Heathkit HW-101 - full restoration

This is a quick and dirty run-through of a full restoration of this classic transceiver. I’ll go through initial inspection through the various testing processes, final alignment and getting it on the air. This is geared toward hams with basic troubleshooting skills and a decent amount of patience, as these rigs can at times present a Gordian knot to unravel. This rig turned out to be well worth the effort, with fairly usual challenges and rock-solid output in the end. I won’t be using any complex testing equipment in this restoration, just a soldering iron, multimeter, old-school VTVM, an RF probe and a frequency counter. (The manual presents workarounds so that the latter three aren’t absolutely necessary, but they make life easier.) Links: HW-101 full manual (searchable): HW-101 service bulletins (searchable):