[Elecraft] Yaesu versus Elecraft Service

Wed Jul 8 10:48:50 EDT 2009

I believe that when YOUR TAX dollars purchase radios for your fire & 
police departments
that one of the big "American" vendors..indicates that in 6 years 
they will no longer support the radios. AND THEY GET MILLIONS FOR 
THOSE SYSTEMS.Too bad our 35 year old  5 community police repeater 
system from the same factory is still going great,,,

And I believe that ICOM does 'allow' us to speak with technicians.

bill

At 04:09 PM 7/5/2009, Nelson Moyer wrote:
>Yaesu is selling disposable radios. I called about sending in my eight year
>old FT-100D for repair and was told they no longer support the FT-100. Why
>would anyone spend 12K on a Yaesu radio that will be obsolete in less than
>eight years?
>
>My experience with Elecraft service, on the other hand, has been stellar.
>
>Nelson, KU0A
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
>[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Dick Williams
>Sent: Sunday, July 05, 2009 3:15 PM
>To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
>Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Yaesu versus Elecraft Service
>
>Jim,
>
>All the more reason to buy American products!   I owned a couple of Yaseu HF
>
>rigs in the past and I was more than dis-pleased with their service dept.
>In one instance, the SWR protection circuit went out in my 1000D; sent it
>back telling them what the problem was (or what caused the final transistors
>
>to burn out).   I even called and was told that, "O yes" the purported tech
>I talked to said that the radio was fixed right.  Well, when I got it back,
>all they did was replace the finals.
>
>As far as I am concerned, any ham who buys a Yaesu or Icom HF radio is a
>fool and uninformed.  Both the K3 and O2 will run circles around any of the
>other rigs (maybe with the exception of the SDR radios).
>
>And when you talk about service, both Ten Tec and Elecraft are top notch.
>You are so right when you say you get to talk to a tech, not some idiot that
>
>is a "go between" and not familiar with the radio.
>
>That is my "2 cents" worth".
>
>Dick K8ZTT
>
>PS  Unfotunately we don't have a lot of choices with the VHF/UHF equipment,
>but at least it is not a big investment if it goes up in smoke.
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Jim Garland" <4cx250b at muohio.edu>
>To: <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
>Sent: Sunday, July 05, 2009 11:36 AM
>Subject: [Elecraft] Yaesu versus Elecraft Service
>
>
> > (Copy of a posting I sent today to the Yaesu FT-2000 reflector,
> > contrasting
> > Yaesu and Elecraft technical support. I believe it speaks for itself.)
> >
> >
> >
> >  _____
> >
> > From: Jim Garland [mailto:4cx250b at muohio.edu]
> > Sent: Sunday, July 05, 2009 11:22 AM
> > To: 'ft-2000 at yahoogroups.com'
> > Subject: Update: Yaesu Service
> >
> >
> >
> > Two weeks ago I posted a note here about Yaesu's policy of not allowing
> > customers to speak to service technicians, instead referring inquiries to
> > customer support personnel who were unfamiliar with the inner workings of
> > Yaesu products. This is the same policy used by auto dealers, who insert a
> > "customer service manager" between a customer and mechanic, or computer
> > manufacturers whose support personnel answer technical questions by
> > reading
> > from a prepared script.
> >
> >
> >
> > In my case, I had questions about the first mixer stage in my FT-2000D,
> > which I suspected had failed. I had traced the signal path to the mixer
> > with
> > an oscilloscope, but wasn't sure how to interpret the output signal. I
> > couldn't tell from the circuit diagram how much bias current the mixer
> > FETs
> > were supposed to draw, what the conversion loss from the mixer was (after
> > taking into account losses and turns ratios of the coupling transformers),
> > whether this was a common failure mode in the radio and what the likely
> > cause was, and whether there were any useful pointers in replacing the
> > tiny
> > surface mount mixer IC.
> >
> >
> >
> > Unable to get anwers, I didn't want to take a chance plunging ahead with
> > the
> > repair myself, so I ended up sending the radio back to Yaesu. The repair
> > bill came to $187 plus another $90 round trip shipping. Incidentally, the
> > first mixer is nothing special; it is a garden variety IC that costs about
> > $4.
> >
> >
> >
> > By coincidence, I also had a failure in my Elecraft K3, which had suddenly
> > stopped transmitting during a recent 6m contest. I called Elecraft and was
> > immediately put through to a service technician. I explained my problem
> > and
> > he asked me a few questions about my electronics background and what sort
> > of
> > test equipment I had on my workbench. He decided that I had enough enough
> > experience to fix the problem myself, and we agreed that I would call him
> > back after putting my K3 on my test bench and removing the covers.
> >
> >
> >
> > Later that day, I called him back and, together, we traced the signal path
> > through the transmitter. I had the phone in one hand and a scope probe in
> > the other. In a matter of 20 minutes, we determined that the push-pull
> > FETs
> > in the driver stage had shorted. He mailed me replacement FETs which came
> > in
> > three days. Ten minutes after opening the package, my K3 was back on the
> > air.
> >
> >
> >
> > I have had similar experiences repairing a Ten-Tec Orion transceiver and
> > SteppIR 4 el yagi. In each case, the service technicians were happy to
> > talk
> > to me and, with their guidance, repairs were quick and straightforward.
> >
> >
> >
> > Here's my point. Ham radio is a technical hobby. It begin a century ago,
> > when all stations were homebrewed by their owners. Today, of course, there
> > are hundreds of thousands of hams, and their technical expertise runs the
> > gamut from inexperienced beginners to Ph.D. engineers. But all hams, I
> > would
> > hope, have a least a passing interest in electronics. Surely, anybody who
> > buys a sophisticated transceiver like an FT-2000, has to know _something_
> > about DSP, roofing filters, preamps and RF attenuators, 3rd order
> > intercept
> > points, antenna tuners, and so forth. And I would hope that all hams,
> > whatever their level of technical knowledge and experience, have a desire
> > to
> > learn more about their radios.
> >
> >
> >
> > Thus I believe Yaesu's service policy disrespects the traditions of
> > amateur
> > radio. It is policy that treats all hams as if they had no interest in
> > their
> > radios other than to gain a cursory understanding of the front panel knobs
> > and buttons. For some hams, this kind of policy is fine, because it suits
> > their interests, experience, and skill level. But for thousands of others
> > in
> > the hobby, like myself, it is inappropriate. I don't like taking my car to
> > my Toyota dealer and dealing with an uninformed service representative who
> > knows less about cars than I do (which isn't much.) But I really hate it
> > when I run into the same kind of corporate mentality with amateur radio
> > manufacturers.
> >
> >
> >
> > 73,
> >
> > Jim Garland W8ZR
> >
> > ______________________________________________________________
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