Joe, I don't see a connection between how long the order takes and whether or not the crystals are flawless. Knowing that a properly-made and -compensated crystal takes time, I'd shy away from a company that has a very short turnaround.
Perhaps the longer turnaround time with orders at ICM is due to ICM getting a lot of new business from disgruntled customers of other crystal suppliers. If you ever get the opportunity to tour the Bomar crystal plant, do so, and take plenty of pictures and keep careful notes. Follow a particular crystal order through the process from order-taking to shipment. Then, do the same thing at ICM. Write an article about your findings, and draw some conclusions. I am quite certain it will be interesting! 73, Eric Lemmon WB6FLY -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of MCH Sent: Saturday, November 03, 2007 9:39 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Repeater-Builder] Crystals Motorola etc I just went (actually, AM GOING) through an order with ICM. Boy have they changed in the last 10 years. Orders take much longer than they used to. I went with ICM because this particular order I wanted to be flawless. I should have stuck with Bomar. Joe M. Jim Brown wrote: > > I use Bomar these days for crystals for the ham bands. I have had > good luck installing them myself and re-adjusting them in a year or so > back to the right frequency. > > I recently worked on a GE Delta radio that had been crystaled using > CUMEX and found the receive crystal had drifted over 2 kHz in the > several years it had been in service. It was so far off it would not > adust back to the original frequency until I ran the adjustment slug > on down through the coil form and added another slug on top of it. > Now with two slugs in the coil, it wound up back on frequency. I > don't know if it will continue to drift, or if it has settled down, > but for now it is working just fine. > > I used Marden for crystals until I got into a beef with them on a > receive frequency and gave up after sending an operating crystal back > to them a couple of times and telling them what frequency it operated > on, and them sending it back and telling me what frequency they > thought it operated on. > > 73 - Jim W5ZIT > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:w7hsg%40comcast.net> wrote: > > Hi All > > Looking for information on who makes crystals for channel > elements. > > Micor's and Mitrek > > Yes, I know that International makes them but the price is > high. > > I have had good luck putting crystals in old channel > elements and changing the caps as necessary > > to achieve reasonable stability. Used to use CUMEX in El > Paso but they seem to be gone > > Ralph, W7HSG > > From: Kris Kirby <[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:kris%40catonic.us> > > To: [email protected] <mailto:Repeater-Builder%40yahoogroups.com> > Subject: Re: [Repeater-Builder] Re: UHF Radio > recommendations ?? > Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2007 23:32:48 +0000 > > On Fri, 2 Nov 2007, wb6ymh wrote: > > The 30 watt version is a better radio for repeater service > since all > > solid state transmitters are very inefficient when run > below their > > designed output. A 30 watt Mitrek running at 15 watts will > probably > > last forever, but a 50 watt Mitrek running at 20 watts > gets way too > > hot for my tastes. It would probably be ok with a fan, but > I really > > didn't want a fan for numerous reasons. > > Well the radio is only specified to run a certain percentage > in transmit > anyway, but at this point, you can probably get a dump-truck > load of > Mitreks for the asking. That will give you enough radios to > keep the > repeater running until Doomsday. All you need is a few > channel elements, > and you can skip using lightning protection altogether. > > If a Mitrek falls in the forest, does it make a noise? > > -- > Kris Kirby, KE4AHR <[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:kris%40catonic.us> > > But remember, with no superpowers comes no responsibility. > --rly > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com <http://mail.yahoo.com>
