Yesterday, I got an e-mail from Heathkit. It’s kind of funny because I was thinking about them just the other day. A couple of years ago, there was all this hype about a “new” Heathkit and how they were going to start designing new kits as well as revive popular old designs.
Then, nothing. They went completely quiet—until yesterday. In an e-mail sent to their “insiders,” they say:
Dear Heathkit Insider,
“What I really hope Heathkit will produce,” a Silicon Valley colleague recently told me, “is a new radio kit with a beautiful finish, maybe in rosewood.” Something great to enjoy building and learn from, and also visually stunning, so he could put it in his living room and keep it forever.
Today, my friend gets his wish.
Exciting news. More on that in a moment.
They then go on to explain all of the work they’ve been doing in relocating Heathkit to Santa Cruz, CA, acquiring a second company, and securing all the intellectual property rights to the old Heathkit manuals and logos (meaning no more bootleg copies on the Internet).
They go on, though:
That’s a lot, but there’s more. We’ve designed and developed a wide range of entirely new kit products. We authored the manuals for these kits, complete with the beautiful line art you rely on, preserving and respecting our iconic historic Heathkit style. We developed many new inventions and filed patents on them……We built the back office infrastructure, vendor and supply chain relationships, systems, procedures, operations methods, and well-thought-out corporate structure that a manufacturing company needs to support its customers, to allow us to scale instantly the day we resume major kit sales. All this effort enables us to introduce a fleet of new kits and helps ensure Heathkit can grow, prosper, and continue to bring you great new products for a very long time.
So, what’s the exciting news? A new QRP transceiver? Maybe a shortwave radio? A new 100-in-1 experimenter kit for Makers?
Uh-uh. Sorry. The “exciting” news is a tuned radio frequency (TRF) AM band (yes, I said AM band) radio kit that costs $150. Not only is that crazy expensive for an AM radio, it doesn’t even come with a speaker. On top of that, there’s no soldering. You screw all of the components to the board. I’m speechless (well, figuratively, not literally).
I’m not sure what the target market is for this product. It’s certainly not amateur radio operators, who expect a lot more (in terms of both functionality and “fun”) for their money. Nor is it the “Maker” folks. I think that if I took this to show off at the local Ann Arbor Maker group, they’d laugh me out of the place.
I really hope that they got something better up their sleeves.
Walter Underwood K6WRU says
That is a bizarre set of design decisions. It doesn’t have a scale for the band. The knob doesn’t even have a pointer. It does have a reduction drive, which is nice.
If you want a scale and a speaker, you can get an AM BCB TRF kit for $18. But no rosewood.
https://www.electronickits.com/two-ic-radio-kit/
TS Atomic says
I’m with you. This is a real head scratcher. I wish them well, but if this is any example of what we can expect, I can’t hold much hope for their longevity.
Dan KB6NU says
Not only that, you get to do some actual soldering!
Yohei, N8YQX says
That’s disappointing. For that kind of price, I was expecting tubes, not transistors.
Bruce (formerly WN2SII) says
Not realistic….unless you want cheap Chinese junk.
Robert says
Why are they so secretive? The president gives only his first name and does not give a contact email address. Did you notice the emotional language designed to appeal to OM like me who built Heathkits in the 60s?
When I wrote a note to their Santa Cruz CA address, it was returned to me as undeliverable.
I need another AM receiver like a hole in the head. I’m not holding my breath for a 5, 10 or 20 watt tube transceiver or a low power tube stereo amp. I hope they surprise me.
Robert VA3AOD
Dan KB6NU says
Yes, I did notice all the emotional langauge. Instead of spending so much time on the verbage, they should spent a little more time developing a more attractive kit.
k8gu says
The “new HeathKit” already exists…it’s called “Elecraft” and most of their customers don’t actually build (or assemble) anything. Like you and the others, I can’t for the life of me understand the target audience is.
Bob, KG6AF says
If these guys actually ship something–anything–it will exceed my expectations.
And if they’re just floating a trial balloon, I think they already have their answer.
