I LOVE this tradition!! I’m so happy to see you do another one this year. Thank you.

I have buitl 5 Heathkits in my day. My Dad (a Ham) got me hooked on them. Cutting the cardboard box at a angle to poke all the resistors capacitors and the like in ...in order as a way to arrange them for the build was shown to me as THE WAY TO DO IT. Dad was right.. I had a short wave radio I loved ....till it was stolen :( In High School I built a Heathkit amplifier for a grade in electronic shop (tube type; 1971 grad) I made an A :) I to this day have a Heath VOM I built. Still works and is rock solid. Fran you rock lady. :)

I'm glad to see a fellow electronics AND grammar nerd. ;-)

Not the only kit company to leave the business. Ramsey did so a year or so ago. I picked up two of their FM 100B transmitter kits near the end and finally built one in November. Used it with our Christmas light display. Built a few Heathkit's in my day including the Most Accurate Clock. Also built some Knight kits as well. Remember those, from Allied Electronics I believe. Also a thing or two from Lafayette as well.

I just wanted to remind the group that Fran is awesomely addicted to our amazing tech history - and we love it.

They've gone to a lot of effort to try to recapture the old style, let down by a couple of things like a white PCB with traces you can't see, not the best for a kit. Particularly something like a Heathkit where you are meant to understand and maintain it.

I love building kits but not much time lately. I’ll live vicariously through you building them. Awesome video as always!!!!

I remember the Heathkit TV I assembled (probably in the late sixties). It was mostly transistors and there were something like 11 small circuit boards, all plug-in. So it was easier to build than the earlier vacuum tube ones wit a lot of point to point wiring. You also got a built-in dot generator to set up the convergence. It seemed very state of the art. With other manufacturers, to get the best chassis you had to buy the most expensive cabinet as well. With Heathkit you bought whichever cabinet you liked (or none at all if you wished). I left it behind when I moved to Europe in 1972 and it fell into dis-use because no-one in the house knew how to look after it.

I built one of those when they first came out. Changing batteries is annoying at best since you have to remove screws in order to do so. If you leave the batteries out it flashes "LO bAT" every 10 seconds. It really needs a way to disable that - I hacked in a resistor to fool the sensor since I really don't care about the battery backup and don't want alkalines leaking into it as the first set did.

I just love watching you assemble these Heathkit projects. You go thru it very methodically. I know nothing about the guts of electronics but have always had a fascination. Thanks Fran. Please keep them coming.

I took a Bell & Howell (DeVry Institute of Technology) in the mid 70s. The course including building an O'Scope, a DVM, a fancy proto board, and a 25" color TV. Loved all the kits and all of them worked. I went on to build some other kits including a clock and a 2-meter rig. Just ordered the GC1006 and cant wait to get it and start on it. I have watched all 4 of your videos on the GC1006 and they have been been very informative!!! Thanks!!!!!

Sheesh - judging by the poorly edited manual, this version of Heathkit won't be around long. Looks like another passionate retired guy working in his garage that needs help with marketing & engineering skills. Fran is correct - at the beginning of the manual where it shows the soldering lesson: That is basically pulled verbatum from the manuals of the late 70's / early 80's. Most all the manuals had that as a standard first chapter. We've built many Heathkits, but this kit isn't anywhere the same quality. You'd think a reliable clock these days would include a GPS module or WWV RF time receiver built in...or even internet connectivity to grab time from any time server pool. Thanks Fran!!

I sure do miss the old Heathkit. Used to go down to there old store in 8 Mile Road in Detroit to get what I wanted. First thing I built was their Color TV for my parents. I still have that TV and it still works

In high school, my best friend’s Dad bought a Heathkit color TV that was all vacuum tube except for the tuner. He literally gave it to his son and after 2 weeks got bored with it. I took over and read all the books and then started soldering and building it. A TV repairman I knew agreed to check on it and the three of us built that Heathkit. It was an incredible experience that I loved. The WWII veteran who was our TV repairman taught us so much it’s hard to relate. Then he threw the chassis onto his alignment stand and we aligned and troubleshot and aligned and troubleshot. Finally, we put the finished product into the case. Two days after we finished we gave it to my best friends Dad and he kept that TV for 30 years. Great experience that pushed me into electronics and I got my MSEE in 1979. And I built over 30 Heathkits in my life. It was a great company. I hope they have great success. Thanks for the great video.

