Whenever I mention to folks that I used to work at Heathkit, a few people actually ask, “What’s Heathkit?” Yes, I suppose that does date me a bit. Others will say, “Oh, yes, my dad used to build Heathkits.” Anyway, some of you do remember Heathkit, and fondly in most cases. If not, let me explain.
There once was a time in electronics when you could actually build circuits and equipment yourself. You needed a design that you could create yourself—or if not, get from one of many magazines, including Electronic Design. You could buy the resistors, capacitors, transistors, or tubes in the olden days, then put them all together on a metal chassis, a breadboard, or a finished printed-circuit board (PCB). It was quite a project but doable, and many hobbyists like hams built these designs on a regular basis.
In the late 1940s and 1950s, someone invented the kit business. Companies designed a product and sold it as a bundle of parts called a kit. You could buy the kit for a fraction of what a comparable wired unit would cost and then build it yourself. The outcome was quite favorable—a workable electronic product and a great sense of accomplishment you got from the construction.
Heath was one of those companies that help started the kit business. Ed Heath founded the company in 1926 with, of all things, an airplane kit. He died in a test flight in one in 1935, but Howard Anthony kept the company going. Right after World War II, he bought a batch of electronic surplus. Out of that came one of the first successful kits, a small oscilloscope for $50, which was a real achievement in its time. With that success came many new products.
Heathkit probably succeeded more on its ham radio products than anything else. Most of the early kits were shortwave radios, transmitters, accessories like antenna tuners, and the famous Cantenna, a 1-kW non-inductive power resistor in a paint can with mineral oil for the heatsink. Heathkit went on to create an extensive line of small and large transceivers and big power amps, many of which are still operational today.
The Successful Years
Later in the 1950s and 1960s, Heathkit expanded into audio equipment, TV sets, and lots of other consumer products. The company even had a low-cost line of test equipment with scopes, multimeters, generators, counters, and other items. While Heathkit had competitors like Allied Knight, Lafayette, Eico, and a few other smaller companies, it essentially beat the pants off everyone else because it had a better product.
But Heathkit’s good reputation really came from offering a better assembly manual than anyone else. A poorly executed step-by-step manual is a prescription for disaster for any kit company. If the customer can’t build the kit successfully without massive telephone and mail support, it would die a quick death, and many did. Heathkit figured this out early and spent as much development time in the manual as it did engineering the product. Its primary marketing message was “We won’t let you fail,” and the company lived up to it.
I went to Heathkit in the early 1970s to start its education and publishing product line. The idea was to extend the concept that building a kit was an educational endeavor and that we could expand on that idea with more formal learning materials to supplement the kits. We built a line of self-instructional courses on electronic fundamentals and a wide range of other topics. A line of kit trainers accompanied the instructional materials. The first products emerged in 1974 and were instantly successful. We followed up with microprocessor learning packages, which were hot for their time. And, we developed the Hero robot kit that came out in 1982.
I was also involved with the development of the Heathkit computers. We created the H8 and the H11, not to mention the H9 terminal, and of all things the H10, a paper tape reader/punch. (What was I thinking?) The H11 kit used Digital Equipment Corporation’s (DEC) famous LSI-11 board. We packaged that into kit form with some 8-in. hard drives (remember those?) and the RT-11 operating system with Basic—not bad for $1200 at that time. The all-in-one H89 and others came later.
Greetings. I was in the Marine Corps when I built a complete "Heath Kit" stereo system. I was stationed on the island of Luzon, Philippines. That was back in 1960. I was stationed 30 miles North of Subic Bay (Olongapo) in the middle of now where. The Kit came, I put it together, and Voila, it worked the first time I plugged it in. Talk about the old days. The good products "just aint out there no more" With out Heath Kit to keep me occupied I would have gone nuts. I had a great time putting it together and a better time listening to the 33 1/3 records.
Ray Rudnick, Delafield, Wisconsin
Anonymous -October 19, 2009
Greetings. I was in the Marine Corps when I built a complete "Heath Kit" stereo system. I was stationed on the island of Luzon, Philippines. That was back in 1960. I was stationed 30 miles North of Subic Bay (Olongapo) in the middle of now where. The Kit came, I put it together, and Voila, it worked the first time I plugged it in. Talk about the old days. The good products "just aint out there no more" With out Heath Kit to keep me occupied I would have gone nuts. I had a great time putting it together and a better time listening to the 33 1/3 records.
Ray Rudnick, Delafield, Wisconsin
Anonymous -October 19, 2009
I remember building heathkits when I was a kid, and they were some fun memories. I haven't thought about them in years, but today someone mentioned them, and I thought I'd look them up. I have to admit that after reading the wikipedia page and your article, I'm left feeling really sad. Heathkit kits were sold new during a time in history that was really neat to live in - I mean, build your own clock? Sure! Build your own TV? Why not? I didn't really appreciate it at the time. Now with iphones and other ultra-miniaturized things of such complexity, it's hard to get that build-it-yourself feeling across to a new generation. This stuff has been commoditized to the point where it's "just magic" and "just works", and you miss out on the feeling that you used to get with building these kits - that complicated consumer devices that at first seem mysterious can be understood. I guess maybe I'm just old.
Phillip -September 24, 2009
Yeah, I guess you are dating yourself Louis, when you claim to be knowledgeable about Heath Kit. I built a Heath Kit shortwave radio and 'Q' multiplier in 1962 which I used for many years. I also have to agree that Heath provided the Cadillac of assembly/documentation manuals. Things just ain't the same as they used to be! !
Phil Giesbrecht -August 04, 2009
Excellent article on What ever happened to Heathkit! Thanks.
scott fisher -July 20, 2009
Sadly, no one has produced kits like Heathkit. And the little kits available now are not very good for system level development. And not the same level of documentation. Very poor for this day and age. No wonder kids shy from electronics.
Anonymous -March 27, 2009
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