Eric,
I think in your message copied below you come closest to expressing and understanding the anxiety in Gary's mail. I am a loyal, frequent, multi-mode user of my K3, but there is more to the hobby for many of us than the latest software upgrades, software/hardware interface issues and bugs that form the content of the majority of posts on this reflector. Complete station automation through software and integrated hardware is not a goal for many, including me, in the hobby. Although I do admit that I am anxiously waiting for the K3/0 mini so I can remote from my home QTH to my shack 100 miles away. For me there is the joy putting my mind and hands to work finding the "bad guy"(or guys) among the resistors, capacitors, inductors, Rube Goldberg mechanisms and tubes of my 75A4 (a crystal set compared to the K3) and KW-1 (not KWS-1). With a complete schematic spread out in front of me, using logic and measurements the precise function of every one of those hundreds of discrete components is clear. The process of understanding, maintenance and repair is far different from finding a software bug or resolving an interface issue and equally as rewarding, I think. And one more, not so subtle point: K3 + Drake L4B (1200W; $400 with a month's work at the bench) + Johnson KW Matchbox (no, it doesn't suddenly re-tune on its own; got to put hands on it, but getting it to stop arcing over was a challenge; $100) yields an amplifier + tuner cost per watt of $0.42. You can make that calculation with "other" amplifier/tuner combinations that have a set of headaches that you can't fix yourself. Perhaps now Gary's plaint and my, and others like me, more extreme deviation from 2014 orthodoxy are more understandable. There is fun for each of us in this hobby! 73, Buzz W3EMD Message: 26 Date: Sun, 9 Feb 2014 13:13:28 -0800 From: EricJ <eric_c...@hotmail.com> To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] A confession Message-ID: <blu0-smtp366155560253c298c845db68e...@phx.gbl> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"; format=flowed 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 ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
