I believe that when YOUR TAX dollars purchase radios for your fire & police departments that one of the big "American" vendors..indicates that in 6 years they will no longer support the radios. AND THEY GET MILLIONS FOR THOSE SYSTEMS.Too bad our 35 year old 5 community police repeater system from the same factory is still going great,,,
And I believe that ICOM does 'allow' us to speak with technicians. bill At 04:09 PM 7/5/2009, Nelson Moyer wrote: >Yaesu is selling disposable radios. I called about sending in my eight year >old FT-100D for repair and was told they no longer support the FT-100. Why >would anyone spend 12K on a Yaesu radio that will be obsolete in less than >eight years? > >My experience with Elecraft service, on the other hand, has been stellar. > >Nelson, KU0A > >-----Original Message----- >From: [email protected] >[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dick Williams >Sent: Sunday, July 05, 2009 3:15 PM >To: [email protected] >Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Yaesu versus Elecraft Service > >Jim, > >All the more reason to buy American products! I owned a couple of Yaseu HF > >rigs in the past and I was more than dis-pleased with their service dept. >In one instance, the SWR protection circuit went out in my 1000D; sent it >back telling them what the problem was (or what caused the final transistors > >to burn out). I even called and was told that, "O yes" the purported tech >I talked to said that the radio was fixed right. Well, when I got it back, >all they did was replace the finals. > >As far as I am concerned, any ham who buys a Yaesu or Icom HF radio is a >fool and uninformed. Both the K3 and O2 will run circles around any of the >other rigs (maybe with the exception of the SDR radios). > >And when you talk about service, both Ten Tec and Elecraft are top notch. >You are so right when you say you get to talk to a tech, not some idiot that > >is a "go between" and not familiar with the radio. > >That is my "2 cents" worth". > >Dick K8ZTT > >PS Unfotunately we don't have a lot of choices with the VHF/UHF equipment, >but at least it is not a big investment if it goes up in smoke. > > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Jim Garland" <[email protected]> >To: <[email protected]> >Sent: Sunday, July 05, 2009 11:36 AM >Subject: [Elecraft] Yaesu versus Elecraft Service > > > > (Copy of a posting I sent today to the Yaesu FT-2000 reflector, > > contrasting > > Yaesu and Elecraft technical support. I believe it speaks for itself.) > > > > > > > > _____ > > > > From: Jim Garland [mailto:[email protected]] > > Sent: Sunday, July 05, 2009 11:22 AM > > To: '[email protected]' > > Subject: Update: Yaesu Service > > > > > > > > Two weeks ago I posted a note here about Yaesu's policy of not allowing > > customers to speak to service technicians, instead referring inquiries to > > customer support personnel who were unfamiliar with the inner workings of > > Yaesu products. This is the same policy used by auto dealers, who insert a > > "customer service manager" between a customer and mechanic, or computer > > manufacturers whose support personnel answer technical questions by > > reading > > from a prepared script. > > > > > > > > In my case, I had questions about the first mixer stage in my FT-2000D, > > which I suspected had failed. I had traced the signal path to the mixer > > with > > an oscilloscope, but wasn't sure how to interpret the output signal. I > > couldn't tell from the circuit diagram how much bias current the mixer > > FETs > > were supposed to draw, what the conversion loss from the mixer was (after > > taking into account losses and turns ratios of the coupling transformers), > > whether this was a common failure mode in the radio and what the likely > > cause was, and whether there were any useful pointers in replacing the > > tiny > > surface mount mixer IC. > > > > > > > > Unable to get anwers, I didn't want to take a chance plunging ahead with > > the > > repair myself, so I ended up sending the radio back to Yaesu. The repair > > bill came to $187 plus another $90 round trip shipping. Incidentally, the > > first mixer is nothing special; it is a garden variety IC that costs about > > $4. > > > > > > > > By coincidence, I also had a failure in my Elecraft K3, which had suddenly > > stopped transmitting during a recent 6m contest. I called Elecraft and was > > immediately put through to a service technician. I explained my problem > > and > > he asked me a few questions about my electronics background and what sort > > of > > test equipment I had on my workbench. He decided that I had enough enough > > experience to fix the problem myself, and we agreed that I would call him > > back after putting my K3 on my test bench and removing the covers. > > > > > > > > Later that day, I called him back and, together, we traced the signal path > > through the transmitter. I had the phone in one hand and a scope probe in > > the other. In a matter of 20 minutes, we determined that the push-pull > > FETs > > in the driver stage had shorted. He mailed me replacement FETs which came > > in > > three days. Ten minutes after opening the package, my K3 was back on the > > air. > > > > > > > > I have had similar experiences repairing a Ten-Tec Orion transceiver and > > SteppIR 4 el yagi. In each case, the service technicians were happy to > > talk > > to me and, with their guidance, repairs were quick and straightforward. > > > > > > > > Here's my point. Ham radio is a technical hobby. It begin a century ago, > > when all stations were homebrewed by their owners. Today, of course, there > > are hundreds of thousands of hams, and their technical expertise runs the > > gamut from inexperienced beginners to Ph.D. engineers. But all hams, I > > would > > hope, have a least a passing interest in electronics. Surely, anybody who > > buys a sophisticated transceiver like an FT-2000, has to know _something_ > > about DSP, roofing filters, preamps and RF attenuators, 3rd order > > intercept > > points, antenna tuners, and so forth. And I would hope that all hams, > > whatever their level of technical knowledge and experience, have a desire > > to > > learn more about their radios. > > > > > > > > Thus I believe Yaesu's service policy disrespects the traditions of > > amateur > > radio. It is policy that treats all hams as if they had no interest in > > their > > radios other than to gain a cursory understanding of the front panel knobs > > and buttons. For some hams, this kind of policy is fine, because it suits > > their interests, experience, and skill level. But for thousands of others > > in > > the hobby, like myself, it is inappropriate. I don't like taking my car to > > my Toyota dealer and dealing with an uninformed service representative who > > knows less about cars than I do (which isn't much.) But I really hate it > > when I run into the same kind of corporate mentality with amateur radio > > manufacturers. > > > > > > > > 73, > > > > Jim Garland W8ZR > > > > ______________________________________________________________ > > Elecraft mailing list > > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > > Post: mailto:[email protected] > > > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > >______________________________________________________________ >Elecraft mailing list >Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft >Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >Post: mailto:[email protected] > >This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net >Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html >Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >Version: 8.5.375 / Virus Database: 270.13.5/2219 - Release Date: 07/05/09 >05:53:00 > >______________________________________________________________ >Elecraft mailing list >Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft >Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >Post: mailto:[email protected] > >This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net >Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
