All,
Over the last two months I've experienced problems seemingly related to my
Jupiter that have opened my eyes to the the mechanics and psychology of
negative reviews, not just for the Jupiter, but any radio. Why bring the
issue up here? Simple. This experience has taught me the value of proper
troubleshooting, elmering, and biting one's tounge.
In April I purchased a new Jupiter. Within two weeks of receiving it a
transistor in the finals failed and the radio had to go back to TT for
repair. TT did a fine job of explaining to me what the problem was, and the
fact that early component failure is an infrequent, but not uncommon,
occurence in all electronics manufacturing. Regardless, I was steamed. A
brand new radio had failed and I had to ship it back for repair. A number
of elmers on this site helped me understand that what TT had told me was
true, what I had experienced was uncommon, and that TT would treat me
fairly. TT received the radio on a Thursday, had it on the bench that
afternoon and on it's way back to me the next day. UPS had possession of it
longer than TT did.
All went smoothly until Field Day. A number of friends were eager to 'play'
with the Jupiter so I agreed to set it up as part of our contest station (if
you worked WI4R on CW during FD, it was my Jupiter). After bringing the
radio home from FD and installing it back in my shack new problems began to
pop up.
First, the receive audio was badly distorted and the radio would lock in
transmit. Again, I cursed the radio and suspected that another 'piece' of
the Jupiter had gone south during FD operations. I immediately emailed Paul
at TT and put out a call to my local elmers. To a man, they said "RF is
getting back into the radio". Paul outlined a quick, simple test, and a
local elmer who is also an EE chastised me, "Think it through, and work to
isolate the problem!" Well, the test Paul outlined proved that the problem
was not with the radio. A careful check of the rats nest of cables in my
shack turned up the culprit - a bad coax jumper. Everything was working
fine again, but I had been ready to blame the radio, TT, faulty
manufacturing, bad components - everything except my own inability to
properly solder connectors.
Last week a new problem surfaced. Once again the Jupiter began behaving
oddly. On transmit the radio display would blank out and the radio would
lock up. Once again my knee jerk reaction was to blame the radio. However,
I calmed down and worked to isolate the problem. Long story short, it was a
power issue. Hooking the Jupiter directly to the power supply instead of
through a distribution panel eliminated the problem.
See the pattern here? It's 'experience a problem, immediately blame the
radio'. It's a macho thing. "Hey, I'm a big, bad, licensed ham radio
operator. It can't possibly be my fault!" I detect this undertone running
through a number of negative eHam reviews of not just the Jupiter, but a
number of other radios. Do you wonder what's going on when a guy writes,
"The radio went back to TT and they checked it out and said nothing's wrong.
But when I get it back in my shack the problem's still there! TT can't
build (or diagnose, or design) a decent radio. I've been a ham for (insert
your favorite two digit number here) years, and I know it's the radio and
not my installation!"
I felt exactly the same way and was proven wrong twice. So, thank you TT
for building a great radio and holding my hand while I muddled my way
through the problems, and thanks to my local elmers who offered support
without judgement.
I will never again view negative reviews in the same light. Based on my
experiences they will always be a little suspect.
73!
Brian
W8BYH
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