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Could this possibly succeed?

W

William Sommerwerck

Jan 1, 1970
0
http://www.heathkit.com/heathkit-faq.html

It's likely to be as successful as the attempt by former Polaroid employees to
revive Polaroid integral materials. Which is to say, not at all.

The whole point of electronic kits was to offer something you couldn't buy
assembled (such as robots), or test equipment, Amateur equipment, audio
amplifiers, etc, that cost a lot more assembled.

This is over. Cheap labor from the Orient, combined with the switch to SMDs,
have largely destroyed the possibility of kits being less-expensive than
assembled items, let alone offering something you can't get assembled.

Elecraft makes Amateur kits, but there's probably not a large-enough market
for Heath to enter. As for test equipment...

http://www.elecraft.com
 
I would not be optimistic right now.

Actualy some of those kits are things you could buy cheaper but people bought them for the experience/satisfaction of actually building something. It was a different America then sadly. People were really gung ho on techologybecause so many things were new.

One little niche market they could cover maybe would be custom USB devices.I had an idea for the service industry to store remote control pulse trains in the PC and build a little IR transciever to control these sets on the bench as you needed remoted for service menus and so forth. Of courrse thenI found out that some smartphones can do this.

However that doesn't mean it's not a viable idea, but revealing it here obviously indicates that I do not intend to patent it. It's not worth it. Likeanything else, in the beginning I envisioned all sorts of neat things, like techs being able to email the pulse trains to each other, or even a web based repository or P2P sharing.

Would have been nice but the fact is now the TV industry is reduced to bad electrolytics and a few powers supply repairs or 99 % of the time the unit is scrap.

However if they can write a little software that is cross platform and comeup with a somewhat universal USB interface, there are possibilities. Peolecould build some of their own home automation devices etc., and maybe build some things you just can't get from Bestbuy. Sorta like a laymen's Arduino.....

No matter what they come up with the market is extremely tough. People haveno time for this stuff, they need to work two jobs to keep their house, stuff like that. Perhaps worldwide. Believe it or not - Russia. They've come a long way and actually are more than an emerging market.

привет ?
 
C

Cydrome Leader

Jan 1, 1970
0
William Sommerwerck said:
http://www.heathkit.com/heathkit-faq.html

It's likely to be as successful as the attempt by former Polaroid employees to
revive Polaroid integral materials. Which is to say, not at all.

The whole point of electronic kits was to offer something you couldn't buy
assembled (such as robots), or test equipment, Amateur equipment, audio
amplifiers, etc, that cost a lot more assembled.

This is over. Cheap labor from the Orient, combined with the switch to SMDs,
have largely destroyed the possibility of kits being less-expensive than
assembled items, let alone offering something you can't get assembled.

Elecraft makes Amateur kits, but there's probably not a large-enough market
for Heath to enter. As for test equipment...

http://www.elecraft.com

Graymark still has an nice selection of real kits:

http://www.graymarkint.com/index_productdirectory.htm#komponent_kits

I love that they haven't wimped out and still have kits with 120V power cords and
those back of the stereo receptacles to run lights and stuff.

We had a real badass science teach in grade school that had us build these and do
other slightly weird things like "microchemistry" where all reactions were done
in capillary tubes which we had to work into test tubes with alcohol burners.
 
K

Ken Layton

Jan 1, 1970
0
Graymark still has an nice selection of real kits:



http://www.graymarkint.com/index_productdirectory.htm#komponent_kits



I love that they haven't wimped out and still have kits with 120V power cords and

those back of the stereo receptacles to run lights and stuff.



We had a real badass science teach in grade school that had us build these and do

other slightly weird things like "microchemistry" where all reactions were done

in capillary tubes which we had to work into test tubes with alcohol burners.

Graymark, now that's a name I haven't heard in many years. Back in 1969 I was in the 9th grade and we each built a Graymark tube AM table radio kit for electronics class. It was fun.
 
