K3 capabilities

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K3 capabilities

Ken Kopp-3

>Aren't we in danger of going too far down the line of absolving people
>from
>having to think for themselves?  However did we manage with radios that
>just
>put out the power set on the power control?

Well said, Julian!  I've been waiting for someone to ask for the radio
to have
telepathic powers!

73! Ken - K0PP

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Re: K3 capabilities

w6jd
That's on the New Product List, the K3ESP.

Doug
W6JD

-------------- Original message --------------
From: "Ken Kopp" <[hidden email]>

>
> >Aren't we in danger of going too far down the line of absolving people
> >from
> >having to think for themselves? However did we manage with radios that
> >just
> >put out the power set on the power control?
>
> Well said, Julian! I've been waiting for someone to ask for the radio
> to have
> telepathic powers!
>
> 73! Ken - K0PP
>
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RE: K3 capabilities

AC7AC
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Re: K3 capabilities

Mike Harris-9
Hi,

Didn't some German rocket scientist say something to the effect that the
best computer to have on a space craft is a human?

Nice try, I go with G4ILO.

Regards,

Mike VP8NO

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron D'Eau Claire" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 7:32 PM
Subject: RE: [Elecraft] K3 capabilities



>Aren't we in danger of going too far down the line of absolving people
>from
>having to think for themselves?  However did we manage with radios that
>just
>put out the power set on the power control?

---------------------------------------------------

Set by the power control? How about adjusting biases and monitoring the
operating conditions of the critical stages via voltages and currents to
determine if things are working correctly and, if not, where the issue
might
be...

But most of these requests are from people looking for an operating edge,
not an advance in the underlying communications technology.

They want to be as competitive as possible in snagging that rare DX (or
running the string as efficiently as possible when they *are* the DX) or
racking up the biggest possible score in a contest.

Back in the days when we worried about adjusting plate tuning, setting
grid
drive, etc., some of those Hams built (or bought) separate rigs for each
band so they could jump from one to another as quickly as possible.

Now they are trying to be competitive with everyone else who has a
highly-automated rig.

Just as the exact position of feet in the starting blocks can make the
difference between winning and losing a 100-yard sprint, how many button
pushes it takes to do something can make a huge difference to them.

So they campaign and hope.

The day will come when some Hams simply program in a start time for the
next
contest and the rig runs the contest completely unaided. But the Ham him
(or
her)self won't be relaxing too much. He/she will be pouring over
possibilities to make the whole thing work just a bit more efficiently.

It doesn't have to make sense. The huge value and advantage in Ham radio
is
that we can do, within very, very broad limits, whatever interests us, no
matter how silly or inane it may look to others.

For some, it's scoring high on a contest.

For others, it's having the highest-fidelity audio possible.

And, for some, it's grabbing that weak signal from a QRPp station on 40
meter CW or actually making a QSO with our latest homebrew creations.

The number of these seemingly inane, silly activities is endless. It's
also
just these sort of things that have paid huge benefits to individuals and
societies in often-unexpected ways throughout history.

So to answer your question, "Aren't we in danger of going too far down the
line of absolving people from having to think for themselves?" I say, "not
a
chance". Those who choose not to think won't do so under any conditions.
For
the rest, there's always something new to think about...

Ron AC7AC

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Re: K3 capabilities

k7svv
In reply to this post by Ken Kopp-3
Well, telepathic is nice but Automatic Character Spacing is a lot nicer.

John    [K7SVV}
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ken Kopp" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 3:55 PM
Subject: [Elecraft] K3 capabilities


>
>>Aren't we in danger of going too far down the line of absolving people
>>from
>>having to think for themselves?  However did we manage with radios that
>>just
>>put out the power set on the power control?
>
> Well said, Julian!  I've been waiting for someone to ask for the radio
> to have
> telepathic powers!
>
> 73! Ken - K0PP
>
> _______________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Post to: [hidden email]
> You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
> Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
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>
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
> Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com


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RE: K3 capabilities

AC7AC
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RE: K3 capabilities

AC7AC
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RE: K3 capabilities

Julian, G4ILO
In reply to this post by AC7AC
Ron D'Eau Claire wrote
But most of these requests are from people looking for an operating edge,
not an advance in the underlying communications technology.
OK, I understand where they are coming from, even though it's not my interest. Making a living is competitive enough. Hobbies are for relaxing.

My objection to this particular suggestion is that it seemed to me counter-intuitive. I have visions of the K3 starting to behave like Microsoft Office, and trying to second-guess what I want to do based on some programmer's ill-conceived algorithm, which is usually NOT what I wanted to do at all.

