Don't be too supprised if one of those big antenna manufactures ends up on the skids soon too. Times are changin', and not really for the best it seems.
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Harris selling its broadcast business
- Thread starter cceng1
- Start date
Yes, the Big Antenna Companies are all making quality products with great customer service, but my most recent purchase was a PSI 8-element antenna, which demonstrated quality construction and materials, timely delivery, good customer service and pricing. I have also used numerous OMB MP series antennas on smaller projects very successfully.
D
dawireless
Guest
My old Continental sounded much better that the Harris.
My old analog recording studio with my Sculley recorder sounded better than todays computer crap.
I would take my RCA 77dx ribbon and Neuman mics any day over todays made in China crap.
My old analog recording studio with my Sculley recorder sounded better than todays computer crap.
I would take my RCA 77dx ribbon and Neuman mics any day over todays made in China crap.
The poor Harris support just got...poorer.
ChiefEngineer said:
Obviously you hold a grudge against the folks in Quincy and never got the issue(s) worked out to your satisfaction. You're a manufactuers nightmare. An unhappy customer, that never ignores an opportunity to slam them on a public forum.
Fact is that thousands of broadcast engineers worldwide have had a different experience with Quincy over the years and consider them family.
Yes, I can see Gates back as a nameplate (what Harris AM and FM equipment was known as pre-1973) if someone other than Continental buys Harris Broadcast. Another scenario is that some Italian company buys the line and gets the Gates name and reputation to market transmitters. Which might get someone like RVR or BEXT some gain. And new lines to sell. I like Harris Solid State gear, and the present people behind it.
Let's see, I think my old Vigilante limiter with it's proprietary Gibb's Phenomenon clipper, encapsulated plastic, sounded much better than a lot of modern processors. I also liked the Gregg Labs box. And I love square waves - no kidding!
I recently spoke to Omani Support and the gentleman said we don't have a Vigilante here, I've never seen one.
Frank, do you have a working Vigilante?
If so, could you make some recordings of Analog AGC Only + Vigilante versus Analog AGC Only + Limiter & Final Clipper sections of some modern processors, particularly the Euro processors? I'd love to hear that comparison.
Bet I'd still choose a very aggressively set Vigilante over a DSP based limiter.
All kidding aside, I wish it were 1988 again. Cart machines, analog processing, PR&E consoles...LIVE JOCKS!
Woody said:
HA, HAHAHAH. Family! That's a good one. I'll have to remember this.
My experience with Harris over the past 10-15 years is, you call for help and you hear the guy on the other end of the phone flipping through the manual. When I get to the point of calling someone, I have already BEEN through the manual and need someone who knows something about the rig I'm trying to get to work. The turnover at Harris has been so high lately, I doubt there's anyone there anymore who knows anything about an SX or MW transmitter, of which I have four on the air. By comparison, when I call Nautel for help, after telling them what the transmitter is doing, they give me specifics to check for and failing that, ship out another module overnight. THAT is customer support, something of which Harris has been lacking the past 20 years.
Go ask 100 other engineers who have had to call Harris over the past 10 years, and you'll probably get the same response. Now, since this is only your second post, Woody, I'm assuming you either work for Harris or has someone close to you that does.
Woody said:
Then you may want to tell the Canadians that. They still support a 25 year old Ampfet AM transmitter I service. They still have people there that can tell me what's wrong with it WITHOUT thumbing through the manual.
And the Canadians are winning. They pulled into the lead when Harris made the boneheaded decision to stop service and support on the SX series transmitter.
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Bengalsfan, your decision to partner up with brand N and send money to Canada is your choice. They are indeed a good group. They deal with customers that are disgruntled as well. Every company does.
From the tone of your posts (past as well) regarding brand H I would conclude that they are better off not having to deal with you. They probably fired you as a customer long ago.
From the tone of your posts (past as well) regarding brand H I would conclude that they are better off not having to deal with you. They probably fired you as a customer long ago.
