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The Bird Thruline 43 Wattmeter is a quintessential piece of test equipment for the RF professional and tinker and is considered to be the timeless standard for measuring forward and reflected RF power. The device have a few downsides. One… Continue Reading →
As you go west in the Upper Peninsula, just before reaching Wisconsin you will see one of Michigan’s largest state park, Porcupine Mountains State Park. The park also known as “The Porkies” and is nearly 60,000 acres. Given the size… Continue Reading →
After finishing up in Copper Harbor we headed down to the visit the Adventure Mining Company for a mine tour. This mine is located in Greenland Township and was operated between 1850 and closed down in 1920. The mine is… Continue Reading →
Copper Harbor is a small community and is the last town when heading north east up the Keweenaw Peninsula, the town has a population of just over 125 residents and during the summer months likely has more tourists than residents…. Continue Reading →
Sometimes when doing a Parks on the Air or POTA activation you are looking for a quick and easy park to activate and Baraga State Park, US-1486 was just that. As myself and the XYL continued on our annual trip… Continue Reading →
The XYL and I enjoy taking trips over to Michigan’s upper peninsula especially during the late summer months, in fact it is our favorite time to enjoy Michigan’s U.P. during the year. Late summer is a great time to visit… Continue Reading →
When working to reassemble the radio I noticed that the shaft coupling for the final control was slipping and further discovered that this plastic coupling threads were stripped. Threaded plastic can be rather delicate so a repair was in order…. Continue Reading →
What is the Alignment Process? The alignment process is a series of adjustments that help maximize the performance of the radio. This multistep process will include steps such as peaking the heterodyne oscillators and nulling out the carrier from the… Continue Reading →
Pulleys As good measure I replace the O-rings used for the driver pre-selector. These are available either in an O-ring kit or from your local hardware store, with a size of ID: 2in OD: 2-1/8in. Using incorrect sized o-rings can… Continue Reading →
Why Replace? It is well known that over time, Electrolytic capacitor dry out and are no longer usable. Some spend time to use a Variac to reform the capacitors, with the HW-101 it is fairly easy to replace these capacitors… Continue Reading →
The next step in this refurbishment is to clean the contacts on the rig and lubricate the bears. The primary contact cleaner of choice is DeoxIT D5. Cleaning the Tube Sockets I start by cleaning out the tube sockets, I… Continue Reading →
The next step in the refurbishment process is to check all of the resistors to make sure that they are within tolerance. The Heathkit HW-100 series radios use carbon composition resistors that as they age can come out of tolerance…. Continue Reading →
In this step of the process we further remove the panels and knobs from the radio and perform a general cleanup including a soapy wash, rinse cycle followed by “baking” the rig . Cleaning Preparation Prior to washing down the… Continue Reading →
The next step in the process is to start depopulating the vacuum tubes. As the tubes are depopulated feel free to use the section as a reference. Tube Locations, Part Number and Functions Reference designators are a short hand identifier… Continue Reading →
It was a bit of a chilly activation with the temperatures in the mid 20°Fs. Even with the colder weather this is one of my favorite parks to activate, due generous amount of open and available space. In the summer… Continue Reading →
If you talk with different Elmers this step will likely lead to much debate. The next step in the refurbishment process that I follow is completely optional and is an initial power up and rough functional check. The real question… Continue Reading →
Introduction – Prior to performing any work on a boat anchor I perform a simple visual inspection to look for obvious issues before we get into the “meat and potatoes” of cleanup. In many cases a through visual inspection should… Continue Reading →
I spent a recent trip in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to enjoy the winter weather and some of ice formations in Munising, near Picture Rocks National Lakeshore and found some time on my hands for an activation. In past summers I… Continue Reading →
Introduction In 2003 with my General class privileges in hand, I picked up my first HF radio at a ham swap, a Heathkit HW-100. At the time of purchasing the radio I had no experience working with vacuum tubes and… Continue Reading →
Background In the fall of 2024 I acquired a Bird Termaline Wattmeter-dummy load from an estate of a former electronic tinker. This specific gentlemen’s estate included a sizable allotment of test equipment, components and many scattered Motorola radios all in… Continue Reading →