A Visit to the World's Largest Heathkit Collection 

Thank you for showing this national treasure. I showed my wife this to explain my collection and told her, "see, it could be worse".

It would be good if they could preserve this as a museum to some extent. The collector spent so much time, effort and money on the equipment. Equally interesting would be to understand how this came about and what his history was. I realize it's not to be told but it certainly piques one's curiosity. Having built my first Heathkit at age 14 and visiting Heathkit stores with awe, I really identified with the brand. My first build was a GR64 shortwave receiver. One thing led to another for me and I ended up with a career in electronics engineering. How I would have loved to have met this person and to have spent an hour or two with him. What is sad is no one knows what to do with the collection after the passing of the owner. On a smaller scale, I have a lifetime of electronics "things" at my home and when I am no longer alive, I'd like to have my "stuff" go to someone would use and/or appreciate what I have.

Had to see to believe. Even Mr. Carlson would be blown away. That wood floor sounds like it's ready to break.

This collection is almost - no, it IS - terrifying! I look at this and wonder how much time and effort world have to be put in just to ensure it was all operational. I am a collector as well but nowhere near a fraction of this magnitude. It's almost sad in a way, this obsession.

When I was a teen, about 1980 -- I used to look thru their catalog and dream, dream, dream -- I always thought the TV's were so cool and wanted one: esp since it had the built in digital clock shown on the TV screen !!

This belongs in a museum, it's mind boggling

I built Heathkits as a kid in the 1960's. Now, at age 70 I have a couple of Heath transceivers, a Heath HF receiver, a couple of Heath Bench power supplies, a Heath VTVM, and a Heath tube tester. They all still work just fine.

The owner of this GOLD mine should consider starting his own museum! I would pay top dollar to spend a few hours looking at this collection. Awesome video!

Been there RIP. MR J. That's only the second floor of the three. Used to be a casket manufacturing building

You hope it was interesting? That is the understatement of the time, especially for a Heathkit fan like me! I put together the tube color TV kit in the late '60's (don't remember the kit number) and got it working in time for one of the New Year's televised parades and it just blew me away to view the richness of the colors AND the sound! Before tackling the TV, I also put together one of their receivers and a Transvision BW TV (and some other small electronic pieces). Quite a good time which I wish the youngsters had in these present times.

Wow. Just imagine how much it cost to assemble this collection!

My gosh, that's an incredible collection. I wonder what in the world will eventually become of it. I've done some collecting, myself, and I've been discovering that acquiring things is much easier than getting rid of things (unless you just leave it to your heirs to deal with things). ;)

Thank you sir! This is truly a privilege to see something that I could never see in person. Glad that you have connections! 😎👍

That is a lot of variety concerning Heathkit models. Holy smokes. I just recently finished giving my 1976 Heathkit AA-1506 120 watt Stereo Audio Power Amplifier a full cleaning, plus I replaced some bipolar capacitors, and replaced the dead light bulb with 4 high brightness LED's. Three of them light up the word "POWER", and the last one lights up the head on the power push switch itself. So overall it now looks almost brand new, but it is working actually as good as new. Plus my 1986 Heathkit HERO 2000 robot is still up and running. Sadly the scope I threw together died by the hands of the solder that came with the kit. The acid in the centre of the solder literally ate away at the PCB's. Just to be safe, I used my own solder supply for my AA-1506 audio amp and the HERO 2000.

WOW. Missed the Heathkit era as I was too into computers as a kid. My grandfather (SK) built lots of Heathkits, including a Color TV. I have his late 1970's frequency counter. I think all of it got tossed, sadly.

WOW! Incredible! I can still remember using the HW-16, HW-101, SB-102, and SB-104 on the Amateur Radio bands, at my high school Ham Radio club in the 70's! My first rig was an HW-16 with the matching VFO, and I had a blast working DX on CW using an attic dipole!