Woody said:
I was wrong, you work for Harris.
I agree support will likely go towards worse at H in the transisition/sale period. There's little incentive to "do the right thing" while in flux. Support over the past few years at H HAS got a ton better, but that's only after we, the customers, put pressure on them. In fact, comments right here on Radio-Info helped in that fight. Some good guys from the sales wing of things took it upon themselves to go get it straightened out. For the sake I certainly hope the radio broadcast division gets bought by someone that actually will continue their work at achiving better support. The the idea of Continental buying the group is the most appealing to me. The tube transmitters at H might go away, but I don't think they'd be missed.
OKCRadioGuy said:
Really ? I disagree .. Do you think anyone working in the service/parts department in Quincy wants to go out and find another similar job with the pay and benifits they have now ? Do this .. Call the director of service & parts, Don Carpenter, at 217-221-7520 and run that by him.. I challenge anyone here to make that call and report back your impression afterwards.
RE: Harris Broadcast Technical Support
I've heard and seen that same attitude in the industry, Harris products are inferior / Harris support is inferior. An attitude I associated with the veterans of the industry who had had earlier experience with Harris than I.
However, I also know that I always liked calling BE or Continental support better because of the smaller size of the support staff and the personal nature of the relationships.
It's almost like when dealing with BE and Cont EC by phone they were friendlier or I knew them on a personal level. Perhaps the answers were faster and better. Probably true also.
I think this was driven by the size of the companies and the size of the product lines.
I've heard and seen that same attitude in the industry, Harris products are inferior / Harris support is inferior. An attitude I associated with the veterans of the industry who had had earlier experience with Harris than I.
However, I also know that I always liked calling BE or Continental support better because of the smaller size of the support staff and the personal nature of the relationships.
It's almost like when dealing with BE and Cont EC by phone they were friendlier or I knew them on a personal level. Perhaps the answers were faster and better. Probably true also.
I think this was driven by the size of the companies and the size of the product lines.
Hopefully, the experienced Harris Tech Support people will transfer to the new owners. That's a pretty good incentive to "do the right thing."
Many years ago, I contacted Continental and arranged for them to send J. Fred Riley to one of my stations to help me tune and tweak a 50kw Continental 317-C transmitter.
Fred did a wonderful job. While there, he noticed an old Gates BC-5H transmitter and asked me if anyone had properly tuned the third harmonic resonator on the transmitter. I told him that we had not.
Fred got out his Vector Impedance Bridge and quickly tuned the old transmitter.
When I fired-up the Gates transmitter, I was shocked that the PA efficiency was better than 85%.
I doubt that I could have done a better job of tuning the transmitter.
This simple deed speaks volumes about the quality of service from Continental.
Fred did a wonderful job. While there, he noticed an old Gates BC-5H transmitter and asked me if anyone had properly tuned the third harmonic resonator on the transmitter. I told him that we had not.
Fred got out his Vector Impedance Bridge and quickly tuned the old transmitter.
When I fired-up the Gates transmitter, I was shocked that the PA efficiency was better than 85%.
I doubt that I could have done a better job of tuning the transmitter.
This simple deed speaks volumes about the quality of service from Continental.
CE has always went above and beyond for their customers, regardless of how old the stuff is. Sadly, over the years, Big H has had way too many "Woodies" that carry a bad attitude around with them. For the most part, that attitude has went away. They still have a fairly tarnished image with especially older guys in the industry that remember the screw-job they got from H or the horrible attitude. I stand my ground that the attitude will get worse again while they wait. It's just the way humans are. They now realize that things aren't necessarly going to be going right within the company and their employment is uncertain. I'm sure many will be fearing for their jobs, but when things are in flux, it won't help them all that much to "care". You're a name on a list with a salary when it comes to this kind of deal.
Many of the decent people that actually care will bail out when they can leaving the bad humor folks that can't leave (and are pissed about life in general) to hold the fort down...
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