Note
The SS-9000, a fully assembled product, began life as the SS-8000, a kit-form product.
Development of the SS-8000 began in the mid 70s but in 1980, on the verge of shipping, it became clear that the rig was far too complicated for the average ham to successfully assemble and align. Heath decided to redesign the SS-8000 for sale as a fully assembled and tested product, a process that took another two years—and at least another million dollars.
The SS-9000 finally shipped in November 1982. The computer-controllable rig performed well and was loaded with just about every bell and whistle imaginable at the time. It was advertised as “a transceiver so feature-conscious, it has no options.”
The microprocessor controlled SS-9000 features coverage from 160 to 10-meters, including the WARC bands and WWV at 15 MHz. The rig runs about 100 watts SSB PEP, about 100 watts CW and RTTY, and tunes in 100 Hz steps (5 kHz per dial revolution). Operation includes split transmit/receive or transceive from two VFOs, each with its own display. Stability is about 3 ppm from a cold start.
Other features include full SWR protection, 27 frequency memories (3 per band); a built-in terminal interface (DTE) for full control from a terminal, computer or remote control via modem; push-button frequency slewing; PTT/VOX, RIT; adjustable speech processing; bandpass shift; a noise blanker; fast/slow/off ACG; 400 and 200 Hz CW filters; and a four-function meter.
The SS-9000 can also provide for automatic operation of the SA-1480 remote coax switch (page n-nn), and the SA-2500 antenna tuner (page n-nn), but not both simultaneously. Either of these devices may be connected to the a 9-pin socket on the antenna switch motor housing of the SS-9000. In the SS-9000 user manual this connector is referred to as the remote coax switch socket and makes no reference to the antenna tuner. This is because the antenna tuner was released two years after the SS-9000.
Rear panel connectors and controls include an SO-239 RF antenna connector, linear ALC in, linear ALC adjust, low power enable, five spares, DC power in, CW key jack, external transmit audio in, speaker, external receiver audio, T/R in, T/R out, mute, mute prime, external relay (for a linear), and an RS-232 port.
The large box attached to the rear panel contains a motor to accomplish band switching via remote control, as from a computer.
The power supply (PS-9000) was listed separately but was almost always offered with the transceiver in a package deal. The power supply features a speaker and a digital clock with two readouts (for GMT and local, for example).
The SS-8000/9000 project cost Heath in excess of $3,000,000 and in the end the rig was much too expensive. Although the SS-9000 worked well, its high price tag combined with savage competition drove it off the market in less than two years. Heath cut its losses and blew out its remaining stock at huge discounts. Only about 2000 were ever sold. The SS-9000 and its lower-cost companion, the HW-5400, were the last big rigs Heath ever made. Get the book—you’ll need it.
References:
Review. Ham Radio. Nov 1982, p. 12
Review. QST. Feb 1984, p. 41.
Review. CQ. Feb 1984, p. 18.
TRANSMITTER SECTION
RF power output:
SSB: 100 watts PEP
CW and RTTY: 100 watts
Duty cycle (key down): Note: automatic power reduction enabled by internal thermal sensor
100 watts: 0 minutes
80 watts: 3 minutes
60 watts: 10 minutes
40 watts: unlimited
Load impedance: 50Ω
SWR: stable at any SWR and load impedance. SWR cutback circuit guarantees at least 80% of rated power with any SWR less than 2:1, and a minimum of 15 watts at any SWR.
Carrier suppression 50 db down from a 100 watt, single-tone (1000 Hz) output
Unwanted sideband suppression: 55 db down from a 100 watt, single-tone (1000 Hz) output
Harmonic radiation: 50 db down below 50 MHz; 65 db down above 50 MHz
Spurious radiation: 50 db down except 17 meters (40 db down)
Third order distortion: 30 db down from a 100 watt two-tone output
T/R operation:
SSB: PTT and VOX
CW: semi break-in
Sidetone: 800 Hz, adjustable level
Mic input: high impedance (25kΩ) with a rating of –55 dbm
RECEIVER SECTION
Sensitivity: 0.3 µV for 10 db signal-to-noise plus noise, 40-10 meters; 0.5 µV for 160 and 80 meters
Selectivity:
SSB: 2.1 kHz at 6 db down; 5 kHz at 60 db down
CW (medium): 400 Hz at 6 db down; 1.5 kHz at 60 db down
CW (narrow): 200 Hz at 6 db down; 1 kHz at 60 db down
Overall gain: less that 1 µV for a 0.25 watt audio output
Audio output: 1.5 watts into 4Ω at less than 10% THD
AGC: fast attack, with selectable off, fast and slow decay
Intermodulation distortion 20 kHz spacing: –70 db
Image rejection: –80 db (except –65 on 17 and 12 meters)
First IF: 9 MHz
Second IF: 3395 kHz
Second IF rejection: –90 db
First IF rejection: –80 db (except –60 db on 40 and 30 meters)
Internally generated spurious signals: general below noise level, all below 1 µV equivalent
RIT: ±250 Hz
GENERAL
Frequency readout: two 6-digit vacuum fluorescent displays
Readout accuracy: 100 Hz
Tuning: 100 Hz per step, 5 kHz per knob revolution; pushbutton for up/down tuning, rate internally adjustable
Operation: split transmit/receive or transceive from either readout
Frequency coverage (MHz):
1.8 to 2.0
3.5 to 4.0
7.0 to 7.3
10.1 to 10.15
14.0 to 14.350
18.068 to 18.168
21.0 to 21.450
24.89 to 24.99
28.0 to 29.7
WWW at 15.0
Frequency stability: less than 3 ppm drift from power on for first 15 minutes; less than 3 ppm after 15 minutes on; less than 20 ppm drift from 0 to 40C
Modes: USB, LSB, CW wide, CW medium, CW narrow, RTTY
Operating temperature range: 0 to 40C
IF shift: incremental plus and minus passband shift (–600, –400, –200, –100, 0, +100, +200, +400 Hz) in SSB modes
Power requirements: 11 to 16 VDC (13.8 nominal), 25 amps key down, receive current about 2 amps
Photos, general information and specifications from "Heathkit: A Guide to the Amateur Radio Products," by Chuck Penson, WA7ZZE. Used with permission.
