megahertz

[quote name='Cernael' post='293360' date='Sep 27 2008, 12:04 PM']Is it? I understood it to be testing of the set of equipment normally referred to as "PA"; am I mistaken? 'cause, if I'm not, well, PA is an established acronym in its own right, in pretty much the same way that "LC" and "PI" isn't.[/quote] You're quite correct. I meant that Portable Appliance Testing might be confused with testing a PA system if we used the abbreviation PA Testing! But I do take the point. It is slightly ironic that an industry that strives on accuracy of testing and common sense, can't even abbreviate properly what it does.

[quote name='OldGit' post='436930' date='Mar 17 2009, 10:41 AM']Thanks That looks good. It would be nice if your prices were easy to find on your website, Pat, and the price for training. Regards, OG[/quote] Hi Apologies for that - we are changing the company around a bit but still able to do PAT Testing for bands and musicians. The prices above are still valid, provided we have somebody close by. We're also building up a network of trusted individuals and companies (some of whom have got into it via our training courses) who can reach places where we don't have a full time engineer. Also - just a thought - in these credit crunch times, we are seeing a rise in people attending our courses who then go off and set up a little business doing PAT testing. It can cost about £500 for training and the equipment to get started. (The cost of the course is £195 + VAT per person.) If any readers are in a situation where they might be able to test their own band and a few others in their area, it might be something to do 'on the side.' 10 years ago you could start a PAT testing business and pick up PAT testing work for Tesco, Next, Matalan etc and make a fortune, but in the current climate that sort of work is extremely competitive. But there are still thousands of hairdressers, DJs, joiners, plumbers etc, all with 30 or 40 items which need testing and are prepared to pay for it to be tested. If you will forgive the shameless plug for our PAT course (others are available) I would be happy to give more advice to any muso looking for 'another string to their bow.' Pun intended. Sorry. Tim

Hi We offer a national service for PAT Testing. Although we might charge a bit if we have to drive 300 miles to get to you, we often have engineers across the UK so we might have somebody nearby. We normally charge £59.00 for PAT testing a DJ / Solo musician with up to 20 items, and £99 for PAT Testing for a Band (up to 50 items) If we can't help directly, we can probably put you in touch with a local PAT testing company. We've just revamped our website, but we're putting lots of useful information about PAT Testing on there - as this forum shows, there is a lot of mis-information out there. [url="http://www.pat-testing-expert.com"]PAT Testing [/url] Hope this helps Tim James PAT Testing Expert Ltd

[quote name='Cernael' post='287647' date='Sep 19 2008, 08:40 PM']Had to look up what PAT meant. PAT testing = Portable Appliance Testing testing *groan*[/quote] Yep - PAT testing is an example of a 'Redundant Acronym Syndrome' in the same way that people sometimes say 'LCD display' or 'PIN number' of course we could call it 'PA' testing but that's confusing, and if you say that you do 'PAT' for a living there's usually somebody called PAT who gets offended. So we call it PAT testing even though we know that it's not entirely correct. And before somebody else mentions it, yes we do refer to RAS syndrome to be ironic! [url="http://www.t2technical.co.uk/pat-testing-support/supportpages/faq/why_is_it_called_pat_testing.htm"]http://www.t2technical.co.uk/pat-testing-s...pat_testing.htm[/url]

Hi We offer a PAT testing service, and we have a specialist department dealing with entertainers / musicians / djs. Music equipment often has slightly different requirements for testing, but we have experience of this and can sort it out. As a rough guide you would expect to pay £59.00 + VAT for up to about 20 items (enough for most individuals) rising to about £95.00 if there's a few of you in the band. This includes the engineer visiting you at your home or rehersal venue (or even at your gig) and carrying out the testing. We supply a bound report which details all of the appliance tested, and a one-page-certificate which you can fax off to your agents etc to prove you have had your gear tested. More information on our site. [url="http://www.t2technical.co.uk/pat-testing/entertainment.htm"]PAT Testing for bands[/url] Tim James Technical Director [url="http://www.t2technical.co.uk"]www.t2technical.co.uk[/url]

[quote name='BassBunny' post='156313' date='Mar 12 2008, 09:21 PM']Probem is Unc probably won't be certified, (well he may be but not a certified electrician anymore ). I still have my testers from when i was an engineer and quite happily test all our bands gear, but I can't "officially" issue PAT testing certs. As a matter of interest you can buy rolls of PAT certificates off e-Bay and I can always provide a copy of what the PAT Test Sheet should look like. As well as having all equipment and leads tested, you need a Test Sheet itemising all your kit. We have been coming up against this more and more. All the agencies the function band work for are asking more and more for PAT Test Sheets.[/quote] Hi - I know this is an old thread, but I thought i'd say hello! I am a part-time muso, having gigged professionally through my 20's and 30's. Now I run a PAT testing business! We mainly work for large corporate clients across the UK but we have lots of bands, musicians and DJ's who are regular clients as well. The question above, about having a speaker connected to a power amp for testing is quite straightforward, (it doesn't need to be connected) but this might not be quite so obvious to a pat testing engineer who spends all his time testing drills, kettles and printers. We often hear of companies failing music equipment unnecessarily because they don't understand how to test it properly (valve amps can be difficult to test if you don't know what you're doing) We have a lot of specialist kit (and the experience to go with it) to test music equipment - I tested a Yamaha digital desk the other day worth over £50k and we also have lots of experience testing unusual kit such as Socapex lighting cables etc. We usually have engineers across the country so we will be happy to visit any members for a reasonable fee. As a rough guide, we'd be looking at about £60 for a home visit to test up to about 20 items. This includes a full bound report of items tested, and a certificate which you can fax off to your agents / venues etc. Just another tip, once you have a certificate, scan it and put it on your website (or on ours, if you want.) Then when you get asked to provide it, all you have to do is give them the link to the site. This saves you having to carry it around with you. You can also point to the stickers on your equipment, providing they are 'in-date' of course! Tim James t2technical PAT Testing www.t2technical.co.uk [url="http://www.t2technical.co.uk"]PAT Testing Bands and Musicians[/url]