Radio broadcast .. (1922-30)

General view of lest bench in the laboratory of the Loomis Radio College. Practical Pointers on Servicing RADIO SHOP PRACTICE By MARY TEXANNA LOOMIS President, Loomis Radio College |N A PREVIOUS article we gave some pointers on "Running a Small Radio Shop" and a description of a service shop in Washing- ton, which had been chosen as a model for other small radio stores. In this article we aim to go more into detail concerning the actual methods used in the servicing branch of the radio business. As stated before, the serviceman, if he is to be successful in his work and make friends for his employer, must be trained in his business. The day of the " just-picked- it-up" serviceman is over. With the shop properly equipped and running with at least two capable servicemen, one for outside work and one for shop work, a single service job would consist of the follow- ing: (1) Call received by telephone asking for service. (2) Service ticket made out and serviceman starts out on call. (3) Serviceman calls at house and checks antenna, ground, loud speaker, tubes, and everything outside set chassis. If any trouble is found during these tests he makes the necessary repair immediately. (4) When all wiring, apparatus, etc., outside the chassis either checks o.k. or has been repaired or replaced, the serviceman proceeds to check voltages and current in the set as follows: E f , E^ I f , and E f . He also tests the set for operation, pro- vided the set is working, and checks on selectivity and sensi- tivity. If set checks o.k. and customer is satisfied with results of such minor repairs or replacements as could be made at the house, he is requested to sign a ticket stating that service is completed and satisfactory. This ticket must be turned in at the office of the shop by the serviceman. If he collects money, this must be signed, accounted for, stating amount, and serviceman must give receipt to customer. If, in the house tests, the set chassis or power unit showed trouble which could not be handled at the house, it should be removed from cab- inet or console and taken to the shop for repairs. // is not good policy to make extensive repairs in the home of the customer, as it often has a bad effect psychologically for the customer to see the set "all torn to pieces." (5) When the set or chassis is brought to the shop to be serviced, it is properly tagged and placed on the "incoming" shelf, to be taken up in its turn. It should not be left standing there long enough to accumulate dust. (6) When the "inside" man takes up this set, he makes thorough tests of all circuits and parts, with the idea of locating defects. The part, or circuit, found to be the cause of trouble is then repaired and the set is checked thoroughly for performance. When perfectly satisfactory, the set is marked "repaired" and placed on the "outgoing" shelf for delivery to the customer. (7) The repaired set is returned to the hands of the "out- side" man, who delivers and installs it, testing it on an out- side station in the presence of the customer. If the customer is satisfied, the serviceman obtains a signature to the state- ment that the set is operating satisfactorily. As before, if any money is exchanged, this must be handled carefully as described in a preceding paragraph. In connecting the set at the customer's house and in mak- ing final tests, everything should be checked again, as this often brings to light some minor defect that might become worse in time and require another service call. This policy • JUNE • 1929 • 87