Brand

Used Heathkit radios

Heath started out building aircraft and turned to electronics after the war, selling its first kit, an oscilloscope, in 1947. From Benton Harbor, Michigan, it sold amateur radio kits for nearly four decades, and Wikipedia says the HW-101 became so common it still turns up at hamfests decades later. The manuals were the famous part, step by step with fold-out drawings and a checkbox for every task. That's also the catch when you buy one used. A kit was built by someone you'll never meet, and Heath told 73 Magazine in 1967 that 90% of kit trouble traced to poor soldering. Look at the joints. Many Heath transceivers need a separate supply, such as the HP-23 family for the HW-101 or the HP-1144 for the SB-104A. The SB-301 receiver and SB-220 amplifier have theirs built in. Heath stopped making kits in 1992.

6 models we cover.