OK, I'm going to play dumb here. Why is the first hour more expensive? Is there something special about that that makes it more expensive to deliver? Do the techs get paid more if they are working on a new job, at least for the first hour? I realize there is overhead from a management standpoint of opening up new tickets, billing, etc., but that should be minor effort by clerical employees (and fairly automated) AND baked into the base rate of $125/hour.
I'm sorry, but your nephew is mistaken. 60 minutes is an hour, and 31.25 X 4 does not equal 171.25, or even 140. No amount of restating it will make it so. 31.25X 4 = 125. Or even 140 for 1st hour is 6o minutes. Not 59. Ever. Dude, chill. You are starting to take this personally. It's not. What is the old saying about wrestling a pig in mud??? What you are hearing is the past couple years of b**tching of the TT faithful coming out. It's not you. Unless you don't release an O3 to update my O2, in which case it is you. In the meantime, while I appreciate you chiming in on the boards to reassure folks, your time is better spent ignoring this and concentrating on getting things moving, so please focus on that. Let JH handle this. If there is anything I can do to help with my 40 years a ham, 20+ years of manufacturing experience, and electrical engineering degrees, please let me know. There are many of us who have actually bought TT/RKR stuff (as opposed to most of the posters in this thread) who want to see you succeed. 73, Eric
ok, I'll answer. Do the techs get paid more? uh, simple, NO. Is there something special about that hour, uh, NO There is handling by other people in addition to the tech that doesn't occur during the repair time. There is billing to be handled which is not just run a CC, there is verification with the customer on the estimate to repair, more time on the phone, waiting for customer to get back, etc. There is then the final verification of the final cost, capturing the funds, all of the computer work to handle the transaction legally. It ain't just a few second process. There are materials used in the billing process, there are additional materials used in packing the rig back up. A lot of times the boxes need replaced so that they know the unit makes it back in one piece. The policies are such, and if they can be alleviated over time they will be. An analysis was made on what parts of the process involve how many hands and cost how much per time, the over head of more people than just the tech, more materials than just the parts used in repair, etc. Materials for packing, not just the box, the bubble warp, or peanuts or whatever they choose to use, etc etc. That initial hour is not just that initial hour, it is also the final bit of time to pack it up and enter into the shipping computer the shipping method, working with UPS or FEDEX or whomever to get it shipped. That first hour really turns into probably an hour and a half of time given all that needs to be done to unbox, try to make sense of what the customer said the problem is, (then, not counting repair time), then boxing everyhing back up, billing, etc. etc. I do have a question back. Would you rather TEN-TEC NOT charge what is needed to keep the business open OR let it fold as the previous owners did? When the business gets back to a point where service can benefit from the amount of sales, then things might change.
uh, look at the math. First hour is 140 if you go within that next 15 minutes, you get charged an extra 31.25. So, uh, 140 + 31.25 = uh, 171.25 Come on guys, quit nit picking this to death. You just trying to find errors to bitch about? Let Mike run the company trying to make it profitable again. The alternative was to shut the doors and then there would NEVER be a chance again for an updated O2 or a coveted O3
I'd rather TT learn a few things about modern manufacturing. I spent many years making things much more complex and expensive that ham radio gear. Your workflow processing needs a sharp industrial engineer to streamline. Service should be a profit center if you are doing it right. If not, then you are doing it wrong. All these small auto repair shops are testament to that. And it is much about the "back of house" business systems, and less about the labor rates. Efficiency is efficiency. Less waste = more profit. Working with UPS to get it shipped??? Really? Lines of code should do that. I'm starting to see why the old TT wasn't profitable. I'm hoping you do, too.
Briefly put, that is a good breakdown for the labor. I assumed, before your comment, that unpacking and no doubt disassembly of the equipment along with checks along the way does take time. Also assuming, the unpacking and packing may well be done in the first hour but there is no guarantee of anything following a set pattern. Through the years, I learned that packing a piece of equipment in a way to avoid breakage, etc., is not a simple ten-minute job, in most cases, if the job is done right. Also, I am sure that in a relatively high percentage of cases the equipment has arrived with improper packing so the container, etc., cannot be reused OR, and this does happen, the unit has been abused by the Post Office or shipper no matter how well the unit was packed. In some of my Civil Service work, I went overseas to install English Language Laboratories. At the Brazilian Air Force academy south of Rio some crates of cassette decks arrived in relatively rough condition and one of them looked like the tongue of a fork lift had been shoved completely through the box. It looked bad but on opening the box, the only damage was the front corner of a deck had been bent. It missed everything else... After straightening the corner of the deck's face, it worked fine. However, while this seems a big piece of luck, this is an indication of how some equipment may arrive in worse shape than it was when packed and sent to the destination. There are a lot of questions that many people do not even imagine when considering the shipment and repair and subsequent return of equipment. There are horror stories in every trade. I could even tell a few about the telephone industry, especially regarding installation and repair in home and office. Nothing is as simple as it looks.
For UPS, we use UPS Worldship, and it takes time to enter the data for each shipment. I'm very well aware of what it takes to ship via UPS. I had to administer the PC used. It requires a certain process, even when it is a current customer. It isn't just a few seconds. If you know how to speed up using a method other than the program the shipper requires you to use, well, my hats off to you. The cost is set to keep service. The alternative is to NOT have service. It does NOT have to be a profit center, but it has to sustain itself. Eventually, it might get back closer to an operating method similar to what it was BEFORE the two previous owners. TEN-TEC has had business analysis and manufacturing analysis over the years from UT students and from UT programs to assist manufacturers and from other independent consultants. If you know of magic bullets that people who are trained to come in and do an independent audit of the entire factory process and give out manufacturing process improvement advice, then I'm all ears. As I said before, let Mike analyze what the costs need to be for now (and he already did), and let him decide how to facilitate them in the future (and he will).
1) The $15 "extra charge" covers the cost of the Instapak material, wrapping, new box, tape, credit card surcharge, etc. 2) 1500W is the legal limit in the USA. In Canada it is 2KW. In some other countries there are no power limits. We ship worldwide. My kitchen knife could kill a person. It is up to me not to use it improperly. Shall we all give up our kitchen knives? Finally, my amp is the cleanest solid state in the market that I know if in terms of IMD3 which means third order intermodulation product. Why? It turns out a rough approximation is that for most high voltage MOSFETs, the IM3 improves by 6dB for every 3dB DECREASE of the operating point below rated PEP. This is only a general rule of thumb, and in fact recent research conducted by the Dishtronix team has identified the mechanism responsible for this distortion in the device, so this is a very broad statement I made above. Please don't pick it to death. Finally with 2400W PEP capability at a 2:1 SWR this translates to 240W of reflected power. Why is this important? The higher dissipation rating means that this same reflected power of 240W that the amp can easily tolerate is a HIGHER SWR at the legal limit. What this means is the amplifier is more robust and fault tolerant. This becomes even more important if you are operating high duty cycle modes such as RTTY. In this case, you need to dereate the output by a factor of at LEAST 50%. In other words, a 2400W amplifier PEP is capable of about 1200W RTTY. To be very technical and practical, you really want to use a factor of about 1/3 in which case the RTTY limit would be around 800W. For the SO2R duty cycle used in HF contesting our amplifiers do not have any problem completing a weekend RTTY contest at 1500W PEP. To my knowledge, we are the only ham amplifier that can do this. Yes, it costs a lot more to build the amplifier to do this job properly, and we charge what we need to charge to make this amplifier. Before I broke the ground and did the research to do this there was no solid state amateur amplifier capable of 1500W RTTY contesting. In fact Dishtronix had the first amateur legal limit solid state amplifier on the market. I wanted the best and couldn't buy what I wanted, so I designed it, tested it, broke it, learned and tried again until I got what the amp is today. I applied and received a patent on the technology as well, which