Hi Al,
Part of the reason I originally went with Elecraft was
the ability to repair it myself. Even if I couldn't
quite figure the problem out, the support on the
Elecraft reflector AND from the Elecraft staff always
came through.
The K3 will be somewhat different. It uses a modular
approach, so you'd send in the bad module for repair,
instead of the entire rig. I'm not sure exactly what
the process will be, there may be loaner modules or
straight swaps. Some of us wish to be able to do our
own repair and Elecraft is open to the idea but I'm
pretty sure they will need to be practical about it as
well.
Myself, I'd be inclined to go with a new rig versus
spending a large amount on repairs. One of the
problems older rigs are facing is the availability of
parts, something you need to consider...
Cheers,
Julius
n2wn
--- "Alfred J. Frugoli (KE1FO)" <afrugoli@verizon.net>
wrote:
> Hello fellow contesters,
>
> Looking for some collective wisdom from the group
> about repairing or replacing rigs.
>
> I've got 2 TS-940's that I like, know well and feel
> like they work well
> for me (i.e. I'm not missing the 2nd or 3rd tier of
> stations because I
> don't have IF DSP or narrow 1st IF filters, it's
> limited antennas due to
> CC&R). Both of them have some minor annoyance
> issues that make
> operating them less than 100% convent, but none of
> the issues make the
> rigs unusable. Things like a vox delay slider that
> only works if it is
> slid just the right way, a narrow/wide filter switch
> that seems to
> switch in the narrow filter every 3rd time it's
> pressed, a power supply
> fan that is dead, etc. As I said, fairly minor
> issues from an operating
> standpoint, however I don't have a clue how much
> they will cost to repair.
>
> So herein lies the dilemma. It seems that a good
> condition 940 with the
> IF10B installed goes for somewhere between $800-$900
> on the online swap
> sites. A reasonable replacement would be in the $2k
> range in my opinion
> (i.e. k3 or ft-2000). The question becomes how much
> is it worth
> spending on repairing these issues on a radio that's
> now 3 or 4
> generations old.
>
> My initial thought was that I would be willing to
> spend 25% of the cost
> of a new rig on repairing a rig (i.e. around $500).
> But then I realized
> that amount is more than 50% of the value of the
> rig. With Beltronics
> bench rates just under $70/hour it seems a repair
> could easily push $500
> depending on how quickly they can identify the
> issue, how much digging
> is involved in fixing the issue, and how available
> the needed parts are.
>
> I would be appreciative of any thoughts or wisdom
> you could impart.
>
> Thanks.
>
> 73 de Al, KE1FO
>
>
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