On Fri, 23 May 2008, Tim Shoppa wrote:

I actually like the HW-100, R-390A, etc., but I've always claimed
green to be my favorite color :-). Having a big metal panel up front
with knobs etc. is good.

But my favorite of all, by a very large margin, are the Heathkit
Mohawk and Marauder. Huge chrome knobs, big green panel.

You think "huge chrome knobs" will get filtered out by any anti-porn
filters? :-).

But their whole line at that point had big chrome knobs. There was
that VHF AM transceiver, I can't remember if it was only 2meters or
included 6 meters, that had a tuneable reciver and tuneable transmitter.
I remember one article decades later that basically said "this is a thing
of beauty, it's also completely useless at this point" right before he
described how to convert it to FM.

I seem to recall, but can't remember their names, that there was even a
mobile pair for HF, though I'm sure it was AM.

There was also a six meter phasing SSB rig in that chrome era.

Even their first transistorized portable shorwave receiver, circa 1961, I
think was part of the chrome wave.

Heath tended to redo their line every so many years, the technical specs
not changing that much while the external looks did. The chrome SSB
design was the same basic design for the SB line that followed.

Michael VE2BVW