K3 Porch Watch 2007

[Don Rasmussen]

Look - we got a beautiful full size glossy photo of
Lisa Jones out of the deal. How much further behind
could the rest of the good stuff be? ;-)

Yes, that K3 went to a close associate who will be
taking it to exotic places I'm told. And they keep in
VERY close contact with him. They want rollout (any
day) to be a slam dunk. !!!

[Elecraft] K3 Porch Watch 2007
Craig Rairdin craigr at laridian.com
Thu Oct 18 09:34:12 EDT 2007

Previous message: [Elecraft] (K3) RSGB HF convention -
Eric WA6HHQ


> I only know of one delivered K3 (#66) - there must
be more out > there - I really hope there are more out
there!

#66 went to a "beta tester" who was to build it and
give comments. I personally think that was the only
one that shipped last week, or if more did, that they
went to a small number of pre-arranged test-builders.
I think the first real batch goes out this week. I
believe I'm in that batch and my card hasn't been
charged yet, as far as I can tell.

Craig
NZ0R
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[Ed Muns, W0YK]

I've built two K3's in the past five days from production kits just as they
are shipped to customers as part of an extended field test deployed by
Elecraft.  This is another example of Elecraft's diligent focus on their
customers and quality across the range.  Not surprisingly, K3 customers will
be delighted, whether they ordered a kit or a factory-assembled unit.

The K3 FAQ says build time is 7-9 hours and my experience was exactly that.
Of course it depends on the options included, but most of them are trivial,
if done along with the main kit.  It also depends on your own skill and
assembly speed.  I tend to be a slower builder, lingering on every word in
the manual, looking ahead, trying to foresee issues, etc.  My K2 build time
is longer than many.

The first K3 I built, last Friday evening, was a K3/10, KAT3, KXV3, KBPF3,
five roofing filters and the KPA3.  It took about nine hours, of which 1.5
hours were spent doing a detailed inventory at the beginning.  As most of
you know, inventory time pays itself back immensely in reduced assembly time
plus fewer errors and re-work.

I built the second unit yesterday afternoon and it took less than seven
hours, owing to my experience with the first one.  In fact, I think I could
build a complete K3 without the manual now!  However, both builds took
longer than normal because I was making copious notes in the margins of the
manual for Elecraft engineering and production.  Here is the time break-down
on the K3 built yesterday:

Inventory - 1 hour (starting from slitting the packing tape on the shipping
box)
Build K3/10 with KAT3 - 4.3 hours
Inventory & build KPA3 - 1 hour
Inventory & build KXV3 - 10 minutes
Inventory & build KBPF3 - 10 minutes

The most time-consuming part of installing options is removing the top and
both bottom covers (30-40 screws?), so if you can do them together or as
part of the main kit, there is some time saved removing and installing
covers.  The quality of the assembly manual, the parts and the design is
extraordinary.  This is a class product.  And when you're finished, the
radio rivals most any on the market today at any price, manufactured in much
larger facilities than the combination of Elecraft's modest kitting room and
your home workbench.

73,
Ed - W0YK

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[srife]

Stan Rife
W5EWA
Houston, TX
K2 S/N 4216

        So is anyone else in the process of building a K3? It's been kind of
slow on the reflector the last couple of days, so several people must be in
the process of construction.

Stan Rife
W5EWA
Not sure which wave...just ordered

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