AA4DF's FAQ
Dave Miller, AA4DF
Frequently Asked Questions:
Can you believe everything you read?
Q: Hey! I just read in a feedback that your low res is indistinguishable from your high res!?
A: This well illustrates one of the filthy tricks 'marketing' vendors use. It's easy to have a friend or relative buy something for you and then leave a false feedback, steering buyers away from the better deals offered by honest vendors. On Jul0707 we received a feedback that included "Touted hi-res manuals indistinguishable from lo-res at 1200 dpi". Check this out:
Can you "distinguish" the difference between the upper and lower pictures? You betcha. (Yes, we see the "1200dpi" in the feedback and our pics are 1200 "percent", but the buyer's comment makes absolutely no sense at all as stated, since you don't change the scanned dpi by changing display res). While it's true that our low res is often better than what 'marketers' tout as their high res, our own high res is easily distinguishable from our standard res productions.
Remember, AA4DF's enterprise doesn't need to use such lowlife tricks, our products speak for themselves. There are dozens of 'marketers' and other salesmen sending out plagiarized scanned manuals for every working, producing vendor like us. Only by supporting original document producers can you help the scanned manuals trade become the great resource it has the potential to be. Please help spread the word. Let's take back our internet from the scam artists!
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What's Up With The One Dollar Offerings in The Store?
Q: What's with one dollar prices and $3 "S&H" on some items? Isn't that "marketing"??
A: Jill, the smart one of the team, pointed out to me that "the copycat" had a lot of sales because he gives almost nothing in the way of descriptions so folks didn't realize that for his "$1.99" (and often as much as $4.99 S&H) "the copycat" is only distributing the little "bench res" version we include in sets and as a useful part of our "dual resolution" sets. Folks were actually thinking that they'd bought a typical PDF manual from him (well, I guess I should say "them", since there are very active "copycat vendors" in Central FL, TX, AR, and MN, none of whom contribute anything to the pool of available documentation, but rather just "leech" from those of us who do contribute). I'd always wondered how it could be that folks who are discerning enough to own Tektronix, HP, Fluke, Wavetek and other such high quality equipment would choose one 75 to 150 dpi single res scan for $7 shipped over the same PLUS a 300/600 dpi scan PLUS useful extras for (typically) $7.49 shipped. So we made CDs with EXACTLY what "the copycat" is offering, (and of course "whupped up on the boy" price-wise as we always have and always will), and are using those item descriptions to let the buyer community know what their actual choices are, plus to help spread the word about the damage "copycats" are doing to the growth of the industry and availability of new material. However, we don't recommend the one dollar items, as you get so very much more with our "full" CDs. If you're really hurting financially, though, our one dollar items do give you an alternative to buying from the "copycats". Buying from original document producers or genuine archivists helps strengthen the industry and gives us the resources to increase the available document pool.
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About Trading Manuals
Q: Wanna trade PDF or original manuals?
A: We love to trade, as you may have heard from friends and associates. However, trade offers that come through eBay will be ignored. It is strictly against eBay's regulations to use their system to contact us with offers to trade material. Please don't do it, as we will not respond to such communications. eBay very generously allows a link to our web site from our "about me" page. Our web site has some great trade offers (like 10 of ours for one of yours!) but they are ONLY available through the web site and have no connection with eBay.
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Shipping / Handling
Q: How much for shipping and handling?
A: If it's a CD or CD set, there may be a store item and/or auction item listing with no mailing charge. In that listing, seller pays for mailing worldwide. There is no "handling" charge, either. No "packing" fee, NO ADDED FEES AT ALL, worldwide. That used to set a standard among "better" vendors. HOWEVER: Because "The Marketer" has the habit of following us around and appearing to undercut our prices by virtue of his "shipping and handling fee", there now will be a store item that does include a "shipping and handling fee". This exists only as a response to "The Marketer", to help keep they who are in too much of a hurry to analyze purchases from being tricked into buying one of "The Marketer's" password locked single resolution PDFs or sets.
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"The Marketer"?
Q: I see many references to "The Marketer". What's that?
A: It's a who. "The Marketer" is a certain vendor who has the (unstated) aim of driving every other scanned manuals seller from the eBay marketplace and the STATED aim of "getting prices back up to reasonable (his word, not ours) levels" (look for his current items in the $30-$35 range.. FOR A CD!!!). "The Marketer" uses every trick in the book, from UNDESCRIBED faults in his documents to tricks like adding military manuals that are freely downloadable from LOGSA and app notes that are freely downloadable from the manufacturer's and other web sites to his offerings in order to put a higher "volume count" in his description titles. "The Marketer" is easily identifiable by his describing common features like bookmarking as though the features were exclusive to him, plus his use of cute but meaningless terms like "digitally remastered" (the guy *MUST* be running a used car lot on the side!!) He's the absolute leader of the "slick salesman"-type vendors in our field, and if he gets his way you'll be paying a minimum of $25-$30 for every Tek, HP, Fluke, etceteras scanned manual you can find. What can you do to help defeat "The Marketer" and help we honest vendors survive? Turn his own tricks around on him! Make him pay for his deceptions! If you buy a scanned manual, and the description of that manual did not clearly state that most (if not all) pages will be defaced with a company name, etceteras, and you do find such defects in it, return the CD for a refund! Help us clean up the scanned manuals trade! Send it back on the basis of the embedded letters, company logos on every manual page, and other such undescribed faults. If "The Marketer" refuses to refund your money, send the CD to us and we'll remove the defects and return the corrected PDF to you.
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"Volumes Game"?
Q: What is this "Volumes Game" you're ranting about, Dave?
A: An example may best illustrate the point. Let's say that "The Marketer" has the 2232 manual, but other vendors have it better and/or for less. What "The Marketer" will do is go to one of the free internet download sites, the manufacturer's site or perhaps LOGSA and download a REDUNDANT item that applies to the 2232, add it and then put "2 VOLUMES" in his title. That's misleading! Still, it's not a direct lie...
HOWEVER:
When that vendor's text says something like:
1. Tektronix 2232 OSCILLOSCOPE, Service P/N 070-7067-00, 384-pages in 403 MB.
2. Tektronix 2232 OSCILLOSCOPE, User P/N 070-7066-02, 184 pages in 10MB pdf file.
And then claims scan parameters equal to ours (even using our description text!):
All text: 300dpi:
Text with photos: 600dpi, grayscale (contrast adjusted):
Text with Drawings: 600dpi black and white:
Schematics: 600dpi black and white:
Schematics and board overlays with color notes: 256 colors 600dpi
Anyone out there see the lie? 384 pages in 403MB and 184 pages in 10MB, same resolution and parameters? I don't think so! You've seen Tek user manuals, they're loaded with pictures and drawings.. NO WAY the vendor scanned the second listed manual in the same manner as the first. "The Marketer" is often lying about his resolutions, just writing whatever makes himself look good! Don't take our word for it, analyze his listings, do the math! We here at aa4df.com and ALL other serious vendors that we know of (yes, including the fellow in Greece) would never do anything like that! Yet, "The Marketer" is doing it regularly, and getting away with it!
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Application Notes May Be Locked
Q: Why are some App Notes, Catalogs, and other items you distribute locked against editing?
A: Some of the application notes we include with sets and other items we distribute and even a few of the manuals are provided to us (the originals, that is) on a consignment basis by individuals who want to avoid one of our U.S. competitors acquiring the scans, then password locking edit access to them and calling them his own. This is a very realistic expectation, as much of what that competitor is hawking as "digitally remastered" or "rare" are the exact same scans we and others have been selling since before that "competitor" even realized the scanned manual business exists.
The folks who invest in the originals have therefore stipulated that we protect the value of their holdings as best we can, which we have done. This doesn't mean we've stooped to the level of the aforementioned "competitor" (scamming others into doing his scanning for him and then locking them and calling them his own work), it only means that items provided may or may not be editable in a PDF editor.
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Is it My or Our? We or I? Me or Us?
Q: I've always respected the way you didn't make all those "our, we, and us" noises like "The Marketer" does while he's trying to pretend he's a big company. You've always said "I, me, and my". Now I see you using "our, we and us"! What's next? Cute (but meaningless) marketing hook phrases like "digitally remastered"? "Volume counts" padded with LOGSA downloaded military manuals?
A: No, we really are "we" at least three or four days a week now. I have a wonderful part-time assistant whose influence is here even when she is not. Therefore, we are actually a "we". Jill is a valuable addition to your workforce (because, after all, it's you we're both working for!)
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Feedback
Q: I've sent my payment, where's my positive feedback?
A: Please see AA4DF's Feedback Policy<---PLEASE read this..
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Blocked Bidders
Q: I seem to be blocked from bidding in your auctions or buying from your store! How can that happen?
