People getting over on techs...

[Hawkeye351]

Got a Cobra 2000 GTL on the desk today. I was told by the owner that I had recently gone through it for him but he was having an issue with the low band frequencies.

Upon turning the radio on, I immediately noticed the meter lights were green. I never use colored lights in 2000's, I always use bright white LED's. But, I figured they must have changed them to green, no big issue.

I then removed the wood grain cover and the RF shield plate (metal plate covering main board). I immediately looked in a specific spots for 2 caps that I always replace in 2000's, C95 which I always replace, 10v blues caps I always replace, the AMC cap and larger cap beside it that I always replace, 2 resistors in mic circuit I always replace and the clarifier mod to make sure it was done completely.

All the caps above was never changed. The 2 resistors I normally change to 5.1k ohm each were 2.2k ohm instead (factory comes as 10k ohm). I never go lower than 5.1k ohm on those 2 resistors. The clarifier mod was not complete, they left R174 intact without a jumper. Plus the variable key is not my way of doing a variable key on a 2000.

Long story short, this is not a radio I've recently gone through or ever gone through. I feel he's trying to get free work on a friend's 2000 by claiming it's one I did for him. It's as though I'm not cheap enough on my prices. Hell, my prices are only for parts, gas and enough for cigs, that's it, but people want it cheaper by trying to fool me, as though I'm stupid. I know my work, I have my own trademarks to let me know if it's my work.

Dishonest buns...

 

[TM86]

Well, that sucks. Time to start keeping a list of serial numbers and work done?

 

[Cable Guy]

Great idea TM86, I keep a log on a file card by serial, and log on the inside of the cover, with a sharpie, of anything I have done inside. Helpful to me or the next tech.

 

[BC Coyote]

I know my work, I have my own trademarks to let me know if it's my work.

A tech I did some work for years ago would make secret marks with an engraver in two or three non obvious spots inside gear he worked on in order to avoid getting ripped off in these kinds of scenarios.........

 

[whiteastro]

Long story short, this is not a radio I've recently gone through or ever gone through. I feel he's trying to get free work on a friend's 2000 by claiming it's one I did for him. It's as though I'm not cheap enough on my prices. Hell, my prices are only for parts, gas and enough for cigs, that's it, but people want it cheaper by trying to fool me, as though I'm stupid. I know my work, I have my own trademarks to let me know if it's my work.

Dishonest buns...

I hope you confronted him about his BS and deserves to be ban from your shop forever. I had a portable welder and was doing it on the side but it didn't take me long to get tired of the cheapo s trying to chisel and complain about price. Some think the only ones that need to make money is themselves.

 

[Shadetree Mechanic]

One of the things we are taught at work is to assume positive intent. He simply could be mistaken as to which radio it was? Does he have the ticket from when the work was done? Call him up and let him know that normal fees apply. If it's an honest mistake, no problem. If he starts himing and hawing, then he can come get it.

 

[unit_399]

, , , people want it cheaper by trying to fool me, as though I'm stupid. I know my work, I have my own trademarks to let me know if it's my work.

Dishonest buns...

Send it back and tell him that you checked it out and everything looks fine.

- J.J. 399

 

[Hawkeye351]

I contacted him on this issue and he finally fessed up. He had the gall to ask how I knew, I told him I have my trademarks in 2000's so I'll know if I've been in it before. Then on top of that gall, he wanted to know my trademarks, lol, the nerve of people. No I did not tell him.

I did warn him that if this happened again with him, then I'll spread his name and handle around to other techs to be weary of.

Look, I know it's tough out here these days, but it's tough on us all. Don't turn into politicians by ripping us off of our fare due. We must look out for one another.

 

[Eldorado828]

I contacted him on this issue and he finally fessed up. He had the gall to ask how I knew, I told him I have my trademarks in 2000's so I'll know if I've been in it before. Then on top of that gall, he wanted to know my trademarks, lol, the nerve of people. No I did not tell him.

