I wish this board could stay technical. Maybe we should have another one for service issues and rants? Ham qualifications were mentioned in the signal quality discussion. Someone should man up and state the obvious: Radios have become appliances that only a tiny minority could work on in any competent way and even then they would need pretty spiffy test equipment. I am a lifelong hacker and 65 year call holder, with radar, BC, and radio experience of all sorts, but I have near zero interest in repairing my old K3. I might look for a loose connection, but I've never opened either of my two, bought used. The "qualifications" we claim to have are a farce. People with NO IDEA about anything technical can memorize enough answers to get by the test. No offense, but this covers about 90% of new licensees. But maybe it doesn't matter. We need the numbers for political reasons and those who know enough, or want to learn enough, to do something technical can ignore the others. Of course we can choose to help some of the others in the rare instance when they actually want to learn something. Mostly they want someone to set up their appliance so they can pretend to be hams and press the button. Or go over and put up an antenna or two for them. I feel for the "company" but, for whatever reason, they have abandoned the owners of very expensive equipment they indicated they would maintain and support. They are no more, or less, culpable than the big guys. And "we" share the blame. Anyone who expects a piece of advanced techie equipment, with 100 or so man-years of programming and a handfull of specialized ICs in it to have a long (decade+) commercial life is a dreamer. I just threw away an expensive wall oven because the SECOND $350 control board failed and I wasn't about to buy a third one! If you think Elecraft is bad, just try dealing with Whirlpool! I bought a GE (control board $75) with half the bells and whistles and it cooks fine. If I could, I'd buy one with a knob! Front load washers are thrown away regularly because of door gasket leaks. FYI, Speed Queen makes a fine top loader with mechanical timer and NO SCREEN or flashing numbers! What can we do? Adjust our expectations! DON'T buy a K4 if you can't afford to throw it away in a few years. It's probably less maintainable than the K3 and Elecraft is bleeding the talent and excitement that served them so well in the beginning. Who of us believes there will suddenly appear a supply of brilliant, loyal, YOUNG engineers and programmers to keep the tradition alive. If you want to keep your rig going for decades, get a Heathkit, Drake, or Collins. They do most of what a K- does and you already have most of the parts to fix them, or one of your friends does, or Mouser does! Otherwise, buy an FT-450 and dump it the same way you dumped your digi tv converter! The labor to fix it would cost more than a new one anyway. Mass production and specialized hardware have done a great job of giving us marvelous stuff, at the price of maintainability and support. Who has had their TV repaired lately? Would anyone like to buy an IC-746? All it needs is a display? Or one of those Yaesus that just needs a microprocessor or two? Me? I am as thrilled to work NY with a 2W Millen Variarm VFO (1941) as I am to work China with my K3, actually more so because I spent a day or so making the Variarm work, realizing full well that a day of reasonably competent service would cost enough to buy an FT-450, or some other low end rig. Writing checks and struggling with menus produces NO intellectual reward and often leads to frustration! OK, I feel better, like after a nice trip to the Field Day Porta Potty, so let the flames begin. Better yet, if you want to discuss your SW-3, Wasp, Comet Pro, RME-70, SX-16, SB-401, HT-9, or Gonset Communicator, just let me know. And remember, you'll be old someday too. I'll keep trying to figure out receiving antenna assignment on the K3... Wilson K4OGP (1957), W4BOH (Dad 1932, me 1987) ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net
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