Heathkit making a comeback?

[AK9R]

Heathkit was an electronics kit company. They produced many types of electronic kits including televisions, home audio equipment, clocks, electronics and automotive test equipment, table-top broadcast radios, and amateur radio equipment.

 

[zz0468]

For you youngsters. But if, even with a magnifier, you have trouble seeing how well you've soldered a thru-hole lead, of you're not sure which pin of an IC socket the tip is touching, some SMT components are too small to handle.

I'm in my mid 50's and able to work with SMT components as small as 0603 size. The 0402 chip caps and resistors are a bit much. I'm convinced that it's more a matter of motivation to build and keep up to date, as opposed to just "too old". I know some guys in their 70's and 80's that are still able to build state of the art stuff with SMT components.

If Heath starts using SMT and smaller components, I'd like to see kits coming as both full kits and as kits with the microscopic parts already soldered in.

Isn't that how the Elecraft kits come, with the boards already stuffed? It's a very viable solution.

I can still do a fairly competent job of soldering on 0,100 centers, but when the entire part is 0.1" across, I have trouble seeing it, let alone handling it.

The Maker movement has already produced home made automated pick and place machines. Maybe a manually operated machine that amounts to a steady hand and good eyes could be produced commercially for an affordable price (<$500)

We may be old, but some of us can still remember building an AR1 and QF1.

LOL... I think I actually have one in the garage. I think all that old stuff was/is fantastic. But I haven't designed and built anything for years that isn't based on modern surface mount components. We adapt, or we die. I'm not ready to hang it up yet. I'm still having too much fun.

 

[K4APR]

Unless it going to be modular like the Raspberry Pi I doubt it. The problem is new SMT technology, lead free solder, and programmable devices. I have even touch the issue of firmware. I have work as a rework tech in the electronics industry. It will be hard press to find any through hole parts teases days,

This is why you are seeing even Elecraft moving away from the through-hole kits and into the "modular" kits. They can mass reflow the SMT modules, send them to you in a kit and have you plug them in to a chasis. It's just the way things are moving. Twelve years ago, when I started my company, one of my ambitions was to produce simple through hole kits, along with my other amateur radio related products. As time went on, I noticed that it was going to be harder and harder to produce through hole kits as parts manufacturers were dropping the leaded components for the SMT versions. There was NO way I was going to support SMT kits, as many ham cannot build through hole kits, let alone SMT kits.

As a NASA soldering instructor, I have the job of teaching older techs how to solder SMT. Most have never touched it and some aren't even that good with the old stuff. It's a challenge

 

[W2PMX]

I'm in my mid 50's and able to work with SMT components as small as 0603 size. The 0402 chip caps and resistors are a bit much. I'm convinced that it's more a matter of motivation to build and keep up to date, as opposed to just "too old". I know some guys in their 70's and 80's that are still able to build state of the art stuff with SMT components.

It's not a matter of how old you are, it's a matter of how you got old. I acquired 2 cataracts and shaky hands, so 1/8 watt axial lead resistors are a challenge. In an SMT package, they're impossible.

I'm not ready to hang it up yet. I'm still having too much fun.

I am too, but I'm a realist. I can no longer run 10 miles (I can walk to the mailbox in front of the house and back, if I can sit for 10 minutes when I get back inside), and I can read for as long as 10 minutes at a time. PSK with the screen expanded is doable, and SSB doesn't take a steady hand, good eyes or walking. And field day is probably going to be a blast. But soldering SMT components? Sorry, but I don't try to do what I know my body is no longer capable of doing.

 

[AC2OY]

Did any of you guys see the movie "Super 8"? There's a close up shot of a vintage amateur radio I think it was a Elecraft or Heathkit?

 

[zz0468]

Did any of you guys see the movie "Super 8"? There's a close up shot of a vintage amateur radio I think it was a Elecraft or Heathkit?

Elecraft is a current state of the art product, not vintage. Halicrafters, maybe?Didn't see the movie.