W

William Sommerwerck

Jan 1, 1970
0
"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
William Sommerwerck said:
Sorry, but I would have to disagree that the whole point was about stuff
that you couldn't buy.

Please re-read what I said. (See above.)

The ham radio market is potentially huge, and I would have thought a good
place for them to enter. And what say you about test equipment? There is
still a market for things like ESR meter kits, and bench power supplies,
audio signal generators, simple RF generators and so on.

To paraphrase Lois Lane... How huge is it?

Heath is going to have to come up with some come pretty Amateur and test
products to compete with existing kit manufacturers.
 
M

Michael Black

Jan 1, 1970
0
"Arfa Daily" wrote in message


Please re-read what I said. (See above.)
The thing about Heathkit was it sold to everyone. LIke I said the last
time someone posted about "Heathkit is coming back", they had the organ
kit, the boonie bike kit, the marine electronic kits, and so on. The kits
were made to be built by anyone, carefully follow the instructions and you
will succeed. Indeed, those who tried to leap ahead might get into
trouble.

The kits were viable when they were tube based, so either someone
assembled it at the factory (I just saw an old magazine with a photo of
the Hallicrafter's assembly line, students in sweaters soldering the parts
together) or you did it at home. Once circuit boards came along (and
especially as automation took over) that cost faded, it ending up being
more expensive to put out kits than to assemble at the factory.

And when there was a money saving, then someone with no interest in
electronics would build that color tv set or whatever, they were told they
could if they followed the instructions, and they got the set for less
than buying assembled.

And one fo the factors I wonder about is how much that "nobody" kit
building helped the bottom line. Was the amateur radio equipment and test
equipment self-sustainiing, or did it need more popular kits sold to the
masses? They had soe very interesting kits that were really aimed at that
larger mass. And if the company relied on that larger population for
sales, that's mostly disappeared now. The ones who want the kits are the
hobbyists, since they can't get the kits cheaper than the finished
products.

There's a fixation on the name. There are kits still being made, but
somehow they don't count since they aren't Heathkit. On the other hand,
those other kits often aren't aimed at the total beginner, who blindly
follows the instructions. The people wanting kits want the building
experience, without having to collect the parts (or figure out suitable
replacements). ANd that's a pretty small segment of the population.

Bringing back Heathkit won't do a thing, just like bringing back Popular
Electronics won't do a thing. It's the content that matters, and either it
will fly by itself, or no amount of old branding will help.

To paraphrase Lois Lane... How huge is it?

Heath is going to have to come up with some come pretty Amateur and test
products to compete with existing kit manufacturers.
Yes, there's already ESR meter kits. And this new iteration of Heathkit
will have to be unique, either sonething nice and cheap, or something
other's aren't selling.

Remember, last year (or I guess the year before) they made a big splash
"Heathkit is back in the kit business" and everyone saw the name and
rejoiced. ANd they offered a kit or two, none of which had any appeal to
the hobbyist, and apparently not to the public. They set up lures, "we'll
have more kits soon, even amateur radio equipment", but they failed before
that happened. Until something changes, this won't work either.

Or maybe they will sell the name, like all those Philco all in one stereos
advertised late at night on tv.

Michael
 
W

William Sommerwerck

Jan 1, 1970
0
There's little doubt that the ability to build your own projects created an
interest in electronics.
 
C

Cydrome Leader

Jan 1, 1970
0
Ken Layton said:
Graymark, now that's a name I haven't heard in many years. Back in 1969 I was in the 9th grade and we each built a Graymark tube AM table radio kit for electronics class. It was fun.

I though they were out of business for years as they had no website, and
they don't mail me catalogs. They always included the PCB artwork so you
could etch your own board, or lay it out with that etch resist tape, which
is what their artwork is photocopied from anyways.

They may have dropped tube kits, but everything else is untouched by time.

I recall this kit


The silkscreen has changed, and the old ones included grease for the
gears, but the damn thing looks the same.
 
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