Happy New Year Fran! Yes I think it is a good idea to make 4 or 5 video's about this clock. You explain everything very well and that makes long video's. So if you can make like 4 or 5 episodes it would be better. My humble opinion.

My name is Nathan Okun. I worked as an Electronics/Systems/Computer Engineer for 41 years until I recently retired. One of my main jobs for almost 20 years was as a computer programmer/data analyst who supported the now-defunct, but widely used, TERRIER Anti-Aircraft Guided Missile System. One of my primary jobs was the maintenance and upgrading of the Wrap-Around Simulation Computer System (WASP) for testing the TERRIER computer programs in-house so that we knew that they worked before sending a new, revised version to the Fleet and for doing in-house troubleshooting when somebody on a ship reported a problem The WASP had to simulate EVERY SINGLE INPUT AND OUTPUT of the TERRIER computer as closely as possible to what would really happen if it was actually on a ship. This meant that I had to get information on how the manual controlling consoles worked, how the radars worked (most of the program was devoted to this part), how the missiles worked, and how the large mechanical launchers worked. I had to know EVERYTHING about how most of a warship worked so that I could adjust the timing and messages being sent to the computer and the responses to messages it sent out after doing its internal computations. This had to be accurate enough to be able to pass the various tests programs that could be called up aboard ship to test and troubleshoot the actual equipment connected to the computer. I fully understand how you have to know MUCH more than just simple circuit and program design to fully comprehend the entire system for the device you are working on (the massive mechanical launching systems are not much like a computer or a radar, but I had to know all of their inner workings). There are people out here who understand your approach to "holistic" electronics. That fix for the STAR TREK box, for example, needed more than just electronics knowledge; you had to know what it was that you wanted and why.

This takes me back over fifty years when I had relatives living in Benton Harbor, MI. We toured the Heath factory one afternoon and also spent some time in their showroom. It was very interesting to see how they manufactured the kits, including metal stamping, filling the parts bags etc. One particular memory is of the room where technician / writers were building the devices and writing down the steps for inclusion in the manuals. I spent many enjoyable hours of my teen years building Heath, Dyna Kit and Knight Kits. Ultimately, I went into the engineering field working in the automotive industry on such things as anti-lock brakes and Oxygen sensors. Those hours building kits were good training, especially when I had to physically work on electrical and electronic parts. I noted the Heath VTVM on your shelf. I still have mine in a basement cupboard. I'll be anxious to see how your clock turns out.

I wish I had an clock kit to build. Nice proof reading an lol. Looking forward to the rest of the build.

Thanks for the pedals. They live on!!!

I love the detail you put into opening and sorting. I feel inspired to get one and follow along!

You may need the IC sockets for the 7seg displays to align properly with the front bezel.

I built the Heathkit all-in-1 H-89 computer back in the early 80s.

I soooooo miss the original heathkit... so this is cool to see something like them.

Memory WOOHOO! I received my GC-1005 as a Christmas present in 1972 when I was stationed at Hill AFB Utah. Still functional, I still have the assembly manual, and I leave it set to Coordinated Universal Time.

Wow - longtime...My first Heathkit was an SB-102 ham transceiver...It was only my second soldering experience, as my first kit was a Radio Shack "Globe Patrol" regenerative shortwave receiver. I was 13...those were days.

Had some heathkits ,I’ll be tuned in ,pretty cool

heathkits are renowned for quality!!

Thank you and I wish happy new year! Best regards.

Looks like this will be an interesting series. I like the way you started by sorting the parts. Only found out recently from Adam Savage that this is called knolling when done to extreme! The ice cube rack is a nice idea. For the last 20 years I have kept a collection of plastic food/vegetable containers and some transparent egg boxes to keep components in while doing maintenance. The plastic trays that chocolates come in are good for screws and small parts, and I even have a large plastic tray that will keep something like a camera so you don't lose any screws. The transparent egg boxes were popular till about 15 years ago, but have no disappeared, replaced by recycled cardboard. The other thing I do is collect the small plastic tubs with lids that Chinese and Indian takeaways use for chutneys and sauces. The are ideal for keeping screws, washers and nuts in. I've got half a dozen with various mounting screws for HDDs. Very useful and cheap.

Well, Andy and his team seems to understand how a good customer relation works. Good to see.

Happy New Year Fran, I love your channel.

