From: chuck@eng.umd.edu (Chuck Harris - WA3UQV)
Subject: Re: Heathkit
Date: Mon, 06 Apr 92 20:25:42 GMT
Organization: University of Maryland, Department of Electrical Engineering
Distribution: usa

In article <508@adept.UUCP> alan@adept.UUCP (Alan Ruffer) writes:
>In article <1992Apr02.203317.29616@eng.umd.edu> chuck@eng.umd.edu (Chuck Harris - WA3UQV) writes:
>>
>>Heath has at various times thru the years sold all of the above kits.  The
>>problem is that it was nearly impossible to build, and then PROPERLY adjust
>>....
>
>This seems a bit reactive.  My dad and I both have built many Heathkits over
>the years.  Neither one of us are EE types.  We did not have a "lab full
>of expensive electronic test gear", and we were able to adjust everyone of 
>them properly.  I'm refering to their AF/FM stereo amp, TV set, 
      ^^^^^^^^ How could you tell?

On the solid state AM/FM stereo equipt, Heath provided you with factory built
and aligned RF front ends....The same goes for the solid state TV's (which had
even more factory aligned and built circuits)

Neither of the above kits are solid state Ham Kits, therefore, I stand by my
original statement...

>transcievers, linear amplifer, oscilliscopes, vectorscope, computer kit (H8)
 ^^Which one?	^^^Tube gear!    ^^Which one?   ^^Trivial    ^^No alignment

Most of the transceiver kits sold by Heath were Tube sets like the HW-100/101
and the SB-100/101/102.  These were difficult to build, but very do able by
most hams.  I never had any problems with their tube gear. (Nor did I state
that I did!)

The Linear amplifiers kits were TUBE gear, and were reasonably designed.

My statement about O-scope kits was just a paraphrase of statements made
by an engineer that I talked to at the Heath factory some time in the late
 '70s.  He was explaining to me why I shouldn't be angry that it took Heath
over a year to get enough ECO's out to the kit owners so that the SB-104 would
function passably in most modes.

Note: the SB-104 was replaced by the SB-104A which had a completely
redesigned front end and a partially redesigned Xmit IF section.  A kit was
provided to SB-104 owners for ~$100 to upgrade to the '104A.  Application of
this kit rendered 10m unusable on my radio.

The vector scope wasn't Ham gear, and as such wasn't included in my original
article.... The H-8 required no alignment!

>and then a bench full of test gear when my dad decided to service TVs.

Virtually all of the TV test equipment was TUBE gear, and virtually none of
it was "solid state Ham radio kits".

>
>>I built one of their HA201 2-meter amplifiers as a teen, and it went firmly
>> ....
>I recently purchased a 2 meter amp (RFE) and it was BO out of the box, which
>doesn't prove that the design was improper.  Things like that happen
>although it may not make you or I happy!

Sorry if I didn't make myself clear about the HA-201.  I built 2 of these
beasts, and I had 2 friends who also built them.  They all performed
identically after construction.  They all went back to the factory for
debugging.  They all came back realigned with Heath's stamp of approval
(and no parts changed)....and they all behaved crappy after we got them back.

A large part of the problem with the HA-201 is that it uses a wierd solid
state switching scheme that uses a centertapped 1/2 wave piece of coax to
connect the input of the amp to its output.  This scheme is used to provide
feed thru of signals from the antenna to the receiver when you are in receive
mode.  When the xmit power is applied to the amp, a pair of diodes located at
the center tap of the coax conduct and aledgedly isolate the output from
the input... This only works over a very narrow frequency range (100KHz or so)
and is extremly sensitive to feed cable characteristics.  It is a bad design.

>>think that a single solid-state Ham radio kit designed by Heath from 1970
                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Note the focus of the original article.
>> ...
>>Heath left the kit business because their design crew (for whatever reason)
							^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>lost the ability to design products that were functional, buildable, and cost
>> ...
>
>This is not correct.  What happened when Zenith Data systems bought out
>Heath?  There were massive layoffs in the design crew area.  The design crew
>lost not their ability, they lost their jobs!!

When they lost their jobs, the Engineers were no longer members of the
Heath design crew!

I stand by my "for whatever reason" statement.

>As a result of this I feel that the quality of the kits and manuals did 
>decline somewhat towards the end in the 80's.  What I think is really sad 
> ...

It started way before the end of the '80's, try the mid '70's.

>Alan - WB5FKH

Chuck Harris - WA3UQV