Are there any real techs on here that work for a real shop or own one? It seems like there are mostly hobbiest types on here or consumer types looking for a quick answer to a complex problem. Stuff like "no picture, blown fuse, won't come on...ect..." Can we diverse this group into a real tech group so professionals can help each other? I don't have the time to teach basic electronics and work professionaly as a TV tech. I would like to exchange thoughts, ideas, problems and fixes with other real technicians. Do we need to start a new group for this? Most of these consumer or hobbiest types think we are all crooks, so why bother with them? I've tried to help them but they don't have even enough basic knowlege of electronics to enable any understanding of what I'm talking about. It seems to me that the shop owner and TV tech is labeled as a thief and a crook by most of these people. Well if it were easy, everyone would be able to fix their own TV. So, any real techs want to rise up out of this group and soar with the eagles? Let's help each other so we can help others and erase the bad complex about us all being thieves and crooks!
With a attitude like that...your group will die off pretty quickly. Without new "stupid" blood, that need knowledgeable people to help them along......there will be no one left in the hobby. Instead of sitting around as a group bitching about the fact the Radio Shack no longer sells components...and that manufacturers no longer sell schematics, or make machines that can be fixed instead of throwing out, maybe groups like this can help keep the hobby alive. Go ahead and make you little group of "skilled professionals"...it'll be pretty boring....since all of you will be so skilled, no one will need to ask any questions...or will you all be on such a high plane of existence that you will all be communicating telepathically?. Kim
Not really. Your past posts have been very helpful to some people who were looking to "the community" for answers, so please don't give up too easily.
Groups evolve at their own pace. If you keep hanging out here, then maybe other "real techs" may also find it a comfortable place. Or, maybe not. Usenet, elephants, and all that.
How do you feel about, say, plumbers or automotive mechanics or building contractors or ...? I think that you're fighting human nature. Roll with it and get on with life.
When I first moved to the Catskills in '78, I.B.M. was downsizing and there were no engineering jobs available in the area and I no longer had any interest in teaching. I had to do something to bring in some bucks so I established a consumer electronics repair service and did some free lance designing on the side.
Most of the t.v.'s in the area were still black and white tube jobs. Much of my time was spent trying to convince people that it was a waste of good money to repair a twenty-five year old piece of crap that was statiscally doomed to break down soon after a repair was effected, regardless of the quality of the repair. Most took my advice and went to solid state color, with a rare few kicking and screaming.
When the powers that be saw that there were now color t.v.'s with someone who could maintain them honestly and reliably, they bought out the local rickety cable company, ran new lines and installed a quality head end.
About this time, consumer electronics were becoming a commodity item and using a loose rule of thumb that repair shouldn't cost more than 35% of replacement value, I now spent much of my effort convincing clients that it was a more rational economic decision to replace rather than repair.
This was obviously not a good business model for success but defining success on my own terms, i.e. putting myself out of business after slogging through the trenches for ten years, I still think I did the right thing and sleep very well at night.
To get back to your orignial point that repair techs have a complex about being perceived as thieves and crooks, I say that if the shoe fits wear it. I know that my clients, quite to the contrary, perceived me as being brutally honest and they certainly appreciated that.
Now with the advent of large screen t.v. and HDTV, there is once again a lot of head room to both be honest and to make a decent rate of return because of the relatively high price of these units. Like any other business, repair has it's white hats and it's black hats, it's super competent and it's ultra incompetent.
To address your comment about the users of this group, they are extremely diverse, many being engineers, hobbyists, tinkerers, novices, and yes, some looking for a quick solution to a problem, and a few who apparently have no particular interest in electronics at all. It is precisely these diverse points of view and varied areas of expertise or lack of same that makes this group so fascinating.
Nothing in this group precludes your exchanging ideas with other techs in the repair field, and if you feel that you don't have the time or desire to help beginners with their questions, by all means feel free not to do so. Nobody here (except for a few of the usual suspects) will put you down for that.
Then why the hell aren't you asking this Q on sci.electronic.repair?
Then why the hell aren't you posting this on sci.electronic.repair?
Then why the hell aren't you posting this on sci.electronic.repair?
--
----------------(from OED Mini-Dictionary)-----------------
PUNCTUATION - Apostrophe
Incorrect uses: (i) the apostrophe must not be used with a plural
where there is no possessive sense, as in ~tea's are served here~;
(ii) there is no such word as ~her's, our's, their's, your's~.
Confusions: it's = it is or it has (not 'belonging to it'); correct
uses are ~it's here~ (= it is here); ~it's gone~ (= it has gone);
but ~the dog wagged its tail~ (no apostrophe).
----------------(For the Apostrophe challenged)----------------
From a fully deputized officer of the Apostrophe Police!
I bought some batteries, but they weren't included,
so I had to buy them again.
-- Steven Wright
FOR SALE: Nice parachute: never opened - used once.
(Problem) Evidence of leak on right main landing gear
(Solution) Evidence removed
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More truths!....I found many years ago that there was a heck of lot more money to be made in industrial electronics....Something about a million dollar piece of automation sitting at thousands of dollars an hour! They never minded paying me a $250 minimum charge for changing that 9 cent capacitor! In fact they about broke their arm writing the check...life was good...now I'm retired....wait a sec...now life is better!
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