The GU-1820 AC Generator - Nostalgic Kits Central

John Ack ermann AG9V/17j Mag,lLInt> SlallThe GU-1820 Ac Generator-100 pounds of portable power from HeathAmajor problem in anyemergency planning orField Day preparation alwaysseems to be finding agenerator. Most commercially-availablegas generatorsare either too large ortoo expensive to be practicalfor most hams to own.Find ing a generator to borrowo r rent isn't alwayseasy, either. Now Heathknthas helped to so lvethis problem with the introductionof t he Heath-Wattportable generator.The Heath-Watt uses afive-horsepower fou r-cycleengine to drive a ge neratorcapable of provid ing 2200Watts of conti nuous acpower. This is more tha nample to power, fo r example,a complete two-transmitterField-Day operationif linears aren't used.The only assembly involvesmounting the engineto the main frame and assembling and mo unting thegenerator itself to t h a tframe. When the packagescontaining the kit arrived atthe 73 ham shack, the question arose as to who shouldput it together. I am fa irlyhandy with a soldering iron,bu t it is widely known that Iam dangerous wit h a socketwrench in ha nd . It wastherefore decided t hat Ishou ld be the kit builder ­the othe rs fe lt that if I coulddo it, anyone cou ld!Well, I did it. The totalassembly time was aboutsix hours, although thattime included several de-­lays for rag chews, refreshments,and snide commentsfrom the more mechanically-adeptmembers of thestaff. This wa s not, however,the most enjoyabletime I have had putti ng aHeathkit together.I've always had a suspicionthat the Heath techmcalwriters a re at their bestwhen describing electronicassembly and not so ho t onmechani cal steps. This kitseems to prove that hunchcorrect. Don 't get me wrong- if yo u fo llow the manual,yo u will end up with a workinggenerator, but I feel theinstructions are not as clearand st ra ightfo rward as I'vecome to expect fr omHeath. Part of the problemis that the terminology ofgenerators is not as familiarto mo st of us as is the languageof electronic ronstruction.I found that fre-­quent reference to the pictorialsboth fo r parts identificationand fo r an understandingof what each stepentailed was nece ssa ry.Cons t ruction of theHeath-Watt itself presentedfew problems. The only realdifficulty encountered wasin fo rcing a bear ing into theend casing of the generator.Heath prov ides a woodendowel to use with a hammerto dr ive in the bearing,and the instruct ions notetha t " it may be necessary tost ri ke the wood beari ngd river with considerableforce to seat the bearingpro perly." The instructionsare correct on that point. Ittoo k such " co ns ide rableforce" to d rive the bearingin that the wood dowel spli tin half long before it wa sseated properly.In fact we never couldget the bearing in flu sh withthe end casing and, as aresult a plastic bracket thatmounts over the bearingended up with a sli ght bow.This p roblem ca used ussome concern, but did notappear to affect the perfor-Heath 's GU-1820 ac generator.Continued on page 5142 73 Magazine . October, 1981

time you operate SS6 withthe delay switch in the FMposition!The 61016 can draw over20 Amps of power (it's fu sedfor 35) at 13.6 volts de, socare should be taken inchoosing a power supply.For a VHF contest weekend,I used a hefty Astran RS­35M supply, rated at 20Amps continuous duty, andit barely got warm. The heatsink on the amplifier itse lfgets pretty hot after threeor four hours of screaming"CQ contest" into the microphone,but at no timedid I cause the temperature-sensingprotective circuitryto cycle. At 170 0 F., athermostat shuts t he amplifieroff, and doesn't returnit to normal operation unti lthe temperature drops to140 0 F.Who Needs 160 Watts?Even in the flatlands ofthe midwest, a powerfulamplifier is useful for FMoperation. It is comfortingto know you have an extramargin of power when mobilingat the fringe of a repeater'scoverage area, andit's a pleasure to carry onsimplex conversations overd istances that would normallyrequire a repeater.Nevertheless, two-meterSSB is where the 61016 reallyshines. You haven't livedBottom view of the Mirage B1016.until you've worked sometwo-meter SS6 OX, and the61016 will allow you to doit on a regular basis! Formore information, contactMirage CommunicationsEquipment, Inc. , PO Box13 93, Gilroy CA 95020.Reader Service number488.•GU·1820 from page 42mance of the generator. Asuggest ion to Heath: Eithermanufacture the metalparts with slightly greatertole rances o r provide thebearing al ready pressed intoplace.After assembly and fue l­ing, the gang stood backa nd held its col lectivebreath while the starterord was pu lled for the firstime. The e ngine startedb eaut ifu lly, and the lightbulb connected to the outputlit just as Heath said itwould. After letti ng the enginerun long enough tomake reaso nably su re thatthe mechanical parts wereHark ing correctly, wehooked the output (through:I step-down transformer) toan oscilloscope to have aoak at the waveform. Itfefinitelv wasn't as clean as:he mains, but the frequencvwas very close to 60 Hzand the line voltage was-ight on the money at 117.After ensuring that it was.afe to connect equipment:0 the output, we hookedrp a transceiver to see how:he Heath-Watt would do atrrovtdmg useful power. It:lid very well. The TS-530S'an just as it did when contectedto New Hampshire'ubltc Service. The nicestnews of all was that the receiversuffered no interferenceat all from the generator-itwas just as quiet aswhen runn ing from t hemains.The generator's fi rst realtest came a few weeks laterat the 13 ga ng's Field-Daysite, where it was the salesource of power for ourclass 2A station , The Heath­Watt ra n flaw lessly for wellover 24 hours and, althoug hit was possible to tell by thesound of t he eng ine wh en arig was keyed, it handledthe load of two transceivers,assorted kevers. li ghts,and rotors with no tro ublewhatsoever.As generators go, t heHeath-Watt was ratherquiet. We set it up aboutWe Stock Crystals For:Clegg Drake IeomKenwood Midland RegencyStandard Wilson YaesuLafayette Tempo VHF Engone hundred feet from theoperating tent behind alarge boulder and had nonoise problems at all. Thehund red foot hike throughthe brush for refueli ng didmake that part of Field Daymore exciting than usual.Heat h says that the generator'shalf-gal lon gas tankw ill provide about 1 Y4hours of operation at 50%load. That estimate seemsconservative, and t he rewere t imes whe n it seemedas t hough the gas wouldlast forever (those wereusually the times an operatorwas waiting anxiouslyin fro nt of a battery-poweredrig to take over whenthe generator died). Itwould be nice if a stilllargerga s tank were avail-Rolin DistributorsP.O. Box 436 Department 7Dunellen, N.J. 08812201-469-1219able-a generator shouldnot really have to be fedevery couple of hours duringan emergency. A tanktwice the size would producehalf the aggravation.The Heath-Watt seems tobe the ideal answer fo r anindividual o r group wantingto have e mergency powercapability at a reaso nablecost. This generator is relatively inexpensive fo r theamount of power it producesand is sma ll and lightenough so that storage andtransportation are not a realpro blem; o ne ma n can easilymove it if necessary.For more information,contact Hea th Company,Benton Harbo r MI 49022.Reader Se rvice nu mber487.WE'RE ROLININ CRYSTALS!2 Meter Crystals - &3.95 each(10 or More - &3.50 each)Quick Delivery(We Also Accept Orders For Custom Crystals.).S- L,st 01 AD""',."•• OI'I"'~ '30 73 Magazine . October, l981 S1