RickB says
Are you sure this wasn’t dated April 1?
Goody K3NG says
This new Heathkit is just bizarre. They’ve got zero sales and they’re building this world class corporate infrastructure in anticipation of big things. Either someone has some deep pockets or it’s a lot of BS.
I’m baffled by this product choice. Heathkit and amateur radio went hand-in-hand. This is an AM broadcast receiver. They would have been better off offering a one transistor QRP CW transmitter.
They’re developing inventions and filing patents? Seriously? Just develop and release a kit that makes sense and cut the BS already.
Nate N0PCL says
When I saw the kit on the website I thought it was a kit from the 1970s or something. Nope. I was wrong. That’s what they’re offering today.
If they’re trying to go for the consumer electronics crowd, they might have offered a wifi internet radio or something.
There are new heathkits: Elecraft and DZ Kits, to say nothing of the cottage industry Maker crowd, Adafruit, etc.
Dan KB6NU says
Here’s Hack-a-Day’s take on this: Heathkit: Live, Die, Repeat.
Paul K9PLG says
Their website is an example of ‘marketing-speak’ – it all sounds great, but has little substance behind the verbage. Doubt if many will pay $150 for a solder-free AM radio kit (I know I would NOT!). I love Heathkits and cut my teeth on a few including a DX60 transmitter that my dad and I built, which I used as a novice in the late 60’s. This new group appears to be someone trying to capitalize on the rich history of a once great company that designed and produced quality kits of the day. The new Heathkit appears to be a wanna be with some folks simply trying to make money rather than help and educate people like the original company did. Hope they do everything they claim or plan to, it will be a surprise to me if they actually do.
Paul, KE5WMA says
For that amount of money, I would have expected a MW/SW regen receiver.
Robert Day says
Bob de K9CWP
For Heathkit to make/develop a typical solder kit as from the 60’s would be cost-prohibitive, but they should suck it up and do it anyway…. Most original unbuilt Heathkits have been selling on EBay for roughly 10 times the original cost- I for one, would pay alot more for a kit that requires soldering than the screw together “kits” that Elecraft puts out. Doesn’t have to have all the unnecessary bells and whistles that today’s radios have, and in my opinion, a kit doesn’t need that crap- just some honest-to-goodness soldering wire-cutting, and a little ingenuity. My .02 worth (Come on, “Heathkit”, prove yourself !! )
Mike Slepian says
I honestly think the new “Heathkit” is a joke, perpetrated by a wealthy ex-CB er. The primary product demonstrates total ignorance of marketing and consumer needs.
Why on earth would someone release a $150 partial AM radio? It’s insulting! No speaker, no audio amplifier, no tuning display and no soldering.
The other “products” appear to be left-over items from someone’s junk box, that would otherwise be available on e-bay.
The whole thing actually is disrespectful to what once was a fine company.
It would have been better to let the venerable Heathkit rest in peace, than to denigrate the good Heathkit name.
73, WB2LKO
Guy Shipley says
I think they are a scam. I orderd their digital clock. Never got it. First ship was late Aug. That never happened. Then they said week of Sept 19. That never happened. No reply to emails or their phone. Tried to contact them today via their website and it is not there.
Dan KB6NU says
Sorry to hear that you’re not having any luck getting your Heathkit clock. I hadn’t even heard about that kit. Heathkit.Com seems to be up this morning, and when I called the phone number on their website, their system answered. I didn’t actually try to connect with anyone, as it’s 6:15 am in the morning there. :)
I’d say to give them another try later today.
Tony K1OC says
I ordered a first-production run GC-1006 clock in late August. It arrived in late October. I just put it together yesterday (November 12, 2016) and was pleasantly surprised that it lit up when I applied power and did everything it was supposed to. There were a few what I thought to be odd design choices, but overall it was fun to put together. It’s now the UTC clock for my shack. I hope the new Heathkit is successful; I look forward to more fun and useful kits from them.
