The FT-817/FT-817ND/FT-818ND iPad interface is back in action.
First: An apology.
Early in 2015, I had two fairly major events occur in my life, and unfortunately this resulted in some orders being lost. It was a combination of external factors and mismanagement of both the ordering and the manufacturing process on my part, and it resulted in a number of my final orders before I wound up production being completely lost, the details of the orders being completely lost, and being in a situation where I had no way to track which orders had already been sent to which payments, and it did result in some customers making a payment and never receiving an interface.
In short, I moved states in Aus, some 1000km trip and during that move I suffered a major data loss event on my ordering system. That combined with the fact I was manufacturing the interfaces post-order, meant that there would sometimes be a wait for customers of up to a month before the interfaces they’d purchased would be manufactured, tested and sent out. This was a flawed model to begin with – and I should have had better backups in place. The move also brought with it a lot of financial stress and I made the decision to exit the Amateur Radio hobby.
To make Amends:
To those who paid but never received an interface, there’s no other way to say this, firstly, I’m sorry. You put your trust into me to deliver something and I let you down. Secondly: If you originally paid for but never received an interface, and would still like an interface, please reach out to me via josh@zindello.com.au and forward your payment receipt (if you still have it) and details, I will send you one from the first batch.
The manufacturing process is now being changed to a “stock on hand” model, meaning that interfaces will not be going up for sale before they’re physically available, assembled and tested. I have ordered a large stock of boards and components so that I should be able to assemble these in large batches and keep stock on hand – but that all depends on you guys and how fast you buy the stock on hand.
I’m estimating that I’ll have stock on hand in about four weeks time. The boards are coming from China and various other components and equipment needs to be sourced. I’m also still waiting on my license to be reallocated so I will have a new VK2 callsign shortly as well.
Thanks all for taking the time to read this, once again I’m truly sorry to those who put their trust in me and I let down – I’m taking steps to ensure that it won’t happen again.
Thanks and 73
Josh Mesilane (Rx only – For now)
