Reflections on Doing Business

Building a middling large contest station necessarily involves lots of spending. It adds up quickly. Consider the following (partial) list:

• Station equipment: rigs, amplifiers, switching, rotators, antennas
• Electronic components
• Materials: steel, aluminum, concrete, wood, PVC
• Fasteners: clamps, screws, guy hardware
• Services: welding, machining, heavy equipment, steel work
• Cables: coax, wire, electrical

That's a lot of business! Even when you build much of it yourself as I am doing there is an endless list of items to be purchased. For most of us who are not wealthy it is important to develop and work to a budget to avoid frustrated ambition.

Let's look at a few examples of doing business while building my station. There are lessons for us all, positive and negative.

Tower services

The commercial tower business is thriving. Most is done by large enterprises that have multiple locations and remote management. They are the least flexible in working with hams. Small local outfits are far easier to deal with. When I first moved to this QTH I made a point of dropping in to see the local tower service company to get to know them and see where they might be able to help me with my station. I knew a few hams who had hired them and were happy with their performance.

You might not be so lucky but unless you take the trouble to look them up you'll never know. They put in the foundations for both my big towers. Although there were a few problems they took the extra effort to resolve them. Some of these were due to miscommunications, such as their expectation that I knew more about dealing with heavy equipment better than was the case.

They have become a good source of surplus equipment and material from decommissioned towers and communications systems. I make a point of recommending them to others and I continue to give them them my business.

Aluminum

Buying antenna aluminum in Canada is a challenge. Although we have a huge aluminum industry the selection and availability of many types of aluminum tubing is often not friendly to hams. The 0.058" wall tubes that assist with telescoping yagi elements are almost unheard of despite being widely available in the US. These are considered aerospace material. Importing long tubes is far from economical.

On the other hand aluminum tubes and other shapes are widely available and economical if you are willing to improvise with more common sizes. I've modified my yagi designs in accord with local availability. All I'm then left with is finding the best company to work with.

My first experience several years ago was barely adequate. The company that seemed best had a limited selection and they only dealt in full lengths, typically 20'. Cutting to size was expensive. They catered to industry and barely tolerated retail customers. But the prices were excellent.

Several months ago I went to another firm that makes a big deal of their selection, cutting to small quantities and walk in retail customers. Again, the result was not great. For my second order I selected a small quantity of short tubes to test in my workshop for suitability to build yagis. Every tube in that order was wrong, either OD, ID or alloy. I gave up on them for good.

I returned to the first company. On the phone they were far more receptive than I remembered so I dropped in to see them. What a change. They worked hard for my business including hunting down non-stock items and discounting the price for the quantities I needed. The order was filled to perfection.

When I had difficulty loading the tubes into my car the company president offered to deliver it to my place, despite the bother and the 100 km distance. It was delivered in good order the very next day. On being asked to think of them in future I told him I certainly would.

Like people, companies change. Don't be afraid to try again long after a poor experience. Companies that survive must change to stay competitive.

Wire and cable

In my station there are ~500 meters of coax, 2000 meters of wire, 1300 meters of guy strand, 500+ meters of control cable, plus guy grips, junction boxes and much more. I buy very little of it at the better known retail outlets. Some was bought used, most was bought new and I've acquired quite a lot for free or close to free.

After shopping around I do most of my buying at a local branch of a province wide supplier of electrical equipment to trades and industry, including power companies. Their prices and selection are good and they make an effort to special order what they don't stock locally or their central warehouse. They are happy to sell small quantities to retail customers, although they prefer large quantities.

When there have been errors and other problems they always try to make good, albeit grudgingly at times. I'll keep going there for as long as the good experiences predominate.

Welding and machining

There are welders everywhere. In rural areas like mine there is a sign hanging out front every few kilometers where small operators work out of their homes. There are almost as many commercial enterprises with 2 or 3 people. Then there are the large companies that cater to industry. Machinists tend to be collocated with welding shops since they are closely associated despite being distinct trades.

I went by recommendation rather than hunt one on my own, choosing the shop that did the welding for the guy anchors on my first big tower. The proprietor is a machinist and his partner is a welder. This is where I went for my custom guy yokes, tower load bearing plate and trimming aluminum pipe for booms.

A misunderstanding led to incorrectly bent plates for the yokes, which they corrected by making new ones from their own metal stock. Aside from that error the quality of the work is excellent and the prices reasonable. I intend to return to them to fabricate steel plates for the mast bearings and rotator needed for the new tower.

Specialty markets: retail and swap nets

The specialty amateur radio market in North America is going through a secular shift as older generations age out and the type and quantity of business changes. In Canada several ham market retailers have closed down in recent years and the ones that continue have branched out into other lines of business to survive. It's a tough sector to be in.

At a flea market this spring it was obvious that our hobby is approaching a crisis. A friend and I surveyed the crowd and saw an almost uninterrupted panorama of male grey heads. That isn't sustainable. Among the items on my table the old stuff interested old people. More recent technology drew in younger hams. By younger I mean in their middle years.

It won't be long before the smaller ham flea markets fade away. That's a shame since they can be very enjoyable events.

Online swap shops suffer from the same ills of all online fora: swindlers. This was far less common when swap shops were in print or on air. The bad actors are mostly small time criminals and scammers that infest all branches of online person-to-person commerce. A few are hams. Due diligence is required on every deal, whether you are a buyer or a seller.

Lessons learned

It is well worth the effort to find and stay with companies that are reliable, fair and willing to take the trouble to keep customers happy. For most of these companies the business from a ham is small in comparison to their industrial clients. Since many can't be bothered with small retail customers it is important to appreciate the one that do.

Although ugly stories abound most people are reasonable and reliable. Doing business can be enjoyable with the right person or company on the other side of the deal. Don't let yourself be ruled by cynicism: many people are their own worst enemies. When you mostly have bad experiences doing business it's probably you not them. Don't be one of "those" customers.

Strive to build strong long-lasting business relationships. Treat a first deal like a first date. Trust builds over time. Excuse a few lapses since we all make mistakes. But move on when it becomes a habit.

Do you need a recommendation for a supplier or service? Ask the people you've come to trust doing business with. One of the reasons they're good is that they rely on other good companies. They'll lead you to the good ones. That's how I've had success finding the dealers and services I've come to rely on.