A lot of my stuff is kept on a trickle charger so it's always ready. The packs last for years this way. Having some old radios on hand has helped a lot over the years. If you drop a radio and break a switch they are often easy to replace with one from an old radio. I have never had to replace a gimble switch before so I don't know if I can or how hard it would be. When I or a friend have radio problems then the radio goes to radio south. Turn around time is about 10 days depending on the time of year.