Hi all,
I hope no one minds me using the AMP's newgroup for this
purpose, but Boyd Fulbright (he has used the callsigns W6DSB and N6DMF)
has sent two emails to this group (and one to an individual),
implicating me for failing to pay for some rectifier diodes. Naturally,
I want to have my say too! I appreciate this is a personal matter
between myself and Boyd Fulbright, but since he has decided to make it
public, I have no alternative but to respond here.
On the 14th of May 1998, Boyd Fulbright advertised some high voltage
rectifiers on the AMP's news group. Some of you may still have the
email.
> Building a Big Amp? I have 7 open stack
> High Voltage Rectifiers For Sale. They
> are 24KV@ 5.5 Amp, 400 Amp Surge
> each. It takes 4 to build a full wave bridge.
> You won't blow these out!
> They are RCA #3462541/CR304. Will sell
> all 7 for $150.00 + shipping
> Reply to: boyd@humboldt1.com
> Thanks,
> Boyd N6DMF
I agreed to purchase these, and sent a Eurocheque for $185 to him. He
sent the diodes, along with a couple of very small screws I needed for
something else.
Later he said the cheque had bounced, although I know this not to be
true. His bank refused to process the cheque. Even the bank documents he
sent me shows the reason the bank did not process the cheque was that it
was too small and would be virtually wiped out by *his* banks charges of
$75. There were adequate funds in my account to cover the cheque.
I agreed to send the money electronically, but I did not have Boyd's
routing code. My bank suggested I used a bank draft, which I arranged.
Boyd seemed happy with this too. On 7th July 1998, he emailed me:
> Hi Dave,
> It sounds like out banks are having a time getting together.
> The bank draft should be ok. Thanks for all your trouble.
The diodes arrived before I had received the bank draft from my bank. On
inspection I had serious doubts that the rectifier stacks were anything
like he advertised them as. The stacks each have 10 diodes in series,
each shunted by a 0.01uF cap and a 510 k 1W resistor. I calculated that
if 24 kV were put across the diodes, the resistors would need to
dissipate 11.3 W each (total 113 W), and the diodes take 2.4 kV each.
I've yet to see 2.4 kV 5.5 A diodes, and certainly never seen an 11 W
resistor the size of a 1W resistor.
I queried this with Boyd, who said in an email to me on the 17th July.
> Hi Dave,
> Well I am sorry you are not happy with the Rectifier Boards.
> I bought them from a Ham that is a tech at a 25 KW FM Transmitter
> in Redding Ca., and these were the backups for the high voltage
> power supply for transmitter. They used 4 to make a full wave bridge.
> I am enclosing 2 JPG pictures out of a catalog that I have that
has
> Open Stack High Rectifiers that are equal to the ones that I sent you.
> This gives the current, and voltage etc. (# 50050)
Boyd Fulbright expected me to accept that the diodes he sent me, (RCA
type CR304) are equal to the #50050 in the catalogue he scanned for me.
(I'm not sure if this was an RCA catalogue, but in any case the numbers
are completely different). The diodes had a few similarities, but were
clearly not the same.
On the 22nd of July I decided to email this group to see if someone
could see a flaw in my argument, or better still provide the full spec
of the RCA CR304 diodes. Several people responded to me privately and
expressed doubt that the diodes were of 24 kV ratings. Don Dashney
(VE3RM) posted his response to the AMPS news group, and had the full
spec of the diodes.
> Here are the specs from RCA Solid State Databook SSD-206, page 353:
>Peak Reverse volts, Repetitive ....................... 3000
>Peak Reverse Volts, Non-repetitive ................... 7200
> RMS Supply volts ..................................... 4240
> DC Blocking Volts .................................... 6000
<snip>
> Hope this helps,
> vy 73
> Don VE3RM
At this point, I knew the diodes were grossly under the advertised
specification. Unfortunately, I had already got the bank draft for
$175, which cost me #123.69 (UK pounds). I sent the bank draft back to
my bank by recorded delivery (at a cost of #3) and finally got credited
with #90.90 by my bank (National Westminster). Hence Boyd Fulbrights
errors in advertising diodes at about 4x their actual spec, had cost me
#35.79. That about $59 (US dollars).
I've told Boyd that I'm happy to return the diodes to him, but expect my
costs to be refunded first. He seems to think I had planned all along
not to pay him, as his emails say.
> I think you have done this type of thing before! I also think
> this was you intent from the start. That's why you would
> not send me a draft from the start, and told me that you
Another email from him on the 4th of August says.
< Looks to me you have figured out a way to get other ham's to
< supply you with parts to build you a "Free Amp"!!!!! Nice going.
I have put copies of the application I made for a US bank draft, a copy
(admittedly not a great one) of the actual draft my bank sent me, and
the advice notice I received from my bank. They can be found (as .tif
files) at the medphys.ucl.ac.uk ftp site in the directory
pub/users/davek/boyd. Contra to what Boyd thinks, I did intend paying
him for the diodes, but I'm not willing to pay for diodes that have
about 25% of the spec he quoted. Neither am I willing to pay #29 to
return them to him, unless he first pays my bank charges.
I'm neither dishonest, nor a complete mug. If I do as Boyd suggests, and
return the diodes now at my expense, I will be out of pocket by about
#65 (more than 100 US dollars). He has agreed to reimburse my postage
costs, but expects me to pay my bank charges. Somehow I suspect if I
return the diodes, that will be the last I hear from him.
Once again, sorry for having to bore (or entertain) everyone with this
on the reflector, but I hope you all appreciate that I don't wish to be
accused of dishonesty, and that this is my only medium to respond. I
have traded with several hams here without problems, buy I don't feel I
should suffer financially as a result of someone else advertising goods
at about 4x the actual ratings.
I will not re-post any more to this reflector on this subject, but will
answer any queries from anyone on this matter by private email. If
anyone wishes, I'm willing to send every email from myself to Bold, and
from him to me.
There is a point we can all learn from this - buying from the internet
can be risky. This is especially true if the person selling goods is
Boyd Fulbright, who seems to invent specifications as if he were writing
a fiction story.
G8WRB
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