[TowerTalk] Calculations

[Jim Lux]

At 09:30 PM 9/12/2004 -0700, Mark - AA6DX wrote:
>Jim, what about the liability and cost of insurance for said item?   I 
>don't know about 25 bux for shipping (itself), but all the time and 
>folderol for that is realistic!

25 was an off the cuff guess.. You want to send something like this with 
return receipt, tracking, etc.  Maybe $15 would be closer to the actual 
shipping cost, but you've got to buy the tube or package, etc.  Anyway, the 
point is, as you've said, all the little stuff adds up.  On a $200 job, $10 
is a significant fraction of the margin.


>   What gets to me is the ham complaining about the cost of this service 
> will pay that amount for some mechanic to replace 6 spark plugs in their 
> whiz bang go to the grocery store German/Japanese/Korean car and call it 
> a tune-up --- ???   Back to the core of the thing, hams are "cheap". Me 
> too, by the way .. HIHIHI ..

I have always maintained that engineers are driven by an urge that is 
fundamentally lazy.. otherwise, why come up with a better way of doing 
things? Why invent a plow when poking a stick in the ground works fine?

perhaps not cheap, but Hams are "thrifty".. Nobody I'd rather have as a 
crew to respond to unpredictable needs for improvising for a quick fix to 
get it done.  Nobody I would less like to have when it has to last for the 
ages.


>and woe betide the engineer in question, if he knowingly holds an Amateur 
>Radio callsign,  for then he is supposed to fix the medical doctor's tower 
>problem "gratis" ... but not get the same in return for his bum knee 
>replacement!  Nothing new in this scenario.  (Whoa .. not knockin' the 
>docs .. fill in that professional  moniker with whatever .. )  I have done 
>scads of tower work, etc... but my climbing belt is memorabilia these 
>days.. I  spent about the last 12 years before retirement doing computer 
>work .. I still do it for hams, but .... not for nothing! However, having 
>said all that, the wet stamp that is boiler plate can be over priced, from 
>what I have seen discussed here .. What weez needz us is A 
>central  professional  service for hams doing this.. I understand that 
>local conditions vary greatly, but here where I live, in Far Northern 
>California, the soil and wind conditions are quite different in a very 
>short distance. Hmmmmmmmm.  An interesting work at home job for an 
>enterprising ham with the proper credentials!   73, 
>y'all  ---------  Mark, AA6DX

This is essentially what the ARRL VCE program is all about.  P.E.s with 
local knowledge willing to work with the somewhat peculiar needs of hams 
(compared to the usual telecom company).  You might volunteer to be in the 
program, but you should still be paid for the work.  A lot of engineers 
(myself included) are also more than happy to offload a lot of the tedious 
work to competent helpers .  Why should I spend my time  (for which you 
will pay) tracking down manufacturer specifications, when you can work the 
phones, fax, and internet yourself.


THere has been some discussion in the professional newsletters about 
"review stamps", Apparently there is a guy in New Jersey or New York who 
was essentially advertising this as a flat fee service, which definitely 
raises the hackles of the professional boards. In theory, you're not 
supposed to have a flat fee, because every job is unique, etc.