What to do with WILDLY modified HW-7
 

Hello all,

I have a HW-7 that I recently acquired on a whim - it's been HEAVILY
modified - RIT, CW filter, new front end on a home-built board, new
power connector (yucky one), and other little mods and extra parts inside
all over the place! And - you guessed it - it's stone cold dead. Any
thoughts I where to begin trouble shooting such a wreck? Or is it worth
even trying, given that most of the mods are on homemade boards with
no documentation - no idea if they ever even worked. I've thought about
just selling it again or ripping out everything and turning the case into a
home built receiver of another design or housing an SST-20 xcvr in it.

Suggestions?

Thanks,

Dave WB7AWK

What to do with WILDLY modified HW-7
 

In article ,
"Zommbee" wrote:

I have a HW-7 that I recently acquired on a whim - it's been HEAVILY
modified - RIT, CW filter, new front end on a home-built board, new
power connector (yucky one), and other little mods and extra parts inside
all over the place! And - you guessed it - it's stone cold dead. Any
thoughts I where to begin trouble shooting such a wreck? Or is it worth
even trying, given that most of the mods are on homemade boards with
no documentation - no idea if they ever even worked. I've thought about
just selling it again or ripping out everything and turning the case into a
home built receiver of another design or housing an SST-20 xcvr in it.

Suggestions?

Dave-

If I had such a kit and the original manual, I'd un-build it and start
the assembly process over again.

No, I don't want to buy yours! I already have an HW-7 that works.

Fred
K4DII

What to do with WILDLY modified HW-7
 

"Zommbee" wrote in message
. ..
Hello all,

I have a HW-7 that I recently acquired on a whim - it's been HEAVILY
modified - RIT, CW filter, new front end on a home-built board, new
power connector (yucky one), and other little mods and extra parts inside
all over the place! And - you guessed it - it's stone cold dead. Any
thoughts I where to begin trouble shooting such a wreck? Or is it worth
even trying, given that most of the mods are on homemade boards with
no documentation - no idea if they ever even worked. I've thought about
just selling it again or ripping out everything and turning the case into
a
home built receiver of another design or housing an SST-20 xcvr in it.

Suggestions?

Thanks,

Dave WB7AWK

You may wish to correspond with Mike Bryce, WB8VGE

He may have some ideas. too bad no one has offered new PC boards (FR-4
fiberglass and silk-screen for these old beasts - you could then rebuild
with new components and salvage specific parts (tuned transformers) from the
originals.

gb

What to do with WILDLY modified HW-7
 

If I had such a kit and the original manual, I'd un-build it and start
the assembly process over again.

Actually, that sounds like a very fun idea - strip the whole thing down,
saving the 'unique' parts - coils, switches, tuning cap, etc. and replace
the resistors and capacitors and just build it like a new kit! How fun
is that?

I have my plan! Thanks for the idea - don't know why it didn't occur
to me!

Dave WB7AWK

ps - and I even have the original manual from MY OWN HW-7 that
I got for Christmas in 1974 as a kid - long ago lost the rig but still
have the book.

What to do with WILDLY modified HW-7
 

Zommbee wrote:
Hello all,

I have a HW-7 that I recently acquired on a whim - it's been HEAVILY
modified - RIT, CW filter, new front end on a home-built board, new
power connector (yucky one), and other little mods and extra parts inside
all over the place! And - you guessed it - it's stone cold dead. Any
thoughts I where to begin trouble shooting such a wreck? Or is it worth
even trying, given that most of the mods are on homemade boards with
no documentation - no idea if they ever even worked. I've thought about
just selling it again or ripping out everything and turning the case into
a
home built receiver of another design or housing an SST-20 xcvr in it.

Suggestions?

Thanks,

Dave WB7AWK


Dave,

If I recall correctly, the receiver section in the HW-7 left much to be
desired (poor sensitivity & selectivity). So, from a functional standpoint,
it'd likely not be worth "unmodifrying". Unless you want to
reverse-engineer and repair what you have, you can look at it as a cabinet
with lots of parts in it. On the other hand, if you want to return it to
stock (for nostalgia purposes), maybe you can buy the manual from Fred! On
the topic of kits, I hear nothing but rave reviews of Elecraft's products.
Their K2 is a hot little rig and, I'd love to have one for myself.

