There are rumours suggesting that Heathkit is being resurrected and may yet again sell kits. I sincerely hope this is correct as Heath made some of the very best kits in its time. When it stopped selling amateur radio kits it left a big hole.
In my time I owned the HW8 (15, 20, 40 and 80m QRP CW transceiver), plus an Electronics Workshop when I was first interested in radio way back in the early 1960s. The Electronics Workshop enabled me to do some Medium Wave broadcast DXing around Christmas 1961) and some decent DX was worked with the HW8 in the late 1970s.
Although the Heathkit website (www.heathkit.com) worked yesterday it does not appear to work today, at least not when I tried. Http:/heathkit.com does work. It does not like the www. Try deleting this if it appears in your browser.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathkit .
See also http://www.amateurradio.com/heathkit-2/ - post by Neil W2NDG.
See http://stores.ebay.com/datapro/_i.html?rt=nc&LH_BIN=1
I can't see it somehow? How can they make any money with the Chinese getting into the kit market?
ReplyDeleteAnyway Chinese goodies are that cheap is it worth building kits any longer unless you are scratch builders.
73 Steve
Steve, valid points. The kits will have to be very good to compete. Maybe the kits will come from China with just design and sales in the USA?
ReplyDeleteOf course, if Kendricks, Kanga and Elecraft can make money so can Heathkit. The question is over the very low costs from China.
ReplyDeleteYou could be right Roger, the brand name may speak Millions?
ReplyDeleteI think Hendricks is a back shed manufacturer and so is Kanga? So their overheads are a lot lower than Elecraft.
73 Steve
It's a persistent rumor that keeps surfacing every so often, for YEARS now. I'll believe it when and if it ever happens.
ReplyDeleteDaveL
KF7JAF