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And now, a moment of silence.... for Heathkit.
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Terry S
May 24, 2012, 8:14:38 AM5/24/12
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Michael Black
May 24, 2012, 9:12:42 AM5/24/12
to
On Thu, 24 May 2012, Terry S wrote:
> http://electronicdesign.com/blog/communique-3/unassigned/
heathkit-closes-time-good-73884
>
That's a much better piece than what circulated a few weeks ago, which was
basically one source repeated everywhere. The source said Heathkit had
closed its doors again, when reality says they never closed in 1992, just
stopped making kits.
I was going to post here about it, since it's come up before, but never
finished the post:
------------------------------------
So there's a story circulating, basically the same story, that Heathkit
has gone out of business.
This is of course after last summer's announcement that they were getting
back into the kit business, with some really silly household items, and
then a bigger splash when they had a survey to see what kinds of kits
people wanted, and of course ham equipment was high on the list. Causing
either an announcement that they'd be going there, or an interpretation
that they were going there (I can't remember which).
It got a lot of travel last summer, but pretty much all of it was just
passing it on, including by people who'd never been in the hobby when
Heathkit last issued a kit. There wasn't a lot of comment about how they
were going to be successful when they left the business 20 years ago, it
just travelled an "awesome".
And despite the high travel, they would seem to have not gone anywhere
further. They disappeared from view after the announcement of the ham
kits, not sure if they were there but no news or what.
Even the story getting travel now is odd, since it says Heathkit is again
going out of business. But I thought in 1992 they just dropped the kits,
still staying in business to produce educational material. They never
went out of business. After all, the company still existed, under
different ownership and structure (and size) in order to be around to get
back into the kit business last summer. It may turn out, if we ever get
details, that the educational business that they remained in was
faltering, and they thought of going back to kits as a fix, just like all
those magazines that change direction in a last minute attempt to save
itself, only to fail.
That too is some of the problem with the internet age, things get high
travel but that doesn't reflect reality, and if nobody is being critical,
then it all just looks so great. In an age when anyone can "publish",
it's easy to believe something because of the high travel it gets, and
nobody saying "the emporer is naked". Just because a story gets repeated
a lot doesn't mean there is concrete interest.
How was Heathkit supposed to be viable in the kit business when it
couldn't be viable 20 years ago? It was the kits themselves, not that
people were no longer interested in building kits. Too expensive, so they
could no longer compare with assembled equipment, they lost not just the
hobbyist but the layperson who just wanted a cheap tv set or organ, or
boonie bike, willing to lay out some time to build the kit. For the
hobbyist, the kit building is part of the enjoyment, for the general
public, it was just a means to an end.
Michael
> http://electronicdesign.com/blog/communique-3/unassigned/
heathkit-closes-time-good-73884
>
That's a much better piece than what circulated a few weeks ago, which was
basically one source repeated everywhere. The source said Heathkit had
closed its doors again, when reality says they never closed in 1992, just
stopped making kits.
I was going to post here about it, since it's come up before, but never
finished the post:
------------------------------------
So there's a story circulating, basically the same story, that Heathkit
has gone out of business.
This is of course after last summer's announcement that they were getting
back into the kit business, with some really silly household items, and
then a bigger splash when they had a survey to see what kinds of kits
people wanted, and of course ham equipment was high on the list. Causing
either an announcement that they'd be going there, or an interpretation
that they were going there (I can't remember which).
It got a lot of travel last summer, but pretty much all of it was just
passing it on, including by people who'd never been in the hobby when
Heathkit last issued a kit. There wasn't a lot of comment about how they
were going to be successful when they left the business 20 years ago, it
just travelled an "awesome".
And despite the high travel, they would seem to have not gone anywhere
further. They disappeared from view after the announcement of the ham
kits, not sure if they were there but no news or what.
Even the story getting travel now is odd, since it says Heathkit is again
going out of business. But I thought in 1992 they just dropped the kits,
still staying in business to produce educational material. They never
went out of business. After all, the company still existed, under
different ownership and structure (and size) in order to be around to get
back into the kit business last summer. It may turn out, if we ever get
details, that the educational business that they remained in was
faltering, and they thought of going back to kits as a fix, just like all
those magazines that change direction in a last minute attempt to save
itself, only to fail.
That too is some of the problem with the internet age, things get high
travel but that doesn't reflect reality, and if nobody is being critical,
then it all just looks so great. In an age when anyone can "publish",
it's easy to believe something because of the high travel it gets, and
nobody saying "the emporer is naked". Just because a story gets repeated
a lot doesn't mean there is concrete interest.
How was Heathkit supposed to be viable in the kit business when it
couldn't be viable 20 years ago? It was the kits themselves, not that
people were no longer interested in building kits. Too expensive, so they
could no longer compare with assembled equipment, they lost not just the
hobbyist but the layperson who just wanted a cheap tv set or organ, or
boonie bike, willing to lay out some time to build the kit. For the
hobbyist, the kit building is part of the enjoyment, for the general
public, it was just a means to an end.
Michael
William Sommerwerck
May 24, 2012, 10:47:02 AM5/24/12
to
> How was Heathkit supposed to be viable in the kit business when it
> couldn't be viable 20 years ago? It was the kits themselves, not that
> people were no longer interested in building kits. Too expensive, so they
> could no longer compare with assembled equipment, they lost not just the
> hobbyist but the layperson who just wanted a cheap tv set or organ, or
> boonie bike, willing to lay out some time to build the kit. For the
> hobbyist, the kit building is part of the enjoyment, for the general
> public, it was just a means to an end.
As I said, Heath needs to come up with kits for "desirable" products that no
> couldn't be viable 20 years ago? It was the kits themselves, not that
> people were no longer interested in building kits. Too expensive, so they
> could no longer compare with assembled equipment, they lost not just the
> hobbyist but the layperson who just wanted a cheap tv set or organ, or
> boonie bike, willing to lay out some time to build the kit. For the
> hobbyist, the kit building is part of the enjoyment, for the general
> public, it was just a means to an end.
one manufactures.
George Conklin
May 24, 2012, 9:21:27 PM5/24/12
to
"William Sommerwerck" <grizzle...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:jplhjn$5hr$2...@dont-email.me...
not assmbled by automated computer-controlled factories where human hands
don't do soldering.
Michael Black
May 24, 2012, 10:45:36 PM5/24/12
to
fairly useless, I can't remember, something like a garage door monitor.
It was something relatively uncommon, but something not particularly
appealing.
You're right, something common would not be served. It has to be
something that has some demand, but isn't common. If they put the HW-101
back on the market, it would lure those people who want to build a
Heathkit but can't afford buying an unbuilt kit on ebay. It would satisfy
people who want a tube based ham transceiver. It wouldn't be common on
the market, and has the advantage that it wouldn't be easily built by
robot.
The Boonie Bike I mentioned, at the time that was kind of out of the norm.
There likely were people who bought it because something that small yet
still useful wasn't out there at the time, so they gladly built the kit.
Michael
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