Recording Equipment for Patriarchs

Our stake patriarch informed me that the recording equipment he has been using for 5 years has finally given up the ghost and he's requested that I order a replacement. I can't find any information through the Distribution Center website or even on this site. Does anyone have suggestions? I'm guessing I may need to purchase something commercially, but would welcome input from anyone who may have responded to a similar request in the past year or so. Thanks for any help.

I'd continue checking for anything official, but if left to my own, I'd probably pick up a digital voice recorder. I've had good luck with the Olympus brand. You can find them at most any office super store.

Disclaimer: Brand mentioned based strictly on personal experience. Not an endorsement by the church.

You may also want to check with the FM Group. Most equipment provided by the Church is managed through them for the stake. They sometimes have access to resources most of us know nothing about.

chousley wrote:Our stake patriarch informed me that the recording equipment he has been using for 5 years has finally given up the ghost and he's requested that I order a replacement. I can't find any information through the Distribution Center website or even on this site. Does anyone have suggestions? I'm guessing I may need to purchase something commercially, but would welcome input from anyone who may have responded to a similar request in the past year or so. Thanks for any help.

I don't have anything at the tip of my finger tips, but a former patriarch in our stake, whom I just happen to home teach, had replaced his recorder a while back. As I recall he worked through the stake clerk.

The church distribution services web site has equipment available that isn't available for the average member. If the stake clerk signs into the distribution services site with a stake identity, then he can order from a much larger list of equipment.

Techgy wrote:The church distribution services web site has equipment available that isn't available for the average member. If the stake clerk signs into the distribution services site with a stake identity, then he can order from a much larger list of equipment.

Hmm. I logged in to ldscatalog.com with our stake login, and didn't find anything at all. I looked under Patriarch (and only found forms and booklets), under Recorder (and found nothing), under Equipment (no match). So I'm doubting that your stake clerk found recording equipment on that site.

Alan_Brown wrote:Hmm. I logged in to ldscatalog.com with our stake login, and didn't find anything at all. I looked under Patriarch (and only found forms and booklets), under Recorder (and found nothing), under Equipment (no match). So I'm doubting that your stake clerk found recording equipment on that site.

Hmmm..It's been a while since that occured so perhaps things have changed. I just called the former stake patriarch and he said that the last one that he purchased, he did so on his own. That doesn't mean that the church doesn't provide them, but obviously it's not through the distribution center.

A couple of weeks ago our patriarch said that the cord on his recorder had a short and wondered if I could get another one. I called the Distribution Center and they didn't know anything about the equipment (as has been mentioned). I was told to call the office of the Twelve, since they are responsible for patriarchs. The woman I talked to there said I should have our PFR order it from the PRG catalog. I checked the Distribution Center site using the stake login and found a catalog called "Purchasing Reference Guide for Office, Library, and Activities Supplies," which is apparently what she was referring to.

However, ultimately the PFR just called the FM group and they ordered a new recorder (which arrived about a week later).

By the way, since the suggestion was made to buy a digital voice recorder, the patriarch told me he has one of those as well and uses both recorders for redundancy. One time he did something wrong with the main recorder and actually had to use his backup recording, so I guess that's a prudent thing to do.

Thank you to all who provided helpful insights. We did confirm with the Office of the Twelve Apostles (who has responsibility for patriarchs) that our local FM group would be able to order the replacement recorder.

However, it seems this is a rare enough occurrence that they (the FM group) had to do a little research themselves. But now we have a replacement unit on order (a digital Philips model) and are just waiting for it to be delivered. If there are any other issues, I'll update this post.

Thanks for the update. That will be helpful to the next person.

According to the handbook, As a stake president, you can approve the purchase of the recorder and request one from the facility manager.