Ramsey Electronics out of the kit business

[Michael Black]

I saw a notice yesterday that Ramsey Electronics has
dropped the kit business, focusing on test equipment (which apparently has
grown to be quite successful over the decades). They are selling off
their remaining kit stock via ebay.

This is unfortunate. IN the past ten years or so, all that talk of
Heathkit, they're coming back, they're closing down, someone bought the
title, they have a kit out finally, and it's mostly been insignificant.
It's as if the Heathkit name was all that mattered, when in reality it
meant a wide selection of kits at reasonable prices that anyone could
build, and of course the kit versions of the Lowry organs and the
fishfinders and the boonie bikes and even the color tv sets bringing in
money that helped keep the amateur radio and hobby electronic kits going.

The "new" Heathkit after a year of nothing but hype finally came out with
a kit a few months ago, a very minor TRF am broadcast band receiver for
something around $200 US. Not a very satisfying kit, and way too much for
the experience, yet some excited "because it's Heathkit".

Meanwhile, Ramsey and MFJ had kits all this time, not "Heathkits" (which
if nothing else had those apparently wonderful instruction manuals), but
kits one could pay not that much for and have some fun building, and have
something that had a purpose afterwards.

But now Ramsey is gone, all those who missed them for the wanting of
Heathkit will now realize what's missing.

I can't help but wonder if Ramsey got tired of losing customers. In a
couple of places I saw talk of an aero band receiver kit that certainly
resembled the one Ramsey has long sold, yet people wanting to buy from
China because it was so cheap. So maybe that was happening to a lot of
Ramsey kits, and they've given up to the competition (except if the
competition was just copying Ramsey kits, there may be no innovation
there).

One might hope that MFJ, which admittedly sells only radio related kits
(while Ramsey sold a wide variety of kits) will not follow.

Michael

 

On Wednesday, January 6, 2016 at 1:13:58 PM UTC-10, Tim Wescott wrote:

On Wed, 06 Jan 2016 15:27:34 -0500, Michael Black wrote:

I saw a notice yesterday that Ramsey Electronics has dropped the kit
business, focusing on test equipment (which apparently has grown to be
quite successful over the decades). They are selling off their
remaining kit stock via ebay.

This is unfortunate. IN the past ten years or so, all that talk of
Heathkit, they're coming back, they're closing down, someone bought the
title, they have a kit out finally, and it's mostly been insignificant.
It's as if the Heathkit name was all that mattered, when in reality it
meant a wide selection of kits at reasonable prices that anyone could
build, and of course the kit versions of the Lowry organs and the
fishfinders and the boonie bikes and even the color tv sets bringing in
money that helped keep the amateur radio and hobby electronic kits
going.

The "new" Heathkit after a year of nothing but hype finally came out
with a kit a few months ago, a very minor TRF am broadcast band receiver
for something around $200 US. Not a very satisfying kit, and way too
much for the experience, yet some excited "because it's Heathkit".

Meanwhile, Ramsey and MFJ had kits all this time, not "Heathkits" (which
if nothing else had those apparently wonderful instruction manuals), but
kits one could pay not that much for and have some fun building, and
have something that had a purpose afterwards.

But now Ramsey is gone, all those who missed them for the wanting of
Heathkit will now realize what's missing.

I can't help but wonder if Ramsey got tired of losing customers. In a
couple of places I saw talk of an aero band receiver kit that certainly
resembled the one Ramsey has long sold, yet people wanting to buy from
China because it was so cheap. So maybe that was happening to a lot of
Ramsey kits, and they've given up to the competition (except if the
competition was just copying Ramsey kits, there may be no innovation
there).

One might hope that MFJ, which admittedly sells only radio related kits
(while Ramsey sold a wide variety of kits) will not follow.

Michael

I suspect that there's also a certain amount of fracturing of the market
-- you can't (IMHO) do much that's useful without using surface mount or
modules, but the "traditional" kit manufacturers never seemed to be able
to get traction with those.