I think even Mr Carlson would even be speechless

Built a Heathkit CB base station at age 14. Lived on the second highest hill in Allegheny County (Pittsburgh) and with a colinear antenna (all vertical), I covered a lot of territory. Went to college in Michigan and one weekday I drove to Benton Harbor to pick up my 14 inch color TV kit (based on an RCA chassis). Guy in the dorm offered to buy it from me at premium price based on great picture quality. Toured the factory / warehouse which had one of the early computer driven robotic retrieval systems to bring pallets down from the extremely tall warehouse shelves.

Please explain me the purpose of having so much...

usually when so someone has so many multiples of multiples of the same model, they are willing to sell one or two and still own multiples. Owning so many of one model, seems he wanted to obtain every one he can find.

Wow, when your electronics collection gets really out of hand. Was this the result of a single individual? It's cool, but think of how tied down you are with all this stuff. I've come to appreciate eBay, to keep a limit on the hoard. The trick is to get enough of a kick out of the sale to overcome the hoarding joy. Anyway, I've been getting into clock radios recently for reasons, and sure enough the guy has shelves of them (13:30). I met a guy on Long Island when I was a kid in 1978 who had a massive hoard like this, but mostly junk. The car radios remind me of him, he had tons of ancient vacuum tube ones (there was a progression: vibrator powered, then low voltage tubes with germanium output transitor).

I've never seen anything like this and I doubt whether there would be anything like this anywhere else in the world even technology museums, its memory lane plus!

Thank you! Great Video...I started with a VTVM (1963) in France, USAF Remote Microwave Radio Relay Site. Part of my training OJT. I also have an H8 All-in-One from 1982. Still works!

Wow, that collection is incredible. I built many a Heathkit in my youth. Several stereos, a tv set, rc aircraft controllers, fish finder, some test equipment.

I loved building the Heathkits back in the 70s & early 80s. I had so much fun. GR-900, IT-21, IT -28, IT-3121, IO-4550, GR-2001 & an IO-30 which was my 1st back in the 60s. The "kits" sold by the new Heath company aren't worth the effort.

Heathkit was just 23 miles up the road from me. They had a nice show room over looking Lake Michigan. When visiting here I would make a trip up there. Those kits were fun to build. Sad to see it all gone. The building is still there and I think up for lease.

Heathkit had an Education product line that was only sold to schools, and was marketed directly to them. I used to be on the advisory committee for a Vocational Electronics course for a local school board. Heathkit also sold some items, factory assembled, like the computers with the Zenith branding. Zenith bought Heathkit, to be able to bid on contracts to the US military. I have some of the cases with the monitors and power supplies that were stripped of the logic boards. I think they still have the power supplies, and I may have a couple of the boards that remapped the ports to allow you to run MSDOS, instead of the HDOS from Heathkit.

The ultimate hoard!! Too bad it just sits there. Seems like a lot of duplication to me. the value of most items except for the Hi-Fi will keep going down as the collector population gets older like myself. I love all this but am trying to get rid of a lot of my stuff at 71 yrs old and health issues I realize I can't take it with me.. thanks for sharing this video, it is truly amazing.

That is an awesome collection !!! Thanks for showing it youtuuba! Hopefully the owner had the where-with-all to properly deaccess it after he passes. Too many times it goes to surviving family who don't have any idea as to how to part it out, sell it or god forbid throw it out. I know some whom collected much less electronic stuff that was disposed of poorly.

3:25 Was hoping to see something similar to my old IO-12 'scope, and there they are. My first 'scope, when I was still at school, I was given it with a bad transformer and it worked a treat when someone re-wound the transformer for me. I used it for many years and eventually sold it. No DC input though.

I had an opportunity to see this collection and get the details on how he obtained the equipment. He also has some historical artifacts from 1960’s t.v. Shows as well. I cannot explain how awesome it is to see in person, video just doesn't quite capture the impressive size of this collection. Thank you for sharing.