has not certain competitors from using that information to make their own amps. One such company is now bankrupt. Now, was I wrong for wanting something and putting in the work, time and money to make it happen? If I had not done that, I would not be in the business and not in a position to help Ten Tec continue. As to you "haters" of the price, when I initially introduced the amplifier the price was 10,250, a mere 1000 more than that of a certain competitor. After I refused to private label my amplifier, the price of that competitor was promptly reduced by 2000, and later on I think down another 1000 dollars. Draw your own conclusion. I decided to raise my price instead. Why? There are those who are willing to pay for a quality product. Running my company in a fiscally responsible manner has enabled me to be at the right place at the right time to buy Ten Tec. Charging what I have to charge to put out a great quality product means that Dishtronix and now Ten Tec is on sound financial footing and in a great position to grow, expand and have future success. What this means is that now, someone who really wants a quality transceiver built in America that is as good as or better sounding than anything anywhere else in the world will soon have an opportunity to by one from Ten Tec. I bring a lifetime of experience to Ten Tec, a very significant portion of it spent in management of high volume, advanced technology manufacturing at the world's largest appliance manufacture. One of the reasons for the changes at Ten Tec is to implement changes to improve manufacturing greatly. Finally, back to bench fees, do you have any idea what the equipment costs to repair modern equipment at a component level? Google "split vision BGA rework station" and look at the price. It is more than several brand new cars, and the machine has a finite lifetime. Either the machine will wear out or become obsolete. Lead free soldering mandate means that all this equipment had to be upgraded and replaced for higher temperatures required by lead free process. Finally if you want to inspect your work for solder joint quality, you need to invest in an X-Ray machine which is another fleet of new cars. Now ask yourself this question, does the shade tree mechanic operating out of his home garage have the equipment at the GM dealer? I've not seen an alignment rack or a hoist in many local guys home garage. Do you think the basement repair TV shop or your local amateur radio dealer possesses tis equipment? If you skin your knee a band aid from your medicine cabinet might be acceptable, but if you chop your arm off, aren't you extremely happy that the ER has all the latest equipment, even if it does cost more than a box of band aids? Calling someone a "charlatan" is indeed personal. Unfortunately political correctness doesn't allow me to respond as I would like to. I have been admonished all day to not "feed the troll". The simple fact of the matter is that this thread was started to inform people interested in Ten Tec what is going on at our company. Now, we can either be transparent to you and give you updates and interact with you and give you information, or we can go completely dark and tell you nothing. For everyone reading this, please vote which way you would like it to be. You readers are going to have to deal with the trolls yourself. I think that the best thing to do would be to host a forum like this where I moderate it myself so I could delete trolls and off topic discussion. If there are any IT people who could help me set something like this up I would appreciate it. What I will not do is tolerate someone attacking my character or honor. If I do not answer such challenges then it could be misconstrued to mean I agree. So for anyone who wants to attack me personally, insult me or my integrity, I would like to ask you to do one thing. Don't be a coward and hide behind your computer. If you have to prove your manhood or compensate for whatever malfunction you suffer, just do what you have to do and bring it. Otherwise I have no time for you. Whatever comments you make are insignificant. Ten Tec will continue to manufacture radios, and people who want what we make will continue to buy them. Now of course this infuriates you and you will spend the rest of your life posting and maligning Ten Tec, and this is great for us because everyone will read what you wrote and say "Wow, who is this Ten Tec?" I'll use the opportunity to reply and tell everyone reading about our new products, which will drive them to our website, and then they will place an order for the cool stuff they find. When they get those products and enjoy them and get the GREAT customer service that Dishtronix is known for, they will come to view you as a lone voice in the wilderness, the ranting of an obsessed and crazy fool. Meanwhile, Ten Tec will flourish, prosper and maybe even be the last ham radio company standing. Ten Tec will prosper and you will wither and die, which is how it should be. There is a saying in the advertising industry that any press is good press. So thank you for driving more customers to my company. You will not receive further acknowledgement. I am here to stay, Ten Tec is here to stay and there are three things anyone who doesn't like this can do. You can get used to it, get over it, or get out of the way.