Jan KA9FSM says
As far as Elecraft is concerned most of their kits are full fledge solder kits. I’ve built several K2s with most options and they are every bit a solder the parts kit. Their K3 transceiver is a screw together kit. The quality of their kits and documentation are excellent. I just ordered and received a K1 with options. Their kits are everything we would hope Heathkit could be again someday.
Arthur Mojrzeszek says
Art W8ACM
Just had a notification on the new heath watt meter. Not much information on it
except $575 price. The company seems to be controlled by AI, there are no humans
to talk to, a virtual reality company. These guys don’t know hams because hams are cheap by nature and will not spend almost $600 for a watt meter to go along with there $200 matchbox. I wonder what the matchbox will cost $1500? If you’re dumb enough
to pay those prices they’re smart enough to charge those prices. This is not the Heathkit company I fondly remember.
Dan KB6NU says
What can they be possibly be thinking? The Elecraft W2 is only $300. Canyou forward that email to me? Thanks.
Bruce (formerly WN2SII) says
Few of you are really getting this. Speaking as a long time Heathkit fan and builder. I built an HW-16 and it’s companion VFO, and a nice oscilloscope for my 9th grade science class and a number of other kits. And like the rest of you, I too was sad that they disappeared, or seemed to anyway. But we all know the reasons why, and there are many. Not the least of which is that kits are expensive to manufacture. And as integrated circuits and surface mount technology took over most consumer electronics, the cost continued to rise and demand fell. The result was a death spiral. In fact, the entire electronics hobby industry took a steep dive. Look what happened to Radio Shack and Lafayette, among many others. Now, think about what you paid for kit gear back in the day… my dad bought me a GR-64 shortwave radio in 1969 (I still have it). It was $39.95. Look it up! Today it would cost $260! And that’s assuming that the relative cost of all those discrete components (including the ganged variable capacitor and large power transformer) could be made for the same relative cost. But that’s an absurd assumption. Never going to happen, especially at the low volumes that the “new” Heath company is going to sell. So you really think that they can make even something as simple as an AM radio (or alarm clock) with anything close to the hand built quality of the day and sell it for $50? Dream on. So, let’s cut the company a break and be glad that they are even back in any form, Sure it’s expensive BUT IT WAS JUST AS EXPENSIVE BACK IN THE DAY. If our parents could afford to buy kits for us (or themselves) back then, then there is still a market for kits now. And if you look in the new “catalog” (web page) there are “solder kits” also, like the “Most Reliable Clock” (which I might just buy for myself). I would have drooled over that in 1969 as a young adolescent. Oh, and the $99 they charge today for that clock would have been just $14.85 back then. It’s all relative. So let’s back off a bit, OK? Of course they cannot be the same company, they can’t offer state of the art Ham gear as a kit and hope to compete with the Kenwoods and Icoms of today (like they did back in the 60’s and 70’s) that would be impossible to offer as a kit. Let them be what they CAN be today. Cheer that they are here at all. Cheer that there are some young people who are developing a passion for electronics and developing the skills and dexterity to build a kit, and skipping social media if even for a few hours. So what if it’s an AM radio and a plug together kit? It looks cool. THAT’s what you should be talking about.
Cheers.
Mark says
Thanks for the support, all you phony Heath fans. Cling to your Walmart and Best Buy sales- true electronic genius there ha ha. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Milo says
Oh my, so much to chew on. Where to begin. Maybe first at one poster’s dissertation on price. While the arguments may be well-reasoned, price is not the only issue with Heath. And even if it were, you can still hardly defend it because there are so many other kits available for less. I had many misgivings about the TRF radio myself, including the price. By the way, the author said it was no solder, but there is a solder version. But a radio with no speaker? And most egregiously, no volume control? That’s not even safe for the ears of little kids, or anyone. You tune across a local station and get blasted, or else you can’t hear anything comfortably. Most everyone else correctly assessed the state of affairs of the “new” Heathkit.
