# Zenith Data Systems

Published articles for Zenith Data Systems.

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## What was Zenith Data Systems

DevFeed: [What was Zenith Data Systems](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/what-was-zenith-data-systems-112628.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://blog.adafruit.com/2026/11/02/what-was-zenith-data-systems/>)

Author: Anne Barela

Published: 2026-11-02T20:23:53Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Adafruit Industries](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/adafruit-industries-makers-hackers-artists-designers-and-engineers.md>)

Topics: [systems](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/systems.md>), [communications](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/communications.md>)

Tags: [aircraft](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/aircraft.md>), [analog](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/analog.md>), [army](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/army.md>), [computers](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/computers.md>), [cp-m](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cp-m.md>), [dec](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/dec.md>), [electronics](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/electronics.md>), [ham-radio](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ham-radio.md>), [heathkit](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/heathkit.md>), [history](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/history.md>), [laboratory](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/laboratory.md>), [oscilloscope](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/oscilloscope.md>), [vintage](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/vintage.md>), [vintage-computing](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/vintage-computing.md>), [wireless](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/wireless.md>), [z-100](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/z-100.md>), [zenith](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/zenith.md>), [zenith-data-systems](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/zenith-data-systems.md>)

### AI overview

Zenith Data Systems grew from Zenith Radio's 1979 purchase of Heath, whose electronics business developed from postwar surplus CRTs and Heathkit's instructional kits. Heath's computers ranged from the 1956 analog ES-400 to trainer and kit systems using Motorola 6800, Intel 8080A, DEC LSI-11, and Z80 processors. The Z-100, released in 1982, combined 8088 and 8085 processors, supporting MS-DOS or CP/M, and started at $3,999. The Air Force, Army, Navy, and GSA each purchased more than 5,000 units. The excerpt also traces Zenith's roots to two ham radio operators who founded the Chicago Radio Laboratory in 1918.

### Source excerpt

Bradford Morgan White traces the roots of Zenith Data Systems at Abort Retry Fail, starting with two ham radio operators. Ralph Mathews and Karl Hassel met over wireless, served together in the Navy, and founded the Chicago Radio Laboratory in 1918. The company reincorporated as Zenith in 1923, named after Mathews' call sign 9ZN. The [...]