Friday, April 17, 2009

Heathkits, Knightkits and Eico


I got into electronics not by going to school for it, but by buying KnightKits first.
KnightKits were a product marketed and made by the Allied Radio Company of Chicago. For some reason I was enamored by spending all my time not on Marvel or Dell Comics but by perusing the pages and pages of neat stuff in the Allied Radio Catalog.
My first Knight Kit was a Tube Tester.
Anyone remember the tube testers that were in the drug stores, supermarkets and five and dime stores?

Just think of the last couple of generations, they do not even know what tubes were. They will miss out on the experience of burning the tips of their fingers when you take the tube out of a working piece of equipment........
Well I just had to have one they made a small version with just 4 tube sockets a meter and a whole bunch of switches.
I don't think it worked the first time I built it, I made some wiring mistakes, after all what did I know I was a 8 or 9 year old kid.
The kit cost 19 dollars. that was a whole bunch of money in them days.

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From TV News to owning radio communications business, seen technology grow and change the way we live. Hobbies are still some photography and reading, satellite pickup. Did catering and cooking at wineries, taught cooking classes and culinary related ventures. Do a few regional cooking classes down here at my house from time to time, in between visiting and living in this beautiful country. Some tech consulting and lots of opinionated chatter.