I agree, Eric.
My thought on a solution is for him to sell his second K3/P3; it's not a religion, after
all. I see this "the reason I got rid of the first K3/P3 was having to deal with the
occasional O/S bumps, frequent updates, and relatively complex user interface for both.
Being a slave to a piece of equipment no longer interests me." as very telling. For
me that's one of the reasons I'd pay a premium to own a K3. OTOH, he could just ignore
the updates, unless one is critical in some sense (e.g., to meet FCC spectral purity
requirements). I've not done all the updates to my K2/100 and don't plan to. And the K3
cannot be evolving all that much now, some five or so years after it first appeared. Many
other rigs *never* evolve; I see that as a downside, perhaps he do not.
We all come at this hobby a bit differently. There was a time when I averaged
5,000 CW QSOs for three years running -- that was close to 60 years ago and I
was obsessed. For about ten years (1993-2003) I mostly build qrp gear and
operating in spurts. So likely others change in their focus over time. I get
the impression that Gary is more focused on operating just now -- and his
TS-590S is a fine rig. But I rather enjoy doing the firmware updates (even with
my K2 which I have to disassemble) and the fact that Wayne and Eric strive to
keep every product at the cutting edge.
73, Phil w7ox
On 2/9/14, 1:13 PM, EricJ wrote:
I think I get Gary, too, on some points.
I almost gave up ham radio 8-10 years ago. The
operating had become routine and boring. DXing
was indistinguishable from post card or stamp
collecting to me.
What changed it was a club member bringing a
bunch of QRP rigs he had built to a meeting.
Among them were a Rockmite and a K1. Next day I
ordered one of each. Since that day, I have been
as immersed in ham radio as any time in the last
57 years I've been licensed. I've since added
two K2's and a KX1. I have no qualms about
opening the cases of any of them and heating up
the soldering iron to try something, though most
of my ham activities involve sitting at the
bench systematically working through the
homebrewer's bible, EMRFD, and learning to
program PICs in Forth (tired of C...if I stop
for lunch I need to be retrained).
But I could never generate the same interest in
the KX3 or K3. I've come close to buying a KX3
based on the absolutely superb specs and
incredible reviews, but something's missing for
me. I said the same about the first luxury
Japanese cars when I worked in that industry;
superb engineering and build quality, but they
have no soul. The KX3/K3 kit builds are mostly
mechanical not electronic. And who really knows
what's going on inside that box beyond the block
diagram which is all that is provided. I don't
mean this to be critical. I don't know what
hidden things are going on inside this computer
I'm typing on either. SDR, with its hidden
computer circuits, is where RF and ham radio is
going. It's a very natural progression for
Elecraft as one of the leaders in ham radio.
Nobody could last long in this high tech age
sticking with thru-hole QRP kits.
But there are people like Gary, and like me, who
don't see the same radio magic in SDR that
others see. I work on everything from
boatanchors (Viking Ranger on the bench right
now) to homebrew original design SMT and PIC
projects, so I'm not some old f**t longing for
the good ole days. (OK, maybe old f**t, but not
the longing part) I love the new technologies,
but I just can't get behind a rig that really
isn't meant to be opened up and tinkered with.
Hats off to the Elecraft team for producing such
technological wonders, but also hats off to them
for keeping more classic rigs like the K1 and K2
in their product line.
Eric
KE6US
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