Note
The HW-2026 was Heath’s disastrous first attempt at frequency synthesis and the company's only product recall. It was on the market only briefly, from Christmas ’75 through the winter of ’76, and did not appear in the Spring 1976 catalog.
The transceiver was designed to cover any 2 MHz segment of the band between 144.0 and 147.995 in 5 kHz steps by dialing the frequency from lever switches on the front panel. Specifications are similar to the HW-202.
The major problem with the 2026 is related to spurious emissions. It had a large number of spurs at levels high enough to bring up repeaters all over town. Heath’s engineers discovered that a quick fix was not in the cards and pulled the unit from the market.
Owners were offered their money back or credit toward another kit. Some owners who didn’t have any trouble (as far as they knew) kept the rigs, and those are all that remain today. For this reason the HW-2026 is exceptionally rare.
The transceiver is cosmetically similar to the HW-2036(A). The only major difference is in the toggle switches below the frequency lever switches. In the HW-2036(A) these were replaced by rotary switches.
The HW-2026 features a built-in tone burst encoder (1800-2500 Hz, 600 Hz deviation, selectable during construction) or continuous tone encoder (70-200 Hz, 700 Hz deviation, selectable during construction). The transmitter has an offset selection of 0 or –600 kHz and one auxiliary. Transmitter deviation is adjustable from 0 to 7.5 kHz. T
There are two front panel LEDs. One lights when the squelch opens, indicating “channel busy,” and the other lights when the synthesizer is locked on frequency. In normal operation this second LED should light briefly whenever you key the mic, unless you are outside the range the unit has been tuned for or unless you are outside the band.
The Turner 360C microphone is hard-wired. The two-tone green cabinet with chrome trim matches the HW-202.
Receiver sensitivity: 0.5 µV.
Bandwidth: 15 kHz at 6 dB.
Receiver birdies: less than 1.0 µV equivalent except at 146.87, 146.90, 147.46, 147.53, and 147.80. Birdies at these frequencies are greater than 1.0 µV equivalent.
Power requirements: 12.6 to 16 VDC at 700 mA squelched, 2.5 amps transmitting
Photos, general information and specifications from "Heathkit: A Guide to the Amateur Radio Products," by Chuck Penson, WA7ZZE. Used with permission.