I was not at all impressed either. They’ve got an over the top high-end RF meter that very few people will buy. They’ve been taking money for it but it is still not available after years of promo. As for the only other real kit actually available, the GC-1006, I purchased the 100-dollar clock because I wanted to build another Heathkit and sure couldn’t afford the unbuilts. I could write a book on how disappointing it was. They purport to have the same level of assembly manuals as the old one but they do not live up to the hype. Oh sure, they look nice, but for one, it was written for a 3rd Grader. I understand they are trying to be inclusive to the neophyte, but so were the old manuals and they were not as silly as this one. They are trying to run the company on the cheap without adequate personnel, like no proofreading of the text, nor apparently was there any testing of the assembly like they used to do. There were lots of errors in the manual including grammatical, which sometimes led to confusion. I ran into a few snags with assembly due to poor fabrication practices (there’s that lack of testing).
I also built and still own (and working) the original GC-1005 planar discharge display clock, which in almost every respect is a BETTER clock than the new 1006. After 45 years, there were basically NO improvements and in fact is worse. For instance, the time setting procedure is terrible. Push button switches are terrible to get accurate setting with compared to a slide switch. And worse, in order to just change the hour such as for DST, you have to clear the seconds and start all over to set the actual time. How easy it would have been to design a single switch to toggle the hour forward or backward for DST, let alone it being designed to be automatic. At least with the old clock, you had a switch to advance the the units hour, either 1 forward, or all the way around to 1 less (and ONLY the units, which was very thoughtful). If the clock time (seconds) was already correct, you did not have to disturb it. And the old clock kept perfect time with the power line (they adjust the cycles so over all it is never off more than a few seconds, ever). However, the new 1006 clock has problems with ordinary line noise. Mine would jump forward several MINUTES at a time, and it was plugged into the same outlet as my old 1005. I finally moved it to my workbench which runs off a commercial isolation transformer and it has kept time. But that is still an issue because the old clock never had that problem.
About the only improvement they can point to is it has battery back-up. Big deal. It too is a big PITA. Instead of designing with a low power processor (like a watch or quartz clock) that only needs 1 cell, they use conventional architecture that uses 5 volts, so the back up is FOUR AA cells. But worse, they didn’t design any kind of battery compartment. You have to take the whole damn case apart to change the batteries, and every 6 months at that, according to the manual. That is why mine is still sitting on the back of the bench flashing Lo Bat for months, and still on DST.
It HAS a micro-processor. Could they at least have used one that included automatic DST like almost any other clock available on the planet? That could at least have been ONE improvement they could brag about. But no, we have barely 1970s technology in a 21st Century clock for a ridiculous price. And all you people out there who try to compare today’s prices to 40-50 years ago by applying inflation adjustment are just plain wrong. Not everything can be adjusted by inflation. While things like power transformers cost more, many other things cost less, or the same. For instance, in 1975 you could buy a 19″ RCA color television for around $450 (ballpark). But today you can buy a top-rated 25 or 30″ flat screen TV for half that. Now I know that is not a completely fair comparison, but nevertheless, many things DO cost less, and some cost more. Point is, there is more to it than JUST inflation.
Even though the prices of Heath’s new kits do seem high, it would be worth it, IF the quality and innovation were also there. And that’s the rub. It’s not. Most any tinkering kid could put together a basic TRF radio for a few bucks, more or less. But to try and converge two divergent ideas, a simple TRF radio kit, and then dress is up in fancy teak wood (or whatever) case and sell it for $150, just doesn’t make sense A pig in lipstick is still a pig.
As much as we like the old Heathkits and the old Heath Company, it is a pipe dream to think you can bring back either one or both. If you want to bring back the old company, you have to do it within today’s times and technology. After all, the old company was all about innovation and technology. Wouldn’t it be an insult to the old company if they only tried to reconstitute the old, and were not innovative? I guess they are trying to be with the new RF meter, but we’ll never know until they actually come out with it. As for the clock, they failed miserably.
Wilbert Sheran says
Has anyone received their pre-ordered Meter ? ? ? It’s nearly 2020 and NO ONE on the Internet is talking about their new Meter … The “new” Heathshit Company is just that … Low life Don Peterson and friends …