The Rise and Fall of Heathkit – Part 5: Final Thoughts

Towards the end of my interview with Chas Gilmore – formerly the VP of product development, marketing, and sales at the Heath Company – I realized we had not touched on a couple of questions I’d sent to him in preparation for our Zoom call in October: whether any particular Heathkits stood out in his mind, and if he remembered the Heathkit Microwave Oven kit I’d built … Read More → "The Rise and Fall of Heathkit – Part 5: Final Thoughts"

The Rise and Fall of Heathkit – Part 4: The Demise of Heathkit

Chas Gilmore joined the Heath Company in 1966 as a design engineer in the company’s Scientific Instruments group. By 1976, he was director of engineering for Heath’s technical products, which included amateur radio, instrumentation, marine, automotive, and weather products. This article, Part 4 of a series based on an interview with Gilmore, discusses the Heath Company’s changes after its acquisition by Zenith and then subsequently by France’ … Read More → "The Rise and Fall of Heathkit – Part 4: The Demise of Heathkit"

Fish Fry 600: The Future of EV Battery Technology Innovation with Dr. Bor Jang

Our Fish Fry podcast will be on hiatus for the rest of November. Please enjoy the 600th episode with material sciences and battery technology expert Dr. Bor Jang!

The 600th episode of Amelia’s Weekly Fish Fry podcast has arrived! My special guest is material sciences and battery technology expert Dr. Bor Jang (Solidion). </ … Read More → "Fish Fry 600: The Future of EV Battery Technology Innovation with Dr. Bor Jang"

Taking the Size and Power of Extreme Edge AI/ML to the Extreme Minimum

Earlier this year, I penned a couple of columns under the umbrella title “Mind-Boggling Neuromorphic Brain Chips.” One of the first comments I received concerning these columns was short, sharp, and sweet, simply reading, “Also, Brain-Boggling.”

Arrrggghhh. How did I miss that? How could I not have used “Brain-Boggling Neuromorphic Brain Chips”? There was much gnashing of teeth and rending of garb that … Read More → "Taking the Size and Power of Extreme Edge AI/ML to the Extreme Minimum"

The Rise and Fall of Heathkit – Part 3: The Microcomputer Kit Era

Chas Gilmore joined the Heath Company in 1966 as a design engineer in the company’s Scientific Instruments group. By 1976, he was director of engineering for Heath’s technical products, which included amateur radio, instrumentation, marine, automotive, and weather products. This article, Part 3 of a series, includes portions of an interview I conducted with Gilmore in October. This article picks up Gilmore’s narrative starting in 1976 and includes … Read More → "The Rise and Fall of Heathkit – Part 3: The Microcomputer Kit Era"

December 3, 2024
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featured chalk talk

S32M2 Integrated Solutions for Motor Control
In this episode of Chalk Talk, Raghavan Nagarajan from NXP and Amelia Dalton explore the challenges associated with software defined vehicles, the benefits that S32M2 integrated solutions for motor control bring to this arena, and how you can get started using these solutions for your next automotive design.
Nov 21, 2024
13,005 views

featured paper

Quantized Neural Networks for FPGA Inference

Sponsored by Intel

Implementing a low precision network in FPGA hardware for efficient inferencing provides numerous advantages when it comes to meeting demanding specifications. The increased flexibility allows optimization of throughput, overall power consumption, resource usage, device size, TOPs/watt, and deterministic latency. These are important benefits where scaling and efficiency are inherent requirements of the application.

Click to read more

Libby's Lab

Libby's Lab - Scopes Out Littelfuse's SRP1 Solid State Relays

Sponsored by Mouser Electronics and Littelfuse

In this episode of Libby's Lab, Libby and Demo investigate quiet, reliable SRP1 solid state relays from Littelfuse availavble on Mouser.com. These multi-purpose relays give engineers a reliable, high-endurance alternative to mechanical relays that provide silent operation and superior uptime.

