In article .com,
wrote:

Here is reply from Drake if anybody interested. I wish I could make
100 bucks an hour fixing radios!

regards,
Bob
N9NEO


************************************************** *********************
The service rate is $25.00 per quarter hour. The average repair time
involved is an hour to two hours. We will align and bring the unit
back to the original specifications. The software, Version 12 is
current. Please enclose a cover letter with your name, address,
telephone number, and a brief description of the fault or reason for
its return. We accept Visa, Master Card, American Express, and
Discover Card.
************************************************** *********************

wrote:
Ok thanks everybody for input. I just sent Drake Email to see what
kind of service they offer. I would like whole unit checked out soup
to nuts. I want to make sure running AOK to present config and so
forth. Unit is very nice and I will probably keep, but if I decide to
sell I would like to tell potential owner that factory has recently
blessed unit.

Service is always expensive due to parts and labor costs and shipping
the product back and forth.

1. Labor to effect repair, troubleshooting and replacement of components.
2. Parts and the associated costs of stocking parts.
3. Test equipment, calibrating the test equipment.
4. QA final testing the product to meet specifications.
5. Management costs.
6. Shipping and boxing.

Lots of ways to spend money to support repairing a product.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

Yes I agree Telamon. A good service bureau is an expensive
proposition. The ones I am familiar with (industrial based) barely
break even after salaries are paid. The important thing here is that
somebody is getting paid a salary. I would think the consumer market
is even worse. I suppose that is why so many mom & pop tv radio shops
are gone now. It's a shame.

73
Bob
N9NEO

wrote:
Yes I agree Telamon. A good service bureau is an expensive
proposition. The ones I am familiar with (industrial based) barely
break even after salaries are paid. The important thing here is that
somebody is getting paid a salary. I would think the consumer market
is even worse. I suppose that is why so many mom & pop tv radio shops
are gone now. It's a shame.

73
Bob
N9NEO



If there were a demand for the mom and pop repair shops they would still
be around. However radios and TVs no longer need to have tubes replaced
on a regular basis. Without that business there is little for them to
do. Combine that with generally decreasing prices for electronic
products and it becomes advantagous for folks to replace rather than repair.

craigm

1965,brand spanking new wooden cabinet 21 inch screen Zenith tv set.(it
is a heavy tv set too,it is sitting on the floor in my front
bedroom/junkroom right now,long since unused,it still gets a picture
though,but barely) I took that tv set to Wink Radio & TV Repair shop on
Capitol Street more times than I care to remember.(They put some sort of
a tv tube brightner thingy on the back of the tube,I think) Every once
in a while,it got to where I was taking it back for some sort of a
repair job.From that point on,I swore off of buying anything new that
has the Zenith brand name on it.RCA is the Worlds best tv sets,in my
opinion.I am useing a 27 inch screen RCA tv set now for my webtv.I
bought it brand new at a Wal Mart store wayyyyy out on Lakeland Drive in
Jackson on October 15,1999 and it is still working just as good as new
with nearly thirty nine thousand hours of use on it,according to the tv
set's Menu thingy I checked about a week ago.I have owned RCA tv sets
before and never once did I have any problems at all with them compared
to that Zenith tv set other than they just got old and worn out.Me,buy
another new Zenith anything again? It ain't gonna happen,babes,it ain't
Never gonna happen! I am planning on buying a new CRT HDTVtv set next
year from one of Cowboy Maloney's Electric City stores in Jackson and it
will be an RCA.RCA all the way.I am not interested in any other brand
names of tv sets.
cuhulin

I paid about $276.00 for my RCA tv set at a Wal Mart store on October
15,1999.The same model 27 inch screen RCA tv sets nowdays are about
$174.00 at the Wal Mart stores.
cuhulin

craigm wrote:
wrote:

Yes I agree Telamon. A good service bureau is an expensive
proposition. The ones I am familiar with (industrial based) barely
break even after salaries are paid. The important thing here is that
somebody is getting paid a salary. I would think the consumer market
is even worse. I suppose that is why so many mom & pop tv radio shops
are gone now. It's a shame.

73
Bob
N9NEO



If there were a demand for the mom and pop repair shops they would still
be around. However radios and TVs no longer need to have tubes replaced
on a regular basis. Without that business there is little for them to
do. Combine that with generally decreasing prices for electronic
products and it becomes advantagous for folks to replace rather than
repair.

craigm


I agree. When I was knee-high (mid fifties) TV repair shops were
swamped with work, and many "8 to 4:30" guys studied nights to learn TV
repair, and made it into a lucrative sideline. The original TV chassis
(save the Muntz, for one) had around 32 tubes on the board besides the
CRT. They were in the shop three, sometimes four times a year as a
matter of course, as they slowly cooked themselves to death. People
accepted it as part of the miracle of "pictures through the air".
Madman Muntz designed a 17 tube chassis (some double duty some cut
corners) and they were very reliable sets - maybe into the shop once or
twice a year (we had one for years).

Craig M is right - Assuming they pass the "infant mortality" stage,
todays electronics last about exactly as long as it takes for people to
*want* a new one - for better features or whatever reason.

Tony

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wrote:
Here is reply from Drake if anybody interested. I wish I could make
100 bucks an hour fixing radios!

regards,
Bob
N9NEO


************************************************** *********************
The service rate is $25.00 per quarter hour. The average repair time
involved is an hour to two hours. We will align and bring the unit
back to the original specifications. The software, Version 12 is
current. Please enclose a cover letter with your name, address,
telephone number, and a brief description of the fault or reason for
its return. We accept Visa, Master Card, American Express, and
Discover Card.
************************************************** *********************

wrote:
Ok thanks everybody for input. I just sent Drake Email to see what
kind of service they offer. I would like whole unit checked out soup
to nuts. I want to make sure running AOK to present config and so
forth. Unit is very nice and I will probably keep, but if I decide to
sell I would like to tell potential owner that factory has recently
blessed unit.

73
Bob
N9NEO

Well, remember the $25.00 per quarter hour does not go to a lone tech
working out of his basement. Also the alternative, a new radio is far
more money.

wrote:

Hi

My Drake R8B tuning sometimes gets lost when I spin the knob fast.
I'll be going up 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.2 See? I expect this is a pretty
common prob.

Ok so unit is going to go back to Drake for fix and I will tell them to
go thru whole unit and check it out.

Any idea what they will charge me for this?

It's a fairly easy fix and if you can do it yourself I'd recommend that as a
start, as it's not difficult to do as long as one feels comfortable about
tearing into the receiver.

The part is available from Drake and perhaps from other sources as well.

As for determining if there are other issues with the radio perhaps you might
compare reception with any other equipment you might have.

Then if there are problems you might send it in to Drake.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

Madman Muntz manufactured some Automobiles too.
cuhulin

So,if they charge you two hours of work on the radio and there will be
shipping & handling charges too,it will cost you over
$200.00.Hopefully,they can repair it for you in one quarter hour.
cuhulin