Radio Shack filed – wow. I guess it
was expected. Once I found I could not get some “parts” to build
a board I was thinking how I would get something fixed.
Back in high school we learned how to
work on electronics, although what did that look like in the late 60s
and early 70s? But still it was a potential, at least to create some
light and sound board or fix a stereo system. But...
My first duty assignment was in Florida
and one of the guys I knew talked about raiding a drum in the back of
the TMP or motor pool for auto parts that were tossed but still good.
Alternators, starters, ignition systems, and more. The friend
worked at the motor pool and was talking about the frustration of
having gone to Detroit Diesel for schooling but wanted to gather more
experience by joining up. The issue he had and we talked about was
that the field became more R&R – remove and replace. There was
not fixing, rewinding, rebuilding, it was take the suspect part out
and replace it. The removed part was tossed in the barrel in the
back. Hey, for the folks trying to get a beater running it was a
source of some great parts.
I had to take a truck in for some
electrical problem and the first thing the mechanic did was remove
the alternator and replaced it. Did this 3 times before they decided
to troubleshoot the problem and find a short in the fuse box. In the
meantime 3 alternators were tossed. I tried to tell the old civilian
but he had a problem with some young punk.
I guess thinking about this whole R&R
attitude that we have. I was stationed in Okinawa and worked the
missile shop. Now my career was counting bullets, rolling bombs,
busting open missiles for inspection and hopefully a load and launch
mission. But we had a problem, the AIM 7 test kit died. Up and
died. The diagnostics indicated that one of the boards went bad and
had to be replaced. The bigger problem was that the 3 test sets in
theater were down for maintenance and for bad cards. And only one
card was in theater being installed elsewhere.
The tech rep called and talked about
getting one sent from the states with about a week or two to get on
the island. The only other option was to repair the board but no one
had ever did this in the field. The tech rep was from Raytheon and
could do this. But overall repairs were R&R. The missile techs
that has stayed in the career field did not know how to solder. Are
you kidding me? So it came down to the guy that knew how. Hey, if I
could use tomato paste cans to repair the car I suppose I could fix a
bread board.
I collected the tools and the parts,
resistors and capacitors, and heat sinks and, well the list long.
The PMEL lab gave me a room, a table, an oscillator and a PSM-6. I
think there was a few other toys but ooohhhhhh, an oscillator. So a
tech manual, and a phone with a speaker, and off I went. Testing all
those little chingadaries and dohickies and segregating the bad ones
for removal. Laying out the new ones in order. Repaired the board
and given a couple of others that PMEL needed to repair but no one
could. Ohhhhh, the oscillator, anyway.
For 3 months I was hounded by Raytheon
reps from all over, get out and we will pay you 3 times what you are
getting now. Because I could fix a couple of bread boards. That is
why the Navy was making me offers to come over to the beach side of
life.
But today, think about it, your iPhone
goes dead and needs a new battery. That is the only problem. But
guess what? You have to replace the whole thing. The things that I
could have repaired but just handed off the some thrift store to
recycle or sell off.
Gotta tell you though. The other night
my son-in-law needed a power cord and I thought I had one in a box
upstairs. This is my box of electronics stuff. The smell or aroma
that comes from electronics – ahhhh. Had a store room in Trinidad
at the college as I did in Lamar that I could go in and just smell.
Yep, we just toss and replace.
