Photo by Michael J. GallegosTribune

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Electronics technicians Florencio Rosales (left) and Jack Lockard work inside Budget TV Repair, 9641 Menaul Blvd. N.E. The shop, which has been in business since 1981, has been owned by Lockard since 1981. The number of TV-repair businesses nationwide has dropped from about 20,000 to 5,000 in the past two decades. But the National Electronics Service Dealers Association says the industry is on an upsurge with the rise in high-definition TVs, which are easier to repair.

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If your TV is smaller than 27 inches, David Cuomo probably won't fix it.

Cuomo, the owner and sole employee of Master Television Service, said turning away small jobs is the only way to stay afloat in the ever-changing TV-repair industry. It's hard to make a living repairing small "disposable" TVs, he said.

TV repair is an industry with an uncertain future, he said, because of an influx of inexpensive foreign-made electronics and the rise of high-definition technology might make the business as profitable as fixing toasters.

But others in the business say they are optimistic about the future.

"We are busy, busy, busy," said Robin Colyer, owner of Crown TV & Electronics, 9430 San Mateo Blvd. N.E. "It's just crazy how much business we're getting."

In the past 20 years, the number of TV-repair businesses nationwide has dropped from about 20,000 to about 5,000, said Mack Blakely, chairman of the National Electronics Service Dealers Association, a trade group for electronics technicians.

"That's due to the demise of repairing low-end products," he said. "Those have become disposable."

Learning to adapt

Blakely said there is hope for repair technicians who can learn to work with the new technology, especially if they can install high-end home-entertainment systems. In fact, the industry has begun to grow along with the popularity of high-definition sets.

But for now, Cuomo has found a niche repairing only older big-screen TVs - a niche he said brought him $100,000 last year.

Albuquerque seems to have more traditional big-screen TVs than other cities, he said.

"You know that even if someone here gets rid of their big TV, it's not going to the dump," he said. "It's going to their friend or their neighbor."

Cuomo only does mobile repair.

In a van stuffed with soldering equipment and electronic components, he drives around the city, tinkering with TVs at each stop.

He can usually fix a big-screen TV in 45 minutes, for which he charges about $250.

Before visiting someone's house, he tries to diagnose the problem over the phone, so he can be sure he has the right parts when he arrives.

At the house, he sets up a soldering station on the porch, opens the TV and goes to work.

Cuomo said working at people's houses adds more pressure than working in a shop.

"For a lot of people, it's the first time they've seen the inside of a TV," he said. "Things probably would have been different if my parents had put me in front of the TV instead of behind it."

Home visits offer other hazards than just added pressure; cat hair, cockroaches and unfriendly dogs come with the territory.

"Sometimes I get into situations where I'm thinking, `Should I fix the TV, or should I call someone about the condition these kids are living in?' " he said.

Disposable TVs

Many new TVs, especially small Chinese models, aren't meant to be repaired, Blakely said. The manufacturers often do not sell parts or provide repair manuals.

But expensive HD sets are often easier to repair than old models, he said.

That's because they can be repaired by replacing broken components instead of working on the circuit itself.

"The type of skills required in the old days were more technical and difficult," he said. "You had to figure out what was going on at the circuit level."

Many people who have been in the business for a long time are intimidated by the new technology, he said.

Cuomo said he is not sure if he will learn how to work on the new TVs or leave the business.

"It's been great to me, but I'm not sure I'd recommend that someone get into it now," he said. "It's a crazy time in the TV-repair world."

And not everyone in the business has a six-figure income: the median annual income for home entertainment installers and technicians was $29,000 in 2006, according to federal Bureau of Labor statistics. Colyer said her shop pulls in about $500,000 a year.

`Specialized knowledge'

Cuomo got an associate's degree in electronics in the late 1980s after taking classes at the University of New Mexico and Albuquerque Technical Vocational Institute, now Central New Mexico Community College.

He began working at a local TV-repair shop and has been in the business ever since.

He moved around the country but came back to Albuquerque from Las Vegas, Nev., a few years ago and started his business.

Most of his education is from electronics manufacturers, not schools. What he doesn't learn from the companies, he picks up from other repair technicians, often on the Internet.

That's a standard education for people in the business, Colyer said.

"You can't just pick someone out of a vocational school for electronics and have them start working," she said. "There's too much specialized knowledge."

Most repair technicians have to talk someone into training them on the job, she said.

Jack Lockard, the owner of Budget TV-VCR Repair at 9641 Menaul Blvd. N.E., got into the business with a four-year vocational degree in electronics.

Like most repair technicians, he also learned most of his craft on the job.

"The degree really didn't help me," he said. "Like everything else, the actual hands-on is what teaches you."

Five years ago, Cuomo couldn't have run his business from home, he said.

"We had huge rooms just with the manuals for all the different models," he said.

Now, Cuomo gets that information from the Internet, where repair technicians share information and tips. Sometimes, they even send each other hard-to-find parts.

"There's some real camaraderie," he said. "Repairmen all over the country help each other out, all the time."

`Throw-away attitude'

One of the biggest complaints about the TV-repair industry is a "throw-away attitude" among manufacturers and consumers.

"I have a toaster that my mother gave me years ago," Lockard said. "It still works because I keep fixing it. People don't have that attitude any more."

Cuomo tells about half the people who call him it would be cheaper to buy a new TV than to fix the one they have. In many cases, it's nearly impossible to fix TVs from big-box retailers like Wal-Mart and Costco, he said.

"I've been doing this job forever, but I'm still seeing brands I've never heard of," he said. "If I've never heard of it, it's probably going to be hard to get help from the manufacturer."

Despite the challenges, Cuomo said he's enjoyed his career.

He doesn't like driving around Albuquerque - "I've had to learn to just let it go when people do idiotic things on the road" - but he likes fixing things.

"I don't know if I'd recommend that anyone else get into it at this point," he said. "But I'm sure there's still some way to make a job out of it."