Chuck: > On May 1, 2022, at 10:04 AM, Chuck MacCluer <macclue...@gmail.com> wrote: > > The K3 and K3S are dead ends --- they are frozen at their present > capabilities. The K4 is a partially filled canvas that can improve over > time. For example, the K4s I hear on the air still have, like the K3xs, > that ugly popup in the unwanted sideband. They compare in this respect > unfavorably with the lowly IC-7300. But the K4 will someday possess > predistortion and consequently a pristine transmitted SSB signal. Unlike > its predecessors, the K4 has an unlimited future. That's the nature of a > full SDR.
Your point is certainly well taken. Performance enhancements, new features, bug fixes, etc. are all possible given the old adage, “It is simply the software.” That said, exactly how a product line evolves over time can have a huge impact on both current customers and perspective customers. One can certainly argue that those that jumped in line on the day of product announcement for the K4 are ‘early adopters’ who are willing to purchase a hardware design and then be relatively patient waiting for the software/firmware to evolve to the point that announced features are made available. The tradeoff is that ’needed features’ may lag behind the ‘basic features’ and that those that forked out real $$$$ for the latest generation of hardware may start to get ‘antsy’ about not being able to take full advantage of a product’s “potential” as software/firmware evolves later. While I have no idea what Elecraft’s development timeline looks like, presumably their development schedule is predicated on relative priorities as well as creating the building blocks necessary to enhance the software over time. I also don’t know how large their development team is or whether they have other duties/responsibilities as well. As far as I know, they have not released a ‘development roadmap’. Bottom line is that those that purchasers of a new generation of hardware that is fully dependent upon software to ‘make the magic’ must recognize that such development work will likely exceed their presumptions of how quickly such software is fully developed. While Elecraft is not FlexRadio, one only has to look at the history of Flex to see how much longer software development takes over hardware development to create the ‘desired’ product. When Flex announced their 6xxxx series at the 2012 Hamvention, they delivered the hardware within 18 months of product announcement to those who ’signed up’ in the first few months after product annoucement. I received my Flex-6700 in November 2013 with SmartSDR for Windows version 1.0. However, the first iteration of SSDR (v1.0) was simply the first step in a long evolution of software development. It wasn't until May 2017 (five years after initial product announcement) that “SmartLink” was introduced in SSDR v2.0 that allowed remote connectivity of Flex-6xxxx series transceivers, a product feature announced in 2012 and which is why I got the Flex-6700 in the first place. Almost 10 years later, we’re now seeing hardware issues starting to crop up with the SD cards installed in older Flex-6xxx transceivers that contain the “smarts” of these products. While Flex utilizes ‘industrial grade” SD cards, even these products apparently degrade after years of read/write cycles. Customers are now experiencing issues where current firmware upgrades ‘brick’ their transceivers because of the longterm degradation of these cards means they fail during testing of SD card performance as part of the firmware update. In other words, the testing is done to ensure that SD card is capable of accepting the new firmware and fails. Flex has been very responsive is supplying replacement SD cards (even though radios are beyond their warranty period) which is certainly appreciated, but it does leave a “taste in one’s mouth” when this happens. BTW, these SD cards are unit specific (they apparently contain serial number information) which means one can’t simply copy the contents of one SD card and install it on a non-Flex provided SD Card. I note this simply to point out that today’s world of “software defined radio” introduces not only new capabilities but also changes the paradigm about product development and longevity of products due to limitations. Indeed, investing in a new product release such as the K4 or the Flex-6xxxx means that the purchaser becomes part of that product’s ‘ecosytem’ where it may take a significant amount of time to finalize that ecosystem. This compares to the ‘old days’ where one purchased a ‘radio as is” with limited update capabilities and one simply purchased a replacement as needed. FWIW, Barry Baines, WD4ASW/5 Keller, TX > > Chuck w8mqw ______________________________________________________________ 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 Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
