I'm right there with you. I find the schematics to be of more use for the fine elements of the HARDWARE aspects of the K3. But the real meat of the K3 is in the firmware, which is not going to be published in any way to allow, for example, to tweak the APF code to suit ourselves. So for those of us who have always done our own prying in the hardware and maintained a degree of independence back in the old world, SMD, high degrees of functional integration on SMDs, and Software Derived Radio have made us dependent on the radio manufacturers to a degree with which we are getting INcreasingly UNcomfortable.
It's kind of like having a fine topographical/photographic map of everywhere around Area 51, with of course fences and security at the boundary, heavy penalties for trespassing, and also of course, having Area 51 itself blanked out on the map. It's regretfully, necessarily a non-negotiable boundary between insatiable public curiosity, and an armed need for government security. And, while I know Eric is trying to shut down this long, long, long, long multi-paralleled thread for procedural reasons and has been fairly forgiving of it, I hope Elecraft has noticed some things about THIS thread that sets it starkly apart from the likes of "true north" and other famous endless, everybody-weighs-in thread. 1) It is NOT being advanced by a NARROW slice of the user base (as in CW contesters or 2M digital moonbounce operators). 2) The usual futzglop of it's-never-good-enough'ers does NOT dominate the cast of posters. 3) ALL aspects of the documentation have been questioned, not focused on one thing. 4) Those with professional documentation training or involvement are questioning the state of affairs of documentation in general, and regretfully see the K3 in the same state as documentation in general. It seems to be what the Klingon Ruler called the "undiscovered country" in one of the Star Trek movies. Despite all kinds of good faith effort by Elecraft and their most-excellent volunteer cast, there is clearly an unmet need that current state of documentation art does not meet. Sort of like radio front ends before TenTec, huh? Oh, yeah... 5) A serious documentation methodology breakthrough certainly IS a patentable offering. 73, and I'll try to pay attention to Eric's end-of-thread. Guy. On Thu, Dec 9, 2010 at 11:22 AM, Mel Farrer <[email protected]> wrote: > FWIW, the user manual is fine. What you are describing, is a service manual. > > Mel, > > > > > ________________________________ > From: eric manning <[email protected]> > To: Jim Garland <[email protected]> > Cc: [email protected]; "Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ, Elecraft" > <[email protected]> > Sent: Thu, December 9, 2010 7:42:08 AM > Subject: [Elecraft] Parting shot > > > Precisely!!! > I'm trying to diagnose a K2 fault at the moment. I'm largely acting as a robot > directed > by Don Wilhelm, thank goodness for Don& Gary. > > I would be > even more at sea, out to lunch, if I were trying to cope with a fault in the > far more complex K3. > I've read the K3 manual carefully [fb user manual!] and I still don't have a > clue as to circuit level function, sufficient to infer fault from malfunction. > > [I did my PhD thesis on electronic fault diagnosis& co-wrote the first > book on the subject . . .] > > ERIC > VA7DZ > [PhD in EE, F.IEEE, FEIC, P.Eng., etc etc] > > ________________________ > > I'd like to see a K3 service manual, or at least a comprehensive circuit > description. Without some explanation, the downloaded schematics are pretty > worthless to somebody trying to understand the radio. In particular, the > published K3 block diagram is an exercise in obscurity. In my opinion, it's > nearly impossible for someone even to follow the receive or transmit signal > path. > > 73, > > Jim W8ZR > > > > -- > This message has been scanned for viruses and > dangerous content by MailScanner, and is > believed to be clean. > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[email protected] > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > > > > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[email protected] > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
