A labor of love to be sure. Thank you for your explanation of the mods & rebuild technique. A Hell of a nice job, & a significantly better radio than the original. Well Done !!
Hi George, That sure is a beautiful looking rig I like the grey and blue paint combinationI It really makes it look like an expensive rig unlike the CB looking color combo that Heath perferred.I owned a few of the older gray rigs when I first got into amateur radio but moved onto mostly Hallicrafters gear. Heath made some very good equipment but was always open for improvements and yours tops most that I have seen. Thanks for the video and sharing,73 Gene.
Thank you for sharing. I know it is best to be original, but sometimes that just is not possible because parts to do so are not available, or something is so far gone that it is better to combine with something more modern to make it functional as opposed to it going in the garbage. The worst possible thing is when things end up scrapped or in the garbage. I like what you did with this unit, and there is nothing wrong with combining different kinds of components to make something work. I have even taken this to the extreme at times by using a string of light-bulbs as a current limiter/ regulator for high voltage AC. There is really no easier way to do things sometimes than combine old and newer technologies. Tubes are great for some things, but impractical to use as part of a digital computer for example in anything other than a display. I know it is possible to use tubes, photo resistors, neon bulbs and such to make a frequency counter. That is because they were once made that way. Now days getting things and either fixing them or fixing things that we have with what is available is the best way to go. I have thought about taking a transceiver such as what you have there and adding a digital display along with phase locked loop to get it to lock onto a signial and not loose it as the transmitter is moving in respect to the reciever, or keeping tuned into a signal as a recover is heating up. Also phase locked loop is good for keeping Uncle Charlie away from giving us problems by staying on frequency. There are things that are hard to do with anything other than tubes as you know, such as reliability when there is an SWR mismatch, or a lightning strike close by taking out the front end of the radio part. Tubes can take a few hundred volts on the input and survive, where a transistor or IC will explode, that is if it just does not just short circuit first. I grew up around tube radios, TV, and so forth. Built my own things from scratch at times. Glad to see that you made the best of that transceiver, as you can make use of it and besides in the grand scheme of things that is what really matters. The thing that got me interested in electronics, computers and more is the ability to make things do what I want them to do. Things that often were overlooked in the original design. When the dial indicator is so far gone that it really is not fixable, a digital readout is the best way to go. You did great, as you saved a piece of gear from the trash, and that is something I see as the worst thing to happen with things. Everyone looses out when things that are usable are thrown away, and the more things that can be saved and if not used exactly original at least modified where it is usable.
Thanks very much for taking the time to comment. It's always nice when someone can appreciate the time and effort to complete a project I've done. If this radio had been in better condition when I bought it, I would have tried to rebuild as much as possible in its original configuration.
Beautiful job, that would look great next to my SB200 linear. Time to visit some rallies I think. Bringing something back from near-dead to shiny and new like that is very satisfying. 73 de Perry
Hello there , i love the repairs you have done on this radio to make it so much better. I am a licensed ham and love old radios. The digital display makes this unit look so nice. A great project radio for sure. Thanks for sharing. 73s VE3NCV , Canada
I love this rig wish I had the expertise to be able to upgrade my twin sb-301 and sb-401 like that. This is way to cool. Great work keeping these old rigs on the air. 73s Shane kk4kkx
Thanks Shane. The 301 and 401 would be great rigs to refurbish. They are excellent performers as is, but with some modern components added would be even better. It's nice to know others enjoy these old radios too. 73 George
I really enjoyed seeing your videos of the modifications you did on your SB-102. I bought one as nonworking and plan to go over everything and get it running again. It looks in good shape except for the tuning display. The plastic is all cracked up and I haven't found a replacement. I think your digital display is the best solution for me too. I'd like to do most of the same things you did on my radio too. Maybe it will make a nice winter project for next winter. I don't have my amateur radio license yet, so there's no rush.
Thanks, Chip. If you search on Google and eBay you can find those replacement parts. A couple of small companies are making the difficult to find parts that seem to fail eventually. Taking your time will yield a nice-looking and working rig. Good luck.
@@ks1u thank you. That's what I aim to do, take my time. I'll try to keep everything as neat and tidy as I can. Someone did a nice job of building it. It looks really nice inside and out.
@@ks1u I just search online for the DFD2 display like yours and it said that Neil Hecht, the producer of those displays, died back in Aug of 2015. All of his products are no longer in production. I guess if I want one I'll have to start from scratch...
@@chipwright6193 I don't recall where I saw it, but I'm sure that there are other kits out there that provide the same performance. It may have been on one of the github files. Another option would be to replace the vfo with something like the one available at: www.wa1ffl.com
Jim, if the Swan has a 5.5 MHz VFO, it should work fine. You may have to play around with capacitor values. You may also have to experiment with where you tap into the BFO and oscillator to get the other signals. It's not a guaranteed plug and play, but it's definitely possible with a little playing around. If you have a kit from Almost All Digital Electronics, there is info on their website which should help. I reduced capacitor values to the lowest levels which gave good perfirmance.
Hi Charlie and thanks for the comments. The original was in such bad shape, I scraped it down and repainted it, then sent it to a guy in NC who had a silkscreen made for this model. It's identical to the original Heath lettering, except for a couple additions I made for RIT and 14/15 MHz switch. 73 George
Inspiring! Question about the power supply - Did that one have the tube rectifier? If so, did you replace it with diodes? I've always wondered if that would be an easy improvement. Would certainly cut down the heat.
I bought a frequency meter to modify my SB 102 but it needs a attention and possible recap and checkout on resistors - I've some of them althered when I had it by gift and a ceramic capacitor of coupling to final was with fail isolation, causing fuse blows up.even at reception... It is out of attention for aprox 5 years, needs to swap those rubber rings on final adjusts too...
Yes, the radio still works fine. I keep it packed away since I now have limited space in my home, but occasionally dig it out and fire it up. If I were to do it again, I'd probably be able to replace the entire vfo with a digital unit, but other than that I'd do things very close to the original build.
Unfortunately, the guy who did the silk screening for me stopped doing it a few years ago. If you have a T shirt shop near you they might be able to make a screen if the faceplate you have has most of the lettering in place. Mine was so far gone I had to sand down the faceplate to smooth the gouges.
My notes are packed away in the basement "somewhere". Fortunately, there's a guy on eBay selling newly manufactured front panels. All the other parts are still available online, mostly on eBay. If you stick with the analog readout, it will be a much simpler project and only require you to upgrade the resistors and caps. There's also another YoutTube video which goes over the making of a Teflon harness: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-C5YooZjfEG0.html
Hi George. Do you have any details that you would share on what you did to your SB102? I am really interested in the front panel and the frequency display. My Front panel is in bad shape and I want to restore mine. Thanks Bruce AA4BR
Hi Bruce. Unfortunately, since I did this rebuild close to 15 years ago, the guys who did the silkscreen for the panel and the digital display are not doing either project anymore. I did just buy a new overlay for the front panel of an SB220 amp off of a guy on eBay, so maybe a search there will lead to a replacement for the SB102. There are also occasional front panels sold on eBay as well. Sorry, I can't be of more help.
