While most hams and hackers have at least heard of Heathkit, most people don’t know the strange origin story of the legendary company. [Ham Radio Gizmos] takes us all through the story.

“It was kind of magical, even with the static.” It motivated him to build his own ham radio from a Heathkit; today he has a mobile ham station in his car. Before he retired from a career in ...

It is this way in every industry. There was a time when it was hard to imagine ham radio without, say, Heathkit. Yet they left, and the hobby continued. We could name a slew of other iconic ...