I did warn him that if this happened again with him, then I'll spread his name and handle around to other techs to be weary of.

Look, I know it's tough out here these days, but it's tough on us all. Don't turn into politicians by ripping us off of our fare due. We must look out for one another.

No way man, I'd send him on his way after that kind of shady stunt. A liar and a thief go hand in hand and not to be trusted. Those types of people are the absolute lowest kind of lifeforms.....

 

[nomadradio]

he wanted to know my trademarks

As if.

Decades ago, we worked out a way to get the "missing" channels when expanding Cobra 148GTL radios to cover between 27.415 and 27.445 without adding a third switch. A young guy dropped off his 148 to have this done, adding that he wanted to see how we pulled this off so he could copy it.

Bad move.

I took a handful of tiny glass 1N4148 diodes and put them across a 40-Amp power supply one by one. A tiny flash inside, and now it's an open circuit forever.

Took about five of them and wired them randomly across the binary inputs to the PLL chip, in addition to the channel mod he had requested.

Spoiler alert, our "two-switch" trick did not use any diodes, just a NPN transistor.

Never did hear back from that guy after he picked up the radio.

73

 

[AudioShockwav]

As if.

Decades ago, we worked out a way to get the "missing" channels when expanding Cobra 148GTL radios to cover between 27.415 and 27.445 without adding a third switch. A young guy dropped off his 148 to have this done, adding that he wanted to see how we pulled this off so he could copy it.

Bad move.

I took a handful of tiny glass 1N4148 diodes and put them across a 40-Amp power supply one by one. A tiny flash inside, and now it's an open circuit forever.

Took about five of them and wired them randomly across the binary inputs to the PLL chip, in addition to the channel mod he had requested.

Spoiler alert, our "two-switch" trick did not use any diodes, just a NPN transistor.

Never did hear back from that guy after he picked up the radio.

73

That's good.
That's real good, I would love to have been a fly on the wall when he got home and pulled the cover off of that.

73
Jeff

 

[nomadradio]

I'd settle for being a fly on the wall when he blindly copied what he saw, just to see what the radio would do after he unintentionally sabotaged it that way.

73

 

[Lkaskel]

I think the biggest challenge I have is sending out a radio and then having it come back off frequency or with bad audio because someone opened it up and made thier own adjustments. I take pictures of every radio to show where all of the adjustments are at the time it is taken. I've only had 2 come back and try to tell me that they did not do anything only to fess up once I show them the pictures. It's actually amazing to me how someone can get a radio that was serviced AND sounds great on air and still open it up and try to tweek things.

 

[Blackcat630]

Invest in the tamper proof seal stickers. The local shop 25 years ago had them. If you cut it between the case top on bottom..your baby. ..If you pealed it off it left a checker board pattern on the case. I bet that would slow this shit down considerably.

 

[nomadradio]

Decades ago when we had more OTR driver traffic a driver would get sweet-talked by some truck-stop tweaknician who would claim "I can get more Watts from that radio" without asking how many it delivered already. And when it broke another hundred miles down the road, he'd bring it back and claim "It just quit".

Yeah. We started using the tamper sticker until the nearby tweakers figured out where we bought them. Tried some custom stickers but they were too fragile and would crack between the top and bottom cover even if they were not disturbed. Not useful.

We settled on a simpler tamper indication.

Missing case screws. Seriously. I figured the truck-stop clowns had a "screw tax" and built a collection of screws by keeping one from every radio. Maybe. Only had to ask a few times how that screw went missing if the cover had not been taken loose since we worked on it. Made it clear at a glance somebody else had been in there.

Eventually this trade dropped off and the problem fixed itself for the most part.

I do remember one base-station operator from about 50 miles south of here. Just couldn't resist tweaking, but he was honest about it. He'd show up with a radio and announce "I put another one to sleep". He was a good-natured old fella.

73