>Pretty well said, Matt. The boys and girls in Aptos did a very unique >thing. A very small company with a very focused customer base, they >came up with a radio that blows the socks off the competition, both >performance-wise and cost-wise. Their focused customer base went wild, >are totally obsessed, and the very small company is struggling to meet >the demand without becoming YaeComWood. I sure hope they succeed, I >have my K2/100 which I love, I waited 3 1/2+ years to come home from SE >Asia, I can surely wait until next year for my K3. BTW: I have had the >opportunity to play with one. And I think my K2 is beyond belief! > >73, > >Fred K6DGW
Hi Fred, Combined response to you, plus a few K3-Waiters asked for a little more info from people operating the K3 the last few weeks. --matt The Elecraft folks came out way beyond my expectations too, and these were high before the K3. The problems they had in early production with shipping to promise dates are *not* unexpected, if you understand enough about the business they're in. In this, their size is a major asset, allowing a great degree of "overlap of sectors of responsibility". Everyone has involvement in customer support from this perspective. When I used the white blood cell analogy, it was because at several points in the assembly timeline, I was having multiple discussions with multiple Elecrafters. It was overwhelming a couple times. But very positive in terms of support - I think no one does it better. The K3 is worth the wait. Most things I've read about performance are true within my ability to check them out. The RX is quieter in terms of internal noise, and I've never had an HF RX that picks out weak signals as well as the K3 does. One example of this was during SS Phone. I was working stations that no one else was bothering with, only because I could hear them. I can't credit many of these with operating skill, since I'm fairly rusty. Some yes, most no. TX audio gets glowing reports too. I usually don't have to ask; the praise for the audio just comes naturally in a QSO along with the signal report. And at 12W with a long wire, the only challenge is being heard. Not many receivers out there have near the sensitivity or selectvitiy of the K3. And none have the BDR, which makes those other two specs worth having in the first place. IMHO, for most, it will be worth it to buy the K3/100 option. You can still operate QRP any time with the 100W held in reserve. The additional 10dB (1.6 S units) is enough to be heard under most condtions, even the bottom of the sunspot cycle. As soon as I can put together the $, I'm going for the 100W PA along with a couple more filters. One thing that Wayne mentioned that *resonates* is the roofing filter - that is the approach we take as to which to install (and in which RX). I'm using only the 2.7 KHz 5-pole filter, and haven't been disappointed yet. BDR was *still* much better than anything I'm used to. However, I'd recommend either 1.8 or 2.1 KHz SSB filters and 400 Hz CW, for contesting. That way - let 'em get close to your freq, and the only thing you have to worry about is being heard over them. The K2 is still my favorite portable rig (no, not the only one I have). You're right - a properly built and aligned K2 probably beats out most other full-size transceivers in terms of performance. Where most of the bigs stumble over themselves from one xcvr generation to the next, Elecraft has a history only of outdoing themselves. Having known Eric for a while, it is an attribute I've come to expect and respect. I respectfully suggest that we cut the Aptos gang a few breaks. They won't be laying down on the job at all, and will only continue to produce way-above-excellent results for all of us. The more overhead (noisy correspondence) the user base adds to their efforts, the more it makes it difficult to meet the targets they've set for all of us. 73, Matt - WA6EGJ K3 #24 > >- Northern California Contest Club >- CU in the 2008 Cal QSO Party 4-5 Oct 08 >- www.cqp.org > >Expecting my K3 sometime early next year [ordered in Oct]. _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
