[TenTec] dealer networks: AES NO value added

[Dave Kamp, KW0D]

Richard N9EZC bought a 100' section of 9913-equivalent coax with N's on
both ends, tested just fine with a continuity tester, but apparently had
some sort of migration problem- registered phenominal loss at 400mhz.
Since I got the job of hanging the antenna, and didn't find out about the
bad coax until after the fact, I placed a call, talked to the same salesman
that Richard ordered through.

He sent us a new section next-day, we sent the old one back in the same
box, for a gross cost difference of just shipping back the bad hank.

I didn't think that was such a bad deal.  Frankly, I've done enough
business with Cable X-Perts that I think they'd do exactly the same thing.

I can't say I've had a bad experience with AES, but if they're working with
suppliers that aren't willing to be flexible for sake of customer
satisfaction, their hands (as a retailer) are tied... they can't eat, or
build houses out of expensive foriegn trancievers.  Worse yet, the
prevailing winds of economics (and the Internet) are spreading a bad case
of Big-itis around, where major brand-name manufacturers will simply cast
off any dealerships which don't move a large-enough volume of their
product.  I've seen this happen in just about every consumer industry (Gone
with the Schwinn), and I wouldn't be a bit suprised to see YaeComWood doing
exactly the same thing.  It only stands to reason that a small outfit like
Cable X-Perts would be willing to support a retailer's warranty issues.

As an aside, all other instances of using CXP's cable have been good, and I
don't blame them for the problem- I highly doubt that the cable defect we
found was a result of anything other than a normal manufacturing oops which
just doesn't show itself 'till it's actually put in service.  In their
defense, a friend and I split the cost of a 500' roll of Belden 9913.  A
year or two later, we met for lunch, got to the subject of UHF-VHF
weak-sig, and realized that we both had goofy problems and general bad-luck
with our antenna systems... I checked with another local who'd gotten a
roll at the same time we did, had the same problem.  Local 2-way shop
friend told me they'd experienced same thing, found that something happened
during manufacture and packaging that caused the core to migrate.  We all
tossed the bad stuff, got a new roll, and everything's been fine since.
Sometimes, stuff happens.

DK  :-)
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73's from KW0D Dave in LeClaire, Iowa