That's one of the main reasons I bought the K2 in the first place. I
like assembling kits, but not for weeks at a time as I have plenty of
assembly to do on my own products/projects. Serviceability and customer
support are number one for me. That's why I will be buying a K3. For
that reason alone, the K3 should cost more than a Japanese radio,
factoring in future repair costs ;-)
I may wait for the second production run, although that may be sold out
by the end of Dayton ;-) I'm guessing 200 for the first run, and maybe
as many as 1,000 for the second run. I would like to hear feedback
between those runs, but I don't think there will be time for much
feedback. My main concern would be hardware changes between runs on the
first few runs, and how they would be handled for early buyers.
Obviously firmware changes are no problem. As good as the K3 design
appears to be, there are always little running changes in a rollout.
73,
Larry N8LP
johnny wrote:
Hi Larry,
I have enough with my FTDX9000 and luckily I have already sold it only
at some losses. Even I now have my IC7800, I still placed my order for K3.
As everyone here, I appreciate the customer support from Elecraft. I
have enough experience with Ft2000 and FTDX9000 which I do not discuss
in an Elecraft mail reflector. K3 will be my new rig which can be
serviced by myself to some degree. I like my IC7800 but if the radio
has anything wrong, my hands will be up in the air and a tip to ICOM
service center is unavoidable.
cheers,
Johnny Siu VR2XMC
----- Original Message -----
*From:* Larry Phipps <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*To:* Bill W5WVO <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*Cc:* [Elecraft] <mailto:[email protected]>
*Sent:* Tuesday, May 01, 2007 9:09 PM
*Subject:* Re: [Elecraft] Elecraft customer service: appreciate it!
I wonder if there is any K3 chatter on the FT-2000 list... seems like
they are squarely in the crosshairs ;-)
Larry N8LP
Bill W5WVO wrote:
> Just as an aside on the tremendously personal and intimate
experience of participating in the K3 roll-out, I've also been
monitoring the FT-2000 Yahoo group to see what they're talking
about over there. Over the past week, nearly 100% of the
voluminous postings there have been about firmware updates.
>
> 1) A new firmware revision called v1.26 showed up on the
Internet from SOMEWHERE -- nobody knows where it came from. A lot
of people tried to install it and found serious problems. Yaesu
eventually disclaimed it as somebody's unauthorized hack and
advised people not to install it. This took weeks.
>
> 2) People began wondering how they could determine what firmware
revision their unit is running. Answer: Fuhgedaboudit. There is no
way to get feedback from the FT-2000 as to its own firmware
revision. So patently absurd that nobody could believe it until it
was finally confirmed by a Yaesu tech rep. Reason: Yaesu keeps
track of what firmware revision is in your radio on a
serial-number basis. You don't need to know this.
>
> 3) When a new and officially sanctioned v1.27 firmware update
finally emerged, people wondered what bug fixes it covered and
what new features it offered. Answer: Fuhgedaboudit. You don't
need to know this. Just trust Yaesu that it's better. Well, your
country's sales rep might be able to find out for you... If you
can actually talk to him. Or maybe not.
>
> 4) Want to go to the Yaesu website and download the update?
Fuhgedaboudit. You can only get it by email from an authorized rep
from your particular country on a one-by-one basis. Got problems
and you want it right now? Fuhgedaboudit. You get on a wait list
and... wait. And hope it gets sent to you One of These Days Real
Soon Now. (So as a result, unauthorized personal website postings
of the update popped up within 24 hours of its release. Is it the
real v1.27? The correct country-specific v1.27 for your radio? Who
knows?)
>
> Y'all can thank your lucky stars that Elecraft owners have a
completely different kind of experience with the manufacturer of
their radio. I just thought you might like to know just how
different it really is.
>
> Bill / W5WVO
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