I think that Heathkit had to be put to sleep because the world had
changed and Heathkit slowly became irrelevant for many different
reasons, some of them permanent, some of them not.

If one keeps those reasons in mind while creating the business plan,
then the only thing left to do is to determine a competitive
price/performance point based on market research.

My thoughts:

1) Kits are not realistic except in upper end niche markets such as
Elecraft due to issues of customer support and liability.

2) I'm not thinking of making rigs capable of world-burning performance
for DX chasing or contesting. Most people are appliance operators,
sad to say and want to just hook up the rigt to power, antenna, and
antenna and go. What I have in mind are gear capable point to point
shortwave links, essentially cross-country rag chew, SSB for Generals
and above, with CW thrown in for the Tech+ and above.

3) What I can think I can offer in gear is stable operation in
abuse-proof enclosures at slightly higher power levels. Part of the
way I can do this is to use 21rst century materials and manufacturing
methods to implement mid-20th century mechanical requirements.

4) There are also a few natural advantages that tube gear has that
semiconductors do not: tube gear is less likely to break upon exposure
to dirty power, EMP, and bad SWR.

5) New tubes are still being made by Russia and China and this will
quite likely stay that way for the forseeable future. Purists might
turn thier nose up at using these tubes, but something workable could
be made out of them for a reasonable price.

7) Also, the price of US manufacturing, and labor are just too high for
anything other than creating a prototype. Basically I am creating a
very useful toy, but only a toy, and will most likely need to import
the manufacturing and labor.

8) I should only offer 80, 40, 30, 20, and 18 meters. I want to stay
as far away from 10 meters as I can, due to possible use of hacked gear
on 11 meters. I don't believe the audience for 160 is very large.

More thoughts?

The Eternal Squire

wrote:


More thoughts?

The Eternal Squire


One thing YOU must keep in mind - ALL HAMS ARE CHEAP -

It is a gene we all have. Even rich hams I know are cheap.

We go to to the local hamstore to demo equiptment (or at a hamfest) and
then go home and order on the internet to save money.

Lazy Senior

Oh yes.. this I know. What a ham wants is the most miles to the
galleon, just like a car. But what is quality to a ham? Clear
audio, no spurs, sharp passbands, and suppressed harmonics. Easy
repair and replacement by self too, right? Plus ruggedness.

Anything else?

The Eternal Squire

wrote:
Oh yes.. this I know. What a ham wants is the most miles to the
galleon, just like a car...

I thought it was Columbus who wished for more miles to the galleon. :-)

Dave K8MN

I thought it was Harry Potter's broomstick that got more miles to the
galleon

wrote in message
oups.com...
3) What I can think I can offer in gear

As a market test, or "proof of concept," how about building a prototype and
posting some photos, along with schematic & specs, for folks on this forum
to look at?

Building a prototype would be a necessary first step in any case. And you
might even get some useful suggestions from this crew, as cranky as they
might seem :-)

Regards,

Phil Nelson

Phil Nelson wrote:
wrote in message
roups.com...
3) What I can think I can offer in gear

As a market test, or "proof of concept," how about building a prototype and
posting some photos, along with schematic & specs, for folks on this forum
to look at?

I want a small standalone QRP SSB transmitter based around one of the newer
PLL chips. I want a row of five thumbwheel switches that I can set from
say 500 KHz to 30 MHz, a switch to select USB, LSB, or CW, and maybe a
watt or two out.

THEN, I'd like just the PLL section out of it, to use as a VFO on older
rigs.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Good idea. Which is the better frequency standard: WWV or GPS?

The Eternal Squire

That's a darn good suggestion. I think a space-charge SSB lineup with
a class-E tube final would be a good compact rig.

What do you think?

The Eternal Squire