I have a different opinion. I like kits. The stereo I used in college was a Heathkit I built myself.
I built the K2 and learned a great deal from the experience. I had at least as much fun building the radio as using it. Building the K3 is indeed much less of a kit experience. This is inevitable because technology has moved forward. High end equipment now extensively uses surface mount parts. It is impossible to practically market a kit requiring extensive assembly of boards using surface mount parts. The equipment and skills needed for that type of work is beyond the casual amateur. That does not mean there is no advantage to having built the K3 as a kit. Recently I had a problem with the B VFO. After a call to the factory I was able to do a test and determine the B VFO encoder was going bad. They sent out a replacement and I was able to swap the parts in about fifteen minutes. No charge and no radio down time. If this had not been a kit I would have had to return the radio for service. That would have meant a multi week delay and considerable expense and frustration. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Alexey Kats Sent: Sunday, March 06, 2011 6:45 AM To: VE3GAM Allen McRorie Cc: Elecraft List Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Fw: Why I won't purchase K3 Allen, you misunderstood me. I have no problem with using owning K3 - it the best radio I around, no matter which day you ask it. My problem is with K3 in its "kit" form. I don't have a problem buying it as an assembled radio. But I have a problem with buying it as a kit and then claiming that "I built it". All this "kit" form does is saving some money. It does not make me proud of achieving anything - that's what I was griping about. I don't mind bying K3. I don't like "building" it, that's all Actually, I think I should apologize to everybody - the subject of my original post was probably misleading. The better way to phrase it would be "why I won't purchase K3 KIT". On Sun, Mar 6, 2011 at 6:29 AM, VE3GAM Allen McRorie <[email protected]>wrote: > interesting comment! > > if you want to use one of the best radios around, I really don't get why it > is so > important that you BUILD the rig. Hopefully the END product is more > important > than the process used to get there. if not, then I guess you will miss out > on using > one of the best radios around. > > that is why I don't consider the BUILD question important at all . > > Al ve3gam > > -- Alexey Kats (neko) ______________________________________________________________ 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
