Anyone ever build any other kits ???

[Paul K. Dean]

Hi, Curtis!  Good question and observations.  Here's my 2 cents.  Besides
Heath, I've built Ramsey, S&S, Hamtronics, Radio Adventures and a couple of
"offbeat" brands.  None come even close to Heath (or Knight for that
matter) in terms of directions, manual, explanations, etc.  Of course it is
difficult to compare the rigs themselves as the techology is so different.

By far the closest to Heath standards that I found was S&S Engineering.
Fine kit.  Great radio. Very comprehensive manual.  Instructions were not
component by component like Heath, but were certainly far better than some
of today's kit's "Now insert all capacitors" instructions.  You'll also
find the S&S kits are like mini tanks!  Solid as a rock.  My sons use it
camping and beat it around all the time.  No problems.

Ramsey was not bad, but their instructions approached the "all capacitors"
model.  I've had real problems with their support, though.  Had one kit not
work as it should and I was basically told, "go figure out what you did
wrong, the one here works OK".

Hamtronics was a great kit for the experienced kit builder.  Instructions
were pretty weak, almost exactly the "insert all capacitors" model.  When
finished, though, it fired up first time and tuned up exactly as the manual
said.  Very easy tune up and worked exactly to specs.  I' quite pleased
with it.

Finally, Radio Adventures keyer.  Small project, instructions not all that
verbose, but again, it was a real small kit.  Keyer works fine and is not
RF sensitive like the commercially built one it replaced.

Well, that's my 2 cents.

Good luck in your kit building adventures!

73,
Paul, wb9hgz


At 09:38 AM 3/3/98 -0800, you wrote:
>I hate to post this query to this list, knowing the sensitive nature
>of the heathkit enthusiasts, but I really do have to ask, has anyone
>here ever built any of the recent kits for Ham radio ? I know there
>are several people still making kit rigs, so I was looking for some
>good advice as to exactly which are actually worth buying.
>
>I know the person who put together the heathkit I have now must've
>had a blast doing it, and when the rig was current, it must've been
>alot of fun and rewarding to work people with something you've built
>yourself.
>
>I have to say this. Fixing an old rig like this can be a pain in the
>butt. But upgrading it can destroy the intrinsic value. I'd like to
>keep the heath as cherry as possible, and I'd like to get it working,
>but as a primary rig, I think it leaves a little to be desired. Since
>I have no backup rig, and only have a 10 meter rig with which to work
>DX, I'd kind of like to build something else, perhaps something a little
>more current. I've seen some wonderful kits for 40 meters for about
>120 bux, and there are little qrp amps for about 50 bux, to boost 5
>watts to 40, if there's a need. The neatest thing will be to do what the
>original builder of the heath did, and actually construct my own rig from
>a kit myself.
>
>It seems that every time I do something to the heath, something else
>breaks. I had to tear the rel pwr switch apart last night, as it opened
>up, and there was no audio again. Still don't have the pot, and now I need
>to find an allen that'll fit the tuning coils without throwing them off
>to align the rig. I know, complain, complain, but I'd really like to be
>working DX, instead of working on the radio. Is this common, for these
>rigs to break like this ? If so, maybe I would be better off trying a
>newer kit. At least, for now. Anyways, if you have built a more recent
>kit, I'd certainly like to hear from you. 73, and good dx, de kd4zkw.
>
> _______________________________________________________
>| Curtis D. Levin   | Team Os/2  | cdlevin at dialisdn.com |
>| kd4zkw.ampr.org   [44.98.2.22] |   kd4zkw at amsat.org   |
>| *Member of HTML Writers Guild* | * * Linux 2.0.33 * * |
>|    Webpage  http://www.dialisdn.net/user/cdlevin/     |
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