Chuck Penson's Third Edition of "Heathkit: A Guide to the Amateur Radio Products" is out

Younger hams often do not understand the older ham enthusiasm for heathkit...here's a helpful perspective...

1) circa 1970 and before, retail rigs were American made and (generally)very expensive ;
2) hams had a tradition of building;
3) you could save roughly 30-150% of equivalent retail rig prices by building the heathkit 'equivalents' or similar offerings. For example: SB-102 => KWM-2; SB-220 => Drake L4-B, etc.

AFTER 1969, Japanese manufacturers came into the American market at far lower prices, with, in general, good quality. And before that, the WEIGHT of the rigs ('boat anchors') often made the cost of Asia to US shipping prohibitive; PCB construction and solid state portions of radios radically diminished the weight and size of transceivers;

EVENTUALLY heathkit had no advantage price wise, feature wise, nor quality wise compared to the Japanese offerings. When the emphasis was on those who enjoyed BUILDING kits, rather than those who were OK on building--but wanted to save MONEY also, the role of Heathkits diminished rapidly.

Now the situation is more complex than this, but these are the main points.

In modern term. Heathkits from , say 1970, would be equivalent in price to most mid-tier Japanese transcivers today-- and those are assembled and with more features and better performance than the Heathkits.. Yes; it is far cheaper today to be in ham radio than 50 years ago!

73
Chip W1YW

 

They are making Heathkit again?!?! Nah, I am just fooling ya. I was lucky to pick up an assembled Heathkit o-scope at the Braintree Drive-In Flea in '82... had lots of fun with it too!

Much like Radio Shack (e.g., Tandy, Micronita, & etc.) kits, if there were money (i.e., "profit") to make RS and Heathkit would never have closed. Consider how electronics developed from tube to transistor, military surplus being modified; nowadays everything is micro-electronics on (mostly) one board. Disposable. Not to say people had/have a passion for kits.

I will admit I am a Moto Operator, and not a fix-it or build-it type. Heathkit: before my time, and not my interest; however, nice to see a fella with passion to author three books.

 

Notice that it's SPOCK at the microphone on that picture Hihi!

 

I've always been a fan of Heathkit from building my DX-60 in the late 1960's and building my SB-102 in early 1970's. Was sorry to see them go away. But it looks like the name Heathkit is trying to come back. https://shop.heathkit.com/shop but good grief, look at those prices. Not much going on there in amateur radio yet. It's certainly not what it used to be.

 

Blaupunkt was sold in 2008. After a short journey through different hands, only the label left. So when you buy a new Blaupunkt product today, its just the label anymore. Its similar to the HeathKit, only history.

 

I recall in 1980, when I was attending college, and seeking work (Part time), my first job was repairing test equipment, (Like the 8566 HP Spec An), and my Manager saw I was struggling to repair the equipment. He gave a book from Heathkit, (Study guide), After a few weeks, all came into place, and I was repairing the equipment at top speed! Of course my Ham Radio experience (Extra class) helped plenty, and FCC License. (1ST Class)

After passing my BSEE, I found my lane, and went into Satellite communications and all fell into place...But I owe credit to my struggling times comprehending more advance technology to Heathkit (Study guides)!

DE NN2X Tom

 

It’s actually “only” $46 to Canada but PayPal isn’t smart enough to separate it out. It only allows me to use one price for international shipping. I always refund the difference. It’s a very heavy book— 3.5 pounds.

 

j'ai construit beaucoup de Heathkit et certains on transités pour du dépannage dans mes mains, magnifique époque ...

 

You should consider having a reseller in Canada. $46 is still a lot of money for shipping.

 

Thanks for the post, just ordered one to go with my SB-220.

 

I never owned anything from the House of Heath, but I used to ride my bicycle over to there and look at all their wonders.W1YW is dead on target - being a Ham was very expensive in the 1960s - 1970s. All the WWII/Korean war surplus gear had been picked over and bought up, DoD was trashing more gear instead of selling it off, American gear was very expensive and the Japanese gear was just making inroads into the market.

Technology changed in the 1970s and 1980s, making kits increasingly problematic to build with the new components. Now, I am somewhat surprised that lead solder is allowed to be sold, along with soldering irons and PCB infused capacitors in such a litigious marketplace.

I'll be buying the books as a reference and as a time when Hams were able to enjoy building and operating their gear. My FTDX10 is far more advanced than any Heathkit transmitter/receiver, but it doesn't have the emotional connection that the old Heath stuff did.