It sounds to me that the solution would be for a third party to design, build,
and stock a replacement logic board.
Easier said than done. I don't know how much information is still available on
the technical aspects of the original design, what parts are no longer
available (and would have to be replaced, which may entail some re-design), and
if Ten-Tec would have any interest in helping someone with such a project.
And of course, the question of how much this would all cost is an issue.
Assuming that there is someone willing & able to do this, would they be able to
do so and not lose money in the process? It's one thing if a replacement board
would be, say, under $200. It's another if it's over $500.
73
------------------------------------------------
Jan 19, 2011 10:26:34 AM, tentec@contesting.com wrote:
Yesterday I talked to a couple of people at Ten-Tec about the logic
board situation. The bottom line was: There was really nothing that
could be done as it was a "combination of things" that could make the
boards either unrepairable or economically unfeasible to repair.
My conversation was kept cordial, and I tried three times during the
course of a 30+ minute phone call to get to a specific issue or part
that was causing the dilemma, but was not successful. It was their
position that the architecture of the radios was 20 to 25 years old and
I pointed out that these are popular, well-respected radios that are
still selling for $1000 to $1500.
I also asked if there was something a 3rd party could do in regard to
saving the logic boards that would be helpful, but they didn't see how
that could help. I also asked if there was a way to "route around" a
failed area on the board - perhaps sacrificing the DSP, or whatever - to
keep the rig running, but again it was maintained that what was
causing these boards to fail was not one particular thing and that if
it was fixable, they would fix it. But in the event that there was a
failed IC or other part that was either out of production or otherwise
unobtainable there was nothing they could do.
There apparently is not any problem with the firmware. I pointed out
that some of us held the belief that most of the ICs or their drop-in
replacements were available. It was their position that some of
them were not. This of course is where the problem is.
* * * What it will take for something to change * * *
This is strictly my opinion. If someone finds themselves in this
dreaded situation, they will have to pursue it with Ten-Tec to the part
level and then be willing to share the information with some or all of
us. Or be willing to send the rig to an outside shop for repair. So
instead of a $60 bench charge that says your logic board failed, you
may have to spend more money for bench time to find out specifically
what it is that failed.
The company, and rightly so, will not get into discussing specific
radios that belong to customers.
* * *
I did the best I could to gather information, but I'm sorry to say I
was not able to accomplish what I set out to do. I have intentionally
not mentioned any names here, nor will I. As I said in the beginning of
the post, things were kept cordial. I did not see how it was in my best
interest to get any more aggressive than I was. But there is no doubt
that having one or two hundred new logic boards would solve the problem.
It all comes down to the economics of the situation, but we already new
that.
--
Neal, NL7VL
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