[TenTec] Jupiter display backlight

[Bob & Linda McGraw K4TAX]

I retired from a company (Sony) that used the Electroluminescent strips
for illumination in a $35000 to $125000 product it had designed and
manafactured for some 10 years.  The vendor quit making the
Electroluminescent parts that we used.  As manager of customer service,
I was stuck with dealing with customers that had these products and no
way to deal with the problem.  

Initial insite, when the vendor announced "last call", allowed us to buy
a quanity which accourding to past historical consumption, should allow
us to support the market for some 7 years after product
discontinuation.  We did this plus a 50% safety margin.  Unfortuately,
the failure rate went up, the supply went down and the customer tempers
flaired!

Some cases one just can't win.  

73
Bob K4TAX

Carter Grabarczyk wrote:
> 
> Steve,
> Hopefully this will be construed as a constructive comment....
> 
> With the Delta II, what you are really asking Ten Tec to do is have a
> crystal ball. TT did not make the panel, they got it from a vendor. TT
> can just go by the MTBF (mean time between failures) that the vendor
> provides (assuming the vendor has a crystal ball too). Then you are
> asking TT to guarantee that the vendor won't go out of business or stop
> manufacturing that particular item (apparently what happened with the
> Corsair issue). This seems a bit much to ask of TT (and as generally
> good of a company as TT is, it seems a little harsh to hold them
> responsible for a vendor going out of business or no longer making a
> particular item).
> 
> That you are "...wanting to KNOW and to have ironclad assurance" is nice
> to have, but unfortunately the real world tends not to work that way.
> 
> 73/Carter/K8VT
> 
> P.S. Just as an exercise, see how many parts Yaecomwood carries for
> 10-15 year old radios (compared to TT). I think you will be surprised.
> 
> seweber@netnitco.net wrote:
> >
> > Does anyone know how TenTec implemented the backlighting for the Jupiter
> > display?  I own a Delta II and have fought the backlight battle, so I would
> > want to know if the display is going to crap out after a few years as did
> > most of the Delta IIs.  TenTec's response to the Delta II problem was
> > essentially "gee that's too bad."  Fortunately one of the guys on the list
> > was able to find a source for new Electroluminescent panels, and I am still
> > using the rig.
> >
> > Before I would ever consider buying a Jupiter, I would want to KNOW how the
> > display was done and also would want ironclad assurance that there will be
> > support beyond warranty.
> >
> > Constructive comments welcome.
> > Flames cheerfully ignored.
> >
> > Steve Weber, KD9BO
> > seweber@netnitco.net
> >
> >
> 
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