K5CEG allegations

[Glen E. Zook]

I would have thought that Mr. Chuck Groome, K5CEG, would have not wanted
the details of our only meeting made public.  However, since he has
chosen to misquote from my testimony in the court case, I shall make an
attempt to "clear the record".

Mr. Groome wrote the following:  why does mr zook always have to be the
center of attention.especially when it comes to being an authority on
something. ive always found that there are educated fools out there.
they spend all there time getting book smarts they lose reality with the
whole world.mr zook has made claims that he can overhaul any a3-a2-a4
receiver with-in 1 hour.change all the caps, align, etc.hell i cant even
take it apart in that time. but after all i have made a living doing
that .but anyone can take a cource in public speaking and think he can
snow anyone. and some he can and some he cant.play on words all you want
mr zook. we all know what a fast talker stands for.    Chuck

I was called as an "expert witness" in case # 200103719, Justice Court
Precinct 5-1, Lamar County, Texas, in, and for, the City of Paris,
Texas.  This case was to determine the ownership of two Collins "A" Line
receivers (a 75A2 and a 75A3) between Dwight W. Smith (W5USM) and Chuck
Groome (K5CEG).

The dispute came about under the following circumstances:  Mr. Smith had
inquired of Mr. Groome the estimated price for aligning both Collins
receivers.  In addition, one receiver, the 75A3, needed the electrolytic
capacitor in the power supply changed.  Mr. Smith was to provide the
capacitor.  Mr. Groome estimated the cost for the alignment of both
receivers and the repair of one to be approximately $50 to $90 each.
Mr. Smith then allowed Mr. Groome to take possession of these
receivers.  By the way, both receivers had already been removed from
their cases.

After several months, Mr. Smith attempted to regain possession of these
receivers.  Mr. Groome stated that he had already amassed over $1100 in
repair charges against these receivers and was not even close to
completion.  It was from this that the court case came into being.

At the trial, Mr. Groome stated that he had spent over 20 hours
surveying, troubleshooting, etc. on the two receivers.  He was
supposedly ordering "mil spec" "orange drop" capacitors to replace the
paper capacitors ("black beauty", although actually "brown beauty" in
the 75A2 and 75A3) at a cost of between $4 and $8 each, etc.  In the
alleged 20 hours that Mr. Groome had spent examining the receivers he
had not noticed that these capacitors had been replaced by a previous
owner of the receivers.

The cost of Sprague "orange drop" 0.1 mfd capacitors from Mouser is
$1.22 each and the 0.47 mfd capacitor is $2.03 in single quantities.
Considerably less when bought in quantity of 25 or more.  There are a
total of 9 capacitors needing replaced in the 75A2 or 75A3 (actually,
some receivers have less).  At the single purchase price this is a cost
of $11.79 each for the capacitors.  Mr. Groome was stating a cost of
over $100 for the parts to replace the capacitors that had already been
replaced.

Mr. Groome made other comments about all the effort it took to repair
these older receivers.  It was obvious to the judge and everyone else at
the trial that Mr. Groome had never even looked at the receivers.

During the over two hours of testimony, well over half of it by myself,
Mr. Groome's attorney not once challenge my credentials.  Mr. Groome did
make the comment that his credentials were as good as mine, or even
better.  However, I would ask Mr. Groome to prove this.  I not only have
held an amateur license for over 41 years, have held a commercial
radio-telephone operator's license for 39 years, PCIA (Personal
Communications Industry Association) certification, and have been
certified as an RCDD (Registered Communications Distribution Designer)
which is "akin", but not the same as, a Professional Engineering
certification, which is recognized world-wide.  I have made
presentations at professional seminars, have had published over 1000
articles, columns, etc. in newspapers, magazines (including CQ, 73, Ham
Radio, Popular Electronics), was the first FM editor of CQ, etc.

I worked my way through Georgia Tech first as a two-way radio technician
for the Motorola Service Station and then as the manager of the first
portable and paging repair facility away from the Motorola plant.  My
"hands on" experience goes on from there including employment at Collins
Radio, owning the Motorola reconditioned equipment center for the
south-central US, running my own sales / service / light manufacturing
business, being employed by Texas Utilities (TXU) as a project manager /
consultant on two-way radio, microwave, and data communications, etc.

Getting back to the trial:  The judge decided that the receivers did
indeed belong to Mr. Smith and that Mr. Groome was entitled to nothing
for his alleged repair efforts.

After the judge had rendered the verdict, a member of the Groome
entourage made threats on the four of us who had come to Paris, Texas,
in this matter (W5USM, N5PG, my wife, and myself).  The threats were
taken seriously enough by the Paris Police Department that they gave us
a "police escort" to the limits of their jurisdiction just in case
someone tried to harm us.

Now, as to Mr. Groome's claims on service:  The 75A2 and 75A3 receivers
have a total of 4 screws holding them in the cabinet.  If it takes Mr.
Groome over an hour to remove these screws and take the receivers from
their cases, I can easily see how it would take him over 20 hours to
even look at the bottom of the receivers!  The 75A4 is a bit different
construction and requires the removal of about 16 or 18 screws (I didn't
turn mine over to look right now, so am not absolutely sure of this
number).

None of these receivers have to be removed from their cases to do an
alignment although I usually do so.  Doing an alignment takes well under
an hour if the proper test equipment is used (i.e. service monitor).
The replacement of the paper capacitors in the 75A2, 75A3, and 75A4 can
be done in less than an hour by a competent technician.  If you add the
additional 10 "deadly capacitors" of the 75A4, that can add up to an
additional hour (this involves a total of 25 capacitors).  The 75A1 is
different for a total of 41 capacitors need to be replaced.  This takes
about two hours, although 33 of these are fairly simple to access
because the 75A1 uses eleven triple 0.1 mfd bath tub type of capacitors.

Anyway, the transcript of the trial and the final verdict are a matter
of public record and are available at the Lamar County Courthouse,
Paris, Texas.  The presiding magistrate was Cindy Ruthart.

Glen, K9STH