[NJARC] Repair Clinic

[john ruccolo]

Alex,

Bravo! From now on, I'm gonna have YOU write all my
emails! ;-)

Folks,

Let me clarify my position, and then I PROMISE I'll
drop this once and for all: if a "customer" (student,
client, whatever you want to call him or her) is
willing to PARTICIPATE in the repair of their old
radio, and shows a sincere desire to LEARN something,
I DON'T GIVE A DAMN what they do with the radio. They
can sell it the next day, put it on ebay, or insert it
in any convenient orifice. I'm just bugged by the
occasional shameless opportunist that is only
interested in a free repair job, and could not care
less about learning how to fix anything. All they care
about is a quick buck. 'Nuff said.

I think we need more of an emphasis on LEARNING and
less of an emphasis on fixing -- at least at the
members-only clinics. We can have sessions on basic
theory, signal injecting and tracing, etc. And I agree
with Ray -- a couple of 20-minute sessions will NOT do
it. We need to make learning sessions a regular part
of our clinics.

-- end of transmission --

JR

--- amagoun <amagoun at davidsarnoff.org> wrote:

> Visit our web site - See http://www.njarc.org
> _______________________________________________
> Here's a mea culpa: All of the Library's publicity
> for the open houses
> combined with the clinics have proudly announced, to
> quote
> www.davidsarnoff.blogspot.com/, "Many radios can be
> fixed in less than
> 60 minutes, and the New Jersey Antique Radio Club’s
> experts will do it
> for free! Parts are not included but are generally
> surprisingly
> inexpensive."
> 
> This was the initial offer when the club agreed to
> open alternate
> clinics to the public three years ago.   In
> addition, appointments were
> to be made in advance.  My impressions since then,
> as the one making
> appointments and passing by the Lounge during the
> open house, is that
> there are a lot of unannounced walk-ins and no
> limits on time.  Nor does
> anyone have a number at the end of the day on the
> number of radios
> evaluated or repaired.
> 
> Regarding the public, there are uncertainties about
> the motive for
> bringing it in the first place.  It could be
> emotional, it could be
> curiousity, it could be financial gain or the
> illusion thereof.  If we
> knew which it was, we would know better whether it's
> worth the owner's
> time and money to hump the radio somewhere else--if
> we encourage them to
> take or ship it for a repair that takes more than an
> hour and costs more
> than the $20 I might propose as a contribution.  As
> some members have
> entreated us to give it up "for the children" when
> it comes to club
> auctions, I'm inclined to give it up (it not being
> my time) for the
> little old ladies.  As for Ebayers, how much is
> their time worth, and
> how much value did the repair add to the broken
> radio?  Consider the
> time that an Ebayer spends driving to and from the
> clinic, watching an
> expert fix his radio, then photographing, listing,
> answering questions,
> and shipping it, and weigh that against their hourly
> wage.  In the
> meantime, did the expert learn something?  Did the
> apprentice at his
> side learn something as well?
> 
> As for concerns regarding liability, the example of
> Japan banning the
> sale of 2nd-hand electronics
> (www.blogd.com/archives/001713.html) was a
> sop to the electronics industry, not a fear about
> safety.  It was
> modified to allow "rentals."  Yes, there are
> liability issues, but
> bringing in the lawyers and intimidating little old
> ladies with waivers
> should be weighed against the good will, common
> sense, and the
> understanding that if people get something for
> nothing, they can hardly
> complain if it turns out to be nothing after all. 
> Not that that happens
> with our experts.
> 
> In keeping with the original spirit of the public
> clinics, I suggest the
> club enforce the one-hour rule, limit people to one
> radio each, charge
> market rates for parts, and organize people with no
> appointment at the
> entrance.  Since these are advertised as public by
> appointment only,
> members should be held to the same standards.  For
> longer sessions with
> particular club experts, members should arrange to
> meet during the club
> clinics or at, say, weekend clinics at InfoAge,
> which sounds like a
> great idea.  Additional educational sessions could
> certainly be held
> alongside the clinics here, but as Ray points out,
> these are only part
> of a broad array of educational opportunities
> available via tapes (which
> could be digitized and streamed to members with
> access on the website),
> books, apprenticing at public clinics, and NRI
> courses.
> 
> Best,
> Alex
> 
> --
> Alexander B. Magoun, Ph.D.
> Executive Director
> David Sarnoff Library
> 201 Washington Road, CN 5300
> Princeton, NJ 08543-5300
> 
> 609-734-2636
> amagoun at davidsarnoff.org
> (f) 609-734-2339
> www.davidsarnoff.org
> www.davidsarnoff.blogspot.com
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> NJARC mailing list
> NJARC at mailman.qth.net
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/njarc
> 


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