Heathkit HW-8 CW Transceiver

In the 1970s, Heathkit discovered the QRP market that TenTec had pioneered. TenTec had their Argonaut($280), and Heath introduced the 3 band HW-7($79.95). It was plagued with problems, but worked well enough.

The HW-8 was a totally different design from the HW-7. The radio works as well today as it did when introduced 20 years ago($129).

It has an FET R-F Amplifier, product detector, active audio filter, sidetone, and covered the lower 250kc of 80/40/20 and 15 meters. Keying is a VOX type, with a harsh sounding CW signal and almost QSK at slow speeds.

Power output is about 2 watts on 80 & 40, with 1.5 or so on 20 & 15 meters. At 12 volts DC, the RX current is about 85 ma, and on TX, 450 ma. The matching HW-7-1 power supply can supply 13.8 VDC at 600 ma, and has about 5% voltage regulation. The HW-8's RX sounds cleaner with a battery power source.

The receiver sensitivity on 80/40/20 is about .3 mv, with less sensitivity on 15 meters. The audio filter is helpful, and medium impeadance headphones are best.

It has a relative power output meter on the front panel, and push-button band-switching. One large PC board contains most of the circuitry. The Cabinet is made of sturdy aluminum and easily opens for repairs or modifications.

The HW-8 is a QRP Classic, with much written about it. There is the HW-8 Handbook(covering HW 7/8/9) and many magazine articles covering many simple modifications that make a good radio great. They appear less frequently at Ham-Swaps, and are often hard to find.

Last Updated: January 20, 2009

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