2nd hand steno in Australia?

[Elise D]

Hi
A lot of people mention finding cheap steno machines on eBay however I'm wondering if anyone has any tips on finding something in Australia? The American sites charge 200 to post! There is one lonely machine in gumtree and it's 20 yrs old, paper.
I'm close to buying Zalman keyboard from Amazon then key toppers, but this is my last hoorah trying to rustle up something, anything, from the land of Oz. unless someone know a keyboard not too expensive that I can buy locally avoiding postage costs.
Other thing is, I do have the opportunity to use this at my workplace and I guess that means a keyboard is best bet for portability btwn workplace and home, but the other half of me says 'start as you intend to finish' so I keep trolling the Internet for some kind of bargain shorthand machine. Maybe someone could chime in as to their experiences trying to source something on Australia?
Also, I think I'd like to read about the theory first, whilst I'm deciding on equipment. Suggestions on best place or booklets for this? So plover, plus I'm interested in Phoenix, and stened.
Thanks.

[Glen Warner]

Hi, Elise.

I just took a look and found this one:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/PROCAT-FLASH-PROFESSIONAL-COURT-REPORTER-STENOGRAPH-WRITER-/282010709055?hash=item41a925ec3f:g:H3QAAOSwYmZXFnp~

While the price is nice, there's no mention of what's in the bag -- that is, no mention of a paper tray, a memory card, the realtime cable, or a tripod.

The platen also looks like it could use a good cleaning, so chances are good that the writer is need of some maintenance, and I'm not sure how things are in the way of steno repair-folk in Aus. I would recommend asking the seller if there's anything in the bag. The realtime cable looks like this:

http://www.acculaw.com/procat-flash-realtime-kit.aspx

... and the memory card looks like this:

http://www.acculaw.com/pcmcia-sram-memory-card.aspx

Good luck!

--gdw

[Elise D]

Thanks, it says this though in the 'fine' print but I can email them anyway to check....
TEM WILL BE SHIPPED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE - SORRY NO INTERNATIONAL TRANSACTIONS ALSO NO SHIPPING LARGE ITEM TO P.O. BOXES, ALASKA,HAWAII APO or FPO.WILL ONLY SHIP TO THE LOWER 48 STATES .

[Glen Warner]

Well, crap! I thought for sure since it was on the Australian eBay that shipping would not be an issue ... sorry!

Good that you looked closer than I did ...

--gdw

[PipB]

The one Glen just picked out will ship to Australia under the global shipping program. What that means is that the seller posts it to a US address which is an Ebay transit hub (ie a distribution centre in Kentucky). The hub then forwards it to the international address.

This is how I bought my machine on ebay and had it delivered to Australia. It was nerve wracking as I read lots of horror stories about the process but it worked perfectly for me.

You will see a lot of complaints from ebayers about the global shipping program costs, but if you are buying a heavy item and shipping to Australia it is very cost effective. I think my shipping was about AUD80.

That said I wouldn't touch the one Glen put up as it doesn't have cables and servicing and parts here are almost non-existent. There seems to be a steno servicer in Adelaide linked to the course that runs from there, but as they use only manual machines I'm not sure if they know much about newer plover-compliant machines.

I bought an old machine from ebay which is a little temperamental but the total cost for it was AUD160 delivered and I had to spend a couple of days getting a cable which would work for real-time. As I am still just fiddling around with it, it is fine for me.

You can also buy the stened training packages from StenEd for a bit over AUD300 if you wanted to learn that system.

Can't add too much else, hope this helps.

[Elise D]

Very helpful, thank you.
It would b scary to use it foe your work when there's nowhere to service. Also the only college is currently in handover.
That's much cheaper than I thought but I guess if I'm spending that I may as well get one of the keyboards.
Thanks everyone.

[Matt Morgan]

Hi Elyse,

I'm also a steno student in Australia (It seems we're few and far between).

I bought my Stentura 400SRT through a steno who works with me in tv captioning. I think it has to be personal contacts in Australia, because the industry is so small.

Nick Stefano is the only steno repairman in the country, operating out of Adelaide.
His number is 08 83531943, and his email is rt...@esc.net.au
I bought a new charger from him and it works fine. He's also a Stentura salesman so he'll probably steer you to their stuff, but I believe he also repairs and sells second-hand versions of other brands.

You should also find Jade King on Facebook and ask to join her Stenoquery group. It has more Australians in it than others on FB so you might have more luck ordering from someone within Australia.

I think because the number of people selling is much smaller, you will be severely restricted in terms of which models you can buy here. I bought mine second hand and although it's a 'student model', it works fine for me and was actually used for live TV in another life. I don't think you need to worry too much about getting a pro machine compared to a student one. Everything apart from having 'proper' steno keys is a bonus as far as I can see.

I hope this was helpful.

Cheers,
Matt

[Elise D]

Thanks I've applied for membership. Another question. I've only done limited reading on theories but even so, the Phoenix theory tends to make more sense to me. Upon searching, I feel like Aussies gravitate towards it in general. Am I imagining that? What are you using your steno for and how long did it take your speed to pick up?
Cheers,
Elise.

[Matt Morgan]

I'm just using a British-ised version of Mirabai's dictionary and adding to it as I go. So whatever theory Mirabai‘s is, I guess.
I haven't asked many stenos I know about their theories but I know they all swap briefs for current news items on our work messaging system so their theories can't be too fat apart.

[Kovacsics Róbert]

On Sunday, 1 May 2016 00:07:10 UTC+1, Matt Morgan wrote:

I'm just using a British-ised version of Mirabai's dictionary and adding to it as I go. So whatever theory Mirabai‘s is, I guess.
I haven't asked many stenos I know about their theories but I know they all swap briefs for current news items on our work messaging system so their theories can't be too fat apart.

 

I do love that dictionary, it is rather "aggressively British" which I find amusing. For example: gaol or philtre which I've never seen spelt like that. Just surprises me, in a good way, every so often :)

[Wiley Wolf]

I bought a "reconditioned" Elan cybra student from Stenoworks. They charged AU$135 to send it to Australia, so altogether about AU$1100 for the machine. It's fine. Also, you get a bag.

[Wiley Wolf]

The other trick for new players is with any parcel that comes into Australia, customs check the value on the declaration form, and if it's over AUD1000, they detain the parcel and send you all sorts of nasty paperwork suggesting you engage an import-export agent to deal with your "import duty issue". So don't let anyone send you a parcel where that declaration says >AUD1000. Obviously shipping is not part of the price of the item. Talk to the sender about what you need on that form before they send.