Elecraft cannot and should not be compared to Heath.  Elecraft has technology 
far advanced from what Heath had to offer.  

The vaunted HW101 was for the most part crap!  Yes, I had one for years and it 
was the main rig.  When I saw the movie Frequency I about fell out of my seat 
laughing.  The unit in the movie did not have the cover on.  Mine didn't either 
because it always had to be tweaked  For the love of ham radio...the coils were 
all made out of paper...and any humidity or the lack there off....would through 
off the whole unit.  The paper would expand and contract and I had to fiddle 
with the tuning all the time.  The VFO was not that accurate but it was stable 
enough.  The SB series were better but not by much.

Heath got a start in electronic kits because they had a cheap reservoir of 
parts from WWII.  I loved my DX-40 but hated the darn VF-1.  Drift all over the 
place.  I rebuilt mine using better components (NPO Caps) and made sure I had a 
spare 6CL6 around.  I also had to regulate not only the screen (which is was 
anyway) but also the B+.  Don't even think of keying the VF-1...chirp, chirp, 
chirp.  The DX-40 was a work horse and a good transmitter.

Elecraft cannot even compared to the old Heath except to say they both were kit 
manufacturers.  I used a nice soldering station on the K2...I used by Dad's 
Weller soldering gun on the HW101. (The HW100 was even worse).  I also used the 
same soldering gun to put together dipole antenna.s

Technology has moved on...better parts...better designs...computers...etc.  You 
just cannot compare the two.  It is like comparing a little league team to the 
Yankees.

Heath had its place...and they tried to move into the market place to compete 
against Y, K, and I.  But, it just did not work...because of the quality issue.

Just my two cents....and have change too.

Lee - K0WA  :>)



In our day and age it seems that Common Sense is in short supply.  If you don't 
have any Common Sense - get some Common Sense and use it.  If you can't find 
any Common Sense, ask for help from somebody who has some Common Sense.  Is 
Common Sense divine?
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