Do you get upset at McDonald's for all the business you've sent their way,
Yes when they don't pay their bill for advertising that sent all the business their way.
Has Hamilton even said thank you for the sales we sent his way "NO"
That was in a reference about potential bias and not liking Hamilton, The point was have always provided fair reviews on all products we review, not just transmitters.
As a published author I never "shell out" to obtain anybody's product for review. Many manufacturers will approach me with products and provide them under "manufacturer's consideration" for the purpose of making them available for review, otherwise I am very judicious on what gear I write about.
Here at Radio Brandy, we are required to purchase every piece of equipment we review, even if we are offered a sample, we still have a member purchase the item and it’s that item that gets tested and reviewed not the sample.
Back when I worked as a senior technician for a major manufacturer or cable TV head end equipment, the sales department would always have me tweak out the sample before it went out for review; I knew the review was never fair or accurate, no did the reviewer ever mention he got a tweaked version from us.
As a user; I like to receive the product the same way everyone else does; by paying for it! The evaluation is just a little different when it’s my own hard earned money going into it, than when its handed to me on a silver platter.
We also take the intended user into account; we have a student read the instructions, and set up the item according to the instructions provided. With some items; they don’t function as intended because of errors in the directions as in the case of the transmitters from China. As techs, we can work our way around the instructions, and make the item perform but the intended user may not.
Radio Brandy also enjoys the services of broadcast engineers who volunteer around here; many work for major market broadcast groups; we don't have a peer problem.
Our reviews are more fair and unbiased because we don't use manufacturer samples.
As far as Keith Hamilton is concerned I definitely don’t have any personal problems with Keith, in fact we have many personal things in common. My advice is intended to protect Keith and his business, good public relations is very important to a company’s survival. Our operation still sends allot of business his way from the posted reviews on our site and our consultations with local governments who require transmitters that can be synced.
With 5000 new part 15 AM transmitters going on the air this year alone, there is plenty of business to go around. Each transmitter is going to find their own nitch markets and shared markets, and that includes Sstran for those who like to build their own transmitters from kits.
Steve
