K3 Silver tongued devil
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[Elecraft] K3 Silver tongued devil
Granted it's my perception of it, but I do have two frames of reference for the K3 announcement and release. There was the original K2 product, supported by this reflector, and then the Orion announcement and release. It provides some perspective on what K3 owners might call "rough edges". To keep this in perspective, Orion was introduced in January 2002 and the first scheduled ship date was September 2002. It wasn't until late March 2003 that the initial version of the radio was making it's way to anxious customers. There were no estimates other than the September 2002 target and even if you were curious you just waited. This may be one of Elecraft's hindsight issues, putting too much information information out there. Fourteen months later after announcement (as compared to K3's six month wait) units were shipped with a fair amount of rough edges, many of which required the unit to be sent back to the factory for hardware revisions. The software was a moving target as well, with frequent updates that added new features, and destabilized others that worked. Some units would lock up with processor faults while they were being used. Keep in mind that this was a $3300 base radio that already had 12 months from vaporware to the table. This happened to me at a field day, the normally "quiet" receiver became -really really- quiet. What happened? The owner immediatly recognized it and restarted it for me. "Reboot" was an advised resolution to any number of issues that popped up regularly. There was eventually a redesign of the bandscope that was faulting the processor and the firmware was rewritten to increase reliability. That's when Orion II came along. I expect no K3, version II. Orion owners today, three years later, seem satisfied. But oh, back in the day. So my expected three month wait for K3 went to 9 months. That's the roughest of the rough edges. I'm told I'll have a reliable unit out of the box. I paid $2300 for the shooting match loaded up the way I wanted it. Someone some day may do it better, but for the time being, this roll out is the standard. I'm not denying that a 6 month wait, the subrx delay, etc... are not rough edges, just that IMO they are greatly the lesser in comparison to what I know. http://www.zerobeat.net/mediawiki/index.php/K3_Where_are_the_production_units%3F [Elecraft] K3 Silver tongued devil Brett Howard brett at livecomputers.com Mon Jan 21 18:26:21 EST 2008 Previous message: [Elecraft] K3 Silver tongued devil Next message: [Elecraft] K3 Silver tongued devil Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Glad to hear it! Least there will be food on the table and all the hard work is paying off! From the sounds of it you've got quite the amazing kit yet again. Couple rough edges but these are to be expected in a pilot build. -----Original Message----- From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ, Elecraft Sent: Monday, January 21, 2008 3:06 PM To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Silver tongued devil Don's numbers are way low both for our current shipping rate and and for our backlog. :-) 73, Eric WA6HHQ _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] 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 |
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Oh believe me you I personally have put beta units into a customers hands
that were rougher but was forced to do so because of financial or marketing reasons. Not that I wanted to but sometimes you just have to. The rough edges that I speak of are simply some of the firmware upgrade type things (I believe it seems that one of the guys has bricked his unit). And the stuff that is listed in the K3 Errata as things that are on the board to be implemented. I'm a bit of a late comer and didn't jump in sight unseen without asking questions such as what of it is done and what not. Any time I'm going in on the ground floor of something my questions would read what is done and how much testing has been done with the unit in its full featured configuration. These are questions that you just ask when you are coming in on the ground floor. I have a feeling that if people had asked these questions Elecraft would have been candid about it. The fact that the incomplete features as of yet are called out in the errata document is pretty forthcoming and honest in my opinion. Currently I'm in the process of finishing off my MBA and I don't have as much time to operate as I'd like to so I'm in a good position to wait but I can assure you all I'll own a K3! Oh and to EVERYONE who has purchased one and even more to everyone that has one. THANK YOU for buying one, running it, testing it, taking pictures of it, and telling me about it. Your doing so not only informs me of how wonderful it is it informs Elecraft of what work needs done! Having the end user doing the pilot test is fantastic if your customer base is intelligent enough to do so (and knows that they are doing it). Unlike the Microsoft business model where every one is a beta tester for several years after each new release and most have no idea of that fact! Again thanks all for the K3 reports and thank you Don for the perspective on the rough edges. I meant them in the kindest of senses! The K3 truly is a gem! ~Brett (KC7OTG) -----Original Message----- From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Don Rasmussen Sent: Monday, January 21, 2008 4:15 PM To: [hidden email] Subject: [Elecraft] K3 Silver tongued devil [Elecraft] K3 Silver tongued devil Granted it's my perception of it, but I do have two frames of reference for the K3 announcement and release. There was the original K2 product, supported by this reflector, and then the Orion announcement and release. It provides some perspective on what K3 owners might call "rough edges". To keep this in perspective, Orion was introduced in January 2002 and the first scheduled ship date was September 2002. It wasn't until late March 2003 that the initial version of the radio was making it's way to anxious customers. There were no estimates other than the September 2002 target and even if you were curious you just waited. This may be one of Elecraft's hindsight issues, putting too much information information out there. Fourteen months later after announcement (as compared to K3's