This is only a preview of the January 1994 issue of Silicon Chip. You can view 29 of the 96 pages in the full issue, including the advertisments. For full access, purchase the issue for $10.00 or subscribe for access to the latest issues. Articles in this series:
Articles in this series:
Items relevant to "40V 3A Variable Power Supply; Pt.1":
Items relevant to "A Switching Regulator For Solar Panels":
Items relevant to "Printer Status Indicator For PCs":
Items relevant to "Simple Low-Voltage Speed Controller":
Items relevant to "Computer Bits":
Articles in this series:
Items relevant to "Control Stepper Motors With Your PC":
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Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
Leo Simpson, B.Bus.
Editor
Greg Swain, B.Sc.(Hons.)
Technical Staff
John Clarke, B.E.(Elec.)
Robert Flynn
Darren Yates, B.Sc.
Reader Services
Ann Jenkinson
Sharon Macdonald
Marketing Manager
Sharon Lightner
Phone (02) 979 5644
Mobile phone (018) 28 5532
Regular Contributors
Brendan Akhurst
Garry Cratt, VK2YBX
Marque Crozman, VK2ZLZ
John Hill
Jim Lawler, MTETIA
Bryan Maher, M.E., B.Sc.
Philip Watson, MIREE, VK2ZPW
Jim Yalden, VK2YGY
Bob Young
Photography
Stuart Bryce
SILICON CHIP is published 12 times
a year by Silicon Chip Publications
Pty Ltd. A.C.N. 003 205 490. All
material copyright ©. No part of
this publication may be reproduced
without the written consent of the
publisher.
Printing: Macquarie Print, Dubbo,
NSW.
Distribution: Network Distribution
Company.
Subscription rates: $49 per year
in Australia. For overseas rates, see
the subscription page in this issue.
Editorial & advertising offices:
Unit 1a/77-79 Bassett Street, Mona
Vale, NSW 2103. Postal address:
PO Box 139, Collaroy Beach, NSW
2097. Phone (02) 979 5644. Fax
(02) 979 6503.
PUBLISHER'S LETTER
Some Australian
companies still do
not give good service
Talk to almost anyone these
days who has recently purchased
some product or service and
you’re bound to hear a sorry story
about botched deliveries, return
calls to fix installations, repeat
calls for warranty service and, in
general, a high level of frustration.
Two examples from our own
staff serve as illustrations. Staff member No.1 arranged for a new garage door
with UHF remote control to be installed. Within a few days, the door arrived and
the installation team attempted to install it. They found that the door had been
damaged and subsequently left after having also damaged the original door. One
month and many phone calls later, a replacement door was finally installed but
the remote control did not work properly – it had obviously never been tested.
This required more phone calls and another visit from the installation team to
put right.
Staff member No.2 purchased a new double wall oven with microprocessor
control and all the latest whiz-bang features. It was installed but subsequently it
was found that one element in one of the ovens did not work. It took four visits
by different service personnel to solve a wiring error that was compounded by
errors on the badly drawn circuit diagram.
I am sure that there are many thousands of such occurrences every year in
Australia. Clearly, all these unnecessary repeat calls cost heaps of money to the
companies concerned and it does nothing to build customer confidence in their
ability to give good service. Apart from that, every time someone has to arrange
to be at home for installation or service personnel to call means either a loss of
income, or at the very least, quite a lot of inconvenience.
And then when we come to getting warranty service on products, the whole
story repeats itself. You often have to take the product concerned to some outof-the-way suburb where the people concerned are obviously poorly motivated
and are probably thinking “not another one of these (censored) units!”. So the
poor customer has to make at least two visits to the service company and there
is no guarantee that the unit will be fixed when it is returned.
None of this has to be. Electronic products these days are very reliable and
once they are properly installed they should give many years of trouble-free
service. But many companies clearly do not bother to check that the products
they supply are properly assembled and that all functions work properly. Nor
do they ensure that their products are correctly installed and that when they do
ultimately need servicing, that servicing staff have the correct manuals and that
they are polite and courteous to the customer. That’s all fairly straightforward
isn’t it? It’s about time these companies got their act together!
Leo Simpson
ISSN 1030-2662
WARNING!
SILICON CHIP magazine regularly describes projects which employ a mains power supply or produce high voltage. All such projects should
be considered dangerous or even lethal if not used safely. Readers are warned that high voltage wiring should be carried out according to the
instructions in the articles. When working on these projects use extreme care to ensure that you do not accidentally come into contact with
mains AC voltages or high voltage DC. If you are not confident about working with projects employing mains voltages or other high voltages,
you are advised not to attempt work on them. Silicon Chip Publications Pty Ltd disclaims any liability for damages should anyone be killed
or injured while working on a project or circuit described in any issue of SILICON CHIP magazine. Devices or circuits described in SILICON
CHIP may be covered by patents. SILICON CHIP disclaims any liability for the infringement of such patents by the manufacturing or selling of
any such equipment. SILICON CHIP also disclaims any liability for projects which are used in such a way as to infringe relevant government
regulations and by-laws.
Advertisers are warned that they are responsible for the content of all advertisements and that they must conform to the Trade Practices Act
1974 or as subsequently amended and to any governmental regulations which are applicable.
2 Silicon Chip
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