Highlights of the 1984 Heathkit Catalog - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Frantone
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 07:09:00 am
content: http://www.frantone.com/Heathkit_Catalog/heathkit_catalog_1984.htmlNerd Porn for MondayIs that one lucky kid on the cover or what??

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 08:10:03 am
content: Terrific!I *really* need to spend a few days doing a couple of videos on my Electronics Australia collection!Dave.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 08:13:46 am
content: I also had a complete collection of Tandy, Jaycar, Dick Smith, and Altronics catalogs from the early days, but tossed them out in a house moveI even had every Tandy monthly catalog flyer!Dave.

author: johnboxall
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 10:06:55 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on January 14, 2013, 08:13:46 amStop saying that, you give me indigestion.Quote from: EEVblog on January 14, 2013, 08:13:46 amAnyone still have a "battery club" card?

author: johnboxall
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 10:25:58 am
content: Here's the 1983 Radio Shack computer catalogue (in .pdf - 84 MB):http://db.tt/sy9CMcuh

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 10:40:07 am
content: Quote from: tronixstuff on January 14, 2013, 10:06:55 amIt still keeps me awake at nightI'm sure some people left in Oz would still have a full set of those catalogs, but almost certainly will never get shared again.QuoteDoes it still work?If it's still in your wallet, you are hereby awarded Nerd of the Year.Dave.

author: jeroen74
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 11:07:41 am
content: I browsed the 1984 Radio Shack catalogue a few days ago (you can read them all online). Brings back memoriesI was always annoyed by the request for your address each time you bought something.

author: ecat
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 11:12:53 am
content: I remember drooling over the Heathkit stuff as a kid, it all looked so modern. Strangely, it's the clocks I remember most.The catalogue is a little bit spooky.http://www.frantone.com/Heathkit_Catalog/heathkit_catalog_19840001.jpghttp://www.frantone.com/Heathkit_Catalog/heathkit_catalog_19840003.jpgIt looks like the same family. How did they age so quickly? Was it the clocks? Or did Hero Jr power itself by sucking the life force from its owners?Speaking of Hero, this one received a little modernisation...http://coder32768.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/fr3ddy.html

author: GK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 12:28:23 pm
content: I consigned all of my Tandy catalogs to the bin long ago, once I discovered just how much of a blatant rip off they were......Tandy was the first electronics store I discovered that sold components. Forrest M Mimms "Getting started in Electronics" was my first electronics book and I slowly collected most of the "Engineers Mini Notebook" series, bought with my pocket money savings. I still remember an individually boxed 555 timer was $3.95 back in ~1990. That was a big outlay when I only got $1 a week! After a year or two of offloading my pocket money at Tandy a school mate told me to check out a new (now mostly defunct) retailer called Force Electronics. Dunno how many south-of-Adelaide members there are on the forum, but their very first store was a tiny joint next to a supermarket down the western end of Beach Road, Christies Beach. On my first visit I asked for a 555 timer and I was charged 65 cents! I almost fell over. 65 cents!

author: Frantone
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 05:32:22 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on January 14, 2013, 08:13:46 amMy last move I purged about 75%of my really cool possessions to downsize - including many artifacts, like this 1968 HP 7-track FM data recorder:

author: w2aew
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 05:53:30 pm
content: Too bad I didn't have the insight to save my old Radio Shack and Heathkit catalogs from the 70's... Oh well.Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Fran! I remember those pages. I used to pour through those catalogs, page by page, when they arrived in the mail. I built several of those pieces of test equipment, and still have a few (Grid Dip Meter, FM Deviation Meter, a few transistor checkers, etc.).I do still have a set of Tektronix catalogs - from '65 on up.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 15, 2013, 03:50:09 am
content: Quote from: wilfred on January 15, 2013, 12:53:34 amThe HP 150 had touchscreen in 1983:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-150Dave.

author: chickenHeadKnob
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2013, 09:47:01 am
content: I be 'memberin those days and I recon only only one thing in the heathkit "oeuvre" triggered my lust in the late 70's. This was when heathkit was already in steep decline: the western digital PDP-11/03. Oh man did I ever want one of those things. The other offerings looked very dated and old fashioned to my eyes, that robot one the cover was called HERO-1 or something, it sucked donkey balls.

author: chickenHeadKnob
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2013, 11:03:27 am
content: Quote from: wilfred on January 15, 2013, 10:50:19 amNo, I know the difference, Western Digital made all kinds of really nice chips like Arcnet token passing which were one of the easiest to use LAN chips and this PDP-11/03 chipset (3 chips) which was called an LSI-11 if I recall and also sold by DEC. Around 1979 I was using a University PDP11/45 and loved the instruction set, just about everyone did.

author: jeroen74
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2013, 11:05:37 am
content: I remember some touchscreen device for the Acorn BBC Micro back in 1986 or so. A big piece of plastic that you fitted around your monitor that basically contained a few IR LEDs and transistors. Very coarse resolution of course.Or the BitStick (don't know the exact name) from the same era that basically worked like a modern touchpad on a laptop.

author: WV1800es
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2013, 11:17:51 am
content: WOW!! What a blast from the past... I dreamed over those HeathKit boks back on the farm too- and Lafayette Radio - and Radio Shack too:http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalog_directory.htmlThsi site has all the Radio Shack catalogs from 1939 to 2005 ... DON'T try and do it all at once!

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2013, 02:15:19 pm
content: This weekend I had a really good find. A 1972 laboratory equipment catalog, from a British company called Griffin & George, who I'd never heard of. It's 5cm thick, over 1000 pages, and every page a fascinating technological time machine.