You can always emulate the US Department of Defense if you'd like ...
it's called a "Lifetime Buy." When the airplane builder's contract
finally ends and he no longer is required to stock parts, the engineers
and logistics folks decide on the further lifetime of the airplane fleet
and buy enough parts to keep it flying until it will be retired to
Arizona which might be in 20 more years.
A lot of folk believe that science and engineering are the same thing.
They're not. Engineering is science coupled with economics, logistics,
mathematics, fabrication, maintenance, supply chain management, and a
host of other trade-off's, sometimes including labor relations and law.
Bell Labs "invented" the transistor. Companies like TI, Fairchild
Semiconductor, Intel, Motorola, and AMD put them in the marketplace and
they get to stop making them when something better comes along. See if
you can find a Moto 68000 replacement for your old Mac. [:=)
My K3 is S/N 642, and has been upgraded multiple times. I think it's
about 10 years old and I think Elecraft has done a very good job
compared to what the other guys do. I'm a little in awe that Elecraft
has been in business long enough now for the inevitable to be happening.
73,
Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW
Sparks NV DM09dn
Washoe County
On 3/7/2020 10:52 AM, Jim Brown wrote:
On 3/7/2020 10:42 AM, W6IPA . wrote:
It seems also that stock is drying up on K3/K3S parts - and I wonder if
this is temporary or a sign that the legendary upgradability of K3 or
K3S
is over.
Manufacturers live in the real world, and can only buy parts that are
manufactured by other companies. When those other companies
discontinue a part, alternative sources must be found, and that
sometimes isn't easy, or the alternative is not of good quality. Many
years ago, a fine US company called Ten Tec, based near Nashville, TN,
developed the first solid state power amp based on Motorola output
devices. After a year or two, Motorola discontinued them, they were
unique parts, and Ten Tec had to discontinue the amp. I believe I
remember reading that Elecraft was having this issue with parts for
some of their older products.
As to contacting support -- the telephone works great.
73, Jim K9YC
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