Well said, gentlemen,
I work in the defense electronics industry and we run into parts
obsolescence issues all the time. Usually its a chip that goes
obsolete. Sometimes there is a substitute part available. Sometime a
redesign is possible. Some manufacturers give notice when a part is
going obsolete and they offer a last-time buy opportunity. With
pressures on price and profitability that all companies face, spare
parts inventories are usually pretty thin.
If you can find a parts rig, great. Another way to stay on the air is to
have an older rig as a backup. My Heath HW-100 and Ten Tec Corsair use
mostly common parts that are reasonably easy to find. Having said that,
good luck if the frequency counter chip in your Corsair fails.
And, yes, a $10,000 radio may not be such a good investment if the
processor or DSP chip dies obsolete in 5 years.
In the meantime, I'm trying to think of a substitute for the VFO knob
rubber tire on my Paragon that I can find in a hardware or auto parts store!
73,
Bob WB2VUF
On 8/8/2018 12:43 PM, Bob McGraw K4TAX wrote:
As an additional point to support, based on the legal department for my
previous employer, there is no statute or law in the US which requires a
company to supply support or parts past the original warranty period.
Bob, K4TAX
Sent from my iPhone
On Aug 8, 2018, at 10:58 AM, Bob McGraw K4TAX <rmcgraw@blomand.net> wrote:
In many cases, the original supplier of the parts has discontinued specific
items. The new ownership has little to nothing to do with this fact. Some
parts were custom made for Tentec while some were made in their own tool and
die shop or injection molding facility. Those of course no longer exist.
Unless someone builds after market items, many parts for older radios {those 10
+ years} simply won't be available.
This also is the same for many other brands as well. I've encountered this
fact with my attempted repair of Kenwood, ICOM and Yaesu products and is one of
the reasons I've stopped repairing radios. No parts available in many cases.
In other instances, the supplier has a minimum of 100 piece order. If I have
to order 100 pieces just to get one or two, this makes the repair very
expensive. Certainly is not profitable for me.
Folks, we must realize that anything older than the Omni VII {now 10+ years old}, Eagle {now 8+
years old} and Argonaut VI {now 6+ years old} are, in many instances, in trouble with regard to
parts. With my former company, having been in charge of repair parts for products that are no
longer in production, we did forecast and purchase inventory to support products for 7 years. In
most cases the supplier or vendor informed us that this was the last production run on these items.
This is inventory that takes space on the shelves, and must be paid for in advance. Hence we
have to spend dollars for parts that may set on the shelf for 7+ years. The accountants do not
like this and the facility manager may say "why do we need to use this space for obsolete
parts"? And in many instances our "forecast" was not sufficiently accurate and we
simply ran out of parts before expected. In some cases we were forced to limit purchase quantities
to prevent hoarding.
With Tentec and other brands, just be thankful you can get any service work done and
parts being available. Yea yea yea I know you're saying your 30 year old radio still
works and I can get it repaired. In general that is correct.........until one of those
unique parts fail. The Orion series has several unique parts and many to most of the
PC board assemblies are no long available. If either fails, look for a "parts
only radio" and hope the part is good that you need.
This is no different than looking for a brake controller for anti-lock brakes
from a junker at the auto junk yard. Oh, the Dealer has them for $650.
That's 1/2 the value of the vehicle. Radios are much the same way.
73
Bob, K4TAX
On 8/8/2018 10:18 AM, David J. Ross wrote:
Sorry to hear that. I bought the parts for my Paragon just last Nov. I had
heard that service parts were drying up under the new ownership.
-----Original Message-----
From: TenTec <tentec-bounces@contesting.com> On Behalf Of km4bsham via TenTec
Sent: Wednesday, August 8, 2018 11:10 AM
To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec@contesting.com>
Cc: km4bsham <km4bsham@aol.com>
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion VFO Knobs
Naturally "out of stock, try back at a later date ". Thanks
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
-------- Original message --------From: "David J. Ross" <rossdj@verizon.net> Date:
8/7/18 6:32 PM (GMT-05:00) To: 'Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment' <tentec@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion VFO Knobs I purchased one directly from TenTec but there was a $25
minimum order. I needed the plastic panel end ears so the ring was a price padder.
-----Original Message-----
From: TenTec <tentec-bounces@contesting.com> On Behalf Of Dave Beghtel via
TenTec
Sent: Tuesday, August 7, 2018 6:04 PM
To: TenTec@contesting.com
Cc: km4bsham@aol.com
Subject: [TenTec] Orion VFO Knobs
Is there any source for the newer vfo knobs with the solid rubber ring?
Thanks, Dave KM4BS _______________________________________________
TenTec mailing list
TenTec@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus
_______________________________________________
TenTec mailing list
TenTec@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
_______________________________________________
TenTec mailing list
TenTec@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
_______________________________________________
TenTec mailing list
TenTec@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
_______________________________________________
TenTec mailing list
TenTec@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
_______________________________________________
TenTec mailing list
TenTec@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
|