Sending a pleasant shudder up the backbone of many a hobbyist and ham, Heathkit says it is back in the kit business.
“The first kit will be a Garage Parking Assistant,” the company states on its website. “The Garage Parking assistant kit lets you build your own system that uses ultrasonic sound waves to locate your car as it enters the garage. The system signals to the driver using LED lights mounted on the wall when the car is detected and in the perfect spot for parking.”
The kit consists of two assemblies, an LED display in kit form and a pre-assembled ultrasonic range module. “The kit will include everything you need to complete the project except a soldering iron and hand tools.”
The second planned item is a Wireless Swimming Pool Monitor kit, “followed by many more,” specifically including amateur radio kits. Heathkit asked that users submit suggestions for future sets.
The Heathkit mail-order catalog was distributed by Edward B. Heath in 1926. According to a 2009 article in Electronic Design, later owners of the company included Zenith Corp. and Schlumberger. The kit business was phased out in the early 1990s.
Successor Heathkit Educational Systems was launched in the 1970s to develop training materials for schools and corporations. HES is based in Benton Harbor, Mich.
