In 1977-1979, a new top-of-the-line 6-band synthesized HF transceiver kit was being developed at Heathkit to replace the well-known SB104. Named the SS-8000, it featured fully synthesized operation with a greenish blue vacuum-fluorescent dual digital frequency display for split channel operation; selectable receiver passband shift; 2.1-kHz, 400-Hz, and 200-Hz selectable crystal filters for SSB, CW, and RTTY; noise blanker; RIT; adjustable speech compression; very fast up and down tuning buttons to zip quickly across the band; and a big central tuning knob. This transceiver (Photo A) was also capable of being operated digitally by computer for remote operation. The tuning steps were in 100-Hz increments. These are regarded today as rather large steps but operating it, I find it tunes nicely.
Development of this