SparkFun seems to be thriving, with a paradigm that's more "modules for
makers" rather than "kits for kids". Perhaps that's where the world has
gone.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Exactly! The industry is heading towards a more modular one, where you need to choose your platform (Arduino, Microchip, Raspberry Pi, Propeller, etc.) and then start adding modules to the platform. Seems to fit what's popular right now, such as CNC machines, 3D printers, radio controlled devices like quadcopters, among other things. And, kids seem to prefer this direction, as they like to keep adding on and adding on, rather than built a kit, build another kit, build another kit... It is a shame because adding on modules don't really teach you much. But then, there seems to be more attention to software programming microcontrollers as well.

 

[Tim Wescott]

On Wed, 06 Jan 2016 15:27:34 -0500, Michael Black wrote:

I saw a notice yesterday that Ramsey Electronics has dropped the kit
business, focusing on test equipment (which apparently has grown to be
quite successful over the decades). They are selling off their
remaining kit stock via ebay.

This is unfortunate. IN the past ten years or so, all that talk of
Heathkit, they're coming back, they're closing down, someone bought the
title, they have a kit out finally, and it's mostly been insignificant.
It's as if the Heathkit name was all that mattered, when in reality it
meant a wide selection of kits at reasonable prices that anyone could
build, and of course the kit versions of the Lowry organs and the
fishfinders and the boonie bikes and even the color tv sets bringing in
money that helped keep the amateur radio and hobby electronic kits
going.

The "new" Heathkit after a year of nothing but hype finally came out
with a kit a few months ago, a very minor TRF am broadcast band receiver
for something around $200 US. Not a very satisfying kit, and way too
much for the experience, yet some excited "because it's Heathkit".

Meanwhile, Ramsey and MFJ had kits all this time, not "Heathkits" (which
if nothing else had those apparently wonderful instruction manuals), but
kits one could pay not that much for and have some fun building, and
have something that had a purpose afterwards.

But now Ramsey is gone, all those who missed them for the wanting of
Heathkit will now realize what's missing.

I can't help but wonder if Ramsey got tired of losing customers. In a
couple of places I saw talk of an aero band receiver kit that certainly
resembled the one Ramsey has long sold, yet people wanting to buy from
China because it was so cheap. So maybe that was happening to a lot of
Ramsey kits, and they've given up to the competition (except if the
competition was just copying Ramsey kits, there may be no innovation
there).

One might hope that MFJ, which admittedly sells only radio related kits
(while Ramsey sold a wide variety of kits) will not follow.

Michael

I suspect that there's also a certain amount of fracturing of the market
-- you can't (IMHO) do much that's useful without using surface mount or
modules, but the "traditional" kit manufacturers never seemed to be able
to get traction with those.

SparkFun seems to be thriving, with a paradigm that's more "modules for
makers" rather than "kits for kids". Perhaps that's where the world has
gone.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

 

[amdx]

On 1/6/2016 2:27 PM, Michael Black wrote:

I saw a notice yesterday that Ramsey Electronics has
dropped the kit business, focusing on test equipment (which apparently
has grown to be quite successful over the decades). They are selling
off their remaining kit stock via ebay.

This is unfortunate. IN the past ten years or so, all that talk of
Heathkit, they're coming back, they're closing down, someone bought the
title, they have a kit out finally, and it's mostly been insignificant.
It's as if the Heathkit name was all that mattered, when in reality it
meant a wide selection of kits at reasonable prices that anyone could
build, and of course the kit versions of the Lowry organs and the
fishfinders and the boonie bikes and even the color tv sets bringing in
money that helped keep the amateur radio and hobby electronic kits going.

The "new" Heathkit after a year of nothing but hype finally came out
with a kit a few months ago, a very minor TRF am broadcast band receiver
for something around $200 US. Not a very satisfying kit, and way too
much for the experience, yet some excited "because it's Heathkit".

Meanwhile, Ramsey and MFJ had kits all this time, not "Heathkits" (which
if nothing else had those apparently wonderful instruction manuals), but
kits one could pay not that much for and have some fun building, and
have something that had a purpose afterwards.

But now Ramsey is gone, all those who missed them for the wanting of
Heathkit will now realize what's missing.

I can't help but wonder if Ramsey got tired of losing customers. In a
couple of places I saw talk of an aero band receiver kit that certainly
resembled the one Ramsey has long sold, yet people wanting to buy from
China because it was so cheap. So maybe that was happening to a lot of
Ramsey kits, and they've given up to the competition (except if the
competition was just copying Ramsey kits, there may be no innovation
there).

