[TowerTalk] Alpha-Delta 1X4 Switch Problems

[ai2n at twcny.rr.com]

I had similar problems with two of these switches a while ago.  I called A-D; they replaced them free and paid the shipping both ways.

73, Redd - AI2N

---- Jim Brown <jim at audiosystemsgroup.com> wrote: 
> Crew,
> 
> I own five of these switches purchased over a period of sevral years from 
> various dealers, and have had at least two failures. In one, the #4 
> position simply didn't work. I opened it up to find that it could not 
> possibly work -- the wafer that was supposed to mate with the rotating part 
> was too short! I discovered a problem this weekend in a second switch this 
> weekend -- the #1 position doesn't make contact. When it was newer, I could 
> fiddle with it and get it to mate. Now even that doesn't work. I opened it 
> up and found no obvious problem, except that the two contacts didn't meet 
> parallel to each other. Other positions in both switches work fine. 
> 
> These switches come with labels over the rear chassis screws warning you 
> not to remove them, lest parts fly out and self destruct. And, of course, 
> doing so voids the warranty. But, I ask, what good is a warranty on a 
> product that costs a third of what you paid for it to ship back for repair, 
> and is void if you bother to carefully open it up to check for obvious 
> problems? After all, we are hams, not CBers. With both of the switches that 
> have problems, the labels were intact, indicating that they had not been 
> opened. 
> 
> Two failures out of five is pretty bad, especially for such a simple 
> product, and inexcusable when one of those failures HAD to have been found 
> in final test (if there WAS final test). When a group of us were using 
> switches like these on a California QSO Party county DXpedition to switch 
> antennas and filters, our host, N6RNO indicated that at least one of his 
> switches had a problem that he hadn't figured out yet. Is this isolated to 
> us?  Anyone else seen these problems?   
> 
> 73,
> 
> Jim K9YC 
> 
> 
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