HW-16 Restoration Complete

I've finished restoration of the Heathkit HW-16 transceiver. It needed the power supply caps and resistors replaced (a couple of the resistors were open). A cap kit from HaySeed HamFest Co. did the trick.

The 6GE5 final tube also had an open filament and needed to be replaced. The last problem was an open RF choke which I was able to fix. After doing the alignment, the receive and transmit functions are working fine. I even hooked it up to my HG-10 and confirmed that it works using an external VFO.

The only remaining task is to possibly get a vinyl overlay to replace the front panel. Hayseed Hamfest is not currently manufacturing them but is planning to resume soon.

I'm currently making a YouTube video that will show the unit operating and discuss the restoration in more details. I'll post a link here when it is available. Update: The Youtube video can now be found here.

Heathkit HW-16 Restoration

My next restoration project is a Heathkit HW-16 transceiver. This is a CW (Morse code) only transceiver made from 1967-1976 by Heathkit. It puts out about 90 Watts of power on the 80, 40, and 15 meter amateur radio bands. The transmitter is crystal controlled but supports the HG-10 external VFO.

Front View of Radio as Received

The unit I bought on ebay is in reasonably good shape. It has some rust, and is not working. Early indications are that has some open resistors in the power supply, which is very common for these units.

Rear View

So far I have done some cleaning and initial inspection. I will be replacing the power supply filter capacitors and resistors using a kit from Hayseed Hamfest. It also appears to have a bad transmitter final tube, so I will need to order one of those (they are available from some tube suppliers and ebay).

Top View With Cover Removed

I also plan to replace the rusted front panel with a vinyl overlay from Hayseed Hamfest.

Chassis After Some Cleaning

I'll report more here as the restoration proceeds.