Thanks for giving me an update. I suggest you use some form of automation to keep your customers in the loop. I am pretty sure USPS does this as it is the norm for online stores and even small time Ebay shops (USPS, FedEx, UPS, DHL, Airbourne....) I appreciate the work you put in and as well as Dingotel, because without copying Dingotel, this product would most likely not be invented yet. (Sure hope they don't have a patent on it but they probably do or it was assigned to some other company because www.dingotel.com appears to be gone, well that is an totally different issue...) Thanks again, I will give feedback on the list ASAP Steve Totaro On Fri, Mar 7, 2008 at 7:39 PM, David Kramer <dkramer@dmkeng.com> wrote:
Hi Steve,
Your order for 3 URI's shipped yesterday via insured USPS Priority Mail. In the future we will try to do a better job of sending out confirmation emails. Thank you for the suggestion.
Regarding your comment about ~$10 modified FOBs... if you can use one of these I encourage you to do so. It will certainly save you money. You should know the differences however between those devices and URI.
First of all, the FOBs are made in gazillion quantities which helps drive the cost down. We built an initial batch of 100 URIs so we don't have quite the same magnitude scale. Secondly, the cheapo FOBs consist of a sound chip, a plastic housing, connectors and not much else. In order to make it work with Asterisk/app_rpt you have to attach a few components to some very tiny surface mount pins, something not easy to do. Here is what URI provides that you don't get with the FOBs:
RF filtering on all I/Os 3-pole high-fidelity low-pass active filters on both audio outputs with connections for AC or DC coupling Optional high output drive capability 2X gain amplifier AC and DC coupled options for audio in Provisions for connector-mounted EEPROM intended for storing configuration data Circuitry for PTT, CTCSS, and COR connections 3 user programmable I/Os RoHS compliant product USB cable
In 100 piece quantities, the components alone cost more than twice what a single USB audio FOB costs from geeks.com. That doesn't include the bare PC board, component assembly labor, housing, machining, final assembly, and test. Each URI must pass an extensive array of tests. If one of the filter capacitors is just slightly out of tolerance the unit is rejected.
When all is said and done DMK makes only a few dollars profit on each URI sold. This also does not take into account the initial product design and development, first revision beta units that were given away for evaluation, or any of the setup and tooling charges that were incurred.
I state this not to garner sympathy, but to let you know that we offer URIs to the amateur community at a price that benefits the community far more than it enriches us. I wish you success with your project.
David Kramer DMK Engineering Inc. 310-544-1222
-----Original Message----- From: app_rpt-bounces@lists.illiana.net [mailto:app_rpt-bounces@lists.illiana.net]On Behalf Of Steve Totaro Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 10:49 AM To: Asterisk Repeater Controler Subject: Re: [App_rpt] Just Placed an order with DMK Engineering
My question is how long does it take to ship and arrive? Are these things made to order? (on the slow boat from China). Seems like I have been waiting too long and absolutely no communication.
I ordered three on March 3rd. The only email I got was a receipt from PayPal. No order confirmation or shipping information.
For paying $14.95 for shipping I would expect UPS 3day or grounds and a tracking number the same or next day of the order.
$209.85 for 3x ~$10 modified FOBs, there enough markup room for a little customer support I think.
Payment Details Item Price: $209.85 USD Total: $224.80 USD Buyer: steve totaro
Thanks, Steve Totaro
On Fri, Mar 7, 2008 at 1:30 PM, Nevada Amateur Radio Repeaters, Inc. <w7aor@narri.org> wrote:
Just Placed an order with DMK Engineering. Where are instructions found? _______________________________________________ App_rpt mailing list App_rpt@lists.illiana.net http://lists.illiana.net/mailman/listinfo/app_rpt
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