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Hot Times With A
Soldering Iron
Heathkit and the Culture of Build-it-Yourself
By Chuck Penson
During the years 1947 to about 1980 Heath Co. of Benton Harbor, Mich., held
sway as the world's largest purveyor of kit-form electronic products. The firm
offered more than 1,000 products you put together yourself. You got a big box
of parts and a book explaining how to put all of them together, and then you
had a ball!
Most people older than 40 with an interest in electronics or ham radio
probably have at least a vague idea of the history of Heath Co. For those
significantly younger – or significantly older – here is brief chronology of
the events that led to one of the most remarkable stories in electronics.
Heath moved into this huge facility on Hilltop Road in 1958. It was
expanded several times between 1960 and 1968.
About 1900 – Ed Heath founds Heath Aeroplane Co. The product is a light
plane.
1926 – Heath introduces an airplane in kit form.
1931 – Ed Heath is killed during a test flight.
1935 – Engineer Howard Anthony buys the bankrupt Heath Co. at auction
and goes into production of aircraft parts and accessories, including aircraft radios.
About 1945 – After World War II the aircraft business slumps, due in part to a
loss of military contracts. A couple of friends persuade Anthony to join them
in buying a load of war surplus parts, including aviation and electronics
components. Anthony decides more money can be made selling surplus
electronics and gives the airplane business to his friends.
About 1946 – The surplus electronics business is very good, and Anthony
begins to explore the idea of offering test equipment in kit form – an idea
he considered years earlier. Because his stash of parts included several
thousand five-inch CRTs, the idea of a kit oscilloscope occurs to him as a
good trial product.
1947 – Anthony invests in metal fabrication and painting equipment,
subcontracts the scope's design, scribbles a few simple instructions on
how to assemble the scope, and buys an ad in the August issue of
Electronics magazine. The rest, as they say, is history.
For most ham radio operators and electronics buffs, the history of Heathkit
really began in 1947 with the release of the company's first electronic kit p
roduct – the O-1 oscilloscope. What followed were a flood of products and
nothing less than a revolution in consumer electronics.
Heath's first amateur radio product. A transmitter developed in 1951.
Because Heath's kits were not burdened with the cost of assembly, they
put electronics equipment within reach of virtually every working adult –
and almost every kid with a modest allowance. For the first time, the average
Joe could afford quality electronic products. The impact of kit-form
electronics was thunderous, and today, more than 50 years later, the aftershocks
still can be felt.
Opportunities once only available to those with lots of money suddenly
were available to anyone with enough smarts to see the possibilities.
Low-cost Heath test equipment meant those who worked for someone else
suddenly had the means to strike out on their own. TV and radio repair
shops bloomed everywhere, as people with ideas for new products now
could afford the equipment needed to design and build them.
Perhaps most importantly, young electronics enthusiasts easily acquired
the means to fully explore their interests. With Heath-equipped test benches
set up wherever space permitted, basements, attics and garages became the
proving grounds for a new generation of technicians. And with its introduction
of amateur radio products, Heath brought tens of thousands of new hams
into the hobby.
The history of Heathkit is full of superlatives: first, biggest, best, newest,
most affordable, most powerful, most features, most advanced and on and on.
With a cadre of clever and innovative engineers, Heath always was developing
better, simpler and more efficient ways of doing things. Along the way, Heath
gathered a following of customers whose unshakable loyalty to the company
remains unmatched to this day.
Many factors figured into Heath's success. Most notable among them were
the instruction books that told you how to put your kit together. Over the years
Heath sharpened these books to a razor edge. The clarity of the instructions and
superb illustrations in the books gave even the first-time kit builder a high
probability of success.
Heath's clearly illustrated manuals gave it a clear lead in kit products.
Note the wiring harness.
And if you did not succeed? Heath's motto was "We won't let you fail.
" Technical help was just a phone call away, and if that did not work you
were invited to ship your kit back to the factory where it would be fixed
and returned to you. Free.
But more subtle details made kit-building easier. Some genius at Heath
invented a gizmo called a nut starter. It was just a small red plastic tube
that held a number 6 or 8 nut by simple friction. The device may not seem
like much, but it made a huge difference for those of us with fingers like
bananas.
Another innovation in kit-building – and perhaps one of the most
significant to readers of Wiring Harness News – was the wiring harness.
As soon as Heath began developing its more complex ham radio
transmitters and receivers, the engineers realized the use of wiring
harnesses would greatly simplify the process of interconnecting the
dozens of components these products contained and reduce the
possibility of wiring mistakes.
Wiring harnesses first appeared in Heath products in 1958. Over
the years several vendors were used, but Able Cable supplied most
of the harnesses.
These innovations – and many others – paved the road for a
company on a most remarkable journey.
Over the years Heath developed and sold hundreds of kit products.
With more than 150 kits, the firm had the largest amateur radio product
line amassed by a single company. Heath sold nearly 40,000 HW-101
transceivers alone – more of a single product than anyone before or since,
even more than Collins.
Heath's success in test equipment was even greater, with nearly 400 test
equipment products over the life of the company. In its first 10 years Heath
sold an astonishing 500,000 VTVMs. By the time the last one went out the
door in the early 1990s more than two million had been sold.
Quite possibly, a similar number of oscilloscopes also may have been sold.
Over the years Heath designed more than 60 models of scopes.
Then, of course, there were hundreds of consumer products – countless hi-fi,
stereo, TV and home-improvement kits. Also, metal detectors and microwaves,
Boonie-Bikes and slot cars, computers and compactors. For a while you could
even buy furniture in kit form.
For almost 30 years Heathkit could do no wrong. But by the mid-1970s the
weight of change was beginning to press on Heath with increasing discomfort. Technology was beginning to cycle so quickly Heath hardly could maintain
the pace. Halfway through a project, for example, Heath found itself working
on an outmoded idea. And, as if that weren't enough, off-shore manufacturers
were becoming seriously competitive.
Then, in 1979, Zenith bought Heath. What at first glance appeared to be a
great relationship quickly turned catastrophic.
In addition to the internal problems, major shifts were occurring outside.
Heath's original customer base was aging, and younger folks seemed to have
neither the time nor the inclination to assemble kits. The age of instant
gratification had arrived.
All of these forces – and others – combined to submerge Heath below
crush depth. The resulting implosion stunned Heath customers and left a
void that never may be filled completely. Small wonder.
Today, more than 50 years after a blurry green wiggle first appeared on the
face of the O-1's war surplus CRT, collectors and fans alike are providing a
safe and happy home for many of Heath's best products. Hundreds – if not
thousands – of Heathkit transmitters and receivers are still in active duty.
Circuits are still checked with Heath VTVMs. Audiophiles still listen to
vinyl records with Heath's Williamson amplifiers. And somewhere, a
Boonie-Bike still roams the backcountry.
Heath Co. still exists. While it no longer makes kit products, the firm is
alive and well and profitable, providing many an electronics buff with a
glimmer of hope that one day the fire that drove a revolution might be
rekindled. Hope springs eternal.
Chuck Penson is an industrial archeologist who lives and works from
his solar-powered home in Tucson, Ariz. He is a collector of vintage
electronics equipment and the author of Heathkit: A Guide to the Amateur
Radio Products, a guidebook for collectors of vintage radios, as well as
numerous articles for a variety of magazines.
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