Tech2 - I am thinking maybe we need a whip round on the forum.
We need to think about how it might work first. As TheBoy and others have said, and as I appreciated when I first suggested the idea, "tool pool" schemes have been discussed and rejected in the past. However, this is a special case, I feel, because it's not something many members would ever shell out for themselves, so this is our only option if we want a real Tech2 available to us at sensible prices.
The first issue is that some members will be happy to contribute, some won't, and suddenly we have 2 tiers of members, paid, and unpaid, which is something we have strived to avoid.
I guess we could have 2 scales of charging for Tech2 work to reflect this, and consider the Tech 2 separate to the forum. Or we could consider the contributions a donation to the Forum funds and treat all members equally regardless of whether they contributed.
The second issue is where it is located. It's the type of thing you need as a diagnostic aid when you get a problem so it's not going to be much use if it's at the other end of the country. It could be present at all the meets, of course, but that's not normally when you get a problem, although routine work could be done then.
It's too valuable to be sent around the country at random, IMHO. I guess we could nominate custodians in various areas and rotate the location among the custodians so everyone gets a Tech 2 close to them for a proportion of the time, hand carrying the unit whenever it moves.
I guess an idea of the numbers involved would help, too. How many members would contribute and how much?
Maybe this weekend will provide a good opportunity to discuss the possibilities?
Kevin