W7WV
03-25-2003, 11:51 PM
I recently purchased a Dentron MT-3000A Antenna Tuner from AG4TI, Ray Beard, of TN. The purchase was made via EBay. And let me add that it is the first bad one via EBay. I hope it's my last.
He described the item as “near perfect” in his auction description and I did ask him if there were any other known problems other than cosmetic blemishes. He did not answer the question. That should have told me something right there.
My experience in electronics includes being a retired electronics mechanic for the US Navy, US Civil Service, Department of Defense. I am quite used to inspecting, evaluating, and repairing electronics equipment.
The unit I got was nearly junk in my opinion. It did not work when I got it. At one time it had been dropped and the antenna capacitor came loose and was glued back to the mount. A coupling wire between the two main capacitors had been replaced and was soldered so poorly there was neither a mechanical nor an electrical bond. It had come loose at one end and this kept the unit from working. There was loose parts and globs of solder floating around inside and it had been modified and repaired improperly. The function selector swicth was hard to operate as half of the switch was not supported by the standoff. I found these parts floating around in the case. Neither forward (200 or 2000 watt ranges)or reflected wattmeters were accurate. Keying with a 100 watt carrier pegged the 200 watt scale. And the unit from outside the case was missing screws, had a bent antenna connector and two terminals for the dipole rusted and corroaded where they connected at the case.
He claimed that he had been using it for a long time, yet I found that the connectors did not appear to have been used in some time. They were all dirty with no signs of having had either coax or wires attached at any terminals.
He further complained that he never opened it up and knew nothing about the inside of the unit.
He also complained about his negative rating I gave him on EBAy and ask me to withdraw it. He was worried about his EBay rating.
Personally I think he picked this tuner up at a yard sale. He then found out it did not work and sold it on EBay.
I have repaired the tuner with 5-7 hours of work. And it is still not "nearly perfect" as this Ham would advertise.
I personally would be embarrassed to sell something in this kind of condition to anyone let alone tell someone it was "near perfect". But apparently this ham is not.
He claims that UPS must have damaged the unit in transit. And I guess UPS opened the package and attemped repairs to hide the damage. Sure they did. The only thing this guy did do was package the unit right for shipping.
I have the full proof of what I say here. If anyone wants to see the pictures and read the whole story I will be happy to send it to you via email upon your request. They are not very pretty pictures!
I would buy nothing from this individual.
He described the item as “near perfect” in his auction description and I did ask him if there were any other known problems other than cosmetic blemishes. He did not answer the question. That should have told me something right there.
My experience in electronics includes being a retired electronics mechanic for the US Navy, US Civil Service, Department of Defense. I am quite used to inspecting, evaluating, and repairing electronics equipment.
The unit I got was nearly junk in my opinion. It did not work when I got it. At one time it had been dropped and the antenna capacitor came loose and was glued back to the mount. A coupling wire between the two main capacitors had been replaced and was soldered so poorly there was neither a mechanical nor an electrical bond. It had come loose at one end and this kept the unit from working. There was loose parts and globs of solder floating around inside and it had been modified and repaired improperly. The function selector swicth was hard to operate as half of the switch was not supported by the standoff. I found these parts floating around in the case. Neither forward (200 or 2000 watt ranges)or reflected wattmeters were accurate. Keying with a 100 watt carrier pegged the 200 watt scale. And the unit from outside the case was missing screws, had a bent antenna connector and two terminals for the dipole rusted and corroaded where they connected at the case.
He claimed that he had been using it for a long time, yet I found that the connectors did not appear to have been used in some time. They were all dirty with no signs of having had either coax or wires attached at any terminals.
He further complained that he never opened it up and knew nothing about the inside of the unit.
He also complained about his negative rating I gave him on EBAy and ask me to withdraw it. He was worried about his EBay rating.
Personally I think he picked this tuner up at a yard sale. He then found out it did not work and sold it on EBay.
I have repaired the tuner with 5-7 hours of work. And it is still not "nearly perfect" as this Ham would advertise.
I personally would be embarrassed to sell something in this kind of condition to anyone let alone tell someone it was "near perfect". But apparently this ham is not.
He claims that UPS must have damaged the unit in transit. And I guess UPS opened the package and attemped repairs to hide the damage. Sure they did. The only thing this guy did do was package the unit right for shipping.
I have the full proof of what I say here. If anyone wants to see the pictures and read the whole story I will be happy to send it to you via email upon your request. They are not very pretty pictures!
I would buy nothing from this individual.