six month wait) units were shipped with a fair amount of rough edges, many of which required the unit to be sent back to the factory for hardware revisions. The software was a moving target as well, with frequent updates that added new features, and destabilized others that worked. Some units would lock up with processor faults while they were being used. Keep in mind that this was a $3300 base radio that already had 12 months from vaporware to the table. This happened to me at a field day, the normally "quiet" receiver became -really really- quiet. What happened? The owner immediatly recognized it and restarted it for me. "Reboot" was an advised resolution to any number of issues that popped up regularly. There was eventually a redesign of the bandscope that was faulting the processor and the firmware was rewritten to increase reliability. That's when Orion II came along. I expect no K3, version II. Orion owners today, three years later, seem satisfied. But oh, back in the day. So my expected three month wait for K3 went to 9 months. That's the roughest of the rough edges. I'm told I'll have a reliable unit out of the box. I paid $2300 for the shooting match loaded up the way I wanted it. Someone some day may do it better, but for the time being, this roll out is the standard. I'm not denying that a 6 month wait, the subrx delay, etc... are not rough edges, just that IMO they are greatly the lesser in comparison to what I know. http://www.zerobeat.net/mediawiki/index.php/K3_Where_are_the_production_unit s%3F [Elecraft] K3 Silver tongued devil Brett Howard brett at livecomputers.com Mon Jan 21 18:26:21 EST 2008 Previous message: [Elecraft] K3 Silver tongued devil Next message: [Elecraft] K3 Silver tongued devil Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Glad to hear it! Least there will be food on the table and all the hard work is paying off! From the sounds of it you've got quite the amazing kit yet again. Couple rough edges but these are to be expected in a pilot build. -----Original Message----- From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ, Elecraft Sent: Monday, January 21, 2008 3:06 PM To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Silver tongued devil Don's numbers are way low both for our current shipping rate and and for our backlog. :-) 73, Eric WA6HHQ _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] 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: [hidden email] 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 |
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In reply to this post by Don Rasmussen
On Mon, 21 Jan 2008 16:15:21 -0800 (PST), you wrote:
>[Elecraft] K3 Silver tongued devil [snip] >Orion owners today, three years later, seem satisfied. >But oh, back in the day. So my expected three month >wait for K3 went to 9 months. That's the roughest of >the rough edges. I'm told I'll have a reliable unit >out of the box. [snip] I am an Orion II owner for more than a year and although the rig is a step above my FT-1000MP MK V (sold), I am not completely satisfied with the RX hiss, Ineffective NB, No 6m capability, Poor auto notch performance, band scope that doesn't update during XMT and is up to 1/4 second slow to update during RX and last but not least an AGC that cannot be turned off (Off means 1000db per second decay, not off, which means transverter noise figure adjustments are impossible.). I look forward to my Fully Optioned, Factory Assembled K3 in Feb. or March (according to Lisa) and I am not worried in the least about any delays needed to improve it's performance. Keep up the good work, Elecraft! Tom, N5GE - SWOT 3537 - Grid EM12jq They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. http://www.n5ge.com http://www.eQSL.cc/Member.cfm?N5GE _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] 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
Amateur Radio Operator N5GE
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In reply to this post by Don Rasmussen
OK Eric,
You're as bad as that girl I knew in High School.... ;-) On 21 Jan 2008 at 18:25, Eric Swartz wrote: >> Don's numbers are way low both for our current shipping rate and and >> for our backlog. :-) >> 73, Eric WA6HHQ So what are the *REAL* numbers??? - Dave G, KK7SS '65 MKIII Sprite, Richland, WA _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] 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 |
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In reply to this post by N5GE
I look forward to my Fully Optioned, Factory Assembled K3 in Feb. or March (according to Lisa) and I am not worried in the least about any delays needed to improve it's performance. Keep up the good work, Elecraft! Tom, N5GE - SWOT 3537 - Grid EM12jq ========================================= Another data point. Tom, what we gotta know is, when did you place the order? 73 Rick Dettinger K7MW _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] 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 |
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I second that comment.
Please leave this well alone, let Elecraft get onto production without a lot of comments. Their product is marvellous, be happy and leave them alone. STOP whining. Ross ZL1WN ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rick Dettinger" <[hidden email]> To: <[hidden email]> Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 6:16 PM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Silver tongued devil > > > I look forward to my Fully Optioned, Factory Assembled K3 in Feb. or March > (according to Lisa) and I am not worried in the least about any delays > needed to > improve it's performance. > > Keep up the good work, Elecraft! > > Tom, N5GE - SWOT 3537 - Grid EM12jq > ========================================= > > Another data point. Tom, what we gotta know is, when did you place the > order? > 73 > Rick Dettinger > K7MW > > > _______________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Post to: [hidden email] > 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 > > __________ NOD32 2813 (20080122) Information __________ > > This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system. > http://www.eset.com > > _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [hidden email] 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 |
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