Branded

I thought this Tales from the Cube was interesting:

https://www.edn.com/heathkit-transceiver-recalled-after-meeting-specs

As I recall this was the HW-2035 ?  No, per Chuck Penson's book, it was the HW-2026 (I remembered that only one number changed when the new fixed model came out, HW-2036 ;)  A friend worked at the Heathkit store in Milwaukee during this period.  He said that this was a big deal at Heathkit - I believe the president then was Dave Nurse ?  Anyway he ordered the recall and Heathkit took the returned radios and destroyed them (and cut off the microphones, too) to make sure that they weren't resold - cutting off the microphone seemed symbolic to me, like ripping the buttons off a dis-honored officer's coat and breaking his sword in half :)

Which of course reminds me of this opening theme from Branded:

source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80Bp4N1PCcI

Finally here is an interesting examination of the HW-2026:

https://www.w6ze.org/Heathkit/Heathkit_111_HW2026.pdf

https://www.w6ze.org/Heathkit/Heathkit_111_Addendum.pdf

 

I doubt they study the HW-2026 / HW-2036 at the Harvard Business School but maybe they should ?  If the president of BA had taken the 737 Max problems seriously at first the whole company (and stock) would be doing much better.

Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm