[aprssig] Bad Press in Wall Street Journal Sep. 6th 2005...

[Neil Johnson]

Haven't seen the article myself, but it figures.

I'll put in my two cents worth then I'm done. No need to warn me off, Stan.

Motorola builds very few radios, repeaters, dispatch consoles, or even 
cellphones any more (probably only military stuff). Like most companies 
they have most of their products built (and increasingly even designed) 
by outside contractors. They just market the reputation of the name 
"Motorola".

Those FRS radios and cordless phones you see in retail stores with the 
"bat wings" on them? A Motorola employee probably never even touched the 
product. They were probably made by another company who just  paid money 
to put the logo on the outside.

Of course, for Motorola and the contract manufacturers to make the 
maximum profit all the manufacturing has to be moved outside of the U.S. 
(pardon me, to "low-cost geographies").

## You can stop reading here if you want. I'm just going to rant ##

If there is one small, tiny, minuscule, good thing to come out of 
Katrina it is that ~300 people in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa will be able to 
keep their jobs a little longer as they manufacture communications 
equipment urgently needed to support recovery operations (and I mean 
two-way radios, not cell-phones).

Even though the plant maybe closing in a few months, the employees there 
will still be putting in the extra effort to get those orders filled. 
Just like they did after 9/11, Hurricane Andrew, and regularly for over 
30 years.

Hopefully, this will buy them enough time for to find new business for 
the plant. If you are interested, there is information on one effort at 
http://savemtpleasantjobs.com

They are good people. I know. I worked with them for twelve years. I had 
to move on for my family's sake, but I wish them all the best.

-Neil

Kriss & Erin Kliegle wrote:
> Here's what our former club president wrote, I couldn't have said better 
> myself...
>  
>  
> Open Quotes....
>  
> September 7, 2005
> 
> Mr. Edward J. Zander
> Chairman of the Board and CEO
> Motorola, Inc.
> Schaumburg, IL   60196
> 
> Mr. Zander,
> 
> As a professional firefighter and fire captain for thirty years I have 
> used many Motorola products on a daily basis.  As a licensed master 
> electrician for twenty years I have some understanding of the frailties 
> of electrical and electronic equipment.  As an amateur radio operator I 
> understand the basics of communications systems.
> With this in mind I am appalled at the comments by Motorola employee Jim 
> Screeden in the September 6, 2005 Wall Street Journal article by 
> Christopher Rhoads, "As Telecom Reels From Storm Damage, Ham Radios Hum" 
> .  Not only are Mr. Screeden's comments insensitive and completely out 
> of order, they are just plain wrong.  Mr. Screeden, and everyone else at 
> Motorola and it's competitors that has any involvement with public 
> safety related communications, needs to take a serious look at which 
> systems are functional in disasters and which systems have a long and 
> consistent history of failure or reduced capability in the times of 
> greatest need.
> Mr. Screeden may be an excellent manager for repair operations.  
> However, he, and all of Motorola, must realize that he is repairing 
> equipment that failed when it was most needed.  The amateur radio system 
> that he refers to as "better than nothing. but pretty close to nothing" 
> has continued to function and in many situations is now the only 
> choice.  And it functions with out taxpayer support or the need for 
> specialized repair teams from distant states.
> I sincerely hope that you will address this situation with a full page 
> letter to the public in the Wall Street Journal apologizing to the 
> amateur radio community for Mr. Screeden's unjustified remarks.   
> Anything less will leave a serious black spot on the reputation and 
> ethics of your company. 
> 
> 
> Thank you,
> Tom Richardson,  AB1CL
> 11 Littlehale Road
> Durham, NH   03824-2106
> 
> 
> Cc:
> American Radio Relay League
> Federal Communications Commission
> Department of Homeland Security
> Wall Street Journal
>  
> Close Quotes....
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
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