gang,
I’m very comfortable working on a service bench. I know what end of a soldering
iron gets hot, and what direction a diode has to go back into a circuit.
I purchased a used Jupiter last summer. It did not transmit. No problem, or so
I thought.
Turned out I trouble shoot it down to the correct board and the area I knew was
the problem. Trouble was, I didn’t have the proper jig to take voltage readings
and scope levels with the board outside the chassis.
I know when it’s time to raise the white flag and off it went to Ten Tec
factory service.
That was in October of last year.
Then RKR shut down/sold ten tec off/had a fire sale/went bankrupt/whatever you
want to call it. Ten Tec was kaput.
So i waited.
When was it? Very early spring, that Ten Tec rose up from the ashes. Service
was the first to get going.
it wasn’t until march that the jupiter came back.
But.. not for long. Once more it failed and back it went
So, the story needs to be told that on the second trip, excluding UPS travel
time, the total time ‘in the shop’ was less than two weeks. As it turned out,
this Jupiter turned out to be a problem child, with four hours + bench time.
Even the factory couldn’t repair it, so they offered and i accepted a
refurbished RF board. All good now. For the amount of bench time this radio
required, I thought the service charges were within acceptable limits.
Meantime back at the ranch, my Argonaut VI took a crap. It failed last year,
about september and went to the factory for warranty repair. In december of
2015, it had failed again.
So, it too went to Ten Tec.
I feel kinda embarrassed to mention it, but the fault was a bad/cold solder
joint. I should have found it, but i didn’t.
Total time, about a week, give or take a few days.
Didn’t get charged for a box
Didn’t get hit with an over the top shipping charge
And apparently the fault stuck out like a sore thumb, maybe they cut me deal
since I had the Jupiter back twice, maybe the guy on the bench got lucky the
night before. I don’t know.
I’m not going to put here what they charged. I don’t want to set a maker, a
line in the sand if you will. But I’m one happy camper, and if they (ten Tec)
continues to treat their customers like they did me… They’re on the right track!
They were more than timely in repairing both radios. Averaging about ten days
excluding shipping
The shipping was as reasonable as you could find from any carrier. They didn’t
charge for a return box
The bench time and service fee were acceptable.
I received phone calls to update the progress with the Jupiter.
All in all, they’re back and better than ever!
I’m Mike, WB8VGE
Mike, WB8VGE
SunLight Energy Systems
The Heathkit Shop
http://www.theheathkitshop.com/ <http://www.theheathkitshop.com/>
J e e p
o|||||||o
A man with one clock knows what time it is. A man with two clocks is never
sure.
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