Well people this is ex-K1TA and I'm back after bugging out for a few years
with a new call W6AH. Yep that's right W6 Adam Henry. It's the type of call you
have one of two opinions about. Either you never want to deal with it or you
have a sense of humor twisted enough to actually seek it out. One advantage to
having such a call is you never have to worry about being duped in a contest.
:-)
Now to the topic at hand. Perusing through the archive I found a thread worthy
of a reprise on a couple of points so here goes:
>I was looking for a vacuum relay to modify an existing amplifier, when I
>ran across this relatively new arrival on the scene: Gigavac.
>
>They sell new vacuum relays at very competitive prices, and will sell
>directly to amateurs.
*** What is the price for (100) GH1 Gigavac? relays? Where does one find the
price list on their Web site?
>I was particularly interested in their equivalent to
>the Jennings RJ1A, the GH1-12Vdc, which comes with a 12 volt coil. This
>meant I didn't have to build an additional power supply for 26
>volts.
*** In order to speed up a GH1-12vdc sufficiently to use with a modern
transceiver, one would need a 50 - 70 volt PS and an appropriate series-R.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A HUNDRED RELAYS ! Rich did that salesman know you were a ham when you spoke
to him ? If he did I would have loved to see the look on his face when you
asked for a bulk discount number on such a quantity ! Are you the guy
responsible for Gigavac imposing a per anum quantity limit for sales to hams ?
;-)
In all seriousness this really is a very big development for Amp Builders. The
other two players in the vacuum relay business could not give 2 cents to blow
off the ham radio market. Now we have a Start-up that has gone out of its way
to set up policies for the express purpose of selling to the amateur radio
market. I would think that it behooves us to go out of our way to patronize
Gigavac out of a sense of gratitude for their willingness to deal with hams.
I'm not say we should accept inferior products from them. In that vain I would
like to know what type of Out-of-Box Failure Rate we are seeing on Gigavac
Products. But all Gigavac Relays come with a 1 year warranty which really makes
you stop and question the frugality of purchasing a relay off of EBay or out of
an equipment salvage dealer. Those relays are sold "as-is where-is". And if you
get them home and throw them on a HiPot tester only to find out they are no
good then it's two Andrew Jacksons that you have thrown i
n the trash can. Suddenly 70 Bucks for a relay with a guarrantee doesn't seem
so expensive anymore. As Gigavac now has a policy of 3/5 relays per year per
ham it makes sense to purchase your first 3 from them then you can chase after
the bargain.
It sounds like Gigavac has a pretty tough road to travel over the next few
years as Kilovac, now owned by Super Conglomerate Tyco, controls 80 percent of
the market. The least Amp Builders can do is make sure that a few bucks that
are spent on vacuum relays regardless of manufacturer make their way to a
vendor that is willing to sell to us.
BTW I have no pecuniary interest in seeing Gigavac succeed.
Check out their webpage
homepage: http://www.gigavac.com
hampage: http://www.gigavac.com/products/relays/ham/index.htm
73s
Bob W6AH
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