This really brings back good memories. It hurt when they closed up shop, I built several of their kits my last was the 20 Meg Hz Oscilloscope that was a fun one it served me well. Their documentation and customer service was great. It will never be the old Heath Kit but hope they can get back in business.

Fran, it was very nice listening to you in the background while I was checking out my latest PCB spin.

Great nostalgia but electronics are not build like this anymore. I wonder what the new Heathkit is attempting to achieve? Thanks for sharing your kit building experience with us all.

Yea! Good stuff!

Happy New Year Fran ! Keep up the good work !

Happy New Year, Fran. I'm starting to understand why Kate Bush sang that song about Heathkit.

I bought and assembled this kit a while back. I have built over 200 Heathkits in my many years. I was so disappointed in the kit. Made it way more complicated than it needed to be. The case was nice, the clock did keep time, but it was a long way away from the Heathkits of yesteryear. I think Heathkit is now pretty much a garage operation. I believe the guy who now owns the name originally purchased all the manuals. Later he started offering the clock kit. I don't think many more kits will be coming any time soon.

Happy new year Fran...I'm so jealous!

I've built their clock, and two color TVs. Began in the early Seventies. Loved their kits!

Thanks for another great video Fran, I really enjoyed watching, well done 👍. Happy new year .

the fun begins

happy new year Fran Blanche And have a happy day.

Happy New Year, Fran!! May your '20's be "Roaring"!! ;-)

My own "go-to" clocks for the last few years have been from NIXIE tube clock kits from PV Electronics (in England). Beautiful to look at, work great, excellent circuit and case design, very good manuals (albeit not Heathkit style). The ones I have use a watch crystal for basic timekeeping (of course they are powered from wall-warts so they cannot tap off the 50 or 60 Hz line frequency to use as a timebase), with a parameter to adjust that gets added to or subtracted from the accumulated time every so often in order to keep it overall accurate. My point here is they they ALSO have a port into which you can plug any number of off-the-shelf GPS receivers, including the ones that PV Electronics sells...plug that accessory into the clock and now it is accurate just like a smart phone, etc. As easy and inexpensive as it is to implement such a reliable time synchronizer, it is a real wonder why the new Heathkit would even bother to produce a clock kit without such a feature.

Happy New Year Fran!

Fran. Again. In the lab. Again. Ya’ know, I’m starting to think I should be expecting that... 😉

My dad bought the Heathkit subscription that started with a breadboard prototyper through vom through oscilloscope and finally a cabinet tv with onscreen digital clock/display/tuner. It was awesome.

As a teen I got many Heathkit catalogues( I am from Finland), but dad didn't want to buy any kit I showed him. Sort of cash because we were building a new home! The one I desired was DX-receiver built in transistors(my schoolmate did buy it and I was envious!) But second hand ULA -tube radios were for sale in low price(a5 dollars a piece lol, and that was my change!) But that is an other story! In electronics I got a lifetime hobby and knowledge of the future that really came!

In the 80's it was all about educating yourself about assembler and microprocessors. That is how I learned assembler programming.

Looks like those DIL rows that have pads on both sides are pins that are also pass throughs to track on the front of the board. Memories of my first Maplin UK clock, forty-something years ago

Hey, it's Ron in the comments, again! Hope you had a great new year celebration! Keep publishing that passion for science and technology!

very nice, I didnt know Heathkit was back

Well, not quite a Heathkit, but I did build a kitset clock over the break. No lead-free solder in my clock, its a wood kit - instructions in Chinese to make them easier to ignore and stay guilt free. Hope you enjoyed yours as much as I did.

Are you aware of the original Heathkit? The Heathkit Parasol. Mr Heath was demonstrating it when a significant chunk of tail or wing fell off. Luckily, he had already generated new management for the company... Killed by his own kit..

The solder pads on the top side for only a few pins are to make connection between the front and back of the board by way of the wire and solder to the pads. The holes are probably not plated so in order to make the electrical connection "you" are required to provide that connection instead of Heathkit spending a few cents more to do the PCB correctly.

Your discussion about Heathkit is quite interesting. This is going to get much, much more interesting shortly: The "post-digital" (my name) era is fast approaching where the various components of electronic- and computer-controlled devices will act like small living things, to be pieced together to form very elaborate other things like Lego pieces. Basically, going back to the analog world, but with each "analog" component being actually a fully-controlled electronic/mechanical/software-mix component that can be exactly tailored to your desired function. Except for advanced specialists, nobody will care about how these devices work inside (you could not even comprehend this stuff without years of study, anyway), just like you did not need to know how the insides of a horse worked other than the externally-interfaced things (what it needed to eat, wast products, getting tired, maximum amount it could carry, what kind of training you could do with it, and so forth). The video game HORIZON ZERO DAWN is a possible example or, in the most extreme form, the T-1000 Terminator and successors in the TERMINATOR movie series. A wildly different world...

