Memories

I have no idea why this memory popped into my head while driving into work today. Maybe it was because I had the VHF/UHF on in the background and I was half listening to a Ham radio conversation.

As I was driving, my mind drifted back to all the trips I made to the Heathkit store back in the 80s. There was one on NJ State Route 35 down in the Eatontown area, about 25 miles or so from home. I would go there to get a "real life" look at all the stuff in the catalog. I spent a lot of time drooling there.

Eventually, I saved up enough money from my job to order a SB-104A transceiver I think what drew me to the rig most was that it had a feature, where at the push of a button, the power amplifier transistors were taken out of line and the unit became a 1 Watt transceiver. Shades of things to come, eh?

I spent a lot of hours building those circuit boards! After I got them done, I started inserting them, one by one, onto the main chassis as per the manual. When I got to about the third one, when I inserted it, the rig would go dead. It would just turn off. Take the board out, everything was fine.

I checked that board from ground to Heaven a million times. I couldn't detect any misplaced components, any solder bridges .......anything! I followed the troubleshooting procedures in the manual until I was blue in the face. I couldn't figure out what was wrong.

Back in those days, Heathkit's famous promise and tag line was "We will not let you fail!".  I admitted defeat, packed up everything into the shipping box and brought it down to the Heathkit store in Eatontown. I had built dozens of Heahtkits by this time with nary a problem. This was my first (and as it turned out, only) failure.  

I brought the box in, explained to the Tech what was going on. He gave me a receipt (back in those days, everything was still done on paper) and told me to call back in a few days. And so I did. He told me to come back the following week. I was working at the camera store at the time and I had to work Saturdays, so Monday was my day off - perfect day for another trip to Eatontown.

When I got there, of course my first question was, "So what did I do wrong?" and much to my surprise, the answer was "Nothing". The look on my face must have been one of astonishment, so the Tech explained to me that the fault was actually in one of the factory pre-built boards that were part of the kit - and that when I inserted my board in, the problem manifested itself.

Apparent to him, not to me!  This was before my deeper education into electronics that would come a few years down the road. My troubleshooting skills at the time were not up to snuff. I expected the Tech to bring out my box with the fixed board and all the rest, wish me good luck,  pat me on the back and send me off on the way back home. To my further surprise, he came out from the repair area with my SB-104A totally finished and aligned! He told me that since it was a factory fault, the least he could do was complete the assembly and alignment process - gratis!

Wow! Fast forward some 40 years, and I'm not sure if there are many companies that would stand behind their product like Heathkit used to. I went on to build many more kits, including some non-Amateur Radio ones, like their professional stereo system. When their Master Builder program began I had way more than enough kits under my belt to qualify.

A few years later, I think it was 1987, I had graduated from DeVry with a degree in digital electronics and was working at Sinar Bron doing electronics repairs on studio strobes. I wasn't getting paid what I thought my skills were worth, and I started looking for a better paying job. I found one at a DoD contractor, to build circuit boards for the guidance systems inside cruise missiles. 

After the interview, I had to undergo a "soldering test". I was given components and a schematic diagram and I had to sit down and assemble a circuit board under the watchful eye of an officer from the United States Navy.  After I finished, he looked at the circuit board and asked me, "Where did you learn to do work like this?" and of course, I answered (with a smile) "Heathkit!". 

I was offered the job on the spot, but there was a caveat. It was explained to me that since this was a DoD job, if there were any military budget cuts, as last one hired, I'd be the first to go. I was thinking that the Reagan years would not last forever, and add to that, the commute from home would be expensive and a traffic nightmare, and that ultimately, the job didn't offer that big of an increase in pay to make it worth my while to accept.

The bright side turned out to be that the HR person where I was working found out through the grapevine that I was looking for a better position. She went and told the boss, who in turn promoted me to Service Manager, along with the increase in pay to just around what I was hoping for. I would stay on at Sinar Bron for another 20 years.

Thank you, Heathkit!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!