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Fixing radio problems, and making it look hard. (longish)
Courtesy of a friend in the repair field, in his/ her own words.
"I work as a radio tech and am constantly looking at radios trying to fix the problems customers have with them. Sometimes, the repairs are simple and other times they are just plain user error. When it comes to user error, dumb ass is a term I never try to use, but it is a term that could easily be labeled to some customers.
Two way radios really are not very complicated but for some, they are enough to cause them to ask for professional assistance.
As I was busy rewiring a microphone a potential customer starts asking if I can fix his radio. He is having a problem receiving people. I had to comment that I needed to look at the radio if he wanted me to attempt to fix it.
After finishing the microphone and putting the radio on the bench, I do note the receive is rather pitiful. I check the status of the controls and notice that the RF gain control (front face control) is turned down so the radio can only receive close up stations. I Proceed to turn the RF gain control back up and test it with my fancy signal generator and the radio tests at normal sensitivity. Basically the Receive is just fine. I see absolutely no problem with this radio other than potential user error. As I'm testing this out another guy comes in and shows me his Galaxy 10 Meter ham radio. He says everybody is garbled and he is muffled when he tries to talk to them. Give me a minute, while I give this first radio back to the first guy and explain he should just try his radio one more time because there doesn't seem to be a problem with it.
Taking a look at the galaxy radio I turn it on and notice that the radio is set to the wrong mode. This will make everybody sound scratchy and distorted. For the fun of it I hook the radio up to the outside antenna and start listening They customer gets excited because it sounds distorted just like he explains it does. I dilly and dally and comment, “I'm not sure how long this is going to take to fix”, as I toy with the microphone. I comment further, “This might take up to 30 minutes to fix.” as I contemplate how I could make myself look like I'm doing something useful before I decide to fix the problem. After listening to the distorted mess, I finally decide to take the plunge and just go ahead and fix it. I flipped the switch on the front of the radio from FM to AM and miraculously, the radio sounded great. The driver exclaimed some comments about feeling and looking stupid and this not being the first time he has had this sort of a problem with this radio. All I can say, sometimes the hardest time I have is with people asking me to fix their problems that are only problems of lame user error."
"I work as a radio tech and am constantly looking at radios trying to fix the problems customers have with them. Sometimes, the repairs are simple and other times they are just plain user error. When it comes to user error, dumb ass is a term I never try to use, but it is a term that could easily be labeled to some customers.
Two way radios really are not very complicated but for some, they are enough to cause them to ask for professional assistance.
As I was busy rewiring a microphone a potential customer starts asking if I can fix his radio. He is having a problem receiving people. I had to comment that I needed to look at the radio if he wanted me to attempt to fix it.
After finishing the microphone and putting the radio on the bench, I do note the receive is rather pitiful. I check the status of the controls and notice that the RF gain control (front face control) is turned down so the radio can only receive close up stations. I Proceed to turn the RF gain control back up and test it with my fancy signal generator and the radio tests at normal sensitivity. Basically the Receive is just fine. I see absolutely no problem with this radio other than potential user error. As I'm testing this out another guy comes in and shows me his Galaxy 10 Meter ham radio. He says everybody is garbled and he is muffled when he tries to talk to them. Give me a minute, while I give this first radio back to the first guy and explain he should just try his radio one more time because there doesn't seem to be a problem with it.
Taking a look at the galaxy radio I turn it on and notice that the radio is set to the wrong mode. This will make everybody sound scratchy and distorted. For the fun of it I hook the radio up to the outside antenna and start listening They customer gets excited because it sounds distorted just like he explains it does. I dilly and dally and comment, “I'm not sure how long this is going to take to fix”, as I toy with the microphone. I comment further, “This might take up to 30 minutes to fix.” as I contemplate how I could make myself look like I'm doing something useful before I decide to fix the problem. After listening to the distorted mess, I finally decide to take the plunge and just go ahead and fix it. I flipped the switch on the front of the radio from FM to AM and miraculously, the radio sounded great. The driver exclaimed some comments about feeling and looking stupid and this not being the first time he has had this sort of a problem with this radio. All I can say, sometimes the hardest time I have is with people asking me to fix their problems that are only problems of lame user error."
rb
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