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Author Topic: Which Manufacturer offers best long term support? ICOM, Yaesu, Kenwood, or who?  (Read 637 times)

K7JQ

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I had a PA go bad in an Elecraft K3S, long out of warranty.
1.  I could remove the module myself
2.  Sent it to Elie
3.  They sent me a refurb
4.  I plugged the refurb in
5.  Total cost a little over $125
Now, what other company has that kind of support?

Out of *warranty*, yes...great support. But was your K3S also *discontinued/out of production* at the time? If so, for how long? If not, normal procedure for a reputable company. Elecraft's modular construction makes things easier.

All I'm trying to convey to the posting op are some pitfalls of buying used equipment, especially if they're out of production. The lure of a great deal sometimes creates tunnel-vision that a buyer fails to take such things into consideration.
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K5LXP

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There may very well be radios that are "worth" fixing after 10 or more birthdays but practically speaking once they hit the point of having failures, parts are secondary - someone has to troubleshoot and fix the thing and that right there puts any piece of equipment in a category of you gotta love it.  Maybe a 2007 K3 is awesome enough to spend a few hours with it on the bench to restore it to operation.  Most HF rigs aren't.  For some folks the fun is in the thrill of the challenge - fixing and restoring things.  I used to make a living doing that and frankly I could care less if I ever fix another one.  I'd rather be working the radio than working on it.  So the notion of "product support" becomes largely pragmatic - most equipment made in the last 30-40 years is just another commodity piece of electronics that has a practical lifespan.  If you lovingly restore a 1990's HF rig, after all that the best it will ever be is a 1990's HF rig.  OK, but not remarkable.  The best you can expect is to run something long enough to exceed it's usefulness or your attention span, after that it's traded off or scrapped and on to something bigger and better.  Save the valuable bench time and frustration for the few select pieces that would actually be worth it - distinct performance, intrinsic, or sentimental value.

Mark K5LXP
Albuquerque, NM
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K4GTE

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If you stick with equipment still in production, new or used, you won't have to worry about discontinued manufacturer support for quite awhile. Keeping equipment going that has been out of production for more than 10 years is admirable, but expecting factory support for that equipment is unrealistic. And expecting performance of old equipment to be equal to current production equipment is also unrealistic.
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KA2DDX

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case in point -

https://www.ceoutlook.com/2020/12/04/jvckenwood-disclosure-on-chip-fire/

this article is from December 2020. No manufacturer is able to stock parts proactively because they believe something like this may happen. Stuff happens, and that creates delays.

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K7KNX

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My Collins KWM-2A is 60 yrs old. Still running strong, parts still available, however, not from Collins.
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