Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site ecsvax.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!mcnc!ecsvax!jwb
From: jwb@ecsvax.UUCP (Jack Buchanan)
Newsgroups: net.ham-radio
Subject: Re: New Equipment
Message-ID: <591@ecsvax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 17-Oct-85 16:12:24 EDT
Article-I.D.: ecsvax.591
Posted: Thu Oct 17 16:12:24 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 20-Oct-85 05:53:30 EDT
References: <868@decwrl.UUCP>
Reply-To: jwb@ecsvax.UUCP (Jack Buchanan)
Organization: UNC-CHAPEL HILL
Lines: 39
Summary: Three out of five rigs back to the factory is poor quality control 

In article <868@decwrl.UUCP> daemon@decwrl.UUCP (The devil himself) writes:
>Regarding the purchase of new equipment and reliability of same:
>
>............. . Its
>unlikely that a transistor or IC will fail in them. But when they do, it's
>back to the factory. 
>............... Many of the repairs are glitches that appear
>during the first few days or weeks of operation. Here's some history on my
>gear:
>
   (Summary.  Three of five rigs had to go back to the factory.  Icom
    was pretty decent about warranty, etc.)
 
I personally think it should be extremely rare for a rig to have to go back
to the factory (really a repair station, since the factory was most likely
in Japan).  How often does a GE microprocessor controlled clock radio have
to "go back to the factory", even the ones made in Malaysia.  They are pretty
sophisticated, and the problems which seem to happen with these ham rigs seem
to have a lot in common with them (I don't see a lot of problems reported
with the RF parts of the transmitter circuits.)

>All my problems were caused by defective parts that could only have been
>picked up after realtime use. I doubt if Icom does 100% reliability testing
>on their assembly lines. 

I still call this poor quality control.  I doubt that GE (I am using this
genericly) does 100% reliability testing on their clock radios either, but 3 of
five don't have to "go back to the factory".  My own rigs: Heathkit SB-101, 
about 20 years old.  Heathkit HW-12 75 meter single bander, even older. Kenwood
TR-7400A 2 meter rig, pushing age 10, the light bulb has burned out in the S-
meter.  Kenwood TH-21AT hand held, 2 weeks old, crossing my fingers.  None of
these has ever been "back to the factory".  I have been coveting a new HF rig
(such as Icom 735) but all this "back to the factory" stuff is causing me
second thoughts.

>73,  Paul - WA1OMM
>

73, Jack - K4FRS