Tony, The k3 is the only transceiver i have kept for 5 years or more. The improvements to date keep the k3 near the top f the pile and elecraft continue to support their products like no other. The numbers tell the story as Rob Sherwood states but when you look closely the cost to buy these better numbers is real hard for me to justify. Wayne made his point clearly and it is the elecraft philosophy which keeps satisfied customers loyal. A good example is the coming high band pre-amp. 73 Gary Gary Vk1ZZ K3, KX3, KPA500-FT, KAT500-FT,P3. On 08/06/2013 5:29 AM, "Tony Estep" <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Fri, Jun 7, 2013 at 2:14 PM, Ray Sills <[email protected]> wrote: > > > I don't think the intent for not adding improvements that can't be done > > for -any- K3 is there to hold back.... > > > =========== > Well, the idea of continuing hardware changes has not generally been > embraced by any ham manufacturers, for reasons that ought to be obvious. No > manufacturer could stay in business long if their products had versions A, > B, C, D etc., varying only by the addition of an RF choke in the audio or > similar minor tweaks. > > Sometimes after a production run of several years, a staple product is > upgraded (usually with a price increase!); think of the FT897D, for > example, which introduced new circuitry and features and was a (somewhat) > different radio packaged in basically the same way as its predecessor. This > of course clobbers the resale value of the earlier model. Whether or not it > leaves a bad taste with the customer depends on the significance of the > changes, the product life of the original version, pricing, and other > marketing-related issues. Positioning a product, or a line of products, in > the minds of consumers is a delicate art that even marketing masters like > Apple or Procter & Gamble struggle with. > > In the ham market, the current answer -- which I think is a very good one > -- is to put as much flexibility as possible in upgradeable firmware, which > can be supplied as a free download. This allows the manufacturer to > constantly upgrade the product, and create customer loyalty and happiness > at the same time: the exact opposite of what happens when a new hardware > version is introduced that causes the previous hardware to seem outmoded. > > > Tony KT0NY > > -- > http://www.isb.edu/faculty/facultydir.aspx?ddlFaculty=352 > ______________________________________________________________ > 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
