[TenTec] repairs

[Bob McGraw - K4TAX]

I can certainly agree on these points.

COO is most important to most of us.  We have limited funds to spend on our 
hobby.  Thus a $4K radio over 5 years we see the cost is $800 per year or 
about $67 per month or about $2 per day.  Can you afford this?  Where as a 
$2K radio over 5 years is about 1/2 that.  Can you afford this?

Technology is going to change and based on trends, change quite rapidly. 
Thus I would not project a radio life past 5 years.  Look at the prices of 
LCD TV's over the past 5 years.  They have dropped markedly.  Yet don't 
expect the same for ham radios.  The volume isn't there to mandate such 
research and manufacturing costs.  Expect to find more radios where one can 
write their own code and can add their own hardware in the form of amps and 
tuners and other options. Whether I like it or not, seems this is the way of 
the future.

73
Bob, K4TAX


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP" <Rick at DJ0IP.de>
To: "'Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment'" <tentec at contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, October 31, 2014 6:00 PM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] repairs


> IMO, the days where a radio could basically live forever are gone.
> Tube radios were easy to rebuild and keep running.
> Most of the early transistorized rigs were too.
>
> Once our radios began having special components, it pretty much ended our
> chance of doing this, unless you are sharp enough to design a replacement
> circuit such as Steve just described.
>
> When considering which radio to buy, one VERY important factor, which for
> the past several years has been pointed out by Rob Sherwood in his
> presentation, is "Cost of Ownership".  (COO)
> I doubt many people consider this in their new radio purchase decision.
>
> All kinds of factors weigh in on determining COO.
> In Rob's case, this idea came to him after paying an outlandish price for 
> a
> repair to his IC-7800.  The repair cost almost as much as some mid-range
> transceivers.
>
> AS Bob pointed out, many times the repair cost for a good radio is as much
> or more than the radio is worth, if you have to pay the going rate to get 
> it
> repaired.
>
> For that reason I have set a rough maximum on what I'm willing to pay for 
> a
> radio.
> In my case it is $2K.
> This means that in the event the radio breaks in 5 or 6 years and the 
> repair
> costs more than it's worth, my maximum write-off is $2K.
>
> Each of us can and should set his own limit, and this should be a part of
> our decision criteria.
>
> 73 - Rick, DJ0IP
> (Nr. Frankfurt am Main)
>
>
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