I agree 100% with every comment you made, Doug. I purchased my
K2/100/160/SSB last year at Dayton and got immense pleasure and
satisfaction out of building it. Receive performance is good but I am
not convinced it is better than my FT1kMP with Inrad roofing filter and
2nd & 3rd IF filters. I suspect the skirt selectivity tails off after
60db down which causes problems in close-in contest working. I think the
K2 is a fantastic rig for portable and dxpeditions but does lack some
refinement for high-end contesting.
I went for the K3 for exactly the same reasons as you. I am completely
confident that the design and manufacture will live up to the standard
we have all come to expect. For me, I am sure it will enhance the K2
performance plus provide those additional facilities I felt lacking,
plus more and more and more.
I don't think assembly down to SMD level on such a complex piece of
equipment is viable as Wayne points out, nor do I think it is necessary.
I certainly look forward to having some involvement on its final
assembly. I think the crew at Elecraft have done and continue to do a
magnificent job.
Now having said all that ..... I am wondering if I can put my money
where my mouth is!! At the end of July is the IOTA Contest, if I could
get hold of my K3 before then I would be willing to invest a further
$1000 for a trip to Guernsey and active GU8D (24 hr CW DXpedition
category) as the first contest operation for the K3. (GU8D appeared in
the top ten multi-op 1996 to 2005.)
Chris G3SJJ
Doug Person wrote:
Speaking for myself, I'm very pleased with the approach you've taken.
While my soldering skills are excellent and I enjoy the building
process very much, SMD's are out of the question for me. In the case
of the K3, I save a few hundred $ doing the mechanical assembly -
which is great - glad that option is available.
However, I'm drawn to the K3 not for the kit-building experience, but
for its superb design and outstanding performance. This is my chance
to own a truly high-performance rig in a price range I can afford.
To me, the K2 and K3 are apples and oranges. If you want to build -
buy a K2. You will have a great kit-building experience and a great
rig when you're done. If you want a radio with high-performance - and
that is your purchase criteria - then the K3 is for you. And oh by
the way, you can save a few bucks if you do some of the mechanical
assembly work yourself. A bonus feature.
As I'm sure you've heard this over and over - great job on the K3.
Can't wait to get mine. I'm sure you guys feel a great deal of
gratification and satisfaction from all of the positive feedback. The
K3 may very well become the benchmark by which other rigs are measured.
73 es tnx,
Doug -- K0DXV
wayne burdick wrote:
We've had a few requests for a "full" K3 kit -- one where the builder
installs all of the parts, including the SMDs (surface mount
devices). Unfortunately this isn't practical for a project of this
complexity. I realize that many of our customers are quite capable of
doing SMD assembly, but many would have difficulty, too, since there
are hundreds of SMDs, many with very fine pitch leads.
In order to support a "full" kit, we'd have to stock and kit all of
the SMDs for a small percentage of builders. This would represent a
huge amount of added overhead, since at present the SMDs are shipped
directly from vendors to our assembly facility. In addition, we'd
need a lot of additional documentation and support staff to help with
SMD-related assembly, testing, troubleshooting and repair. I consider
myself a very capable SMD builder, but I occasionally mis-install a
part or leave a joint unsoldered, and troubleshooting such problems
can be very tedious even for the designer!
The other request has been for a version of the K3 where the builder
installs all the leaded parts. This, too, would create major
difficulties for a product like the K3. Even if we pre-installed the
SMDs, we wouldn't be able to fully test the PC boards if we didn't
also install the leaded parts, including connectors. Nodal testing
using custom fixtures for each board might get around this, but it
could take another year of engineering time to complete. And we'd
still have problems: a very expensive multilayer board with lots of
SMDs that was damaged during customer assembly would be a serious
liability both for us and the builder.
The modular, no-soldering K3 kit will, we hope, be attractive to both
our current customers and to new builders who would never have
attempted to build their own transceiver before. With our
encouragement (and yours), these new builders may go on to try their
hand at our "full" kits. We plan to continue to offer all of our
present kits and will add new ones in the future.
73,
Wayne
N6KR
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