Very good review and information Doug. Thanks for taking the time to do it.
I too will be ordering a K4, probably in the second production run. I may wait until the super het version is available. Alan K7FH > On Jun 26, 2019, at 11:01 AM, Doug Turnbull <[email protected]> wrote: > > Dear OMs and YLs, > I had a chance to see the new K4 at Friedrichshafen. It was like > visiting flowers with bees swarming to have a go. I am impressed and have > a few points perhaps not mentioned previously. > > 1) Ergonomics: > > a) The Main tuning know is raised and has clustered directly around it > certain LEDS and Switches of particular use in tuning. > > LEDS are TX, Delta Freq, SUB (RX), and DIV for diversity. Having "Delta > Freq" directly adjacent to the tuning know may help me remember to stay off > a DX frequency. > > Switches are Freq Ent, Scan, Lock A/B and Sub/Div. Positioning these > switches right at the main tuning know seems to me an improvement over the > K3/S. > > b) Having the Spectrum display directly in front and on the radio itself yet > also giving a good size for the spectrum display is also to my liking. > > c) Because the spectrum display is built in, the radio is not as wide as a > K3 and P3 combination. The HDMI port still allows me to have a 24 inch > monitor for the frequency display so the slightly smaller display will not > cause me difficulties. > > d) A built in P3 should reduce the number of external cables. > > e) The tactile feel of the switches has been improved. > > 2) Economy, Many accessories of the past are built in. > > a) No need for a DVK CW, voice recorder card as this function is built in. > Ery good b) No need for a more stable oscillator as this too is built in.ry > c) No need for a wide band filter to allow general coverage because if you > switch out the superhet front end, you already have a general coverage RX. > Eric confirmed that the Superhet front end can be bypassed. > d) No need for a 4 kHz filter for FT8 as you can just switch out the > superhet front end. FT8 is normally not a mode used in contesting so > should be pretty robust without the superhet front end. > e) No separate P3 > f) No need for an accessory board in the K3 to enable an external monitor. > > 3) Ease of installing updates for diversity and also superhet front end; I > understand that it will no longer be necessary to unplug the front control > panel in order to install these options. This was always a bit of a > worrying moment for me though I have assembled three K3 radios and removed > the front panels on a number of occasions for updates such as installing the > DVK. I am an old goat with shaky enough hands and deteriorating eyesight. > > I should go through the specs to compare total weights of a fully equipped > K3 and P3 combination to the fully equipped K4. This data is probably not > yet available. How will the power consumptions compare? It will be > interesting to see the full specifications and Sherwood test results. No > matter, my plans are to purchase in the next twelve months. I like the > Elecraft philosophy of keeping the radio relatively small, light and most > importantly allowing for future enhancement. > > Agreed you will work anything with the K3 that you can work with the K4. > Most likely the 7300 will work 99.9% of what the K3 works but a VW Beetle > will do what a Porsche does but just maybe not with the same style. > > 73 Doug EI2CN > PS Sadly there will be no Fred Cady, KE7X book this time to further inform. > > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 > Message delivered to [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 Message delivered to [email protected]