Absolutley AMAZING collection, not pn;ly of Heathkit equipment, but other manufacturers as well. The amount of amateur radio equipment OTHER than Heathkit is staggering. Looks like a museum in the making; & it looks like a warehouse is needed to store it all! I can understand the owner's desire for privacy - looks like literally $$$$$$$$ worth of equipment. Thanks for sharing this! :)

Does anybody remember that Heathkit also sold furniture kits that were brass and glass? I purchased their coffee table and display table. Our local Heathkit store was about 20 miles away. When I ordered these two items, I picked them up in person to save money on the shipping costs. I remember how heavy they were in their boxes! The glass tops are beveled and about 1.25 inches thick with round corners. I had them in my living room, but these are in my family room now The brass is now somewhat tarnished, because over the years the protective coating has gradually worn off. Someday I will polish the brass to bring them back to their original luster. My wife doesn't know that they came from an electronic hobby store, when I was in my mid twenties. Heathkit was my first hobby interest that helped with my career.

Esplendoroso acervo dessas relíquias, passear no vídeo é muito bom, muito melhor seria presente nesse ambiente onde contemplar cada peça dessas joias preciosas, parabéns pelo belo memorial, é de encher os olhos de alegrias, congratulações.

Wow, what an amazing collection. May it last for man years to come. I have some Heathkit equipment in my advanced electronics lab, along side of my HP, Tek and Fluke gear. It was the equipment most of us could afford for years until the high-end equipment aged out and became affordable by us mere mortals. LOL My first Ham xmiter was a DX 35 back in 1972 and I enjoyed making lots of contacts with it. Later I had an HW 16, then an HW 101, later the SB 303, 301 and 401 rigs. I still have an HW 101, HW 16, SB 303 and 301 etc. Many people made a living with HeathKit test gear in Radio and TV shops for many years. Even today, most all of Heathkits Test gear, Ham equipment and others can easily be repaired by he average tech, engineer or even hobbyist. All of the new digital stuff is great but good luck finding many surface mount parts from even a decade ago, And then you have to have the right SMT equipment to repair it, not to mention steady hands and good eyesight. I suspect Heathkit equipment will be in labs, shops, hobbyist benches and Ham shacks for MANY more years to come. Thanks for housing/hosting this excellent collection ! !

I've built lots of HK's in the past. Brings back memories. It was always exciting to see the HEATHKIT box arrive! Good times. It will take a large team to liquidate that warehouse of stuff when he finally checks out! Does the word excentric come to mind?

Wow, unbelievable collection. I have some Heathkit test equipment as well. Mainly for working on old tube radios and amp. I loved that old stuff when I was a kid I'd save money to buy the kits at a Heathkit store!

Once found 2 small & sealed unbuilt Heathkit things in a cheap auction box lot. I think it was a digital thermometer and maybe a clock? They went on eBay 15+ years ago when auctions started at 99 cents. I’m thinking they sold well over $100 each. It was those kind of deals that brought on retirement at 52. Now I’m thinking Amtrak rides.

Wow, I have 1 heathkit a (C-3) condenser checker. But I have 3 pieces by Knight. I have more knight because I used to drive truck for knight transportation . I think thats why cooler name. Heathkit reminds me of the candy bar.

WOW now there is some big $$$ there to the right person or collector.

At 6:28 I finally saw the oscope that I built in the mid 70s. After that I built the 25" color TV. What I would give for a Heathkit VTVM.

Now I know where all the Heathkits went. I'm still looking for a Heathkit 200 ham radio amplifier. W Rusty Lane K9POW in eastern Tennessee

Wow. What memories. Thanks so much for sharing that. I really enjoy your videos. Thanks again. Al

did i see bearcat scanners in there

Hi, let us know the address so we can pick some stuff up… maybe by night. LOL! Great video, thank you for sharing!

Hey Guy,s you realize were showing our age, Darn I feel Old.

This is SO bizarre. The more interesting video would be details on WHO is behind this collection and the WHY. --- C R A Z Y.

Wow, I didn't know Heathkit made much more than during that in the sixties, seventies, of what was on sale in the Netherlands at the time, I remember the VTM, and the tube tester, also the l.f. signal generator, but there wasn't much more in the Netherlands.

i wonder if this was the guy that bought my heathkit microwave oven years ago at the dayton hamvention......it was a working heathkit microwave i built in the 1970's

Benton Harbor Michigan! My first ham radio, the famous HW “hot water” 101!

In the late 70's heath had a computer kit that was a copy of PDP computers. At one navy site they were to choice because they had looser temperature standards and would fit existing air condition spaces with no extra cooling.

