[Amps] I dont accept answers to why did Heath die?

[Glen Zook]

There are some kits available, usually fairly simple, but there are a couple complex ones out there.

But, Heath's "bread and butter" was NOT amateur radio although, for decades, amateur radio equipment was very profitable.  Heath sold many thousands of test equipment, "hi-fi" equipment, and so forth.

Like it or not, amateur radio operators are a VERY small market when compared to consumer items.  Then "figure in" the actual number of operators who really would build kits if they were available.  Frankly, the economics are just not there!  The companies who are manufacturing kits today are generally doing so as a "side line" and are not showing a large profit.

Next, we live in a society today that is very prone to "suing" someone if things don't go right or if they are injured in any way.  Frankly, someone today building an amplifier kit with lethal voltages present is an open invitation to a very large lawsuit.  If liability insurance is available, the cost of such insurance is going to increase the cost of the kit substantially.  Back when Heath was in its "hey day" if someone got shocked they figured out why and tried not to get shocked again.  Today, if someone gets shocked, or worse, then the lawsuits start.  It seems if the lawsuits include the manufacturer of the device, the electric company that provides the electricity, the manufacturer of the wire that conducted the electricity, the mine owner who owned the mine from which the copper that was used in the wire came from, and anyone else who is remotely a party.

I definitely would like to see a "new" Heathkit type of company.  But, realistically, it just isn't going to happen.  At least on a scale that is even a fraction of what Heath produced.

Glen, K9STH

Website:  http://k9sth.com


--- On Sun, 1/31/10, Charles Harpole <k4vud at hotmail.com> wrote:
 
Sorry, but I do not accept the answers to why there are no more ham Heathkits, at least today.
 
Today, hams are hungry for a safe and sure building projects which 1. includes all all all the parts, 2. has good instructions in English, and 3 results in something one would want.  Elecraft may be partial proof of the consumer kit choices.
 
Power supplies and RF amplifiers could be the items a person would want and would be willing to build.  Maybe add SWR meters, Keyers, advanced speaker enclosures, remote touch pad for several rigs (K3 etc), and remote antenna switches?

I get a laugh at the building projects in QST over the last few years.... Who in the world actually builds these things?  It looks to me like ARRL wants to continue the idea, now a myth, that hams are overall very technically adept and cutting edge regardless of if the articles are actually built by anybody.  
 
To me, ham radio as a hobby today is much like the old car guys... Model T, etc.  Add old airplanes, or add your favorite.  These are old technology played with for fun and celebrated for what it is... a beautiful and wonderful part of history.  CW is the same thing, the practice of an elegant old communications method.  No one puts down a guy with a beautifully restored Model T Ford, and hams should NOT stand being put down just because our technology does not nearly equal what the military has, for example.  
 
We should accept and celebrate the kind of radio hams do.   The return of point-to-point wiring!  Hurray!  Bring back kits!