"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
Please re-read what I said. (See above.)
The thing about Heathkit was it sold to everyone. LIke I said the last
time someone posted about "Heathkit is coming back", they had the organ
kit, the boonie bike kit, the marine electronic kits, and so on. The kits
were made to be built by anyone, carefully follow the instructions and you
will succeed. Indeed, those who tried to leap ahead might get into
trouble.
The kits were viable when they were tube based, so either someone
assembled it at the factory (I just saw an old magazine with a photo of
the Hallicrafter's assembly line, students in sweaters soldering the parts
together) or you did it at home. Once circuit boards came along (and
especially as automation took over) that cost faded, it ending up being
more expensive to put out kits than to assemble at the factory.
And when there was a money saving, then someone with no interest in
electronics would build that color tv set or whatever, they were told they
could if they followed the instructions, and they got the set for less
than buying assembled.
And one fo the factors I wonder about is how much that "nobody" kit
building helped the bottom line. Was the amateur radio equipment and test
equipment self-sustainiing, or did it need more popular kits sold to the
masses? They had soe very interesting kits that were really aimed at that
larger mass. And if the company relied on that larger population for
sales, that's mostly disappeared now. The ones who want the kits are the
hobbyists, since they can't get the kits cheaper than the finished
products.
There's a fixation on the name. There are kits still being made, but
somehow they don't count since they aren't Heathkit. On the other hand,
those other kits often aren't aimed at the total beginner, who blindly
follows the instructions. The people wanting kits want the building
experience, without having to collect the parts (or figure out suitable
replacements). ANd that's a pretty small segment of the population.
Bringing back Heathkit won't do a thing, just like bringing back Popular
Electronics won't do a thing. It's the content that matters, and either it
will fly by itself, or no amount of old branding will help.
To paraphrase Lois Lane... How huge is it?
Heath is going to have to come up with some come pretty Amateur and test
products to compete with existing kit manufacturers.
Yes, there's already ESR meter kits. And this new iteration of Heathkit
will have to be unique, either sonething nice and cheap, or something
other's aren't selling.
Remember, last year (or I guess the year before) they made a big splash
"Heathkit is back in the kit business" and everyone saw the name and
rejoiced. ANd they offered a kit or two, none of which had any appeal to
the hobbyist, and apparently not to the public. They set up lures, "we'll
have more kits soon, even amateur radio equipment", but they failed before
that happened. Until something changes, this won't work either.
Or maybe they will sell the name, like all those Philco all in one stereos
advertised late at night on tv.
Michael