A: When presented directly with evidence that a buyer doesn't read the auction text, that buyer is blocked from bidding. Analysis shows that half the problems seen on eBay would be eliminated if folks would just read the descriptions before bidding or buying. For instance, when someone emails us asking "is this a book or a CD?", or "is this a CD or a DVD?" it's obvious they haven't read the text. What part of "...Service Manual in PDF on CD" is hard to understand? Or, for example, when an item title is: "Trio KENWOOD TS-130S TS-130V VFO-120 AT-130 SV Manual" and someone writes asking "Does this have the AT-130 antenna tuner included?" they obviously haven't even really read the title much less the description. Also, when we see an obviously completely unfair feedback post whoever posted it is blocked. For example: I recently saw a neutral where a buyer left "good service but item was pricey" (he was not refering to the shipping charges). That buyer went straight into our blocked bidder list, since he knew the price when he bought the item, and that feedback post was entirely unfair to the seller. No one has ever been blocked on a whim.
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No FTP
Q: I need service documentation NOW and want to FTP it. Why don't you have your FTP service on eBay? Others do!
A: eBay rules for sellers may or may not allow FTP, we've seen that (and many other) eBay rules effectively subject to interpretation by whatever CSR we're dealing with at the time. They also seem to change from day to day, and the "eBay Police Force" doesn't take their own rule changes into account (IOW, something was "legal" on eBay yesterday is not "legal" today, the eBay auction ending department takes the item down without warning, considering it a "violation". That factor plus the fact that we've learned from hard experience, that many, many people confuse ftp with email attachments, make us very hesitant about offering FTP on eBay. Of course, many of our products are offered by FTP from our web site.
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Paper Copies
Q: Why don't you offer photo or laser hard copies of originals?
A: I personally believe the PDF format manuals are more versatile and useful, especially with text-searchability. Some folks still prefer paper, and especially when it comes to printing schematics, paper has it's advantages as well.. however, since we can scarcely keep up with the demand for our PDF manuals, and since we both truly believe that electronic documentation has many advantages of it's own, only greed could motivate us to "compete" with existing paper manual sellers, and folks, greed is one ugly puppy.
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File Sizes
Q: What about file sizes? That's how to judge quality, isn't it?
A: Only up to a point, after which a larger file size becomes detrimental. A document is scanned at a stated dpi, etceteras, and quality can be judged somewhat by that.. however, "marketing" vendors often scan far past the point of diminishing returns, resulting in a PDF that looks and prints no better than properly scanned files, just so they can put a bigger number in their descriptions. On the other hand, vendors like "The Marketer" often "fib" about their resolutions and sometimes give that fact away (to discerning observers) when they advertise file sizes. Because of the prevalence of misleading hype and even downright lies associated with file sizes and page counts, Jill and I usually elect not to specify them. Take a look at some samples... it just doesn't get any better than that!
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Page Counts
Q: Does a higher page count mean a more complete document?
A: Only if you consider the addition of blank pages, shareware begging pages, advertising pages and the like to be a good thing. When you see someone's advertising consistently emphasizes page counts, you know you're being "marketed to". The important thing to know is that Our Manuals Are Complete! In rare instances, when a customer has complained to us about another vendor's product missing a large number of pages, we may specify a page count just so folks will realize that the other vendor is selling an incomplete manual. This happens most often with "copycat vendors" and "library" distributors, who somehow "lose" pages while trying to remove digital signatures and etceteras (that's our theory, anyway).
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Complaint Department
Q: Hey, guess what that competitor of yours did to me!!!
A: Sent you a CD manual with shareware begging or source identification pages locked into it? Missing pages? Tricked you by padding volume counts with free internet downloads and military manuals? Sent you a CD or DVD full of internet downloads? These are all common tricks our "marketing" competitors use to seduce you into buying from them instead of us, or faults that exist in their offerings because they just don't know any better. Let me ask you this: does the feedback you left reflect how you were treated, or does it merely reflect that the resolutions are nice (we should think so.. we did the scans for a lot of them!) plus the fact that you want a positive back?
For instance, we receive complaints about "The Marketer's" offering of the 7104 having missing pages.. we know all about it, it's another one of our scans he acquired and "put his brand on" and is reselling as his own, using his usual marketing tactics. I corrected our offering of it some time ago. But what good does complaining about him to us do? It's true that we do influence that seller by example. For instance, after years of claiming to you that A3 (a/k/a 11x17" or "full-size") sheets are not to be desired "because very few of us can print them and if you shrink them you can't read the schematics", he's changed his tune and started offering them. Another example: after we'd been selling a large multi-volume collection of Tek 7000 plugin manuals for well over a year that he'd made disparaging remarks about the quality of, suddenly he used it as the basis of a set he sold (and is still selling), while bragging about the quality. It's hard not to laugh while reading his bragging as he offers at best the same thing the rest of us are offering and most often he gives you LESS!.. at any rate, that seller follows whatever of our good examples he has to in order to stay in the game, but it's really your not ordering from him that forces him to give you a break. So please, instead of buying from him and then griping, just don't buy from the guy in the first place! If you must buy from him, we can and will remove any shareware begging pages and such faults for you, and make the document editable, sure.. but please, at least return the product with it's undescribed faults to him for a refund. That's the only way that "marketing experts" ever realize that good service means a lot more than writing a better advertisement. Faults in documentation must be described up front, and honesty truly is the best policy! Don't get the idea we're saying you have to buy from us to get something good, though. There are a couple of good, honest technical documentation vendors on eBay besides us!
