Heathkit apparently gone for good

[W5GA]

Sad, especially as they were trying to get back into the kit market.
http://www.arrl.org/news/heathkit-declares-bankruptcy-closes-for-good-again

[KC9ECI]

Sad, especially as they were trying to get back into the kit market.
http://www.arrl.org/news/heathkit-declares-bankruptcy-closes-for-good-again

Too bad they didn't start with a couple small kits for ham radio, they would have sold like hot cakes.

[WØTKX]

A radio kit that was advertised as anti-terrorist would have sold better. :whistle:

Oh well. Maybe the name will be picked up by somebody else.

Hopefully someone who could get the documentation, and release it to the public domain.

[K8LET]

Heathkit Declares Bankruptcy, Closes for Good (Again)

http://chaoswitchcraft.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/you-keep-using-that-word1.jpg

[NQ6U]

Perhaps some ham with money will purchase the old Heathkit amateur radio intellectual property and begin releasing kits. I bet an (updated) version of the SB-200 would sell pretty well—the things still fetch a good price on eBay.

[KG4CGC]

Any number of parts suppliers could take on such an endeavor. Will it happen?

[K7SGJ]

Thats ashame. I had high hopes for their comeback. A real pisser.

[PA5COR]

I bet my SB-1000, the audio generator and audio analyser from heathkit will become precious then, all tube stuff ;)

[NQ6U]

Hey, how about if each one of us Islanders pony up some money and buy the Heathkit IP ourselves? I'm sure that among the lot of us we could come up with at least a couple of hundred bucks! That should be enough.

[KG4CGC]

Hey, how about if each one of us Islanders pony up some money and buy the Heathkit IP ourselves? I'm sure that among the lot of us we could come up with at least a couple of hundred bucks! That should be enough.

http://heathkit.com.w3snoop.com/

[WØTKX]

Well, the new Heathkit did not have the manuals... another entity does. http://www.d8apro.com/

[NQ6U]

http://heathkit.com.w3snoop.com/

Sorry for the ambiguity; when I said "IP," I meant "intellectual property."

[X-Rated]

... :whistle:

Oh well. Maybe the name will be picked up by somebody else.

,,,.

http://www.womansday.com/cm/womansday/images/Nu/13-Heath-bar-Food-and-Drinks-Named-After-People-1.jpg

[kb2vxa]

Toffee bars built from kits, that's an idea. BTW it looks familiar, it reminds me of an old "Glo Bar" resistor... sort of a Dampp Chaser.

[X-Rated]

Melts in your mouth and not on your cold 807.

[W1GUH]

OK....if we buy the Heathkit name we gotta market the Chippewa again. And this time offer the plate modulator for it.

[X-Rated]

OK....if we buy the Heathkit name we gotta market the Chippewa again. And this time offer the plate modulator for it.

I thought about that. I wondered what would happen if someone made some real good AM transmitting (tranceiving) equipment rather than the low level modulated crap they offer today. I believe that the conventional wisdom beliefs are that AM would get too popular and crowd the bands.

[NQ6U]

I thought about that. I wondered what would happen if someone made some real good AM transmitting (tranceiving) equipment rather than the low level modulated crap they offer today. I believe that the conventional wisdom beliefs are that AM would get too popular and crowd the bands.

Having looked into home brewing a plate-modulated AM transmitter, I think it's safe to say that the cost of a commercially built one would be enough to discourage enough people to prevent that from happening. Modulation transformers alone are priced at a pretty good fraction of an entry-level SSB rice box.

[W1GUH]

But there's also the possibility of a high-power, hi-fi solid state AM rig. Wouldn't have the romance of the heavy metal, but they sound fantastic on the air.

Call it the Chippewa II!

[ab1ga]

There was homebrewing before Heathkit, and there can be homebrewing after them. What distingished them from others was the care with which they created designs and manuals making the building process easier. There's no intellectual property here, just attention to detail and a commitment to customer satisfaction.

The owner of McDonald's, when asked about the KFC secret recipe, in turn asked whether anyone really doubted he could find out what was in those secret herbs and spices if he wanted to. The same holds for the Coke recipe. A thousand dollars crossing the palm of a truck driver or a restaurant worker could get more than enough extract for thorough chemical analysis. It hasn't been done because the competition doesn't want to make Coke, they want to make something that sells better than Coke.

Heathkit is finally dead after spending a long time in hospice. Rather than try to resuscitate it, better to replace it. Why not a line of Neatkits, designed using the same commitment to customer satisfaction and appropriate performance, but with updated components and design techniques. I don't believe the challenge is technical, but economic: the joy of building your own equipment has to offset the increased cost which comes from sacrificing automated assembly, and at about 0.25% of the nation's population, the market is very severely limited.

