Having just stuffed another few options into my K3, with predictably gratifying result, my thoughts naturally go to what the next step might be. Let's see. P3: would be nice, but when I had an LP-Pan I hardly used it. Also: no room on the shelf. KPA500: Again, no room unless I decided to retire my full power amp. I could make room by retiring my spare rig, a TS-570S, which would make room for e.g. the KPA500, but I like to have a spare HF rig, as any rig can fail. I could retire my 2m ssb/cw rig, an ancient TR-9000 and replace it with an Elecraft internal transverter, but that unit seems too much like an afterthought designed for the casual user. When it comes to weak signal VHF/UHF I would like to see an architecture that supports remote preamps and separate feedlines for receive and transmit. Also on the possible wish list: a full set of VHF/UHF bands and sophisticated support for satellite use. I could replace the spare HF rig with a dedicated VHF/UHF multiband rig with satellite capabilities and no spare HF capability (or at least not a very good one). The new product suggestion: A new main branch on the K3 tree of options. I would replace the spare HF rig with a K3/10, and Elecraft would make a new set of internal 2m, 70cm and 1296 transverters that could all be mounted internally, taking up the space otherwise used by 2nd RX, 100W PA, tuner. These would be high end transverters, with the very best flexibility of antenna hookups, killer firmware support for satellite, etc. Disclaimers: I have not thought about how the module interconnections would work, and I might not buy this stuff on day one, but on the face of it, it would solve some problems. I would have a far better HF backup rig, and great capability on more VHF/UHF bands. And the space now taken up by the 2m rig would be available for a P3, or a ????
73, Erik K7TV ______________________________________________________________ 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
