unscientific poll

[Gerald C. Lemay]

Time for a reality check. The time and era of Heathkit has passed. The time
and era of building kits has also passed. I know many will disagree with
this, but there it is. First, you'd have to have a price competitive product
that could be built by just about anyone and would perform reasonably well.
Present technology has wiped out that advantage. Just about everything is
assembled by machines on multi-layered PC boards using surface mount
components and sold at very competitive prices. Surface mount components by
the way is what all the present manufacturers are moving towards. Look at
the Elecrafters (spelling??) and compare its price/performance with the
low-end Alinco's and the latest low-end Icom transceivers. No comparison. As
for "We won't let you fail", well good luck to the company that would want
to deal with the nightmare of supporting its products assembled by any Tom,
Dick, and Harriet with little or no skill. I can see the money hemorrhaging
out of the company. Heathkit stopped selling kits because the market would
not support it. And that's the bottom line isn't it? Where is the market?


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