I love your work Fran! Sure you have many fan's in my country Brazil. Sorry for my bad english, I hope you undertand it

Hi Fran, have a great 2020.

Happy new year Fran.

Happy New Year 👍👏👏

Heathkits are still a thing? I remember my mom telling about how she and my dad built a reel to reel tape machine from Heathkit.

Your terrific!! Thanks

Hi, Fran, I thought you were amazing then I saw your web site playing the guitar that took it to another level

Heathkit is back (again)? Interesting. That manual and packaging is in the spirit of the old Heathkit kits. I would worry about the plastic ice cube tray accumulating a static charge but at least they have the ICs in conductive foam. Cardboard egg trays are another option to help organize parts during assembly. It does look like some of the drawings are from an old manual. I don't think (many) people use desoldering bulbs anymore.

Can't wait !!

My first 2 meter radio was a Heathkit, it used a Motorola t03 transistor for the output.

looking forward to part 2

Fran nice to see you back. I quit watching you during the frenzy of your move. This is about my first time back. They sell battery powered elevtronics with an insulator between the top battery and the machine to be powered. The batteries remain good. Maybe we could make something similar (mechanical or electronic) for storing these prone to battery leakage devices.

Thank you for sharing!

*Happy new year everyone*

Great vid. Guess it's difficult for Heathkit to reach a price point that people would be prepared to pay in these days of cheap China electronics. I suspect that's the issue with the part quality, back in the day a Heathkit would cost half a week's salary, compare that with the cost of your recent purchase. Ah! But Heathkit will, of course, cash in on the nostalgic aspect of the old kit build. Thanks for sharing and can't wait till the next vid in the series. 👍👍👍👍👍

Big fan of Heathkit. My only reservation was that if you don''t socket the displays they might not be close enough to the front panel come final assembly. It does look a bit like modern "quality control" has crept in uninvited. Great fun nonetheless.

Happy new year young lady.

As a child I would see HealthKit kits advertised but they were Sooo... expensive here in the UK. I built Maplins Electronics kits when they were decent kits but often it was up to you to come up with enclosures and learn the skills needed to build them.

Fran, you rebel! You’d better use sockets - just not their cheap sockets; use machined-pin sockets instead, they’re a lot more reliable! And everyone watching knows you wanted to play with the velcro! 🤣

you can also use an empty egg carton for sorting parts

I can remember that even by the late 70's the Heathkit Catalog had kits that were exciting to look at & daydream about for a teen interested in electronics, but they couldn't compete price-wise with quality imported products. Their factory-built versions seemed even more overpriced. I was lucky enough to get one of their dual-trace oscilloscope kits that had been sitting unbuilt in a neighbor's basement for ~15 years in exchange for help cleaning out his house when I was 16 or 17. It was quite an experience to build & I actually got it to work with only a few basic tools, a soldering iron and a volt/ohm meter. I believe this is solid evidence of the quality of the kits themselves, the components they used, and the well thought-out instruction manuals. It was great fun and I ended up using that scope for years. The nerd in me felt pretty cool as the only kid showing up on campus with his own scope. It is sad that the company couldn't find a way to survive the technological leaps that came with the I.T. revolution, but it seems to me that the (relatively) new 'maker' community, along with the tools available (programmable microcontrollers, 3-d printing & rapid prototyping, etc,) show clearly that the same desire to be creative that made Heathkit successful in its own time still exists and is thriving more than ever. This could be a perfect time for a "reboot" of Heathkit! Writing about this brings to mind something I've been witnessing lately: My wife is a kindergarten teacher. Her school has been working with a group out of M.I.T. who have come up with a program to teach coding in elementary schools - starting in kindergarten and tying in with S.T.E.M. curriculum. Seeing how well these 5 and 6 year old kids jump in and 'get' computer programming is just mind blowing to me. I think it's better than great, because it introduces concepts like logic and critical thinking at an age where the brain is just sucking up knowledge and tying it to reality at a fundamental level. This is the 3rd year that they are doing this, and it has been so successful that representatives from school systems all around the country (and other countries) are flocking in to observe, and they seem to be really liking what they see. Maybe there's hope for the future after all!

