Heathkit (was RE: partial P112 kits)

On Jun 21, 2010, at 2:44 PM, William Donzelli wrote: Heathkit disappeared largely because electronics (and ham radio as well) as a hobby has drifted out of the mainstream and into a pretty selective niche. Electronics parts stores in general are largely an anachronism... even RadioShack has been desperately trying to shake off the "back wall" and become a cell phone boutique store. I think the reasons for this are quite complex. First off, there's the (IMHO) utter failure of the educational establishment to instill in youth a desire to tinker and experiment. This isn't a new thing: even when I was a teenager this was strongly discouraged, however the stakes seem to be a lot higher with everybody "jumpy" about "security" and the like. It is also worth noting that at my high school I was the last class to have an "electronics shop" class available at the high-school level. Secondly, as a society we've become very jaded about tech. Every six months there's some new "revolution". Think about just the past five years in the cellular business, for example, to see this in action. Android. iPhone. Blackberry going from an executive toy to a consumer platform. 3G widely deployed, and now 4G being implemented in most major markets. Integration of websites like Facebook and Twitter into the handset experience (see: Android). Cameras and GPS in every phone. Cellular data services being implemented in consumer electronics (Kindle/nook, iPad and netbooks). Each one of these in and of itself is quite a game-changer, and all of these converging has turned the cell phone from "just a phone" into a nexus of communication and interaction. A crystal set radio seems... out of place in a world where broadcasting consists of a finely tuned stream of podcasts and music tailored to your exact listening preferences. And how long until MW AM transmissions cease and a crystal set no longer even "works?" It is this latter issue that really rears its ugly head. Many of the "first project" kits involving electronics are increasingly irrelevant. Perhaps not to the skill of teaching electronics, but as a "useful tool once built." Some of the best first projects in electronics were fun because they created toys that could immediately be enjoyed. When I was 9, the two high-power AM stations in the Los Angeles area still played Top-40 music (that would be KFI and the border blaster XETRA, then called "The Mighty 690") and would drive a crystal set with 15 feet of wire. The big thrill was listening to the stations I enjoyed already on something I built out of a couple of electronics parts purchased with my allowance. What does a kid building a crystal set have to look forward to listening to nowadays? Rush Limbaugh? Ranchero music? If they're lucky and have an interest in sports, maybe a baseball game (once I learned some basic antenna theory, I could pick up both Angels and Dodgers broadcasts on my crystal set). But I tried getting a nephew this age interested in electronics this way, and it was a challenge. They just didn't see the mystery of pulling a signal out of the air with a few parts and no battery. A crystal set just isn't magic to a tweener who already has a cell phone with Pandora, YouTube videos, and MySpace at their fingertips. Many of my early forays into electronics involved building something I didn't have and wanted, and kids today pretty much have everything. As does society. I don't know what the solution is. But Heathkit's demise may in some small way have to do with the fact that electronics is so cheap and ubiquitous in our society that it no longer has any magic. It's sad, but in the march forever forward, where electronics are becoming increasingly complex and the skills required to build anything of relevance increases (while the discrete components disappear into assembled IC subsystems) it may be inevitable that the barrier for entry becomes pretty high. If you figure out a solution, there's an entire hobby (amateur radio) that is dying that would love to hear your solutions.