"AZ Nomad" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 29 Jun 2006 14:45:45 -0700, Nonnymus wrote:


AZ Nomad wrote:
On Thu, 29 Jun 2006 20:19:32 GMT, PipeDown
wrote:


My how the world has changed. Heath-Zenith used be to be where you
bought
electronics educational kits (AKA HeathKit). You could buy a whole TV
in
kit form once upon a time. Now they make doorbells and outdoor
lighting
sold at HD. Can't even recognize that company anymore.

Nor does it seem, they even have their own website.

Heath used to be where you bought state of the art equipment. Heath
was at one time able to offer them for less by selling them in
kit form. They had only publish instructions and package all the parts.

This was before manufacturing left the US. Eventually it became cheaper
to employ overseas labor then to package the kit. Who would want to
pay $80 for an alarm clock kit when you could buy one already assembled
for $20?

Heath also offered a pretty decent study-at-home series of
courses in electronics. The courses included building your
own oscillator, power supply etc.

That was at the time of heath's demise. It was a far cry from when
heath sold tvs, stereo equipment, rc airplanes, ham radio, computers,
etc. Heath's video and sound quality were far superior to anything
available commercial and heath had features seen no where else such as
a tv that would automatically realign a rooftop antenna when channels
were changed.

Heath Kit was great but when Zenith Aquired them it started downhill.
Possibly because at the time electronics was beginning a revolution that
generally excluded all but the most techie of electronic hobbiests.

BTW, the TV kit was not cheaper than a TV. In most cases the extra
packaging and kitting of the parts plus support fot them drove the cost
higher than a production version.