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Free Manuals on Other Sites
Q: I found a freely downloadable manual on another site that looks like one you're selling, you dastardly cad!
A: We really like it when a super-philanthropist ("just ask 'em") or group prefaces documents with letters that say "This manual is provided FREE OF CHARGE from the 'XXXX' as a service to the XXXX community. It was uploaded by someone who wanted to help you repair and maintain your equipment. If you paid anyone other than XXXX for this manual, you paid someone who is making a profit from the free labor of others without asking their permission. You may pass on copies of this manual to anyone who needs it. But do it without charge."
Can anyone see the problem in that? UPLOADING is not SCANNING! We often find one of the manuals we work very hard on has become resident on one of those free download sites, and then find such a letter hard coded into the front of it. BAMA, for instance, has a Tektronix section that consists mostly of our material, either plagiarized "as is" or uploaded by an individual after running it through a process to disguise it's origins.
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Text Searchability
Q: "Text-Searchable" means that every word in every document is a hundred percent locatable, right?
A: Absolutely not! When scanned from paper, there are several factors which make OCR less than one hundred percent accurate. However, we do the best we can do at it, and use the "slow but more accurate processes" to achieve an accuracy as high as anyone else's (that are scanned from paper).
Some of the smaller options documents, operating manuals, supplements, etceteras have not gone through OCR in cases where we believe it would be a superfluous gesture at best.
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Plastic Donut? You Betcha!
Q: Well, what about the fellow stating that paper's superior to electronic ducumentation because troubleshooting is a parallel activity and you need a lot of data all at the same time?
A: Well, we obviously don't always see eye to eye on whether one format or the other is "better", and after discussion, he and I came to the conclusion that the individual user is the only judge of what's best for him or her. Many folks do prefer paper for their own good reasons, and many prefer PDFs for their text-searchability, bookmarking that goes beyond the tables of contents, hyperlinking, reduced storage space, ease of reproduction, reduced risk of loss or damage, and etceteras. Some folks also prefer to have BOTH for their valued equipment.
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Money-Back Guarantee
Q: Hey, what's this I hear about you having a money back guarantee?
A: Our money-back guarantee: In our continuing commitment to keep on providing the best scanned manual service anywhere, if you don't find that the value received in our scans is better than any competitor's at any price we'll give you a FULL refund (including shipping) upon our examination of a copy of the PDF or PDF set of the same material that you consider better. There is no need to return the material we sent you (requiring that makes no sense at all and anyone offering a guarantee based on returning the CD they sent you is obviously just playing the odds; if they don't offer a FULL refund, including shipping, then they don't really believe in the superiority of their product, they're just "marketing"!.
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Antagonism Toward Competition
Q: Dave, you old warmonger, you seem to spend as much time whining about the faults in your competitor's products as the virtues of your own. Why can't we all just get along?
A: Some of us can and do! At this time there are dozens of folks selling scanned manuals on eBay, most of whom have merely obtained copies of and are reselling the products we and others have made the necessary investments to create. If we don't tell you about the plagiarism, who will? Everything you should know about what we offer is described up front, whether it's positive or negative, but the single most important factor to all concerned (yes, to the buyer too if the buyer might need to buy other scanned manuals in the future) is that we create the products we sell, we don't just milk the market.. So, sorry about the whining, but it has helped to keep some folks from making the mistake of supporting "marketers" and "leeches".
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Missing Pages from "Copycat" or "Library" Vendors
Q: Hey, I bought a manual from someone else and the page I need most is missing!
A: There are vendors in England (Leeds), MN (Rochester), AR (Mena), TX (Houston), and in Central FL who are known to have obtained some of our scans and are reselling them. Since they have no investment in time or material to create the original PDFs, sometimes you might be able to save a buck by buying our material from those fellows instead of us (though they often use that "shipping/handling fee" to get more than we do).