This is the TV engineers idea of being sent to heaven

Did you ask him if he'd put you in his will? 🤣 Tons of vacuum tubes. Those were the days.

Hello buscando un broadcast System transmitter FM

Amazing. I have never, ever seen something like this before )))

Fascinating collection! It would be interesting to learn how all that stuff was obtained. Thanks for a peek into endless shelves of equipment.

I don't want to say it but knowing east people are selling hesthkit items for today this would produce quite a fortune.

Is this located in ANCHOR CITY ?

This is the first collection I have seen that truly rivals "Mr. Carlson's Lab" Amazing... now excuse me while I wipe the drool off my keyboard.

I wanted to see the organs. But you shyed away from them everytime you got close.

My first Heathkit was HW-100 Transceiver which I built as 17 yrs old, when it was a new model. Today I have a vintage ham station Drake Line and pristine SB-104A Transceiver + ext VFO + PWR / Speaker. Also SWR bridge HM-102 and VTVM IM-32. I remember how good the Heathkit soldering tin smelled and I’d like to buy some more if it’s available somewhere. 73 de OH2BIO

You can't get your hands on 90% of that stuff until the hoarders die off!

thanks for sharing this as it sure was very interesting I learned a lot about heathkit I did not know

wow I see my collection growing I might need a bigger shed

I want that RC car that is briefly shown at 8:36 please

#MrCarlsonsLab would have fun in there !

WOW! I love the old store display racks of parts!

Many thanks for that collection,

Thank you for presenting this video! I had an extreme sense of sadness as you presented this museum. As the video progressed my suspicions that the collector is no longer with us (or at least unable to take part) became more sure. I have almost two dozen heath kits in my own collection. I looked at my first Heathkit catalog 47 years ago as a youth. I spent a lot of Saturdays going up to Pat Walshes place in Benton Harbor picking up odd ball things. Perhaps the most unusual is my H-8 that once was owned by a convicted murderer. That was my first acquisition (circa 1987) and I still have it. Soon it will work again. It's really too bad there isn't a video on the history of Heathkit. I have heard stories from a now deceased employee that designed parts for some of the computer kits. I read the comments and I am somehow aghast. This isn't what I call "hoarding" as much as it is more likely preserving. I have been amazed how easy in recent years it has been to acquire some of these, as most today have no use for this stuff -- so where else would it go except a landfill. It's a labor of love to have gotten those things! I have probably about 60 items in my own collection (also EICO, Knightkit, etc). I hope that whoever acquires my own collection will treat it with love and respect as this man apparently did with other's collections from what I read in the commentaries.

Neat to see......... for those who hoard this stuff, I just hope it goes to auction when they are gone, so someone else can use it. I've owned a decent selection of HK stuff, but I fixed and sold it, if I already had a test tool that I liked better.......If it wasn't going to be used I sold it.

sickness i wish i had. danggggg............

Thanks for the tour but I had to stop watching. If you do this again, don't use the camera as if it were your eyes. Take the time to tilt and pan slowly so the viewer doesn't feel as if he or she is on a roller coaster. I would have liked to see a bit more detail on the equipment but the camera went panning by so quickly all I got was a blur.

Яка щільна матеріальна концентрація людської думки в галузі електроніки! Какая плотная материальная концентрация человеческой мысли в области электроники! What a dense material concentration of human thought in the field of electronics!

Hello. Wow!, what a wonderful and huge collection!. Sorry, but I am looking for an it-11 cap tester in working condition for years…excuse me for the question but: do you know where can I obtain one?. I am in Europe, and 120V will not be an issue for me. Excuse me again, and I hope you will preserve your treasure for many, many years!. Greets from Madrid, Spain.

He was a great fun guy, he told me that he started by fixing car radios from junkyards. Heath kits, radios "CBs" and a wonderful collection of transistor radios. I was lucky to stumble in and visit in his final days. God Speed My friend.