73,

[W5GA]

There was homebrewing before Heathkit, and there can be homebrewing after them. What distingished them from others was the care with which they created designs and manuals making the building process easier. There's no intellectual property here, just attention to detail and a commitment to customer satisfaction.

The owner of McDonald's, when asked about the KFC secret recipe, in turn asked whether anyone really doubted he could find out what was in those secret herbs and spices if he wanted to. The same holds for the Coke recipe. A thousand dollars crossing the palm of a truck driver or a restaurant worker could get more than enough extract for thorough chemical analysis. It hasn't been done because the competition doesn't want to make Coke, they want to make something that sells better than Coke.

Heathkit is finally dead after spending a long time in hospice. Rather than try to resuscitate it, better to replace it. Why not a line of Neatkits, designed using the same commitment to customer satisfaction and appropriate performance, but with updated components and design techniques. I don't believe the challenge is technical, but economic: the joy of building your own equipment has to offset the increased cost which comes from sacrificing automated assembly, and at about 0.25% of the nation's population, the market is very severely limited.

73,

All true enough, Dale. But some of the Elecraft stuff comes really damn close.

[ab1ga]

All true enough, Dale. But some of the Elecraft stuff comes really damn close.

Absolutely, and I wish them all the success in the world. But as I've never actually seen the kit, I'm not sure whether the boards are pre-populated, or whether you get to lift the traces with your soldering iron yourself.

:)

73,

[W1GUH]

Tim Moore (remember Second Avenue (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWbZ4iWWAAQ) circa '74?) was a one-hit wonder and one of the songs on that album had a song with a reference to "an old Heath radio." Finally found that song...here it is. The reference is at 2:44. If you prefer to read the lyrics, you can find them here (http://www.lyricsreg.com/lyrics/tim+moore/A+Fool+Like+You+/). I wonder which "old Heath radio" he was referring to. AR-2? AR-3? BC-1? Maybe that transistor radio Heathkit sold or even one of their tuners? That's be the first question I'd ask him if we ever met!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYqFIAqcI8g

[NQ6U]

Absolutely, and I wish them all the success in the world. But as I've never actually seen the kit, I'm not sure whether the boards are pre-populated, or whether you get to lift the traces with your soldering iron yourself.

It depends on the radio. The K3 is mostly surface mount stuff and the boards are pre-populated—building the kit consists mainly of mechanical assembly. The K-1 and K-2 were real kits that required soldering.

[W5GA]

It depends on the radio. The K3 is mostly surface mount stuff and the boards are pre-populated—building the kit consists mainly of mechanical assembly. The K-1 and K-2 were real kits that required soldering.
As is their smaller stuff. I have one of their band decoders, great fun to put together.

[X-Rated]

The smallest stuff I hand solder has been the 0102 caps and resistors. That's 1 thousandth of an inch by 2 thousandths of an inch. But I guess I do more projects than the regular ham.

[NQ6U]

The smallest stuff I hand solder has been the 0102 caps and resistors. That's 1 thousandth of an inch by 2 thousandths of an inch. But I guess I do more projects than the regular ham.

I know how to solder SMD stuff, my problem comes from being an old fart who can't see things close up anymore. That sort of limits me to to the larger devices.

[X-Rated]

I know how to solder SMD stuff, my problem comes from being an old fart who can't see things close up anymore. That sort of limits me to to the larger devices.

I feel sorry for you old OM's. I'm only 54 going on 55 in 3 months.

[W1GUH]

I know how to solder SMD stuff, my problem comes from being an old fart who can't see things close up anymore. That sort of limits me to to the larger devices.

Reading glasses are as cheap as a buck in the Dollar Store! I've got a few pair around here.

[NQ6U]

Reading glasses are as cheap as a buck in the Dollar Store! I've got a few pair around here.

I already wear bifocals and need correction for astigmatism.

[PA5COR]

-2 and -1.75 one glass needs 8 cylinders.... and still i have combind glasses with reading inserts.
140 watts TL lighting from different angles helps too, as do the multiple enlarging glasses there are even camera's doing 50x specially for that work, will set me back 150 euro's including monitor on the hamfairs.

Not using one now, still can do the SMD's though, but please don't sneeze....

[W5GA]

-2 and -1.75 one glass needs 8 cylinders.... and still i have combind glasses with reading inserts.
140 watts TL lighting from different angles helps too, as do the multiple enlarging glasses there are even camera's doing 50x specially for that work, will set me back 150 euro's including monitor on the hamfairs.

Not using one now, still can do the SMD's though, but please don't sneeze....
Cor, QST recently ran an article about using a webcam and some special software to that very thing.