Second try. -----Original Message----- From: hwhi...@maine.rr.com <hwhi...@maine.rr.com> Sent: Friday, May 24, 2019 8:00 PM To: 'Wayne Burdick' <n...@elecraft.com>; 'Elecraft Reflector' <elecraft@mailman.qth.net>; 'k...@yahoogroups.com' <k...@yahoogroups.com>; 'elecraft...@groups.io' <elecraft...@groups.io> Subject: RE: [Elecraft] Elecraft K4 and Accessibility
Wayne and interested others, Way back when, I bought a loaded K3. I believe the S/N was around 4K? It was back in the day when almost every DXpedition was using K3's so it was obviously the radio to own. (Around 2009?) It was at the top of the Sherwood ratings. Owner's bragged, incessantly, about its Sherwood rating. After a period of time I grew to really dislike that radio. The audio was just plain awful and the man/machine interface was the worst I have ever seen. I detest bar graphs. I suppose if you play at ham radio 8 hours a day, seven days a week, the interface is "normal", even usable. For those of us who might get on the air for an hour or two a week, the controls were a mystery. Tap this button to do this, hold the same button for three seconds to do that, the list goes on. NOTHING was intuitive. It did not help that it was an incredibly ugly, too light and unsubstantial, radio. It's looks may have been barely acceptable when first introduced but it aged badly, rapidly. Over a ten year period it's price has become a real problem. There were many, many questions on this reflector regarding the controls, the same questions about the same controls, over and over and over again. That should have been a very large hint that the controls should be massively improved in any new radio. I sold my K3 and moved on to the big Japanese three, ANAN, and Flex, over the years. All had many, fairly easy to understand, controls. All were far, far more usable than the K3. Both the ANAN and Flex service departments are as good as Elecraft's. Eventually I left the Elecraft reflector, and that is a whole other story..... Last week the K4 was announced so I rejoined the reflector. It sounded like a really great radio. Sadly, I have concluded it will be a dud, mostly because it is designed with the same philosophy as the K3 was, a small, compact, easily transportable radio, "a hallmark of Elecraft transceivers", to quote you, Wayne. From all that I have read, the controls will be even more complex. Ham radio operators are an aging group. Some suffer from the "fat finger" syndrome, others have vision problems, to name just two. The last thing they need or want is a tiny radio with minimal controls, each of which serves two or three or four or five purposes. They favor a radio that has many single or dual purpose knobs. They want bigger screens, the K4 screens are too small. I suggest you double the size of the radio and change your design criteria. Enlarging the physical size would not be a huge cost driver. Remember who your customers are. And when the Flex 6700 kicked the K3 out of first place in the Sherwood ratings in 2014, the Koolaid drinkers on this reflector were heard to say, "People put too much faith in numbers". Hypocrisy is thy name. I haven't stopped laughing. This email pertains to only the second and third paragraphs of Wayne's reply below. I wish Elecraft well with the K4 but I really think your minimalist/too complex way of designing needs to change. You've probably already guessed that I won't be a customer of the K4 as currently proposed. And you really, really ought to improve this reflector........... 73, Harry K1RSA -----Original Message----- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net <elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net> On Behalf Of Wayne Burdick Sent: Friday, May 24, 2019 2:03 PM To: Elecraft Reflector <elecraft@mailman.qth.net>; k...@yahoogroups.com; elecraft...@groups.io Subject: [Elecraft] Elecraft K4 and Accessibility Hi Buddy et al, We've definitely been thinking about this. There's a paradigm shift going on in transceiver design, and we reached a point where we needed to embrace it. This shift is not entirely aligned with accessibility, as you know. I'll address alternatives in this email. As for the K4 specifically, its user interface is dependent in part on use of the touch screen. This was simply the only way to integrate an equivalent of the K3S, P3, and all of the new hardware/software required to implement a direct-sampling radio. The use of a touch screen allows context sensitivity (physical overloading) for controls, making the K4 the equivalent of a much larger radio without touch. The resulting compact size is still compatible with portable use (4.5" x 13.5" x 11", 10 pounds, and power-efficient), a hallmark of Elecraft transceivers. Regarding accessibility, there are three possible approaches: 1. The K4's entire complement of controls, both hard and touch, will be represented by a set of "2-letter" commands. This API will be fully public as it is for our other transceivers. Presumably external devices or computers will be able to immediately make use of these commands to effect a flexible accessible interface. 2. In theory we could implement a large-target version of the LCD's touch controls, with proximity-based audio feedback and no panadapter. This would be a very ambitious project requiring ongoing support, similar to that needed for mobile/fixed app development. We don't have the staff to support this, so we'd need to engage the wider community to find a developer with suitable skills and motivation. The API or spec for such an effort doesn't exist at this time. 3. The K3S has very similar strong-signal performance and similar basic features, without touch. Since many of the added features of the K4 are panadapter-centric, a blind ham may very well find that the K3S is a viable alternative. No doubt there will be more used K3's and K3S's on the market over the next year. The KX3 and KX2 provide audio CW feedback on most controls and are another non-touch alternative. I hope the alternatives I've suggested to use of the K4's normal UI will be helpful in most cases. 73, Wayne N6KR > On May 24, 2019, at 9:20 AM, Buddy Brannan bu...@brannan.name [KX3] > <kx3-nore...@yahoogroups.com> wrote: > > [Sorry, sent this to Gary instead of the list] Hey Gary, > > I’m curious about this as well, as are others…see K8HSY’s post on the > blind-hams list. See also my response full of speculation (below). Wayne, > please feel free to comment on my comments and correct me where I erred: > > I’ve been beating the accessibility drum on the Elecraft reflector for ages, > and Wayne has assured that they would not go to all touch screen access, for > that very reason. Elecraft has, in the person of one of their tech support > people in the past, and Wayne in emails to me, committed to doing what they > can in design parameters to make accessibility attainable, and they have been > super cooperative with people like the Hampod folks and others who want to > design accessibility tools. > > The K4 has a full GNU/Linux computer built into it, and it’s got a > client/server architecture, with network access available, so it seems to me > accessibility should be possible, even relatively easy, to implement. > Especially given that there are still a wide range of physical buttons and > knobs on board. > > And, unlike Yaecomwoodlincotec, the principals at Elecraft are not only > available by email, but very responsive besides. If you’re really interested > in a perspective direct from the horse’s mouth, write to Wayne directly at > n...@elecraft.com. He really does answer email. > > Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV - Erie, PA > Email: bu...@brannan.name > Mobile: (814) 431-0962 > > > On May 23, 2019, at 1:47 PM, Gary Lee kb9...@arrl.net [KX3] > > <kx3-nore...@yahoogroups.com> wrote: > > > > could someone describe the front panel of the k4 with reference to that of > > the k3? With the added touch screen, I am wondering about usability for the > > blind operator. > > > > > > > > > __._,_.___ > Posted by: Buddy Brannan <bu...@brannan.name> > Reply via web post • Reply to sender • Reply to group > • Start a New Topic • Messages in this topic (2) > VISIT YOUR GROUP > • Privacy • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use > > SPONSORED LINKS > > > > . > > > __,_._,___ ______________________________________________________________ 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 --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus ______________________________________________________________ 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
