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Force 12 antennas are still being made in the same manner as they were 11 years and 11,000 antennas ago. There have been some recent postings of erroneous information indicating otherwise, but the very nature of how we make our products makes it impossible to ship an antenna without prior assembly. Each element is built in halves, labeled "A" and "B" respectively. Tubing is aligned in production per a build sheet and the exposure is then carefully measured by the shop elf. A unique pattern is obtained when drilling the three holes at each joint by not using a jig and forcing the "driller" to drill at arbitrary positions in a hand drilling operation. The elf works outward until the final tip is in place and drilled. A second measurement is then taken for the overall length of the half element. The element has been assembled by the construction method used and length verified. Each boom is built using tooling and once again, the boom sections are drilled by hand to purposely provide a unique pattern. Each boom is completely assembled and verified prior to shipping and packing. What is put into a box is a preassembled boom and preassembled elements. Our manufacturing protocol does not allow predrilled parts to simply be put into a box without prior assembly. According to a schedule, antennas are pulled from the assembly area and assembled to verify all construction and measurements. In fact, some of those antennas are now at my QTH! Yes there have been "mistakes" as the market will not support the costs inherent in going to a zero defects program. Most "mistakes" have to do with improper assembly as alignment marks were misunderstood or ignored. We have had some failures caused by tightening brackets and booms to an extent that major components were found to be in oval shapes rather than round. If a boom to element bracket is installed backwards, the element may well be out of alignment. However, aligning the markings on the boom with the marking on the boom to element bracket will provide perfect alignment. We've also made some manufacturing errors that we can only try to repair or replace. At Force 12, we have two people who are competent to answer technical questions, Tom and myself. Our production staff and our office staff do extremely well within their own responsibilities, but they are not versed "antenna people." The factory contact person in our office is Allison for customer support and either Allison, Tom or I, can answer questions or make decisions. While Tom is indeed a very busy person, usually a response to us via E-mail gets quick attention, however there are exceptions unfortunately. As always, I ask you bring any questions or problems to my personal attention. As we do not bill product until shipment, it is imperative we have our manufacturing people make product and focus on that job only. To have production involved with our customers is usually discouraged unless a specific issue warrants such communications. It is true demand has outstripped production since opening our doors, and we still have a backlog even though we've expanded facility and personnel. It is also true we are still committed to producing a quality product as we have in the past. Our production policy or method has not changed, nor will it. With the continued support of the amateur and commercial communities, we can persist to bring our niche market innovative, unique solutions to our changing requirements as bands develop and technology progresses. With many new products about to be released, we are very optimistic about our future Regards, Natan W6XR/2 Force 12 East Ithaca, NY -------------------------------------------- Force12Talk mailing list provided as a service by Force 12 Antennas, Inc. Web sites: http://www.qth.com/force12 and http://www.force12inc.com Submissions: send to Force12Talk@qth.com To unsubscribe: send a blank e-mail to Force12Talk-leave@qth.com Force12Talk Message Archive: http://www.qth.com/force12/list/force12talk For problems with the list, contact n4zr@qth.com |
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