KW Electronics

KW Amateur Radio Equipment Includes:
KW Electronics     KW-Geloso Front End Converter     KW2000 transceiver     KW204 transmitter    

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KW Electronics started as the need for radio communications equipment designed for the amateur radio or ham radio market started to emerge in the early 1950s.

After World War II, a lot of surplus equipment had come onto the market, and this formed the mainstay for most amateur radio stations. However there was a growing need for some items of equipment that needed to be designed for the ham radio bands - antennas and other ancillary items which were not available as surplus items.

Later, in the late 1950s there was a need for HF single sideband equipment as this mode was being used increasingly.

KW saw the need and the market for them and grew as a company as the needs changed and grew.

Today, KW equipment is well sought after and there are many vintage radio enthusiasts and radio amateurs who collect and renovate this equipment.

Beginnings of KW Electronics

KW Electronics was founded in the early 1950s by Rowley Shears, G8KW and Ken Ellis, G5KW. The common factor of their ham radio callsigns giving rise to the name.

Initially the company manufactured antennas - the G8KW trap dipole antenna had many close similarities to the W3DZZ. It covered the 80 to 10 metre bands of the day and the centre and outer of the coax could be strapped together and tuned against ground for operation on 160 metres. The antenna sold well and it set the foundations for a variety of other developments and products.

In addition to the antenna, they sold a variety of other equipment including Geloso equipment from an Italian manufacturer. A relationship built up and they developed a transmitter called the KW Vanguard. This was launched in 1957

The vanguard was an AM / CW transmitter that used a Geloso VFO unit as the basis for the signal generation, and around this they set the buffer amplifiers, a 6146 power amplifier and the audio line up concluding with 2 x 6L2 and a modulation transformer for AM.

A variant of the Vanguard was called the KW Valiant, and this was aimed at the mobile market, although it still provided a good base station transmitter at the time, but needed an external power supply.

Another interesting item of KW equipment that is rarely seen tis an amateur band converter. Essentially this used a radio, possibly a government surplus radio tuned to the IF of the converter. The KW / Geloso converter provided the RF, mixer and VFO local oscillator with the output fed into the receiver. In this way it provided additional gain that was often needed as well as band-spread coverage, possible improved frequency stability, and a much better overall user experience. The converter used a Geloso RF unit for all the RF sections, and then KW added the power supply, and case.

KW Electronics continued to sell a variety of products for some while. An advertisement in the Short Wave Magazine from 1963 shows them selling items like: CDR antenna rotators, TOKAI 28.5 Mc/s walkie talkies, coax cable, polythene cord for antennas and many more items.

The company continued to focus on the manufacture of separate receivers and transmitters, as this had been the general approach. However things were about to change.

KW2000 years

In 1959, Collins Radio launched their KWM2. This was a successor to their KWM1 which had been introduced a year or so earlier.

The KWM2 was demonstrated at the RSGB Radio Communications Exhibition in 1959 and it set out a new direction for amateur radio communications equipment. It was designed to be able to be operated in a mobile environment as well as providing excellent base station operation. The KWM2 was an amateur bands only HF transceiver with an external power supply. It was capable of delivering around 100 watts PEP to the antenna and had all the controls that were necessary, but it was easy to use.

KW saw this and knew they needed to compete with this to be able to stay in the business. They also knew they needed to provide it at a price that UK radio amateurs could afford - the KWM2 was very expensive.

KW Electronics set about developing their new transceiver. It was contained within a single manageable desktop case that had a rounded sleeve, and sufficient controls were provided to allow easy operation.

The set had a single 6146 in the output and this gave it only half the power capability of the KWM2, but it was sufficient to get many radio amateurs on the air, and the KW2000 was a great success.

There were several innovative aspects to the design. Collins had used their own mechanical filter to provide the selectivity needed for SSB transmitter and receiver filtering. KW used a Kokusai mechanical filter. Also many of the coils needed were wound directly onto dust iron cores and the required tap selected for different bands. Cost was obviously a major issue, but so was performance so several measures were needed to provide the best solution.

The KW2000 was a great success and the company needed to produce as many of them as they could. They even had a request for a version of the set for commercial two way radio communications.

KW Electronics did not want to stand still, and before too long, the next update to the KW2000 was launched. designated the KW2000A, its main update was that of a higher power output stage capable of delivering around 100W PEP output form a DC input of 180W PEP. This brought many further sales and established KW Electronics as a major amateur radio equipment supplier globally, although comparatively few sales were made in the US because oft he competition there.

Ultimately a number of variants of the KW2000 were made, of which the most notable os the KW2000B which had new "G-Line" styling and a number of other refinements.

Other lines for KW Electronics

Although the KW2000 was the main product for KW Electronics, they still manufactured a number of other pieces of equipment.

Items like the KW EZEE Match, G8KW antenna, remained very popular. However they also continued to separate transmitters and receivers. initially the KW201 receiver and KW Vespa were sold. These were launched in the mid 1960s. These borrowed much from the KW2000 in terms of technology. However the Vespa Mk1 used a 6146 but later this was upgraded in 1967 to the Mk II which used a 6HF5 or 6LQ6 as the output valve to give it a power capability of 220 watts PEP DC input on SSB and 150 watts input on CW. These tubes were able to handle the power for only short periods and it they tended to need replacing on a regular basis if they were "talked up" too much.

Later these two separates were updated with the KW202 receiver and KW204 transmitter. This time the KW204 used two 6146s in the final amplifier to give a much more robust and reliable unit.

Needing to compete with competition from the USA again, KW launched their Atlanta. This aimed at the same market that the Swan 500 was aiming to catch, and indeed the KW Atlanta had very many similarities. Having a final input power of 500 watts PEP it certainly packed a punch.

Japanese competition and take-over

As the 1960s drew to a close, Japanese ham radio equipment started to land on the shores of the UK. Equipment like the Trio (now Kenwood) TS500 offered excellent performance and at a lower cost.

In 1974 the company was sold to Decca which was more interested in the commercial radios produced by Decca and with growing competition, the amateur radio arm was significantly cut back, although a catalogue was produced as late as 1977.

In 1980, Decca, in turn was sold to Racal and soon the KW name was dropped.

Rowley Shears did manage to buy back the KW Electronics name and he continued to trade for a number of years selling KW ancillaries and TEN TEC equipment. The manufacture of transmitters, receivers and transceivers was no longer viable with competition from the Far East.

With the retirement of Rowley Shears in 1989, KW ceased trading and the company became dormant. In recent years the name has been resurrected so the name of KW Electronics is still active, if even in a much smaller way.

Summary of main KW Electronics products

During its lifetime, KW Electronics made a wide variety of products, manly for the amateur radio market. Although they are probably best known for their KW2000 transceiver, they made a number of separate transmitters and receivers as well as antennas, antenna matches, SWR meters and the like.

The list below gives details soem of the main products that the company made in its lifetime.

KW Electronics was active for over 20 years from its foundation until after it was taken over by Decca. During its time of operation it made a huge number of radio communications associated products for the amateur radio market and its name was known around the globe, and it was a major force in the UK market.

For many years KW Electronics and KW equipment dominated the amateur radio market in the UK and man other countries. They produced equipment that was good value for money, reliable and worked well. Today many sets are still working and used on the HF amateur radio bands. This is a testament to the design work, ingenuity, and quality put into these equipments that are now considered to be vintage radios.

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