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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