It's New Year's Day and I find myself also building a clock kit - one that I got for Christmas. Mine requires no soldering whatsoever because it's made entirely out of wood. Yup, a purely mechanical pendulum clock. Lots of fun! I highly recommend it. I'm nearing completion... I hope it works! ;)

hello Fran WWAAOOWW !!!!!!!!!! nice I like it...it reminds me of my youth I look forward to the part 2 and more !!!...... thank's Fran ......François from France

Happy New Year Fran, best of luck in 2020. Keep up the great work. 73's Danny, KI6VBC

Ice cube tray is a great idea!

Hi Fran, I think it is wonderful somebody is trying to keep the name alive. it is easy to be critical. That is a lovely kit and I would love to build one. Not quite sure where the accuracy bit it but we shall see. We desperately need to keep the skills live for when China fails. I have great trouble finding any employees with any real skills. I have trained a could of ladies to wire but as for youngsters it is bad out there. We need to get people interested an making stuff. We need tons more videos like this. Bigclive is a big inspiration. I built my K3 Elecraft and want to build the new K4. Not a solder kit but still lots to do. So it is no longer about saving money it is about learning and skills. My K4 is likely to be $5000 and I could buy a radio much cheaper. It as about saying I made that. This is what we need to be encourage. So great work and don't be too hard on the new Heathkit I bet it is real tough getting that going again even with Chinese production doing some of it. You are a critical manufacturer yourself and finish is important but I am just so pleased something is coming back. Britain is trying to make valves again. In production we really have noticed the loss of basic skills. Some don't even know how to do a screw up it is that bad. So keep up the brilliant work with great informative videos.

I built one of these two years ago and it has been working fine. It’s a pity the company itself has not done more, there a piece of amateur radio gear which has been in pre-production forever. Sadly, I think this clock is all we’ll see. I have a stash of 100 unbuilt kits to keep me busy in retirement.

Great passion for electronics. I like analog synthesizers and cameras myself. By the way you look really cute with the hair bunches 😍

I've owned, and even built several pieces of Heathkit gear. Generally it was superb, except one or two of the kits built by other people, who obviously couldn't read the superb construction instructions.

For three bucks I bought and built a clock kit on ebay. No english instructions, it went together fine. Good value for the money

Thanks Fran . Happy new year ! You should make the fran lab song available for download its cool.

Good God, that looks like an older JLC PCB. Sure do miss "The art of the layout" like they had shown in the manual. Happy New Year!

Heathkits are fun to build, hope the company starts selling kits again.

Have you thought about using your stash of vintage led's and 7 segment displays on this project. Keep up the good work and happy new year

My first Heathkit was a am radio then the next was a CB radio when I joined the army I went into electronics later I started my own little cb and ham radio repair shop in my garage

$100 is quite the mark-up, I see their prices haven't changed. I took a look at their online shop, there really isn't much on there, Events, Q&A and Forum sections are all blank and just a handful of kits despite loads of categories. It's a shame the old Heathkit didn't branch out and sell self-build IO expansions for say the Commodore 64, they might have been around a lot longer.

In my limited experience in a repair lab, though not as extensive as yours, those numeric LEDs fail before anything. I've always preferred the sockets to having to replace them straight from the board.

I don't remember seeing it when we cleared out the garage after my Dad passed, but we built a Heathkit DMM with tube type display back in the 70s. I wonder what happened to that?

Wow! I still have the Heathkit GH17A soldering station pictured in the front of the manual. I had to pause the video and go to the basement to see if it still worked for the first time in a dozen or more years. How do you build a soldering station without owning a soldering station? The instruction manual said to twist wires together, plug in the station until it heated up, un plug it and quick, make your solder connection. Don't forget the second step unless you want some embarrassing sparks! Happy New Year everybody.

"Girls like science. It's just a fact." TRUTH!

Checked out the website. Not even a mere shadow of it's former self in product selection.

27:562 - The resistors that throw me are the new light-blue ones. Orange and Brown are hard to discern with a blue background!

One hundred dollars for this clock kit? I don't remember Heathkit being that expensive in the old days! I once had a Heathkit scope. It was one channel and 5Mhz bandwidth.. I wish I kept it now, It would cost a fortune to buy the same kit now!