> It gave one an understanding of what was inside a finished product and how it worked, because it would include a theory of operation.
My Dad would get Heathkit and I would build them. I even built 3 H-151 (IBM compatible) computers. My soldering skills were pretty good. But I didn't understand how they worked - I just followed the instructions.
When I was a kid, around 5 years old, back in 1976, we got our first home game console. It was a Heathkit Pong clone, with variants for a couple related games, including duck hunt.
> First, it requires a Heathkit TV set to operate because of its composite output. Back in 1976, only monitors and hi-tech equipment had a composite input. To use this system, the user had to open his TV set in order to connect a few wires to its electronic circuits. This is the case with the Heathkit TV sets: the user manual explains how to connect the system to several TV sets released by Heathkit. The system has another interesting feature: the sound does not come from the system itself like most of the other PONG consoles, but comes from the TV set
> I didn't understand how they worked - I just followed the instructions
Indeed, Heath's instructions took a paint-by-numbers approach that did not offer analysis or explanation, so I have to disagree with hypertexthero that more than very basic theory was communicated. As for circuitry explanation, I found out the hard way on one occasion that I hadn't soldered a transistor properly, but there were no instructions on how to test for such a problem within the same "anyone can do this on a kitchen table" kit, so I mailed the board to Heath and they sent it back in working order for a small fee and postage. It is nevertheless a fond memory.
It’s been a looong time since I made a Heathkit (I think the last one was an oscilloscope in the 80s) but I do remember a theory of operation section in the manual, separate from the very clear assembly instructions. It’s true of the ones I randomly checked in the archive [0]. That said, the mail-in repair service for when things go sideways was a fantastic feature that not many kit companies had/have.
The first H-151 I built had a flaw. We went to the Heathkit store, about 45 minutes away, which provided the instructions for the fix. It was something like "scratch this trace off the circuit board and solder a wire between these two points."
My Dad would get Heathkit and I would build them. I even built 3 H-151 (IBM compatible) computers. My soldering skills were pretty good. But I didn't understand how they worked - I just followed the instructions.
When I was a kid, around 5 years old, back in 1976, we got our first home game console. It was a Heathkit Pong clone, with variants for a couple related games, including duck hunt.
A few years back I read https://pong-story.com/heathkit.htm which told me that my Dad must have had a Heathkit TV back then:
> First, it requires a Heathkit TV set to operate because of its composite output. Back in 1976, only monitors and hi-tech equipment had a composite input. To use this system, the user had to open his TV set in order to connect a few wires to its electronic circuits. This is the case with the Heathkit TV sets: the user manual explains how to connect the system to several TV sets released by Heathkit. The system has another interesting feature: the sound does not come from the system itself like most of the other PONG consoles, but comes from the TV set