Barb, I still have an HW12A that actually works. It is at my mother's
house. In fact, I fired it up when I was there for a visit last
Saturday.
I also have an HW22A, and an HW32A. The 22a is not operational. The
32A works, but has one interesting issue. When a friend gave it to me,
he told me that somebody had put two lower side band crystals in the
radio. Thus, it works, but is pretty much useless. I have the correct
crystal to swap out to get it back on upper side band, but haven't got
that done yet.
For those who are wondering why that makes the HW32A useless, it is a
20 meter single band rig. The HW line was sold by Heath Kit through
most of the 60's and well into the 70's.
The HW12 covered 80 meters, the 22 was for 40 meters, and the 32 was
for 20 meters. The A designator meant they were the later models with
upper and lower side band, and a few other changes from the original
models.
As Barb said, those rigs got many hams of the day on SSB for the first
time.
The Heath Kit "Lunch Box" rigs for 10, 6, and 2 meter AM also carried
an HW model designator, but most people referred to them simply as the
10ER, 6ER, and 2ER.
While not exactly a wonderful rig, a working Heath Kit 10ER is a good
find. The 6 and 2 meter models are much more plentiful.
Mike Duke, K5XU
American Council of Blind Radio Amateurs
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