[ICOM] Fw: ESD and Surge, was( Pro3 Fan Questions)

[Robert Chudek - K0RC]

Resending my message now that my registered email address has been 
corrected. Thanks Dick!


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert Chudek - K0RC" <k0rc at citlink.net>
To: "ICOM Reflector" <icom at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, August 02, 2009 2:45 PM
Subject: Re: [ICOM] ESD and Surge, was( Pro3 Fan Questions)


> Larry,
>
> I'm certain most everyone will agree with you regarding failures by ESD 
> events like you described. Twenty years ago I had a Ringo Ranger vaporized 
> by a direct strike to my tower.
>
> There are just too many PRO III driver failures for this to be "blown off" 
> by Icom as ESD events. Especially all the reports of "I turned it off last 
> night, turned it on this morning and it's toast". That was my exact 
> scenario a day before SS two years ago. There were no ESD events, my 
> antennas were disconnected. The only thing I did was push the power switch 
> on and I was instantly QRP after that. It was a $300 to repair on a radio 
> hardly 18 months old.
>
> Without sending the blown parts through a thorough "fault analysis", it's 
> their word against your word. As Phil mentioned, Icom could do a major 
> recall campaign just like the auto manufacturers when something is 
> determined to be a personal safety issue. Unfortunately, blown IC's 
> doesn't seem to fall into a personal safety hazard category.
>
> 73 de Bob - KØRC in MN
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Larry Young" <k4lxv at bellsouth.net>
> To: "ICOM Reflector" <icom at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Sunday, August 02, 2009 11:45 AM
> Subject: Re: [ICOM] ESD and Surge, was( Pro3 Fan Questions)
>
>
> Since the introduction of solid state devices, we have had problems caused 
> by ESD and lightning surge issues. This is a matter of physics. All radios 
> no matter the brand are subject to these issues. Last week in my local 
> area, we had several days of severe thunderstorms. Three local hams lost 
> transceivers.Can you believe none were connected to antennas at the time? 
> One who lost his Icom transceiver said a tree supporting his doublet was 
> directly struck leaving a bark trail down the tree into the ground and 
> then under ground into his buried phone lines taking out his phones. His 
> doublet wire vanished ,leaving his DC conductive balun up on its support 
> pole, and the end insulators hanging in the air..His radio power supply 
> still works but his radio front end is gone. Two other locals reported the 
> same, BTW they had the latest brand "Y" near the top of the line 
> transceivers.
> It is not a design defect when a transceiver cannot with stand surges and 
> induced spikes when millions of volts and thousands of amperes of current 
> pass through the atmosphere. What it says to me, is that many in the ham 
> community could be better informed about this and its potential for harm 
> to solid state equipment. There is a little bit written about this in the 
> 2009 ARRL handbook.
> Larry K4LXV
>
> --- On Sun, 8/2/09, Phil Krichbaum <vailphil at sopris.net> wrote:
>
> From: Phil Krichbaum <vailphil at sopris.net>
> Subject: Re: [ICOM] Pro3 Fan Questions
> To: "ICOM Reflector" <icom at mailman.qth.net>
> Date: Sunday, August 2, 2009, 12:37 AM
>
> A friend who is a RF engineer stated if they admitted they blew the
> design, they should come up with a recall or modification and fix every
> one made that got sent in for repair for free. Probably why they
> continue to replace the blown parts with ones of the same rating. At
> least the repair guys can probably do this one with their eyes closed by
> now. It is a shame they don't take better care of their customers with a
> very popular rig like this. I wonder if it has been fixed in the next
> version?
> Phil N0KE
>
> KD7JYK DM09 wrote:
>> Clearly the radio is of a flawed design and unable to handle average
>> conditions on this planet.
>>
>> I suggest returning the radio and sending Icom a bill for the original 
>> cost,
>> the cost of sending it to them repeatedly, the cost of a functional
>> replacement plus your "annoyance" fee.
>>
>> You can bet they have their "terms" of business, no doubt you have yours 
>> as
>> a customer.
>>
>> Enjoy your new rig.
>>
>> Kurt
>>
>> ----
>> Your Moderator: Dick Flanagan K7VC: icom-owner at mailman.qth.net
>> Icom Users Net: Sundays, 1700Z, 14.316 MHz
>> Icom FAQ: http://www.qsl.net/icom/
>> To support QSL/QTH.net: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>>
>>
> ----
> Your Moderator: Dick Flanagan K7VC: icom-owner at mailman.qth.net
> Icom Users Net: Sundays, 1700Z, 14.316 MHz
> Icom FAQ: http://www.qsl.net/icom/
> To support QSL/QTH.net: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> ----
> Your Moderator: Dick Flanagan K7VC: icom-owner at mailman.qth.net
> Icom Users Net: Sundays, 1700Z, 14.316 MHz
> Icom FAQ: http://www.qsl.net/icom/
> To support QSL/QTH.net: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html