One might hope that MFJ, which admittedly sells only radio related kits
(while Ramsey sold a wide variety of kits) will not follow.

Michael

My Ramsey story,
Several years ago I setup a few tables at the Orlando Hamfest, hoping
to sell some of my electronic equipment, parts, and pieces.
Two guys were looking over my stuff, when we somehow got into a
conversation about FM transmitters. I said I had a Chinese made CZH-05B
I got from Amazon. One of the guys said, that has harmonics in the band,
I said, "I have never noticed it, but it is a whole lot better than the
stupid FM25 Ramsey sells". They both paused a second and one of the guys
said, "do know who this is"? I said, no. This Mr. Ramsey, from the
Ramsey company.
Mikek.

PS.
I never have found harmonics in the pass band with a radio. I've had it
over 4 years, works everyday. I run my internet radio to it and listen
to Imus in the morning, in the morning, and usually Science 360 any
other time.
The hamfest was not very good for me, I had an outdoor table and it
rained off and on during the weekend.

 

[Wayne Chirnside]

On Wed, 06 Jan 2016 15:27:34 -0500, Michael Black wrote:

I saw a notice yesterday that Ramsey Electronics has dropped the kit
business, focusing on test equipment (which apparently has grown to be
quite successful over the decades). They are selling off their
remaining kit stock via ebay.

This is unfortunate. IN the past ten years or so, all that talk of
Heathkit, they're coming back, they're closing down, someone bought the
title, they have a kit out finally, and it's mostly been insignificant.
It's as if the Heathkit name was all that mattered, when in reality it
meant a wide selection of kits at reasonable prices that anyone could
build, and of course the kit versions of the Lowry organs and the
fishfinders and the boonie bikes and even the color tv sets bringing in
money that helped keep the amateur radio and hobby electronic kits
going.

The "new" Heathkit after a year of nothing but hype finally came out
with a kit a few months ago, a very minor TRF am broadcast band receiver
for something around $200 US. Not a very satisfying kit, and way too
much for the experience, yet some excited "because it's Heathkit".

Meanwhile, Ramsey and MFJ had kits all this time, not "Heathkits" (which
if nothing else had those apparently wonderful instruction manuals), but
kits one could pay not that much for and have some fun building, and
have something that had a purpose afterwards.

But now Ramsey is gone, all those who missed them for the wanting of
Heathkit will now realize what's missing.

I can't help but wonder if Ramsey got tired of losing customers. In a
couple of places I saw talk of an aero band receiver kit that certainly
resembled the one Ramsey has long sold, yet people wanting to buy from
China because it was so cheap. So maybe that was happening to a lot of
Ramsey kits, and they've given up to the competition (except if the
competition was just copying Ramsey kits, there may be no innovation
there).

One might hope that MFJ, which admittedly sells only radio related kits
(while Ramsey sold a wide variety of kits) will not follow.

Michael

Hey Michael
I recall when I was about 12 building a portable VHF radio Heathkit had
as well as their AA-14 amplifier and AA-14 FM receiver.

Those were quite satisfying and well laid out products and designs for
the day.

Radio Shack back then had a few amazing P-Box kits such as their three
transistor shortwave radio for eight bucks.

Here I sit today with a few computers I cobbled together and a couple of
Raspberry Pis' just for grins and giggles running Linux.

Just received from China two thermostat modules for the rather hefty
price of all of $1.74 ea. ;-)
They work.

That's temperature probe, set high, set low, hysteresis 12 volt and relay.

Like mentioned later in this thread what's been lacking is any kits
introducing SMD as I myself have no experience there but soon be getting
my feet just a little wet there with home brew.

Yeah I miss Heathkit and Popular Electronics.

Back then you had to work for it, kids today don't know how easy they've
got it.

So yeah I find going to China the easy route myself these days as you can
get the kits there as well as finished modules for cheap and to date 100
percent everything has been delivered and worked.
Some 70 -80 orders and all free of postage from mainland China.

