Doug has it right. Home built means accumulating the parts and assembling them. A kit has the parts packaged for you by someone else, usually with a premade board and instructions. The K3-kit satisfies that description but is closer to the manufactured end of the kit spectrum.
But I do not think hams should feel less if they do not build the system modules of their station. One still has the assembly of a station into a functioning whole. Surface-mount technology is where the state of the art is at. Very little electronics is component-level construction. As an example in my station: I have non-kit FT-847 and FT-817; plus the K3/10 (kit) and several Downeast Microwave transverter kits (sm level). Then there is the station control I designed and built (HB) but used a pcb board from a different application since it nicely mounted the 14 DPDT relays. The controller has 17 switches, 7 indicators, three sub-D9, two sub-D25 and ten RCA jacks. My station has 20 coax lines out of the shack to 17 antennas on bands from 600m to 2.4 GHz. My latest little HB project is a transverter to convert 10.461 MHz to 0.461 MHz. I borrowed the design with some modification and mounted the components on a RS project board that fits in a small aluminum box. About three hour project after the parts were rounded up. I will be adding a second IF to my K3 sub-Rx and the prototype ext-ref for the TCXO-3. One is following other's directions and the later could be called a kit (from Elecraft). So one can do as much or little in the assembly of a station. Its your choice. We all share the hobby in the way we please. Now I got to go out and feed the sled dogs! (back in 1983 I built a dog sled from scratch even sawing and planing the wood from a rough timber - is that HB?) 73, Ed ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Sun, 6 Mar 2011 17:29:38 -0000 From: "Doug Turnbull" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Why I won't purchase K3 To: "'David Gilbert'" <[email protected]>, <[email protected]> Message-ID: <E1AF82B35120460981DDDA3F09272ECB@DOUG1> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi All, No criticism of Elecraft as I am a convert to the K3 but building your own means home brew not building a kit. Heathkits, were always fun and yes you learned something from the step by step assembly but never so much as you learned from scrounging exchange parts, laying out the chassis, drilling cutting filing and building from scratch. A design of your own takes things even further down this path but even using a magazine article project counts as home brew but not kits. I like kits, I like my assembled K3 and I like home brew but have not done any not in a shameful length of time. Forgive an old goat of 51 years in the hobby. I do understand that the K2 does involve more work than many a kit including some coil winding. Elecraft makes good gear and good kits. Mechanical assembly of the K3 may well help when trouble shooting in future. 73 Doug EI2CN 73, Ed - KL7UW, WD2XSH/45 ====================================== BP40IQ 500 KHz - 10-GHz www.kl7uw.com EME: 144-1.4kw, 432-100w, 1296-testing*, 3400-winter? DUBUS Magazine USA Rep [email protected] ====================================== ______________________________________________________________ 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
