Heathkit Resurrection

[John Clifford]

One word comes to mind... Elecraft.

This company has really taken off... over 3,000 kit radios sold since 1999
(approx 2,000 sold during the last 12 months).  They are planning more
products including test gear, etc.  If anyone can resurrect the Heathkit
legacy, especially in the ham radio arena, these guys can.

Here's another idea/company... Ten-Tec.  Why don't these guys bring back an
old but good rig, like the Argosy II (525D) or Paragon, as a kit?  They've
already paid for all of the development and tooling costs... just start
pounding out chassis and PC boards, and kitting them up.  Or better yet, if
they ever obsolete the Omni VI line, why not bring it back out as a kit
(through-hole, like the pre-2000 boxes, not SMD like current production)?

I have the Elecraft K2 and the Omni VI.  After building the K2, and opening
up the Omni VI to fix/align/install, the Omni looks like it would be easy to
build.

The earlier poster hit the nail on the head: mass market products won't have
widespread kit appeal here in the US (but they might in Third World
countries where one's labor is cheap).  Specialty products that can be
kitted, that are technical in nature, and that appeal to the technology buff
(like ham radio, high end audio, and some computer applications) would be
popular.  Of course, the problem with computers is that even the huge
manufacturers can't make much money on the hardware.

 - jgc

John Clifford KD7KGX

Heathkit HW-9 WARC/HFT-9/HM-9
Elecraft K2 #1678 /KSB2/KIO2/KBT2/KAT2/KNB2/KAF2
                  ...waiting _eagerly_ for KPA2!
Ten-Tec Omni VI/Opt1

email: kd7kgx at arrl.net
>

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