junius wrote:

On Apr 15, 10:42 pm, D Peter Maus wrote:

bdenley wrote:

That's been the standard charge at Drake for some time.

That's about what every other factory service operation charges. It's
not the rate, it's the number of hours that makes the price.

Factory techs, by knowing the ins and outs of the radio more
intimately than generic techs, take less time to perform a given
procedures. And the rate broken down as it is into quarter hours
telegraphs that factory techs are faster and likely to get work done in
smaller increments of time. And that they have direct access to factory
parts saves not only time but future aggravation relating to the quality
of parts used.

In the final analysis, factory service, almost regardless of rate, is
more cost effective than non-factory service. And rarely results in a
return trip to the shop.


True. And Drake has a reputation for excellent service. I think that
any number of folks here can testify to that: more praise for their
work than any complaints about pricing. Now this reminds me, I have
an SW-8 that needs to be sent in to Drake for servicing....

Great find on the R8A. That price would be simply too sweet to
resist. Less than a year back, I came across a very nice condition
R8B for sale for $600. At that price I easily had a justification for
taking on a second R8B!

An R8B for $600 is an even better deal than the R8A for $450. I could
pass on the latter but not the first. The deals are out there if you're
not in a hurray.