I was wondering if anyone had an idea of what a reasonable amount of time for a repair of a high tech piece of gear.
Factor in there are only a handfull of people who have experience on the type of gear.

Is three years a reasonable amount of time to have an idea of:

-1 IF it can be repaired
-2 How much it will cost to repair
-3 When it might be repaired.

Thanks

Heh...I think I know what you might be referring to

Huh? Someone lost your empeg??

First, I need to clear something up.
Several have PM'd me asking if this was an empeg repair and mentioned Rob S.

PLEASE Understand that this had nothing to do with an Empeg or Rob S. I was refering to an add-on board for a DEC MicroVax computer, that I had sent to a person in Europe who said he could repair it. This is a vintage system, and the add-on board was third party thing, so support for it is very hard to come by. I sent it off to him several years ago, figuring I would have the board repaired and then have a working DEC MicroVAX to play with. Unfortunatly I am forced to sell it to offset my deliquent bills resulting from my 10 month unemployment. However I cannot sell it for much without the board. Hence my questions. I have resolved THAT issue. A loss but it is done!

NOW as far as the Empeg thing....here is the story, and Rob, jump in and correct me if I am wrong....

A couple of years or so ago, I contacted Rob S to see if he would diagnose and repair a really messed up empeg I had aquired from a 3rd party. He graciously agreed and I sent it to him.
I had also mentioned to him that since that was (at that time) my backup empeg, to take his time and do other reparis first.
In between his regular repairs and trying to earn a living, he worked with that empeg. There were more problems involving bad chips, corrison, cracked traces and a host of other things, and although he (and others) have put many, many hours into it, it is still having problems. Rob has repeatedly offered to send it back (and pay the postage as well!), which I have refused.
So I have let Rob S., and now everyone else, know that I am relinquishing any claim I have/had on that empeg and that he should consider it his own, and use it for any parts that may be salvagable on it for other repairs. I have also offered to pay Rob S. for any labour costs he feels warrented.

So, Rob, did I miss anything? I really don't want anyone to get the wrong idea here. That was not my intent. I actually started off thinking about the MicroVAX!

If you're looking for VAX hardware, maybe email this guy: tom@acara.co.uk (Tom Tobin)

He used to have a warehouse full of vax stuff, right back to core memory cards on unibus (ISTR). It looks like they've since shut down, but his email may still work. He'd probably know where to find anything you might need. He might remember me, I swapped him some microvax bits a long time ago and I think I set up their email on an old Sun sparc when email was a new thing...

Hugo

Shame, and about 4 years too late. I sent a complete one to salvage about 4 years ago. It was in complete working order, we just replaced it with a (MUCH) more modern machine. I think it sold at public auction for ~$200. Sigh.