R.I.P. Heathkit...

[N8UH]

http://www.arrl.org/news/heathkit-educational-systems-closes-up-shop

 

[Opcom]

That really is a pity. Their latest offerings had not been stellar but I had hopes for them. It would have been great if they had come out with the SSB-200 MKII, or better yet a MOSFET amplifier kit that would take AM/RTTY all day.

It looks like there are just a few kit offerings left now, from the low cost ones like Velleman, to the costly K3 items, but no more grand unified kit source as Heathkit once was. Heath was the king of kit companies.

[k4kyv]

I'm not sure the "new" Heathkit was even the same thing as the "old" Heathkit. Most likely the new company was HeathKit in name only. Just like RCA.  You can still buy an RCA TV, but some company "offshore" bought the rights to the the RCA name. Not the company, just the name. This company's products have no relationship to the RCA we grew up with. Just like RCA, HeathKit is long gone.

Another example is Taylor Tubes. They were a popular and trusted source of good quality, reasonably priced transmitting tubes before WWII and for a while following the war, but went out of business early in the post-WW2 era. One story I heard is that they couldn't compete with the glut of war surplus tubes that saturated the market at pennies on the dollar. Also, RCA and Eimac tube types got the lion's share of gov't orders for wartime needs, even though they may have been manufactured by Taylor and others.  This tended to shut out other manufacturers following the war, and Taylor soon went out of business.

About 10-15 years ago, "Taylor Tubes" re-appeared in the ham radio ads, with the exact same logo as the original. But to-day's Taylor tubes are not a re-birth of the old company. Some Chinese manufacturer bought (or perhaps appropriated) the Taylor name and logo and registered it to use with their product.

A pity.  I would have liked to have seen "Heathkit" ham radio kits return to the market, even if it was a totally different outfit.

[KE6DF]

About 10-15 years ago, "Taylor Tubes" re-appeared in the ham radio ads, with the exact same logo as the original. But to-day's Taylor tubes are not a re-birth of the old company. Some Chinese manufacturer bought (or perhaps appropriated) the Taylor name and logo and registered it to use with their product.

I just did a trademark search on Taylor Tubes and got:

(REGISTRANT) ARNOLD, MERIT R. INDIVIDUAL UNITED STATES 435 South Pacific Street San Marcos CALIFORNIA 92068

Searching for Merit R. Arnold I got:

"Diamond Antenna, Rf Parts. 435 S Pacific ... Owner. Merit R Arnold, President ... Diamond Antenna A Div-Rf also does business as Rf Parts, "

So basically, the Taylor Tubes trademark is now owned by RF Parts.

But I think you are right, the tubes sold under the "Taylor Tubes" name are Chinese made.

Dave