Okay, as far as I am concerned, the TWLDG -1 issue is a dead issue, and
doubt if I will purchase any more LDG products. Below, I am sharing with all
of you my communiqué to the attention of Jennifer Kincaid, who is supposed
to be the President of LDG, but instead, her husband, Dwayne Kincaid, is the
one who responded. I perceive his response as being rather curt. Given how I
opened my message complimenting their AT1000PRO II Automatic Antenna Tuner,
I would think he would have at least acknowledged that and thanked me for
the compliment and for being a customer. I am a marketer, have been in sales
and public relations all my life, and I think he could use some education in
PR. Anyway, below is my message, followed by Dwayne Kincaid’s response.
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From: Dr. Ronald E. Milliman]\\` [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2015 12:21 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Introduction and request
Dear Mrs. Kincaid,
I am Dr. Ron Milliman, K8HSY and a very proud and delighted owner of your
AT1000PRO II Automatic Antenna Tuner. I use it with my Kenwood TS-590 and
ALS-600 and full-wave loop for 80 meters. With the aid of your tuner, I am
able to work all bands very successfully.
I am also a blind ham, and I am writing to you requesting a copy of the
schematic diagrams for the TW-1 and TW-2 Talking Wattmeters. I know these
units have been out of production for some time and are no longer supported.
I also fully understand that some of the parts are no longer available.
However, my Son, WB5VQX, and I would like to study the circuitry for these
units to see if we can find ways of repairing some TW-1 and TW-2 units for
some of my blind friends. We are also evaluating the feasibility of possibly
producing a few similar devices for my friends who need them.
I am a business person and recently retired as a full professor of marketing
at Western Kentucky University and have also served as a consultant to
several firms of all sizes, from entrepreneurial start-ups to Fortune 500
corporations. Therefore, I fully realize that blind hams form a very tiny
market segment. Blind people, in general, form a small segment of the total
population, and blind hams are even a subset of that small market segment.
Thus, I can certainly understand why the TW-1 and TW-2 units were a “break
even” venture at best for LDG. Given these facts, we simply want to explore
the feasibility of simply being able to provide a service to this extremely
limited segment.
Toward that objective, I am asking you to send me the schematic diagrams for
the TW-1 and TW-2 Talking Wattmeters. In turn, if there is anything I can do
to assist you and LDG in any way, I would be delighted to have that
opportunity. I have an extensive background in most all aspects of business
and marketing in particular, including marketing research.
Looking forward to your response…
Ron
Dr. Ronald E. Milliman
Retired Professor of Marketing
President: Millitronics, Inc. (millitronics.biz)
President: A3 Business Solutions (a3businesssolutions.com)
President: M&M Properties
President: South Central Kentucky Council of the Blind (SCKCB.ORG)
***###***
From: LDG Electronics [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2015 12:40 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: Introduction and request
Hello,
I understand you are wanting to provide a solution to the issue. However,
the TW-1 and TW-2 is no longer a viable product. It had two programmable
parts in it and neither are currently available. Therefore, the software for
each processor would also need to be re-written. Due to some of the
algorithms are also being used in our current tuner products, we cannot
provide the source code.
In addition, I’m perplexed on why the fuss about obtaining the schematics.
Anyone with a unit could reverse draw the schematics in a couple of hours.
The real problem is the availability of the parts and the re-write of the
all the software.
We have in the past offered all of the data to a couple of companies that
wanted to resurrect the units, but once they saw the magnitude of work that
it would take to bring it back, they passed.
As I’ve explained to many people this project was never meant to be
profitable. I used to teach ham radio to blind students while in college, so
it only made sense to build a product that was needed. We did that for many
years and then it was over.
We can still provide some service for units that are not too badly damaged.
Dwayne Kincaid
WD8OYG
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LDG Electronics
www.ldgelectronics.com
www.yahoo.com/groups/LDG-auto-tuners
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