A journey through the history of Heath Company

/ utdrag från Heathkit katalog vår/sommar 1981.

The opening page of the Heath Company history begins with the Company´s founding in1926 by a colourful barnstorming pilot named Ed Heath. So in love with flying was Ed Heath that the resolved to bring flying to the general public. The result of his dream, the Heath Parasol airplane kit, marked the beginning of a unique success story in the history of American enterprise.

The Heath Company got its big boost when World War ll ended and the availability of surplus electronic parts led to the development of electronic products. The first Heathkit electronic kit, introduced in 1947, was a 5” oscilloscope that sold for $39.50 F.O.B. Benton Harbor. The popularity of that kit led to an FM tuner kit, a hi-fi amp, and a 3-tube “all-wave radio”.

The end of World War ll produced more th an a surplus of electronic components. It returned to civilian life a huge corps of electronic-oriented veterans, many of whom joined the legions of Amateur Radio operators who had been denied the airwaves during the war. Beceause these Ham Radio enthusiasts comprised a large part of the Heath customer base, the company soon came out with a grid dip meter, which was followed by the AT-1 CW Transmitter kit.

The support of the Ham community led to the introduction of a wide array of Heathkit Amateur Radio products. Soon the Heathkit Catalog was featuring the DX-100 Phone and CW Transmitter Kit. Covering 160 through 10 meters, the DX-100 put out 125 watts on phone(AM, of course), and 140 watts on CW. Although the DX-100 featured a built-in VFO, if also o four crystal positions, since Novice license holders were “rock bound” in the 1950`s.

Thoughts of the RX-1 “Mohawk” Receiver, the matching TX-1 “Apache” Transmitter, and the famous “Benton Harbor Lunch Box” transceivers bring back fond memories of the days before sideband or FM transmission were popular on the Ham bands. Do you remember the Heathkit HX-10 “Marauder” SSB Transmitter of the mid-`60`s? It put out 180 watts, more enough to drive the “Warrior “ Kilowatt Linear. Other popular pieces of equipment featured in the Heathkit Catalog, then were popular a “ Single-banders” – the “Hot Water-12”, and its brothers the HW-22 and HW-32.

The´60´s also saw the introduction of the “ SB”line of Heathkit Amateur Radio equipment. The SB-300 Reciver and SB-400 Transmitter have envolved into today´s sophisticated SB-104A. The SB-200 Kilowatt Linear Amplifier has been transformed into the modern SB-221 and SB-201 linears right on the pages of this catalog.

Get on the air today and you´ll hear some of these old work horses from the fifties and sixties still capturing QSO after QSO, even though they may have visited many a Hamfest flea market since leaving the orginal builder´s hands – proof that Heathkit Amateur Radio equipment stands the test of time.