Unbuilt HW-101 and HP-23C

[w8khk]

I have a dilemma.....

I have been sitting on a couple Heathkits for many years.  Neither one works, because they have never been assembled.  Stored in the shipping boxes for 33 years since I moved to the current QTH.  I cannot recall how long I had them before moving to Georgia.

Other than faded and discolored shipping boxes, they are both NOS in excellent condition.

What to do with them?  They are not made for AM.  The tuning and frequency readout is rather awkward and undesirable.  I have seen cases where the oscillator has been replaced with a DDS and digital display, and they can be made to work as a low-power AM rig if the filter and ALC are bypassed.   It would probably not be wise to assemble using the 50-plus year old resistors and capacitors, but you never know. 

Are these things worth anything on the market today?  I suppose they would quickly lose their appeal and value if someone were to assemble them.  On the other hand, they might be just the thing for someone getting started and wanting the "kit experience".

Should I consider listing them on QRZ or the bay?  Or just solder them together and use them?  I have never assembled a kit before.  Always scratch-built.  Might be fun.  And it might be a big mistake.  Open for suggestions.   Opinions, anyone?

[KB2WIG]

Sell !

      Sell !

            Sell!

These are even better than the disassembled  and ready to assemble lGreifkits.

klc

[W1ITT]

Unless you want to relive those thrilling days of yesteryear by building it, I'd say sell it.    The HW101 is a child of the Seventies and, back then, it got a lot of guys on SSB for relatively small money.  But its capabilities are modest by today's standards.  Those phenolic boards and the cheesy tube sockets and dried up capacitors and aged resistors will need to be examined, if not changed out. 
The trouble with most of us is that we are getting too darn old.  These 50-plus year old radios mean something to some of us, but a common theme lately seems to be "old guys thinning out the shelves" and getting rid of stuff.  And, sadly, the market is getting smaller.  Supply and demand being what it is, we are going to have a tough time selling these blasts from the past unless we can find a "greater fool".  (Ordinarily, fools seem to be in good supply, except when you want to sell something...)  A few years back I had a tough time getting $2K for a nice set of Gold Dust Twins, as a for instance.
Maybe there's a guy out there who lusted for a HW101 as a young lad and wants to revisit his lost youth.  Yes, it's a nice rare find, but rare may well not translate into dollars enough to warrant shipping it off to someone.  But sell it if you can.  For all of us hams, there will always be some other shiny object to catch our attention and gobble up whatever cash you may derive from the sale!
73 de Norm  W1ITT

[Detroit47]

Take the pair and take lots of pictures. Put them on Ebay for 1000.00 buy it now. Put all sorts of pretty pictures on the auction. Write it up as rare unbuilt never gonna see another one and bide your time. Some one will offer you 900 bucks and be happy. It may take a couple of weeks to sell but be patient. As the saying goes there is a sucker born every minute.

Johnathan N8QPC

[W4EWH]

I have been sitting on a couple Heathkits for many years.  Neither one works, because they have never been assembled.  Stored in the shipping boxes for 33 years since I moved to the current QTH.  I cannot recall how long I had them before moving to Georgia.

As others have pointed out, the archeological value of those boxes and their contents far exceeds any value they might have once those kits are assembled.

Of course, as has also been pointed out, we're all older now, and not as much in need of shiny things, nor as eager to prove we can build something to be a "real ham," like the olde buzzzards that gave us our Novice tests told us "real hams" had to do. Times have changed, and so has my eyeglass prescription: the thought of building an HW-101 makes me sad, to think of how nice and interesting and fun it would have been - oh, it seems like yesterday.

You may do better by getting them appraised as antiques, and then donating them to a science museum.

FWIW. YMMV.

Bill, W4EWH

[KA8WTK]

 As others have said, the un-built kit is worth a lot of money. I find that interesting and sad. I used to drool over the Heathkit catalogs back in the 60's and building those kits was a dream when I was a youngster. I later did build some of their kits, but we will never get the chance to build something like this again. Technology has moved on. My SB series equipment only gets used for local nets these days. Too bad.

Bill KA8WTK 

[Opcom]

As you said, these are not an AM product. If you don't want to build and use it as an SSB rig, then certainly hype & sell on eBay and make some collector who will appreciate it in its curent state very happy! I will say this - I got one on a trade and I thougth it was a very good SSB receiver (TX did not work). -but I am no judge of SSB boxes. Sell high and often. It is quite rare!

