Of course there is a fast way of developing a big radio. Just take the current electronics and put them in a bigger case. My Orion II is a good example. There is a LOT of room inside. But a bigger case does not make a better radio in my opinion. As for the idea that a higher price indicates a better radio or an "institutional" quality radio, there is the Yaesu FT 9000 example. That very expensive rig is subject to recall to replace almost all of its innards and I don't believe that has been accomplished yet. So much for design reliability. I have no doubt that Elecraft could design a radio for the institutional market if it chose to do so but I'll bet that market has its problems as well. As for the 7800 that appears to be quite capable and I'm sure there are institutional users, but for critical missions, I bet the choice is more likely the radios from Rhode & Schwartz or Harris which are way beyond the price points we are accustomed to.
By the way, commercial users tend to look for the lowest priced, dependable equipment which will get the job done. Globe Wireless uses TenTEC receivers for computer controlled, unmanned remote locations. If they weren't dependable 24/7 workers, I doubt they would be used. They are far from the most expensive but they apparently meet the needs. Bruce-W8FU -----Original Message----- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth. net] On Behalf Of Johnny Siu Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2009 1:43 AM To: Elecraft Reflector; DOUGLAS ZWIEBEL Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K4: serious challenge for the $10K toys Hello Doug, For the market of 10k and 15k rig, it has to be supported by a large institutional market which is the most profitable. The requirements from institutonal users could be different from hams. Durability, physcial strength and easiness of operation could be another areas to look into. I fully appreciate that Elecraft is a very clever manufacturing engineer and marketing manager. When you examine both K2 and K3, for all the non-essential parts (including the fat head and pan head cabinet screws), I am rude to say that they use the cheapest materials. For the T/R switch of KPA100, they only use the cheap IN4007 diodes for the switching (but works very well!!). On the other hand, for the criticial parts such as the front end of XV144 they use an excellent MOSFET. Elecraft is very clever in a way that they can mimize the production costs against performance. K2 and K3 are excellent in specifications but I doubt whether they can really operate under full institutional usage 7/24 a week. May be there is another version of K3 for institutional users which I don't know. I am an ICOM user as well. I understand that ICOM earns huge revenue from the institutional version of their IC7800, IC7700 and ICR9500. For a purchase of 10k or over, the prospective purchaser will look into other issues. For me, I would also think of resell value of my used gears if I invest 10k or more. May be I am lucky that in Hong Kong, all the top gears (except K3) are only 80% of the US prices. Therefore, when I sell my IC7800 or IC7700 in future, the loss to me could be minimal. With the clever minds in Elecraft, I think they have the capability and talent to enter the profitable institutional market. Perhaps, they may go for IPO in due course (of course not now) for funding. cheers, Johnny Siu VR2XMC --- 2009年1月3日 星期六，DOUGLAS ZWIEBEL <doug...@gmail.com> ��道�s > 寄件人: DOUGLAS ZWIEBEL <doug...@gmail.com> > 主�}: [Elecraft] K4: serious challenge for the $10K toys > 收件人: "Elecraft Reflector" <elecraft@mailman.qth.net> > 日期: 2009 1 3 星期六 上午 10:57 > Hi Joe... > > Yes, I'm sure a K4 (or how about a K88 so the SE Asia > guys would buy > in big time) could be "easily" made. In fact, > for "that" group, it > might make sense to price it even higher than > "theirs"...say $15 or > $20k. You know, when you get into the upper tiers of any > market, it's > the HIGH PRICE that convinces folks that it's good. > And if it really > is good (as I'm sure the K88 would be), then bingo. > Tons of profit > margin....with a concomitant lower volume. It all balances > out. > > However, if you look at the track record of Elecraft, they > appear to > be very good at identifying very tiny niche markets > (although the K3 > seems to have a wide appeal...wider than expected?). > Somehow, > competing "head to head" with a "big" > radio doesn't seem to fit the > "Eric/Wayne" approach. > > As I recall (it's probably on their web site > somewhere), the K3 was > targeted to be a "high performance, very portable, > light weight" > radio...with some very neat features too. They have > certainly > achieved that. If I were them (which I am not), I'd be > focusing on > refining what I have (which they are obviously doing). It > is probably > just a matter of time before the FT9009 and IC7878 come > out, using > nearly identical receiver design approaches to those used > in the K3 > (and Orion). Citing my own previous post today, this could > be the > Trophy wife with four PhD degrees. It's got to be only > a matter of > time. Of course, it will still be a BIG, HEAVY radio, > taking up lots > of real estate and providing lots of future opportunity for > Herniorrhaphy surgeons. The K3 will still have its niche > market. > > Okay..end of make-believe "I can see the future" > diatribe. :-) > > de Doug KR2Q > _______________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > 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 Yahoo!香港提供�W上安全攻略，教你如何防��黑客! ��前往 http://hk.promo.yahoo.com/security/ 了解更多! _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net 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 _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net 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
