Thanks Guy. That was a very interesting post. Doug -- K0DXV On 2/19/2012 6:12 PM, Guy Olinger K2AV wrote: > It's the NASCAR factor. > > The stark RX improvement of first the K2 and then the K3 over all the > competition, and the difference that made in contests, and such things as > K3 being fully half the chosen rigs in the last WRTC, really shoved > Elecraft out there. TenTec has been forced to make changes and > improvements to their Orion series to catch up that they easily could have > made 5 years ago, but now are playing catch-up, just like the Japanese > manufacturers. > > The only comparable technical advancement in all the years I have been > drooling over ham rigs, was the 32S/75S Collins series of rigs all the way > back in the late 50's. Some Collins buffs would put the advancement > starting with the 75A3/4 rather than the S line. > > TenTec had the early opportunities but failed in execution, without the > vision of an Elecraft. TenTec particularly lacked the responsiveness and > deep careful analysis and incorporation of customer feedback that so > characterizes Elecraft. TenTec certainly had the early support and > cooperation of ham technical heavyweights in the beginning, some famously > lost to Elecraft after consistently being summarily ignored on clear > issues. TenTec's failures AND accomplishments in RX were clearly visible > to and could have been cherry-picked by the Japanese makers, who chose to > ignore them as well. > > I AM left to wonder what an Art Collins would have done with another > company leaping into a new performance dimension. I doubt the year would > pass without an answer. Nor would JA1MP, for that matter. > > I would say that the Elecraft is down significantly in fit and finish from > the venerable S line. The S line is still the pleasure to look at and > simply turn knobs. But the S line is the historical high for fit and > finish for all ham rigs. But Elecraft more than counters for that by being > commonly affordable. The S line plus the 650 watt output 30L1 in 1958-1960 > would set you back just about $2000, about the same as a fullsize Ford > Fairlane of the time. > > Comparably, a fairly maxed out K3 plus a KPA500 will set you back $7000. > The difference is that $2000 in 1958 is worth at least $15,685 in 2012. > And you can't touch a Ford Fusion for 15k. One is tempted to set the > time-adjusted price differential at more than 3 to 1. Furthermore the > S-Line does not have QSK, does not have dual diversity receivers, or a > keyer, or the raft of K3 features, and takes up six or seven times the desk > space of the K3 KPA combo. Nevertheless, the S line is still the all time > leader in raw cumulative drool time and drool volume and may never be > surpassed. Joe DiMaggio kind of record. > > But it was the RX performance of a K3 that got around like lightning, about > contesters in crowded band with huge signals on both sides, hearing with > their K3's down into a hiss on a band, absent a layer of > beeble-bobble-click clutter and IMD garbage that everybody THOUGHT was the > band ambient noise. For myself, it was realizing that on 40 meters, there > was a whole new previously unheard layer of 50 and 100 watt low backyard > dipole RUSSIANS down in the hiss, and the last layer of signals was NO > LONGER the DL/OK QRP clubs, who now were almost always copied on first call > except those with liquid-nitrogen-cooled noodle antennas. > > Contesters simply DO NOT MISS changes of that magnitude, and propagation of > information about that between contesters was light-speed. > > Yeah, dang all them contests, and complain all the way to the bank, and all > the way to the top ten in the contest listings. > > 73, Guy > > On Sun, Feb 19, 2012 at 4:24 PM, Ken G Kopp<[email protected]> wrote: > >> I suspect one of the principal reasons the K3 ... and the K2 ... are >> where they are in the performance pecking order is because of the >> DX'er and contester market. >> >> 73! >> Ken - K0PP >> [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 >> > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 >
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