[Jim/WA2MER]

If you re-read your original post I think you'll find your answer. "They are not made for AM. The tuning and frequency readout is rather awkward and undesirable." How about, "It would probably not be wise to assemble using the 50-plus year old resistors and capacitors..."

I don't think a kilobuck is out of the range of possibility for an unbuilt Heathkit transceiver. If you build it you'll have the only $1000 HW-101 in existence. If you wanted to experience the shortcomings of an HW-101 you would probably have one already. If by some chance you decide that you do want one then sell the unbuilt kit, buy an HW-101 somewhere for $150, buy a modern kit if you want to experience the fun of kit building, and pocket the remainder.

[w8khk]

Thanks to all for the suggestions. 

I really have no desire to build the kit, so it will probably go on the bay in the near future.

I also need to start tailgating at the festers to thin the herd, and quit looking for bargains!

With many shelves filled to excess here, I am occasionally able to help those who post in the wanted section of AMfone.

[nq5t]

I also need to …. quit looking for bargains!

I think this is a disease that affects many of us.  After unloading almost all of my iron collection a few years ago, I recently acquired what I think is my 3rd Drake 2-B.  I don't know why.  I still have a couple of much heavier receivers.  But it was in pretty shape, the price was right, and it was always one of my favorites.  Still don't know what I'm going to do with it other than look at it.

But I have a different view of the HW-101 than most perhaps.  If I owned the unbuilt kit, I think I'd go the route of replacing all the carbon comps and electrolytics, probably replace some of the internal controls with multi-turn trimpots, enjoy a couple of leisurely weeks building it, and then decide what to do with it.  I know it's worth more sold in the box, but what fun is that?  Probably a lot more fun than dropping money on a cruise ship for a fleeting few days over-eating and fighting for standing room only space in the pool :-)

[w8khk]

Grant, that Drake 2B was a nice receiver, lots of performance in a compact, light weight package.   I long lusted after a National NC-101X and am now in the process of restoring one.

I had similar thoughts about building the kit.  There are not that many electrolytic capacitors in it, and the resistors are very inexpensive.  I have an SB-101 and an SB-102, but both need a good bit of attention.  The rotary switches seem to collect a good bit of tarnish and corrosion over the years, and are very unreliable.  The parts in the HW-101 kit were packed in a paper that resists tarnish, and the rotary switch wafers appear to be like brand new.

When you consider the cost of components today, such as transformers from Hammond, and all the tubes in that rig, a figure of around 1000 2021 dollars is not all that unreasonable to get such a kit to put together instead of store as a box of classic parts on a shelf.  

If a DDS VFO with a graphic display were added, it would be a pretty slick little rig, tolerant of reasonable SWR without the need for an antenna tuner.  Maybe like this one:  (photo snip attached).
https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/yet-another-digital-vfo-project.744782/

Actually, the graphical DDS display would look better on the HW panel than it would in the SB series product.  With a bit of programming effort, the DDS could also generate the carrier and heterodyne signals, eliminating all the crystal oscillators.  Strap on a small GPS module and the calibration oscillator would be eliminated.  This could really be a fun platform for melding the later technology with the older, albeit all new (NOS) components.  I will have to give it some serious thought.  So there is still a slight possibility that I might take the plunge into a $1000 kit experience.  Certainly less expensive than some of the offerings at HRO, and more healthy than a cruise!

I appreciate your comments and point of view.  

Now on to the Dalton GA hamfest this coming Saturday to collect even more unnecessary toys!

[SV8ZZ]

Hi,
do you still have the KIT ?
I would be interested to buy it.
regards,
73de sv8zz
Vasileios

[w8khk]

No, Vasileios,  I am sorry to say I no longer have the transceiver or power supply kits. 

I purchased new capacitors and resistors to make the kit build viable.  The rotary switches were packed in some form of paper that prevented the contacts from tarnishing, so they were fine for their age.  The tubes all tested fine, so vacuum was apparently still OK.

I gave both kits to a younger person interested in electronics and ham radio.  I felt that was a more noble gesture than trying to make a buck out of something that cost me very little back in the day.

I hope you find something that meets your desires to build.

[KD6VXI]

Morons pay thousands of dollars for inbuilt Heathkit stuff on eBay.

Amortize it.  Is the money worth more than the kit building experience or vice versa.  If you feel it's a toss up, then do you think someone else would get more enjoyment out of building it than you?

Then you have your answer.

And judging by the amount of, and the quality of, the items you've built, I'd expect to see them on eBay soon.

Just my buck three eighty.

--Shane
WP2ASS / ex KD6VXI