I had never heard of this amplifier before: Heathkit SB-240. According to the seller's story, the product never made it to market and the amp being offered is a "proof build" before it would have gone into production.
I had never heard of this amplifier before: Heathkit SB-240. According to the seller's story, the product never made it to market and the amp being offered is a "proof build" before it would have gone into production.
Wow, that's quite a story, and it sure sounds and seems to be true. $2800 for it though. Maybe he should put it on Ebay.
He should ask 8 grand at least.
Yeah. Quite a story.
Paint me cynical; I'm not buying it (neither the story nor the amp) pending further proof. I've heard this story before...
Quite a few years ago, I saw something at Dayton that was billed as a "KWM-4" prototype. Looked like a KWM-2, all solid state, just smaller...
same story, allegedly an engineering prototype, one of only a handful, very rare... but no documentation to back it up, only a story. And it didn't make sense that it would have been developed before the 380-HF / KWM-380, but numbered after it.
I started asking some questions; the vendor told me that if I had to ask these questions, clearly I wasn't interested, so buzz off. Didn't have a camera with me, so I couldn't take a picture.
Anyway... if this amp is really this rare, it would be worth a HELL of a lot more than he's asking for it. And a true Heath collector/fanatic would have snapped it up at the asking price long before now.
“Nobody is going to feel sorry for us. 90% of the people don’t care, the other 10% are glad it happened.” — Clint Hurdle, 2019
BAN THE DH!
Fudd's First Law of Opposition: If you push something hard enough, it WILL fall down.
Teslacle's Deviant to Fudd's Law: It goes in, it must go out.
"The 2020 election wasn't stolen, and speaking the truth is only a crime in countries ruled by tyrants" - Liz Cheney
“Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Trump golfed.” — Bernie Sanders
Hmmm.
Here's a picture from LA6OP, who was also claiming, in 2006, that this is an SB-240 prototype: http://home.online.no/~sindtorp/sb240front.JPG
OK... so this is independent proof that the unit potentially exists. Potentially.
Further reading of THIS thread on RadioBanter: http://www.radiobanter.com/showthread.php?t=108608 indicates that there is some dispute as to whether this is a real radio prototype, or someone's kitbashed kludge. At least one poster claims that the "SB 240" had an 8873, not a pair of 3-500's.
Incidentally, it just struck me... LA6OP's unit matches the paint scheme of the SB-104, but this other one from KC8IV? Doesn't. Looks like one of the later units -- which would imply it was out AFTER the SB-1000 amp.
Or am I color blind?
Last edited by W3WN; 01-07-2013 at 08:54 PM.
“Nobody is going to feel sorry for us. 90% of the people don’t care, the other 10% are glad it happened.” — Clint Hurdle, 2019
BAN THE DH!
Fudd's First Law of Opposition: If you push something hard enough, it WILL fall down.
Teslacle's Deviant to Fudd's Law: It goes in, it must go out.
"The 2020 election wasn't stolen, and speaking the truth is only a crime in countries ruled by tyrants" - Liz Cheney
“Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Trump golfed.” — Bernie Sanders
It's difficult to tell from photographs but it looks like it might be a re-cased SB 220. Here is a shot of the innards of an SB-220:
And here is the one from the "SB 240" on QRZ:
Although they are not identical, there is a distinct resemblance.
Last edited by NQ6U; 01-07-2013 at 10:08 PM.
All the world’s a stage, but obviously the play is unrehearsed and everybody is ad-libbing his lines. Maybe that’s why it’s hard to tell if we’re living in a tragedy or a farce.
Anyone compare the metering system with that of an HL-2200?
"Everyone wants to be an AM Gangsta until it's time to start doing AM Gangsta shit."
Hello I am new to this list but when I read about the Heathkit SB240 amplifier , I joined to put in my 2 cents worth.
The same amp that you guys were talking about showed up in the latest QST.
Well I just want to straighten out a few questions and W3WN hit the nail on the head. The original SB240 was green just like the SB220 and matched the color of the SB104. I had an SB104 and could never keep finals in it.
Now the SB240 is an other animal I have one in service for 20years or more. It just keeps on working like it was new. I got mine from the Heatkit surplus store in Benton Harbor MI for next to nothing. I have a set of graphite anode Amperex 3-500 z's in it and this amp got me all the way to the DXCC #1 honor roll.
One nice thing about the amp is that Heathkit changed the input from the original SB220 to toroids which made it broadband enough to cover "all" HF bands from 80m to 10m. When I needed a little more power on 160, I modified my SB240 for 160. It does not look as pretty as the Amp in QST
(or pictures above) but then It has been used for a long time and was not in storage. I never had to do more than blowing out the dust, changing a few chokes, the output band switch wafers (like all SB220's), and filing off the plate capacitor to remove the molten metal after arcing. It's truly a remarkable Amp. Too bad that Heathkit did not put it into production.
I had mentioned the amp in my BIO in QRZ bur never posted any pictures but I think if I ever get my ham shack cleaned up , I will take some pictures to post.
Juergen N9RD
Juergen,Originally Posted by N9RD
On behalf of the multitude, Welcome to the Island! Don't forget to let the barkeep know your first one is on my tab.
I was a little floored when I saw that article the other day in QST. This is indeed amongst the rarest of rare birds out there.
Out of curiousity, how did you get yours? The story is that only 10 protoypes were actually built before the company pulled the plug on the project, and allegedly only 3 survive to this day... which would imply yours, LA6OP's, and the one in the article are those three. Might be an interesting story...
...and I'm always looking for newsletter fodder... :twisted:
“Nobody is going to feel sorry for us. 90% of the people don’t care, the other 10% are glad it happened.” — Clint Hurdle, 2019
BAN THE DH!
Fudd's First Law of Opposition: If you push something hard enough, it WILL fall down.
Teslacle's Deviant to Fudd's Law: It goes in, it must go out.
"The 2020 election wasn't stolen, and speaking the truth is only a crime in countries ruled by tyrants" - Liz Cheney
“Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Trump golfed.” — Bernie Sanders
Thanks for the welcome to the Island , I will certainly enjoy the first one !
Well I am not sure about the survival story that only 3 made it. Mine may be #4 ?????, no one ever contacted me about mine so they probably don't even know about me. I am not that famous but I will let the QST editor know. As I mentioned above, it came from the Heathkit surplus store at the factory.
We are only 50 miles from Benton Harbor, MI and some hams went up there every Saturday. A friend of mine picked up (2) SB240A's which he peddled I ended up with one all it needed was the tubes. I don't know about the 2nd unit It may have been scrapped or is still around here somewhere but I never heard about it. At least I dont think that it is on the air. I am not even sure when it was 20-25 Years ago ???? Heathkit was selling all kinds of stuff at that time , parts, prototypes etc. One thing I know I will not part with it... BTW just worked Spratley island 9M4SLL on 20m RTTY with it. Could never have done it without my SB-240A
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