73,
Bryan WA7PRC

What to do with WILDLY modified HW-7
 

"Bryan" ) writes:

If I recall correctly, the receiver section in the HW-7 left much to be
desired (poor sensitivity & selectivity). So, from a functional standpoint,
it'd likely not be worth "unmodifrying". Unless you want to
reverse-engineer and repair what you have, you can look at it as a cabinet
with lots of parts in it. On the other hand, if you want to return it to
stock (for nostalgia purposes), maybe you can buy the manual from Fred! On
the topic of kits, I hear nothing but rave reviews of Elecraft's products.
Their K2 is a hot little rig and, I'd love to have one for myself.


I figured his complaint was that it's a jumble of wires so he's not
sure what's in there.

But yes, given all the articles about modifying that rig at the time, his
modified HW-7 likely is a better reflection of the rig than one that matches
the way it was supposed to be put together.

It dates from a time when direct conversion receivers were seen as the New
Big Thing, but before anyone had really caught on about how to build a good
direct conversion receiver. A single mosfet mixer (I can't remember if there
was an RF preamplifier ahead of it) was pretty lousy in terms of a direct
conversion receiver. Oh, it likely did okay on SSB and CW, but it was lousy
at ignoring the other signals, which is why there were all those mods. There
was at least one article in QST where the receiver (either just the RF stages
or the whole thing) was replaced with a far better receiver board, using a
double balanced mixer.

It was akin to the Heathkit Lunchboxes, that were oh so common and did
their bit to populate six and two metres, but weren't very good for much
beyond local work, so they saw their share of mods too to get around the
basic limitations of the design. The fact that they were cheap, and I
seem to recall the HW-7 was relatively cheap too (certainly compared to
a transceiver with a superhet receiver), likely added to the mods,
because you wouldn't lose that much if you messed it up.

Of course, I am reminded of one receiver construction article in QST in
the late fifties or early sixties where the author started with a commercial
receiver kit, because it provided the chassis and tuning capacitors and
coils at a relatively low cost, and then built his own receiver around it.

Michael VE2BVW

What to do with WILDLY modified HW-7
 

It was akin to the Heathkit Lunchboxes, that were oh so common and did
their bit to populate six and two metres, but weren't very good for much
beyond local work, so they saw their share of mods too to get around the
basic limitations of the design. The fact that they were cheap, and I
seem to recall the HW-7 was relatively cheap too (certainly compared to
a transceiver with a superhet receiver), likely added to the mods,
because you wouldn't lose that much if you messed it up.


As one who built a HW-7 in 1975 (they were $69.95), I worked the world
on 20 and 15 with a 14AVQ. It is what it is. When they work well, they
work well. I have over 300 QSOs - many DX - using a HW-7 (sold it
a long time ago). It in no way equates to a 'modern rig' in any sense. But
as I said - I worked a ton of DX with it back in the late 70's and early
80's.

The one I just got is more than just a little modified - it's almost not
recognizable inside. I'm leaning more to calling it a nice cabinet into
which
to build a decent QRP transmitter with a VFO, and use my TS-440 to
receive. (or 'unbuild it and rebuild it - still haven't made up my mind).

The 'modifier' of this HW-7 may never have got these mods to work at
all! All I know is it is stone dead (with voltages all over the board, so I
know power isn't the issue).

Dave WB7AWK

What to do with WILDLY modified HW-7
 

Dave,

If it was mine, assuming that the cabinet and front panel were
in good original condition, I'd totally deconstruct it and
rebuild it back to stock condition. That should be relatively
easy since you have the manual. Someone commented that the
HW-7 has a lousy receiver. That's absolutely true. Compared
to an FTdx-9000 or IC-7800, it's laughable. However, over the
decades that the HW-7 has been around, thousands of hams have
made tens of thousands of successful QSOs with them, and many
continue to do so. It's a fun rig to play with. With that in
mind, it'd be worth my time to rebuild it. If nothing else,
it would be a nice project for those cold winter nights!

No, I don't want to buy it. I have my projects lined up...

73,
Dean K5DH


In article ,
says...

Hello all,

I have a HW-7 that I recently acquired on a whim - it's been HEAVILY
modified - RIT, CW filter, new front end on a home-built board, new
power connector (yucky one), and other little mods and extra parts insid
e
all over the place! And - you guessed it - it's stone cold dead. Any
thoughts I where to begin trouble shooting such a wreck? Or is it worth
even trying, given that most of the mods are on homemade boards with
no documentation - no idea if they ever even worked. I've thought about
just selling it again or ripping out everything and turning the case int
o a
home built receiver of another design or housing an SST-20 xcvr in it.

Suggestions?

Thanks,

Dave WB7AWK