Building A Heathkit
| Electronics | Major electronic equipment supplied as home-build kits |
| Went Obsolete | mid 1990s |
| Made Obsolete By | Increasing mass production and integration requiring special tools etc, eg surface mount |
| Knowledge Assumed | Soldering and mechanical assembly skills, plus knowing how to use the item you wished to build of course! |
| When useful | Mainly as a hobby or to improve your electronics knowledge whilst building something that was practically useful |
Heathkit kits covered a wide range of activities and purposes, from electronics laboratory equipment such as the oscilloscope, through to well regard amateur radio transmitters such as the DX100?, and on to analogue and digital computers.
My father built the valve voltmeter back in the 60s (I still have it, and it still works) and the oscilloscope shortly after. My first Amateur Radio transmitter was the DX100? 100 watt AM Amateur Radio transmitter - a friend even burnt his nose by leaning too close to the aerial feed whilst I was transmitting!
Another Radio Amateur friend built the Heathkit SSB Amateur Radio transmitter.
These kits came complete with all parts needed and a comprehensive instruction manual which also gave you some insight into how the piece of kit worked - building these was a good introduction to the construction of real, commercial quality electronic equipment.
References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathkit http://www.heathkit-museum.com(approve sites)