"Ever tried fixing an RCF switcher without the benefit of a schematic ? No
...? "

For that kind of money I will dogdamn ****ing try like hell. Seriously. And most of what I have fixed in the last decadeor two has been without a print.

Granted, reverse engineering takes ALOT longer these day, but six hundred bucks. Six hundred bucks. I mean, are they encapsulated or something ?

"That's make, not extort ... "

I tink we all agree on that. sand I think that is why the market for old vintage high end equipment is alive.

"And the posting address is ntlworld, which is a UK ISP ... "

I do not see any of that here. I can't even see your email address or anyone else's. SOMETIMES when I reply it shows up in the quoted text, but most of the time not. It will not give me any information.

It is probably because of Google, and them not wanting to be accused of fomenting spam for Usenet users becasue it would look bad.