Heathkit has finally announced their next amateur radio product – the HM 1002 Precision RF Power Meter. I say announced because it’s really not available yet. Instead, you can “pre-order” it for shipment in “late summer.”
Here’s what the HM-1002 web page says:
The HM-1002 Heathkit® Precision RF MeterTM is our first new amateur radio station accessory and our first test equipment product in over 30 years. This is a solder kit, suitable for people with no prior electronics experience. We believe it is a landmark in RF meters, in both technical features and price/performance.
Initial early pre-ordering is available for devoted fans, patient experienced kitbuilders and Heathkit Insiders, with payment by check, USPS money order, or eCheck. Regular sales may not open for a month or more.
Final product specifications, and product price for future orders, are subject to change. If lab tests show our design achieves our target goals for accuracy (better than nominals below), the price for orders placed later may increase. [[The pre-order price is $575….Dan]] Pre-orders are limited to two units per customer. Price shown includes one power+frequency sensor.
THIS KIT WILL START TO SHIP IN LATE SUMMER 2017. This product will not ship when you order. You will be waiting but “first in line.” Orders will be processed on a first-paid first-shipped basis. Due to high expected demand, the earliest pre-orders have an estimated ship date of August or September. That’s an estimate, not a confirmed ship date, and if you wait to order and are not among the first 1,000 orders you likely will receive yours later than that. Initial pre-orders are a make-to-order, and it takes time to manufacture the First Production Run of a groundbreaking new product.
I’m just as befuddled by this product as I was by their first product—a $150 TRF AM radio. I just don’t see a big demand for this product when there are already so many good wattmeters on the market already, not to mention all of the Bird wattmeters floating around. Sure, this may have better specs than some of those wattmeters, but hams don’t need that kind of accuracy even if they could figure out what to do with it.
Hack-a-Day seems equally befuddled. For their take on the HM-1002, read Heathkit’s New RF Meter. Who is it for?.
Have any of you built one of the new Heathkits? If so, I’d like to hear your take on your experience building the kit and whether it was worth the money.
Heathkit was forgotten its heritage. It’s new power meter offering for $575.00!!!! is a case in point.
I agree with you. I think the people behind the Heathkit resurrection are completely missing the boat. Unfortunately, I don’t see them lasting very long at this rate.
I bought the digital clock. I owned the original and used it until the displays became so dim that you could only read it at night. Just wanted to see how it compared with the old one.
Building it was a real trip down memory lane. The manual was clearly written, with little notes at places where you could make a mistake. Every part was there, plus a couple of extra resistors for different volume options. Checkout was clearly written, with diagnostic tips at each step of the way. The only thing which was different from the old manuals was the politically correct cover. The old cover featured a father beaming down at his son. The new one, lightly edited, has the father beaming down at his daughter. :)
The clock works very well, with all the features you would expect for ham use. 24 hour display, 10 minute timer, etc. A nice touch is the ability to use either 50 or 60 Hz power, and calibrate the battery backup oscillator to the line frequency. They did a great job for what they wanted to do.
Is it worth it? A personal choice, but had it not been for the nostalgia factor, I would not have bothered. In fact, after a couple of weeks, I gave it away to the son of a friend for his ham shack. It really seemed out of place in 2017. You can get an “atomic clock” for half the price, and most ham related software has the time displayed somewhere.
As for the power meter. I just bought a new WaveNode with 4 sensors through 1270 MHz for slightly more than the cost of the new Heathkit unit. 5% claimed accuracy, though my Bird indicates actual performance is better than that. Wishing them luck, but not expecting much considering how many options already exist.
I hope you get the chance to repair your old digital clock. After all, I believe that was a design feature of the old kits – repairable. 73, Joe – N2QOJ
Agreed – the new owners do not understand the mindset behind the original Heathkit…
Heathkit used to be called the poor mans Collins.. Those without the deep pockets could afford to purchase and assemble a transceiver that performed almost as well… for a lot less $$ .. I started with a DX60 as a CW transmitter because they were affordable…(I was 12 also). Why should I get this meter when I can get the new MFJ Digital auto ranging one that covers 1 – 500 Mhz for a lot less ?? Just my humble opinion…
That’s actually a good point. The original Heathkits were all about affordability, designed for those without a lot of money. These seem to be “boutique” products designed for those who have money to burn.
I’m not sure that original market still exists (affordable kits that perform almost as well as the top-of-the-line commercial stuff), or that it is even attainable.
For an exercise, see if you can design a kit that competes with the Kenwood TS-590SG, and that can be packaged as a kit (no fair making it a no-solder mechanical assembly only) for less than the about $1500 street price of the Kenwood.
That’s the challenge that anyone like Heathkit® is up against.
Maybe they end up like Elecraft, where the current state-of-the-art stuff is simply mechanical assembly, since the PCBs are full of very tiny SMDs, not amenable to hand soldering.
I notice something else — you can only pre-order via check, money order or eCheck. All methods that will not allow you to dispute the payment if you get antsy when they don’t ship in August or September, which is not guaranteed.
It is clear that they need to accumulate sufficient pre-orders before they commit to their first 1000 kits, and they need to know that money won’t get pulled out from under them when they are late getting those kits out.
Do you feel lucky?
I.Want.One.
Once upon a time my entire ham shack was Heathkit. There were times I went to the local Heathkit store and bought a kit simply because I had the urge to build another Heathkit.
I’m moving to a new QTH in a few weeks and for the first time in 10 years I’ll be living in a place with no antenna restrictions. and a real ham shack. Most hams are probably not excited at the thought of a Hy-Gain AV-640 as their main antenna but I am. As I sit here and mentally plan my new ham shack, a spot is reserved for the HM-1002.
It’s March 2019, quite a ways past the late 2017 proposed release date.
It saddens me to see the name of a once great company defiled so. I hope not many were swindled by this pre-order announcement.