Regarding useful vs nostalgic kits... (was New Heathkit)

[Dave]

> In my case, I have two young kids that I want to be
> exposed to exactly such a simple project.


Hello all,

I realize this is probably going to 'slip the topic' a hair,
but his statement about the kids reminded me of my
situation.

I'm the guy who some time back was hunting a basic
Heath SW receiver to 'unbuild' and then build, having
replaced any bad components, etc.  I did in fact acquire
a non-working GR-91 from Bill Robbins for this purpose.
The idea was to give my 2 kids (5 and 8) and me to do
something on 'my weekends' with the kids.

As it turns out, however, I feel the GR-91 would just be
too advanced for 2 kids to do much with.  I would
end up doing most of the work, and they would get bored.

So instead, I have just received today a NEAT kit from
Electronix Express http://www.elexp.com - no - I don't
work there!

It's an AM/FM (yep - FM too!) kit with a very nice large
PC poard (almost a foot wide and 5 inches tall) that
has the entire schematic printed on it.  The manual is
52 pages, and not only tells how to build the radio, but
has a complete theory explanation of every step and
educational tests that can be done with a scope if one
is available (certainly not necessary to build the radio!).
All of the parts, including the battery, fit on the PC board,
and when done it snaps into a holder so a kid can place
it on his nightstand to listen to in bed while falling asleep
and see all the neat little parts that he helped solder in :-)

Their catalog kit section is FULL of other kits - CW keyers,
VHF amateur receiver, DTMF doodads, computer interfaces,
novelty gizmos, and a slew of other kits.  All with fully
educational manuals, and MOST of the kits ARE USEFUL!

The AM/FM radio, while not much use to ME, has now become
a NECESSITY for my 5 year old!  He can hardly wait to
start it this Saturday.  It will likely take about 10 sessions to
finish, and the kids will get to alot of the work.  I could build
it myself in an afternoon, but we're taking our time and will
only do a bit each week so they don't get bored with it.

So if you want to give your kids a try at kit building, by all means
go to that site and either order the paper catalog, or wend your
way to 'Educational Kits' in their menus and you'll find them
there.

And if you're interested in my kids and our radio project, go to
http://www.boatanchors.com and click on the 'progress of my
kit' link at the top of the page.  Starting this weekend there will
be photos of me, my kids, and the progress of the kit as we
build it.  There's just the 'stock' photo of the kit there now.  Tonight,
though, I will shoot it with my digital camera and put photos of
the unbuilt kit there.

And as a p.s., I ALMOST ordered the Heath AM radio just for
nostalgia, but then thought that for $50 I could get a USEFUL
kit from Electronix Express - that's the price of the CW keyer,
with case for example.  Or the 220MHz FM receiver.  Or a
little robot kit.  Or a dozen other kits that while not Heath, are
still fun to build, VERY well documented, and sad to say, USEFUL.
An AM radio is just such a limited device.  Even my 5 year old
asked if he will be able to hear 'his station' - a local country music
station he plays at night before bed on his clock radio.  It's FM!

Sorry to be so bleedin' wordy folks.  Take care,

Dave WB7AWK
http://www.boatanchors.com - lots of BA photos!! Growing daily...

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