W8ECG Claim on ARRL Equipment Insurance - 2005
06/09/2005 A spectacular light show in the form of a thunder storm passed through between the hours of 8:30 PM and 9:30 PM, the repeater went silent at 9:10 PM.
After waiting until there was no more lightning (I can hear ZUZ now "what a wimp!") I went to the repeater building and found the breakers tripped, when I reset the breakers smoke came from the power supply and the amp, I shut the breakers off and returned to the house.
Then next day I brought all the equipment down to the clubhouse and started going through it one at a time, I found no item that was powered by the 110VAC at the repeater building was functioning. I contacted Pacific Research Solutions where repeater, controller and remote base came from and explained the situation and what I was seeing with the equipment and he said from what I was describing that it would cost more to fix then to replace. After further investigation it seems all the chips (IC's) got way more voltage then they like. Some of the more interesting carnage was fried cards in the wireless AP computer and circuit breaker blown apart in UPS.
06/13/2005 I contacted the ARRL insurance company (New Hampshire Insurance Company) and after calling the number on the accompanying paper and going through 3 people the last person gave me a name, number, fax number, and what information to include in the fax for the person that handles the equipment insurance, Ralph Wallace is that person, I left two voice messages for Ralph and have not heard back yet.
06/15/2005 I went ahead and got quotes for replacement equipment and faxed this information to the fax number.
06/20/2005 It is now one week since the voice mails where left with Ralph (equipment insurance rep.) Vacation? Typical Insurance company? Impatient person (me)?
06/22/2005 Called again and left a message for Ralph Wallace to see if I am even contacting and faxing the right department and sending the proper information.
06/22/2005 I received a voice mail from Ralph, he said I am in the system and that I would be receiving confirmation in the next couple days, he also left his contact numbers and email address, I sent him an email asking if I could use our direct correspondence here on this page.
Ralph stated that it is OK to use his correspondence on this page, email
The official document from the insurance - PDF DOC - Voice mail from Ralph here
07/18/2005 Emailed Ralph to find out where we are in the procedure.
08/01/2005 Emailed Ralph to find out where we are in the procedure. - again
08/03/2005 Received a call from Ralph that he needed a couple receipts and updated quotes for the replacement equipment.
08/19/2005 Called Ralph to see where we are in the claim process, received a call back and Ralph stated a check for the first quotes was send out last Friday, the check was at home when I arrived. Ralph also stated we would handle the amp that is out for repairs when it comes back.
All replacement equipment is ordered, repaired items are complete except for amp and it's waiting on parts, all in all the insurance process was a pleasant experience.
08/30/2005 Tim at TD Communications sent an email stating the amp was not repairable and quoted a replacement from Tessco, we also requested and received pricing from Radio Dan on a Henry amp. Waiting to see what the insurance approves, new amps are expensive...
09-06-2005 Insurance approved new Henry Amp from www.radiodan.com, we have at this point replaced or repaired everything. This insurance issue is closed - now is the time to interface and test.