power cord and owner’s manual.  So now I have another project on the shelf, waiting for another round-to-it.   HW-8 front panel I was never very enamored with the Heathkit QRP rigs, but I know the HW-8 is probably the most modified rig out there, and am curious to see how it works.