Thank you steve K9ZW, well said. May I borrow your wording for my website? Thank you Again - Mike N8WFF
Well, it's another day, I'll peak in here once in a while to see if real questions come up. I hope tht ll of us can remember what being an amateur radio operator means, check out the ARRL handbooks, re-read the front page, the first few chapters, and realize that we should all be held to a higher standard because of our accomplishments in the amateur world, setting an example for loads of new kids who might be considering putting a couple of components together and trying to figure out what they can "hear" over the air from some far unknown land across the globe. Or remember the uses of the many products for emergency purposes, no word in/out of NO after Katrina except for amateur radio ops for a while. Remember the intent of the hobby, and live as examples. Examples are positive, etc. Mike is trying to keep an American legacy company going. So far, TEN-TEC (in my eyes) is better off than it has been financially in about 2-3 years, so, he is doing something right. Let him grow it, and see where it goes. Take care, ya got questions? post them because Mike and I do browse these when we have time, and will answer what we can answer at the time. There may not be answers for everything, and there simply may be items we decide not to answer, but, we will do our best. 73, KI4JPL John Henry
Thanks much for the insight into amplifier design, especially the discussion about intermodulation products. Very interesting. Best of luck is in order but I don't consider it luck with good minds at work. Better to say "Good Fortune."
Good thought. I remember putting a 2M repeater on the air for three years in TX using kit-boards from VHF Engineering. Used four root beer cans for cavities. Fan five Watts and had a 10-mile radius coverage, which was what I wanted/needed in the Fort Hood area. Kit building and making the thing work taught me a whale of a lot. Learned how to solder to aluminum (the cavities) and how to place the receive and transmit antennas on the same 40-ft "tower" in that the receive antenna was at the top and the transmit antenna at the 30-ft level with the transmit antenna inverted. Both antennas were 1/4-wave ground plane el cheapo types. Since I lived in a high place in the area, it was enough. Etched the board for an IDer and programmed it for the repeater. That repeater, etc., set me up for bigger and better things in the area of professional electronics. I hope Ten-Tec will have a few offerings for kits on the less complicated rigs. This can encourage a lot of builders to start at the lower level, get experience and move on up to larger and more-capable radios. This has worked for Ten-Tec in the past and it can work again. Also, remember that ham radio did not throw away the keys when the majority moved on to using mikes... All you have to do is look at the price of keys and keyers today. In fact, in the visit to Ten-Tec in the early 70's, the plant manager, who told me he used to be the engineer for Electrovoice, told me that Ten-Tec was known more in some areas as a place where heart valves, etc., were made and that they had two very good machine shops making them. He went on to show me how they made transformers, enclosures and knobs. Ten-Tec has a heritage. I hope, along with many others no doubt, that the heritage is going to continue well into the future. The mechanics are there now and I'm going to be an interested observer as to how that machine works. But I'm also hoping that Ten-Tec will have items of interest for beginners who would be encouraged to be long-time users of Ten-Tec equipment and they will if the machine is operated properly and wisely.
Appreciate your kind compliments and you are of course free to use the words. They are not very professional though. 73 Steve K9ZW
I know exactly what you mean. Re the kits, we were thinking about that some time ago, and had been looking at different ways to get kits back into the line. Those are things that help the new kids understand how things work by building it their self. This is another part of the hobby that is extremely difficult to do that makes enough money to sustain it self. For an individual or couple of hams that get together to provide parts and instruction sheets it is easier to do than for a company with building overhead, salaries, etc. A company has to make enough profit to subsidize making the kits (did you know it is cheaper to build and sell the final product than it is to pick and stock the individual parts for kits? simply amazing, and then, when the "kits" are still in inventory at the end of the year, they get taxed individually as in stock, simply amazing) Then, the idea of the Rebel was born via Jim Wharton NO4A. What a great concept, this gives today's hacker kids, and more directly the Maker Faire kids a chance to hack into some code and enjoy what amateur radio can bring. This was a great move, it helped build future sales, in fact, I do remember a few that had bought an OMNI-VII or an Eagle that stated they started with the Rebel, got their license, and are now on the air, great stuff. THIS builds the community, so does standard conventional kits. SDR is also making inroads into that now, providing excitement, providing open source products for the more technically capable to take and build new things on. ALL of this, kits, SDRs, Rebels, is where real innovation comes from. Who would have thought that for $199 (Rebel), you could end up with a rig that does JT65, has an OLED display (for just a few bucks), have a built in GPS for time, location, 10MHz reference, etc. etc. THAT is innovation. Anyway, I digress, let's see where this goes.... 73, KI4JPL John Henry p.s. I really appreciate the positive direction posts, they beat the crap out of negativism, so, thank you KK5R, K9ZW, etc. etc. for your help in driving a positive direction.