I built the GW-12 in the early 60's and a Power supply that I use even today. I also built some smaller kits like a 100mw Walkie Talkie, code practice oscillator etc. Today I also have a working CB-1, GW-12 , GW-22 . I am 71 y/o and before I go , I'd like to assemble another transceiver. Those were the best years of electronic hobbies for this OM! KB8TPT

Impressive! I recognize some Heathkit models I built myself, long time ago: my first VTVM, a dipmeter, electronic bench, etc. Amazing...

Im and all timer YV4BF. I had the opportunity of assemble many of those devices and EICO too. Unfortunately after more than 70 years I only own a DX100 transmitter and a IP2717A Power Supply. My deepest remind are associated with Heatkit.I love them

Reminds me of Nortex

That is totally out of control, LOL.

I feel loss and I never had the pleasure.

Got my Novice in 79 and built a Heath HW-16 and HG10B VFO. Those were the days!

In 1974-5 I took the Dev Rey mail electronics course and built the Heath Kit nixie tube volt meter, oscilloscope, and electronics design console. All were blue. They were supplied by Dev Rey.

All of that classic radio's can be used now for sure. Some purposes to consider to Connect over trains or Squad cars , chop shops for teams on the job awesome warehouse of Vintage Collection: Emergency services transmission batteries needs a boost and !!!!!"MORE WOW"!!!! Very exciting don't sell everything in stores

Is this still around?

What a collection!! I’ve never posted a comment containing this word: “Agog, I’m just simply agog” 😀

i was only lucky to put together a Heathkit Sb104 transceiver ..I still remember 45 years later the joy i got from such complex project so ,well built and the quality of the documentation to built such a high quality piece of electronics ...

Heath kit hoarder for sure lol

I built many trainers for my electronics class teacher. Starting with the basic to the digital I don't remember building the microprocessor trainer but I helped building hero 1 I don't see him in the video but I will look again. I also had the VTVM and used it to work on antique radios. I remember the 6SN7 and the 6H6 in the VTVM. My Atwater Kent Short Wave radio used that tube also. I wish I had that beat up VTVM because it was a good piece of test equipment. I do have a mono amplifier by Heathkit I'm looking for another so I can use them with my Jenson speakers by EICO. They are in solid walnut cabinets I bought at a thrift store in north Georgia. If it has tubes I'm interested in it and see how it works. I love old electronics. I know the dangers of tube electronics but like any electrical device care must be sought in repairing such devices. 73

Hey, the dream of Mr Carlson's Lab . Impressive job of storage =-O

What a wonderful video! I host a podcast that helps to teach him radio as well as encourage people to join our hobby. I’d like to show this video. I’ll make sure and credit you for making it and of course the link to your channel will be in the description. Well done. Not many people in their lifetime get to see something this special. It reminded me very much of seeing part of Martin F Jue’s collection. Just very impressive. You did an excellent job of showing The incredible scope of this collection. Thank you for not only taking the time to make this video but also to help raise raise awareness regarding just how many things Heathkit made. It was such an important part of ham radio for so long. All the best to you and yours, Larry de K7HN

What a great collection, Wow, How come He doe not want to show anymore, Getting Up in years, If so I understand, You have to Be very careful These days Great video, thanks for sharing

Yes indeed... very interesting. Thanks for sharing :- ) ... and mega-kudos to the man working there for his ongoing work of sorting out and shelving all that awesome stuff, too.

Unbelievable.... 😮

Wow what a beautiful collection of Heathkit I wonder if there was any Heathkit walkie-talkie radios I'm trying to collect to them

I'm still using a Heathkit clock I bioult 40 plus years ago and it still works perfectly though display has a dim segment. Wish I could find a spare part.

There is no way that is a collectors collection, that must be the entire stock when they shut down, and he bought the warehouse and everything in it lol

Well dang...i thought i was bad, no it turns out im just lazy. 😜. This guy was the shit. im assuming this was from someone that recently passed away? Actually im curious about the shelving units. are those recent? if so who makes them. Anyhow...holly sh*t. The amount of organization in this place is remarkable. I'd love to be able to come see for myself. im on the east coast..where is this place... 🤩😘😗

No HERO?

I still use the power supply, function generator, serial breakout box and am about to try replacing my frequency counter batteries for my kits. I had no idea there were so many more kits!