| Holding down the cost of radio service is a good way to take control
of your communications budget. Service costs are the combination of parts and labor needed
to keep your radio in good working condition. You can have a positive effect on how much
labor time is spent on your equipment. When you send a radio in for repair, attach a note
to it explaining in as great of detail as possible what problems are occurring with the
equipment. If the technician has to do a complete diagnostic review of the radio it takes
longer than if you had said “this unit has no receive” or “this unit has
low transmit range”. The quicker a technician can diagnose the problem, the faster we
can repair it, saving you time.
If you place your radio in its charger while it is in the “on” position you
are causing either immediate or future maintenance problems. The amount of voltage
necessary to charge a battery is greater than the actual operating voltage of the radio.
With the radio turned on, it allows the excessive voltage from the charger to flow through
the battery into the radio. This can weaken components in the radio and increases the
possibility of voltage spikes to the processor (the brain of the radio) and destroy it.
Rapid chargers are used to decrease the down time of radio usage by charging batteries
in 1 hour versus 12-14 hours. However, you should know that using a rapid charger will
deteriorate your battery’s life span by at least 20%.
In order to make radios smaller; the manufactures use multi-layer boards. This is great
for reducing size, but it makes circuits in the middle layers inaccessible. When a radio
is in your back pocket and you sit down, or lean against something you flex these boards.
Over time, the connections can be broken inside the circuit boards.
How many times have you seen someone pick up his or her radio by the microphone cord?
Bad on microphone cords, and very bad on the speaker microphone jacks. Which are connected
to what? To those multi-layer circuit boards.
When you get radios back from service, check with your customer service rep for their
thought of what may have caused the equipment failure, and any suggestions or steps that
may be taken to reduce the possibility of repeating the breakdown.
Finally you may find that radios used by a particular person require service more often
than others. Notice how that person takes care of his or her equipment and make corrective
suggestions where necessary.
We, at Midport, will be happy to help you lower your total cost of radio operation |