I'll even put in a plug for them as they've been solid for me.
www.aliexpress.com
Of course buyer beware and use some critical thinking in evaluating what
to expect and what to get and review their feedback, length of time store
open ect. but they've been 100 percent by me thus far these two years in.

Happen to know a source where I can get a good used core2-quad 775
processor source to upgrade these couple three core2-duos to 2.83 - 3.0
GHz?

If I can't get a referral to a source U.S. I guess I'll go there for that
as well :-(
Geeks.com sold retail for a while and damn they were outstanding but
wholesale only now :-(

 

On Wednesday, January 6, 2016 at 3:23:42 PM UTC-5, Michael Black wrote:

I saw a notice yesterday that Ramsey Electronics has
dropped the kit business, focusing on test equipment (which apparently has
grown to be quite successful over the decades). They are selling off
their remaining kit stock via ebay.

This is unfortunate. IN the past ten years or so, all that talk of
Heathkit, they're coming back, they're closing down, someone bought the
title, they have a kit out finally, and it's mostly been insignificant.
It's as if the Heathkit name was all that mattered, when in reality it
meant a wide selection of kits at reasonable prices that anyone could
build, and of course the kit versions of the Lowry organs and the
fishfinders and the boonie bikes and even the color tv sets bringing in
money that helped keep the amateur radio and hobby electronic kits going.

The "new" Heathkit after a year of nothing but hype finally came out with
a kit a few months ago, a very minor TRF am broadcast band receiver for
something around $200 US. Not a very satisfying kit, and way too much for
the experience, yet some excited "because it's Heathkit".

Meanwhile, Ramsey and MFJ had kits all this time, not "Heathkits" (which
if nothing else had those apparently wonderful instruction manuals), but
kits one could pay not that much for and have some fun building, and have
something that had a purpose afterwards.

But now Ramsey is gone, all those who missed them for the wanting of
Heathkit will now realize what's missing.

I can't help but wonder if Ramsey got tired of losing customers. In a
couple of places I saw talk of an aero band receiver kit that certainly
resembled the one Ramsey has long sold, yet people wanting to buy from
China because it was so cheap. So maybe that was happening to a lot of
Ramsey kits, and they've given up to the competition (except if the
competition was just copying Ramsey kits, there may be no innovation
there).

One might hope that MFJ, which admittedly sells only radio related kits
(while Ramsey sold a wide variety of kits) will not follow.

Michael

Popular Electronics was AWESOME! And I had that 3 xistor was P-box. First thing I heard was" DING DING DING This is radio Quito" I was blown away! Voices in the air! From South America!

 

[Wayne Chirnside]

On Mon, 25 Jan 2016 08:33:03 -0800, sdeyoreo wrote:

On Wednesday, January 6, 2016 at 3:23:42 PM UTC-5, Michael Black wrote:
I saw a notice yesterday that Ramsey Electronics has dropped the kit
business, focusing on test equipment (which apparently has grown to be
quite successful over the decades). They are selling off their
remaining kit stock via ebay.

This is unfortunate. IN the past ten years or so, all that talk of
Heathkit, they're coming back, they're closing down, someone bought the
title, they have a kit out finally, and it's mostly been insignificant.
It's as if the Heathkit name was all that mattered, when in reality it
meant a wide selection of kits at reasonable prices that anyone could
build, and of course the kit versions of the Lowry organs and the
fishfinders and the boonie bikes and even the color tv sets bringing in
money that helped keep the amateur radio and hobby electronic kits
going.

The "new" Heathkit after a year of nothing but hype finally came out
with a kit a few months ago, a very minor TRF am broadcast band
receiver for something around $200 US. Not a very satisfying kit, and
way too much for the experience, yet some excited "because it's
Heathkit".

Meanwhile, Ramsey and MFJ had kits all this time, not "Heathkits"
(which if nothing else had those apparently wonderful instruction
manuals), but kits one could pay not that much for and have some fun
building, and have something that had a purpose afterwards.

But now Ramsey is gone, all those who missed them for the wanting of
Heathkit will now realize what's missing.

I can't help but wonder if Ramsey got tired of losing customers. In a
couple of places I saw talk of an aero band receiver kit that certainly
resembled the one Ramsey has long sold, yet people wanting to buy from
China because it was so cheap. So maybe that was happening to a lot of
Ramsey kits, and they've given up to the competition (except if the
competition was just copying Ramsey kits, there may be no innovation
there).

