Surface Mount Components in Kits

[Barry A. Watzman]

Thanks for your comments supporting my position.

I first mentioned surface mount because, frankly, it was the concern that we had WITHIN Heath looking forward a few years from about 1982 [it wasn't an issue just yet, but we could see it coming].

But there are other, similar, related issues.  PC boards beyond double sided become a real problem [the Z-100 had two 4-layer boards, which were both preassembled - there wasn't much to the low profile Z-100 except the disk controller, it was really a disk controller kit].  More recently, BGA [ball grid array] has become necessary for devices with more interconnects than even high-density QFP can support, and it's an order of magnitude worse than surface mount.

It is my opinion [only; everyone has the right to my opinion, and everyone has a right to disagree] that you can bury your head in the sand about this, and I will certainly agree that some kits can be built with older technology.  But Heath offered fairly state-of-the-art test equipment, computers, ham rigs and audio [would be AV today] equipment, and it is my opinion that equipment of a caliber comparable to what Heath was offering would not be possible today unless almost all of the circuit boards were factory assembled.  And that doesn't leave the kind of a kit that most Heathens wanted [want] to build, just mechanical assembly and the [tedious] interconnects [many of which have also gone somewhat exotic, e.g. flex cables and the like].

Barry Watzman


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From:  Karl Schulte [SMTP:WA2KBZ at AOL.COM]
Sent:  Thursday, April 22, 1999 9:44 AM
To:  HEATH at LISTSERV.TEMPE.GOV
Subject:  Re: Surface Mount Components in Kits

Motorola sends hi-tech boards to central facility, replaces boards locally.
Beyond surface mt is more serious multi=layer boards. No home style soldering
method will work.  Such boards are required with modern circuitry, to keep
board size down and for handling huge number of leads, circuit paths,
jumpers, etc. that go along with it.  I still think Heath could bring out a
good SWL/portable Ham type receiver with some memories and a synthesizer
(perhaps a potted sub-assembly), or a tunable IF with crystal converter front
end with nice audio that would not need such complexity. This would be 70's
or early 80's, but could give better performance than the typical Sony or
Panasonic portable SW.  It would be a modern SX43, suitable for the living
room SWL with FM and AM for general use as well.

 I am going more retro; early Heath AT1 (in the mail to me I hope) through
DX60 (no room for the big "Indian" rigs) and building a couple of regens to
compliment my 1914 Crosley regen (one of the first made commercially) and
1935 SW3 (National regen SW) to represent late 20's and the late 40's. As
most collections work best with a theme, This will be a chronology of low end
beginner's radios spanning the whole history of radio. I've got cats whisker
Xtl sets too, using Fool's Gold and Galena. The 50's and 60's are pure Heath
except for a Viking Adventurer for sentamental reasons, as they pretty much
evoke the period and my early ham days. I wonder what sort of focus the
various collecters here use?  Just a sample to remember Novice days (how I
got the bug), SSB only, etc.

73

Karl
WA2KBZ

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