CURIOUS

[Domenic M. Mallozzi]

I built many Heathkits over the years as I got money.  Still have most of
them. I've recently bought a few I always wanted as a kid. Half of my test
bench is Heath. For many applications it does a great job (For you purists I
also have HP, Cushman, Gen Rad and other professional gear).

Many of us as kids drooled over the Heathkit catalog when it showed up in the
mailbox. And not only the ham gear, I had always wanted a GR110 and GR1132
and a QM-1 (which came out the year I was born, I think). Over the last two
years I've bought one of each and the scanners get a lot of use and the QM1
is part of my test bench.

I own a few modern rigs and scanners but I still enjoy using the Heath's. For
those who do restoration for restorations sake thats great too. They preserve
the history of the hobby. I just hope some of these people will agree when
they leave this life to will some to a museum like the AWA where they will be
seen by the future or sold or given to a deserving ham/electronics nut. One
local ham last year gave the high school radio club a complete SB line
including an amp after he bought a new modern station. The twins are going to
be a loaner rig for a new ham to get on the air and the amp is going into the
main station at the school.

73's,

Dom
N1DM

Also, for those of you over the years complaining about the design of or
parts used in some Heathkits remember they had cost targets and like many
companies some designers get assigned to projects over their heads and some
how got reelased to production.

I just worked on a modern brand name power supply for the local high school
radio club. The emitter resistors in the output stage were running at 99%
(yep) of their power rating (and one failed). Not a great idea. So modern
designs are not always the best either. We all have our stories about modern
junk we have worked on.

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