One might hope that MFJ, which admittedly sells only radio related kits
(while Ramsey sold a wide variety of kits) will not follow.

Michael

Popular Electronics was AWESOME! And I had that 3 xistor was P-box.
First thing I heard was" DING DING DING This is radio Quito" I was blown
away! Voices in the air! From South America!

Yes I was living in Massachusetts N.E. and got that very same station in
Ecuador. I've not idea if it was the first but likely the first day.
recall the dinky little variable cap hanging off the side on a steel
mount and a regeneration potentiometer you had to adjust to just below
oscillation for best sensitivity.

The selectivity sucked tho when two stations were located side by side
the stronger would just take over.

The remarkable thing for me was my grandparents had bought me a Zenith
all band shortwave radio at something like 125.00 and that eight dollar
toy virtually matched it.

On popular electronics that was my introduction to digital electronics
in the form of the COSMAC Elf as CDP1802 microprocessor based computer
available to somkeone with limited capital at the time only by building
it myself from parts obtained via Jameco.
Spent a 24 hour straight binge with a wire wrapping pencil and got it
dead bang right on the first power up.

Then the heartbreak of learning just buying assembler software software
cost something like 2 grand :-(
Anyway that was the processor for the first soft lander on MARS and I'd
hacked one together at home for $90 U.S.
F8 add immediate to the D register IIRC.
Forest Mims, Don Lancaster these were some of my teachers.

Everything I built from their articles worked right off the bat and much
of even worked when I personally made my own custom modifications.
Miss that old rag.

 

[Michael Black]

On Mon, 25 Jan 2016, Wayne Chirnside wrote:

On popular electronics that was my introduction to digital electronics
in the form of the COSMAC Elf as CDP1802 microprocessor based computer
available to somkeone with limited capital at the time only by building
it myself from parts obtained via Jameco.
Spent a 24 hour straight binge with a wire wrapping pencil and got it
dead bang right on the first power up.

I rmemeber about the year before seeing a Godbout ad where they offered
the 8080, the clock IC that went with it, some ROM and some RAM for
something like fifty dollars, something within reach. I was scheming how
to get that money together when someone at school pointed out that you
couldn't do anything with it without a monitor, and you needed to have the
computer working before you could create a monitor. ANd I didn't have a
terminal.

The 1802 had the advantage that one pin could be set a certain way so it
could be stepped so you could put data directly into RAM. So you didn't
need a monitor, or that complicated front panel cicuitry of something like
the ALtair 8800. Other than the RAM, that COSMAC ELF didn't need any
special parts, so it was easy to put together, and not really expensive.

What's interesting is there were articles about doing the same thing with
the 8085, and later the 68000, jam a NOP into the data bus and the CPU
would advance the address bus so you could put data into the ram at the
next address. When DOn Lancaster wrote about his "cheap tv typewriter",
which required a CPU, he was doing basically the same thing, so he'd jam a
NOP onto the data bus so the CPU would keep advancing the address bus,
which cycled through RAM to put the video onto the video screen.

Then the heartbreak of learning just buying assembler software software
cost something like 2 grand :-(

I never used the 1802, so maybe it was harder, but I never used an
assembler on the 6502. I hand assembled, after a bit you got used to it.
It's not like a computer with that little RAM was going to run massive
programs.

Anyway that was the processor for the first soft lander on MARS and I'd
hacked one together at home for $90 U.S.

In the late seventies, someone from AMSAT (the amateur radio satellite
group) came to the local amateur radio club to talk about the next amateur
radio satellite. And he said it was going to use the 1802, for two
reasons. One was that it was safe to use in space with all that radiation
flying around, and since the RAM could be loaded without needing a
monitor, it was easy to upload programs to the CPU, and it made it all so
safe since you could fix any bad code that showed up.

Michael

F8 add immediate to the D register IIRC.
Forest Mims, Don Lancaster these were some of my teachers.

Everything I built from their articles worked right off the bat and much
of even worked when I personally made my own custom modifications.
Miss that old rag.