Heathkit

What appears to be an AI voiced video about Heathkit:

source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUQOG1hp54g

I think the video was interesting but it really overstates the value and historical impact of Heathkit.  It also says that surface mount was the first killer of kits.  I don't think I'd go quite that far.  They rank cost as factor 2 but really surface mount was a part of driving cost lower.

However I do think that Heathkit was important in my pursuit of radio and electronics as both hobby and career.  Ironically the trouble I had building the HW-16 was actually a boost:

https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/06/hw-16.html

The HW-16 was really a receiver-transmitter.  There wasn't a lot of circuitry shared between the two halves.  The receiver was built on a circuit board and worked first time.  The transmitter was three tubes and built point to point - and much simpler than the receiver - but it didn't transmit right.  Thanks to the Heathkit manual I was able (after a lot of fiddling around) to find the problem:  there was a three position band switch, it had multiple gangs (wafers).  It turned out that the wafer for the transmitter was rotated a position by the switch manufacturer - the bottom line was that the HW-16 would never have worked right with that switch.  And in the Heathkit manual there were clear diagrams of the switch wafers which showed the correct orientation.  So my learned mistrust of vendors may have been a deciding factor on becoming a QA engineer in receiving inspection at GTE :)

If the HW-16 had gone together without a problem I wouldn't have learned as much. 

One thing that a Heathkit provided was an easy way for a beginner to get into building a project.  Starting from scratch or even reproducing something from plans is much harder.  And getting all the little parts required can be quite a chore for someone just starting.  So the builder gets some confidence via kit building.  Then maybe the builder proceeds to modify his Heathkit.

Also, during the time of relatively expensive gear, a ham might have a single radio.  Now with relatively cheap gear it is common to see stations with multiple radios.  The entire nation has leveled up since the 1960s.  

Someday I will have to revisit the HW-16 and a failed modification I attempted - maybe I could get it to work now ?  :)

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