Amps
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [Amps] Heath copyright

To: Saandy Eban <alexeban@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Amps] Heath copyright
From: Roger <sub1@rogerhalstead.com>
Date: Thu, 20 May 2010 03:07:50 -0400
List-post: <amps@contesting.com">mailto:amps@contesting.com>

On 5/20/2010 2:05 AM, Saandy Eban wrote:
> I don't think it's envy.
> if a manufacturer puts on the market- especially a consumer product 
> the relevant documentation should be made available to the owners: 
> Panasonic, Canon and others make theirs available free on the 'net!
> after all, it seems to me nobody is really going to try and duplicate 
> Heath equipment for sale! Why should I pay again for the manual of my 
> SB104?
> Alex     4Z5KS
Agreed, but there is a difference between what is expected, what is 
responsible, and what is legal.
If the manufacturer were still in business the manuals might be for sale 
as some are, or they might now be available free on the Internet as most 
are for ham gear. Remember that when they sold those rights manuals were 
all printed.  I have most now in digital format...although I do have the 
paper manuals as well.
So, selling the copyrights for the manuals to a responsible individual 
might have been both the responsible and proper approach when they were 
sold.  That he provides high quality manuals says a lot.  OTOH many, if 
not most who have the original manuals are quire likely to be willing to 
provide digital copies if they have the equipment.  Simple manuals are 
easy to copy, but bound ones are not, and not many are willing to 
dismantle a good quality, bound manual to photocopy it. Also there is 
the question of quality.  Some of those manuals we get  are pretty poor 
quality. Look at the quality of the original QSTs when they became 
available in digital.  OTOH some of the originals were in pretty poor 
shape, but a few were REALLY bad! It's what they had to work with at the 
time.

Me? when it comes to a manual,  magazine, or book in digital I expect it 
to be as good a quality as the original when new. That makes for some 
pretty large files that are usually of chapter size rather than book 
size. A great example here would be the ARRL Handbook and Antenna 
Handbook. Then there are the Icom, Yaesu, and Kenwood manuals. Unlike 
printed manuals they have the original in digital and it only costs 
server space and time which is probably a very small percent of their 
server space.

Those are the kinds of quality I expect, but then again, computers are, 
or were, my profession and I have to remember that most people are 
computer users" and do not have the skills to provide that kind of 
quality, so I am indeed thankful for those who have provided those 
manuals on BAMA ...as long as I can read them. <:-)) Not all meet that 
criteria, but still I view BAMA as a great resource and service, 
particularly when you consider it is all volunteer.

OTOH although I may wish Heath had the foresight to see what we have 
today, they did provide a service to us by salvaging some money from a 
failing, or failed company as well as providing a source for quality 
manuals for their now out of production equipment.

73

Roger (K8RI)
>
> On Thu, May 20, 2010 at 2:42 AM, VAN K7VS <WA7FAB@cdsnet.net 
> <mailto:WA7FAB@cdsnet.net>> wrote:
>
>     Yup, that's exactly what happened and I don't really understand
>     why some
>     individuals are so negative about an opportunistic person trying
>     to make a
>     few bucks.  I guess it's envy.  The fellow that purchased the
>     rights has a
>     website selling clean and complete copies of Heath manuals.  He
>     does a very
>     nice job and is a neat guy to boot.  Van, K7VS
>
>     _______________________________________________
>     Amps mailing list
>     Amps@contesting.com <mailto:Amps@contesting.com>
>     http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/amps
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Saandy
_______________________________________________
Amps mailing list
Amps@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/amps

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>