Message	Date	From	Subject
10928	2015-03-25 08:48:22	farhanbox@gmail.c...	heathkits
i have always been fascinated by heathkit. a heathkit catalog printed on a soft velevty paper (probably a late 1979) had a fascinating collection of radios. other kids had porn under their pillow. i had a heathkit catalog. soon enough i met my anil (later to become my business partner as well) who had one leg in india and other in sweden. he was (and continues to be) a radio collector. i had access to his heathkit manuals. these were my first encounter with full radio circuits. the local library only had rsbg's amateur radio techniques. to this day i have spent many an hour at traffic lights and flights looking at (to use my xyls phrase) 'radio porn'. much of it being the heathkit manuals. so, my long winded question is that : who designed these radios? how did they ensure such high repeatability? did they have a design lab with proper test instruments? at times, i have felt that they were over designed (to much rf gain, over driven PAs, etc.) heathkit belonged to pre-SSD era. but i am sure they were reading sabin, squire and haywards work in the QST. why didnt theae concepts!make it to their design boards? i know that this group doesnt not deal with archeologoy of radio design. my curiosity got the better of my discipline. please excuse! as they say in these parts. - f
10929	2015-03-25 09:03:42	Robert Fish	Re: heathkits
I think I read somewhere that the guy (or one of the guys) who designed the Drake TR-7 was previously the chief engineer at Heathkit. I forget where I read it, but I'm sure someone on the list knows the details. I find that fascinating, I am not sure why. 73, Bob K6GGO i have always been fascinated by heathkit. a heathkit catalog printed on a soft velevty paper (probably a late 1979) had a fascinating collection of radios. other kids had porn under their pillow. i had a heathkit catalog. soon enough i met my anil (later to become my business partner as well) who had one leg in india and other in sweden. he was (and continues to be) a radio collector. i had access to his heathkit manuals. these were my first encounter with full radio circuits. the local library only had rsbg's amateur radio techniques. to this day i have spent many an hour at traffic lights and flights looking at (to use my xyls phrase) 'radio porn'. much of it being the heathkit manuals. so, my long winded question is that : who designed these radios? how did they ensure such high repeatability? did they have a design lab with proper test instruments? at times, i have felt that they were over designed (to much rf gain, over driven PAs, etc.) heathkit belonged to pre-SSD era. but i am sure they were reading sabin, squire and haywards work in the QST. why didnt theae concepts!make it to their design boards? i know that this group doesnt not deal with archeologoy of radio design. my curiosity got the better of my discipline. please excuse! as they say in these parts. - f

I think I read somewhere that the guy (or one of the guys) who designed the Drake TR-7 was previously the chief engineer at Heathkit.
I forget where I read it, but I'm sure someone on the list knows the details. I find that fascinating, I am not sure why.

73,

Bob K6GGO

i have always been fascinated by heathkit. a heathkit catalog printed on a soft velevty paper (probably a late 1979) had a fascinating collection of radios. other kids had porn under their pillow. i had a heathkit catalog.

soon enough i met my anil (later to become my business partner as well) who had one leg in india and other in sweden. he was (and continues to be) a radio collector. i had access to his heathkit manuals. these were my first encounter with full radio circuits. the local library only had rsbg's amateur radio techniques.

to this day i have spent many an hour at traffic lights and flights looking at (to use my xyls phrase) 'radio porn'. much of it being the heathkit manuals.

so, my long winded question is that : who designed these radios? how did they ensure such high repeatability? did they have a design lab with proper test instruments? at times, i have felt that they were over designed (to much rf gain, over driven PAs, etc.)

heathkit belonged to pre-SSD era. but i am sure they were reading sabin, squire and haywards work in the QST. why didnt theae concepts!make it to their design boards?

i know that this group doesnt not deal with archeologoy of radio design. my curiosity got the better of my discipline. please excuse! as they say in these parts.

- f