Click here for more information about Littelfuse SRP1 High-Endurance Solid-State Relays

discussion
Posted on Dec 2 at 12:48pm by Max Maxfield
I see this as being two distinct problems -- the first is generating high-quality documentation -- the second is understanding vast amounts of (often poorly written) documentation. In the latter case, I would welcome a tool that can digest hundreds (perhaps thousands) of pages of poorly written and badly correlated ...
Posted on Dec 2 at 12:44pm by Max Maxfield
As far as I know, it can. I've not used it myself, but I'm hoping to do so when I get the time -- if so, I will report further :-)
Posted on Dec 2 at 12:43pm by Max Maxfield
I totally agree -- I hate opening a book that essentially starts "As we all know..." followed by pages of incomprehensible BS. I don't want authors to show me how clever they are -- I want then to make me feel clever for understanding what they are talking about :-)
Posted on Dec 2 at 12:40pm by Max Maxfield
I don't know them -- are they friends of yours, or are you commenting on the quality of their documentation?
Posted on Dec 1 at 3:21pm by traneusee
The GR-150 transistor radio solder and no-solder versions have been discontinued, replaced by the GR-152 solder-only radio.
Posted on Dec 1 at 6:52am by Steven Leibson
Glad you got your heirloom running. Now you can practice Morse for the holidays. That 2N3906 ought to last a while.
Posted on Nov 30 at 9:56am by traneusee
I just repaired the CO-1 code practice oscillator I received as a Christmas present in 1960 or 61 or 62. The Texas Instruments 2N238 PNP germanium transistor (date code 949) had died, so I replaced it with a 2N3906 PNP silicon transistor, and restored oscillation. The difference in Vbe does not matter in the ...
Posted on Nov 29 at 11:50am by Karl Stevens
Documentation should be done "in context", not merely following arbitrary rules mechanically. Or in this case some rules known only to a program. It was assumed that a new MCU was to be designed. Does that mean it will be programmed in C? "Logic design" is only known and understood ...
Posted on Nov 27 at 5:58pm by traneusee
Thanks for the correct URL.
Posted on Nov 26 at 3:40pm by Steven Leibson
https://shop.heathkit.com/ Worked for me just now. I don't think www.heathkit.com ever worked for the new Heathkit.
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featured blogs
Dec 3, 2024
I've just seen something that is totally droolworthy, which may explain why I'm currently drooling all over my keyboard....
Introducing the Next Generation in Electronic Systems Design
In this episode of Chalk Talk, David Wiens from Siemens and Amelia Dalton explore the role that AI, cloud connectivity and security will play for the future of electronic system design and how Siemens is furthering innovation in this area with its integrated suite of design tools.
Dec 3, 2024
14 views
Mounted Robotics End of Arm Tools
In this episode of Chalk Talk, Rajan Sharma and Rafael Marengo from Analog Devices and Amelia Dalton chat about the challenges associated with motor control, industrial vision and real-time connectivity for industrial robotic designs. They also investigate the variety of solutions Analog Devices offers for mounted robotics designs and the role that Gigabit Multimedia Link (GMSL) plays in these applications.
Dec 2, 2024
702 views
Selecting the perfect Infineon TRENCHSTOP™ IGBT7 in Industrial Applications
Sponsored by Mouser Electronics and Infineon
In this episode of Chalk Talk, Jason Foster from Infineon and Amelia Dalton explore the characteristics and tradeoffs with IGBTs. They also investigate the benefits that Infineon’s 1200 V TRENCHSTOP™ IGBT7 H7&S7 650 V TRENCHSTOP™ IGBT7 H7&T7 bring to the these kind of designs, and how Infineon is furthering innovation in the world of Insulated-gate bipolar transistors.
Nov 18, 2024
16,594 views
RF Applications in Satellites
Sponsored by Mouser Electronics and Amphenol
In this episode of Chalk Talk, Maria Calia from Amphenol Times Microwave Systems, Daniel Hallstrom from Amphenol SV Microwave and Amelia explore the use of RF technologies in satellites, the biggest design concerns with connectors and cabling in satellite applications and why RF cable failure mechanisms can be managed by a careful selection of materials and manufacturing techniques.
Nov 12, 2024
22,491 views
Tungsten 700/510 SMARC SOMs with Wi-Fi 6 / BLE
Sponsored by Mouser Electronics and Ezurio
In this episode of Chalk Talk, Pejman Kalkhorar from Ezurio and Amelia Dalton explore the biggest challenges for medical and industrial embedded designs. They also investigate the benefits that Ezurio’s Tungsten700 and 510 SOMs bring to these kinds of designs and how you can get started using them in your next design.
Nov 7, 2024
27,183 views
MCX Enablement: MCUXpresso Ecosystem
In this episode of Chalk Talk, Kyle Dando from NXP and Amelia Dalton discuss the multitude of benefits of the NXP’s MCUXpresso Ecosystem. They also explore how the Visual Studio Code, Application Code Hub and improved software delivery enhance MCX microcontroller development and how you can get started using the MCUXpresso ecosystem for your  next design. 
Nov 6, 2024
29,030 views