Gary, David, and All, I did consider the location of the person who originated this thread (DL) before posting my original response. However, I assumed that he certainly must have given that some thought before even considering a kit. In any event, as David says, it really doesn't take that long for parts to cross the Atlantic based on most of the responses I have seen posted here by folks in Europe.
As I understand it, Elecraft has procedures whereby they do check individual boards before they ship them. Am I wrong about that? I thought I had seen that fact stated by Elecraft personnel many times. Assuming that's the case, I would think that the odds of having a "fault" issue are pretty low. Over time a few issues have arisen which required slight modifications. Those, however, would not necessarily have been corrected on a factory built unit before shipment until the fault had actually been identified. So, my further assumption is that a lot of factory built units are out there that could "benefit" from a mod or two. And these mods were usually improvements rather than ones that made the difference between a working unit and a non-working unit. The DSP board is a good example of that. I could only assume that the original inquirer was really asking whether it was reasonable for him to expect to be able to self assemble a K3 with a high expectation of success. Most responses, including mine, indicated that with reasonable "assembly" skills the answer should be yes. I don't know how to quantify a "reasonable expectation", but I'd guess somewhere in the high 90's. Another thing to consider is that, if a problem should arise, it's extremely likely that Elecraft tech support can identify the issue without you having to send the whole unit in. You may only need to replace or change a single part, and at worst you could just send the offending board back to them, rather than the entire unit. That's something Ten-Tec really "invented", and Elecraft has adopted. The modular construction of the K3 makes it very much easier to swap out problem boards. That's also another very good reason for assembly of your own unit in the first place, since then you presumably won't be so hesitant to make such a swap. I think it is important to emphasize the quality of Elecraft tech support. It doesn't come any better! I've built all the Elecraft transceivers, and there have been a few issues (often self inflicted) along the way. With rare exception, folks like Gary Surrency have been able to immediately identify the issue, and resolution was nearly immediate. Another fabulous resource is Don Wilhelm, who responds typically to posted issues so fast it makes your head swim! With just about every other piece of equipment I own (except, perhaps, for my one Ten-Tec transceiver), if a problem arises I am almost certainly faced with the need to send the unit in for repair. With my K3, I am almost certainly NOT going to have to send it in, unless I choose to do so. I challenge everyone to identify a piece of gear they own that has better technical support than their Elecraft rig. One last point, and one that was made earlier. I glazed over the differential in cost between a factory unit and a kit. $200 was suggested, and I didn't correct it, but it is much more than that, depending on how many adds you make to the basic unit. It will probably be closer to $400 or more. You can do a lot of corresponding and board swapping for that amount, even from Europe! Come to think of it, I bet the whole unit could be sent back and forth from Europe for less than that, so why not build it yourself! It sure sounds like a gamble worth taking, especially when the odds are so much in your favor. Dave W7AQK ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Ferrington, M0XDF" <m0...@alphadene.co.uk> To: "Elecraft Reflector" <elecraft@mailman.qth.net> Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2009 1:34 AM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 DIY vs factory assembled: "If I get a bad part,will I be stuck?" >I considered that, for about 1 minute, when I bought my K3. My fellow > club members with K2s said there wouldn't be a problem - there wasn't. > I didn't have any missing parts so can't comment on delivery of those. > But the K3 shipped via UPS and got here in 2 days (shipped 15-Dec and > arrived 17th). I found the HexKey I had ordered had been missed out of > the shipment, Elecraft very apologetic and it shipped and arrived > within 5 days (considering that was Xmas post time, very good). A mod > kit I ordered arrived within a few days via USPS (I have to say I'm > more impressed with US postal service than I am the UKs). > > I don't think you'd have to wait long for a missing part in mainland > Europe. But I expect shippment to some distant rural area might be an > issue. I would not have thought Canada would be? > 73 de M0XDF, K3 #174 > -- > Math Anxiety: an intense lifelong fear of two trains approaching each > other at speeds of 60 and 80 MPH. -Rick Bayan > > On 22 Dec 2009, at 03:16, Gary, VE1RGB wrote: >> Your argument is solid for citizens of the USA. But life offshore >> is different and the logistics support system from Aptos, while it >> cannot be >> faulted, cannot do anything about the vagaries of postal and >> transportation >> and customs and immigration systems which attract delay and cost, >> sometimes >> of eye-watering magnitude, to those of us who live elsewhere. >> Gary, VE1RGB > > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 ______________________________________________________________ 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
