Many hams take pride in the fact that they can repair stuff. I know I’ve blogged about my repair projects several times here on KB6NU.Com. The trend, though, is that electronic stuff, including amateur radio gear, is getting harder to fix. Most hams, for example, don’t have the soldering equipment—or sharp enough vision—to replace surface mount components.
And, in lots of cases, it’s just not worth the time and energy to fix something. How much time would you spend trying to repair a Baofeng UV-5R when a replacement is only $25 or $30?
Even so, there are compelling reasons for being able to fix your electronics, not the least of which is the enormous amount of electronic waste that we currently generate. A recent study reported that we throw away tens of millions of tons of electronic and electrical equipment every year.
The Repair Association contends that one of the reasons that electronic devices are so difficult to repair is that manufacturers would rather sell you a new device than make their products repairable. In a recent IEEE Spectrum article, Kyle Wiens and Gay Gordon-Byrne, founders of the Repair Association, say that electronics manufacturers actually “work to make fixing their products too expensive or too impractical.”
They are pushing “’right to repair’” legislation that would make it easier for consumers to fix broken digital equipment. Efforts are currently underway in 12 states to enact into law the right to repair. While the bills vary, in general, they would require manufacturers to provide access the documentation and replacement parts to consumers and independent repair companies at reasonable prices.
There’s a similar effort in the UK. There, a group called The Restart Project “encourages and empowers people to use their electronics longer in order to reduce waste.” The Restart Project is more of a grass-roots organization than The Repair Association. It hosts free community repair events at which volunteers help people learn to repair broken or slow devices.
I’m not sure that these efforts are going to make ham radio gear more repairable in the near future. If my Baofeng goes belly-up, and the problem isn’t something easy to fix, I’m probably going to just buy a new one and toss the bad one in the junk box. Life’s too short to mess around with a $25 HT for very long.
Having said that, I applaud these two groups for their efforts. I especially like The Restart Project’s community repair events. Makerspaces should really jump on this as a way to reach out to the communities they serve. Here in Ann Arbor, a for-profit makerspace, MakerWorks, hosts a “Fix-it Friday” once a month. On these days, people are available to help anyone fix whatever they have that needs fixing.
What do you think? Do you think electronics should be more repairable, even though that might make the devices more expensive? Are there any groups promoting repairs in your community?
Joshua | DC7IA| KK4RVI says
In my town we have a repair café. Repair cafés started in the Netherlands around eight years ago as places where people meet to drink aa cup of coffee or tea and repair all sorts of stuff.
I personally like to help people repair their devices there.
73
Read more:
Project: https://repaircafe.org/en/
Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repair_caf%C3%A9
Vance N3VEM says
Good timing on this for me! We try to fix things as much as possible – I’ve had everything from my electric razor to our AC unit apart in order to do repairs on my own. The thing that has stopped me in my tracks though, is our coffee maker! The company doesn’t even sell replacement parts, so while I scrape around the internet trying to find a replacement part, we’re going back to the manual version – a good old French Press!
Dave New, N8SBE says
I was surprised to find that Ameritron lists ALL the parts for their remote antenna switches on their website for order as replacement parts. In essence, they took the bill of materials and list the part numbers and prices. Makes me think that if I can get my remote switch off the tower in one piece (the Ubolt and nuts are rusted), I might be able to diagnose and fix it, rather than just wholesale replacing it. If I do, I’ll be sure and use a stainless Ubolt and nuts from Stadium Hardware when I put it back up. Amazing what companies will cheap up on these days. The switch had a plastic housing and stainless base and bracket, but base metal Ubolt and nuts. Go figure.
Doug, AD7LO says
Our suburban Salt Lake City town is holding our first fix-it clinic this month. http://www.taylorsvilleut.gov/file/2016/12/Fix-It-Clinic-Facebook.png
Jon Fin says
I want to repair my CPU can you please suggest me near Repair cafe location: Memphis, TN 38134
Ray, K8NOR says
We had been trying to start up a Repair cafe here in Ann Arbor. So I’m glad to hear about MakerWorks. Some of my students started the A2Share organization (still around), others the Reskilling Fair (rarely holds event). We produced a Repair Cafe video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo6Yl-GyazQ).
We’re thinking of restarting our series of videos (https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/transitiontimes/) and maybe “right to repair” is a great place to start.
John Minnich says
Hi,
I have a mobile 2m kenwood that i need repair but do not know what my options are.
Any chance you have some advice