However, we advise you to carefully examine "their" product for missing pages and such.. we correct and update any undescribed problems found in anything we distribute, with no time limit. Those "copycat" vendors, of course, have no means of doing this. If you're the sort of person who has no problems with sloth and plagiarism as long as it (at least apparently) saves you a dollar, you can certainly buy our material from the "copycats".. and hopefully the page(s) you need most will not be missing. We do advise you to always examine the table of contents page(s) versus the actual contents of a PDF manual you receive before you leave feedback. "Copycat" vendors are doing quite a bit of damage to your chances of being able to find any scanned manual product you need when you need it, as few of us have the tenacity to keep producing new high quality material under such circumstances. We're confident that buyers will eventually understand the wisdom of buying from the original creator and avoiding "leeches" that don't create their own material (libraries and collections by genuine archivists who provide the scans as released by the originator DO NOT belong in the 'bad guys' list.. they're providing a service), especially if you help spread the word.
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Who's Jill??
Q: Hey Dave, an enquiry I sent to you was answered with the signature "Jill". Is there something about you we should know?
A: Naw, Jill comes around here three or four days a week, more if I'm really lucky, and helps me out with all this (as long as it isn't raining.. Jill doesn't like to soak her bike, and besides, sugar melts!) Some might call her my part-time helper, while others realize that Jill's the brains behind this operation. I stand behind any statement Jill makes. As a gift to you young fellas out there, I got her to let me put her picture HERE. If you look at some of our 7000-Series Manuals Collections, that's her in the picture with the stack of manuals, too.. Jill says I can't have her picture up without mine as well, so HERE is one taken in 1969. A more recent photo isn't necessary, since of course due to good, clean living I haven't changed a bit. Anyway, Jill's the reason we're a "we" instead of an "I" now.
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Zero-Profit Upgrade Policy
Q: You've added a new item to a manual set I bought from you earlier. Do I have to buy it again to obtain this upgraded manual set?
A: As long as you're in our database as the purchaser of the earlier collection, send us a blank CD in a stamped, self-addressed mailer (or $4US and we'll use our own materials and postage) and the upgraded item goes out to you. This goes for every PDF manual we distribute. Remember: you never lose when you buy from us. Our policies are designed to create a viable long-term solution to your equipment documentation needs, as opposed to squeezing every possible dollar out of you.
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Scanned Product Samples
Q: Say, "The Marketer" makes a point of the availability of "samples from the actual manual" you can get just by emailing him as opposed to your links to general samples pages. What about that?
A: It's more "marketing hype", aimed at folks who don't know better. In reality, we not only give you the generic samples, which are sufficient to an informed buyer since a (for instance) schematic page scanned to specific parameters on a system looks the same as another schematic page scanned to the same parameters on that system, but we also give you samples from the SPECIFIC manuals HERE, and this address is linked to from each auction and store description (we're still working on it so plenty of them aren't in there yet, but they eventually all will be). You might want to avoid "email for samples" schemes and vendors who ask you to email them directly as opposed to through the eBay messaging system, as sudden rises in "spam" have been reported after sending such emails, suggesting that your email addresses may be being sold to a "hot prospects" list. Remember to always check the "hide my email address block!
Equipment Vendors - Please Read This
Q: I'm selling equipment and want to include a copy of your scanned manual for the piece of equipment. Can I and my customers look forward to receiving nasty emails if I do that?
A: We have absolutely no problem with your copying our scans and including them with equipment you're selling. We ask no contribution, royalty, or etceteras. In fact, if you leave any existing links to our web site in it, we consider it a favor you're doing us. That's one of the major reason you'll find no "shareware begging pages" in our scans.
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Printing.. "Fully Printable!!!" (huh?)
Q: Hey, "The Marketer" has "Fully Printable!" in his "FEATURES" list, all in red. Should I get all excited about that "FEATURE"? Is he light years ahead of you with that "FEATURE", Dave and Jill?
A: He's light years ahead of us when it comes to fertilizer production, that's for sure. What "The Marketer" is indicating by "Fully Printable!" is that although the PDF is password locked against any changes, he has not locked it against printing, which could also have been done in the same Acrobat menu. If "The Marketer" wrote accurate descriptions for his products, he'd have simply written: "Printing Is The Only Action This PDF Is Not Password Locked Against!" We've yet to see anyone but "The Marketer" who includes advertising letters and sometimes even asks for shareware donations in PDF documents he sells you, defaces most if not every page with his company logo, flat out lies about resolutions, and even occasionally puts false copyright information into schematics, and then password locks those faults in! If asked, he will claim those faults are "industry standards!" Send us the defective PDF he sold you and we'll fix it for you.. how's that for a "standard"?
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Thank you!
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