Basically I prefer computers (and radios) to do JUST what I tell them, no more and no less. That way I know what is happening, and feel that I am in control, not the machine. If I want to do several things at once they can allow me to create a macro.
Julian, G4ILO. K2 #392  K3 #222 KX3 #110
* G4ILO's Shack - http://www.g4ilo.com
* KComm - http://www.g4ilo.com/kcomm.html
* KTune - http://www.g4ilo.com/ktune.html
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RE: K3 capabilities

AC7AC
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RE: K3 capabilities

k6dgw
In reply to this post by Julian, G4ILO
G4ILO wrote:

> OK, I understand where they are coming from, even though it's not my
> interest. Making a living is competitive enough. Hobbies are for relaxing.
>
> My objection to this particular suggestion is that it seemed to me
> counter-intuitive. I have visions of the K3 starting to behave like
> Microsoft Office, and trying to second-guess what I want to do based on some
> programmer's ill-conceived algorithm, which is usually NOT what I wanted to
> do at all.
>
> Basically I prefer computers (and radios) to do JUST what I tell them, no
> more and no less. That way I know what is happening, and feel that I am in
> control, not the machine. If I want to do several things at once they can
> allow me to create a macro.
>

PC's used to "just do what you told them," it was called "DOS," and
there generally was one and only one way to do things.

I'm sort of with you Julian.  With so much functionality located in the
software, Elecraft could tweak everything essentially forever and
probably not satisfy every thing that every person wants.  I'm a bit
reluctant to upgrade the firmware on my K3 because I'm just getting to
know it and tracking the firmware functional changes takes a lot of time.

It seems to me there are three categories of firmware changes:

Bug fixes:  "It didn't do what was planned, but now it does"

Additions:  "This wasn't implemented in previous versions, so the knob
didn't do anything, but now it does."

Changes:  "Memories didn't remember the power level, but now they do and
Oh yes, you can now tune them."

Bug fixes are great, nothing to unlearn or learn, it just works now.
Additions are great, I wasn't using the function anyway since it wasn't
implemented.  Nothing to unlearn, something new to learn [and I can
ignore it or defer learning it if I choose], but all the rest works as
it did.

It's the Changes that scare me.  Something worked one way and I'm used
to it, and now it works another way.  Something to unlearn, something to
learn, and I have to figure out if it is going to affect the way I use
the radio.  I'm not at all sure I want tunable memories [every memory is
in effect a VFO].  Two VFO's and a bunch of memories works great for me,
and I can generally keep track of which VFO I'm on at the moment.

Then of course, younger folks may have no problem with this ... I can
remember when dirt was young :-)

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the 2008 Cal QSO Party  4-5 Oct 08
- www.cqp.org
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Re: K3 capabilities

Don Wilhelm-4
Fred,

I would encourage you to go ahead and upgrade.  Those things you have
already learned about have not been changed (unless they did not work
right before).  You do not have to use the new functions that have been
added unless you want to.

Should you find something that worked in a prior version and now does
not work, please report that.  The firmware field testers try to check
each new release out before you see it (even in Beta form), but we are
not 100% all the time and we need the input from the general K3 population.

73,
Don W3FPR

Fred Jensen wrote:

> I'm sort of with you Julian.  With so much functionality located in
> the software, Elecraft could tweak everything essentially forever and
> probably not satisfy every thing that every person wants.  I'm a bit
> reluctant to upgrade the firmware on my K3 because I'm just getting to
> know it and tracking the firmware functional changes takes a lot of time.
>
> It seems to me there are three categories of firmware changes:
>
> Bug fixes:  "It didn't do what was planned, but now it does"
>
> Additions:  "This wasn't implemented in previous versions, so the knob
> didn't do anything, but now it does."
>
> Changes:  "Memories didn't remember the power level, but now they do
> and Oh yes, you can now tune them."
>
> Bug fixes are great, nothing to unlearn or learn, it just works now.
> Additions are great, I wasn't using the function anyway since it
> wasn't implemented.  Nothing to unlearn, something new to learn [and I
> can ignore it or defer learning it if I choose], but all the rest
> works as it did.
>
> It's the Changes that scare me.  Something worked one way and I'm used
> to it, and now it works another way.  Something to unlearn, something
> to learn, and I have to figure out if it is going to affect the way I
> use the radio.  I'm not at all sure I want tunable memories [every
> memory is in effect a VFO].  Two VFO's and a bunch of memories works
> great for me, and I can generally keep track of which VFO I'm on at
> the moment.
>
> Then of course, younger folks may have no problem with this ... I can
> remember when dirt was young :-)
>
> 73,
>
> Fred K6DGW
>
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Re: K3 capabilities

Bill VanAlstyne W5WVO
In reply to this post by AC7AC
From: "Ron D'Eau Claire" <[hidden email]>


> I also agree that anything that is programmable has a tendency to grow in
> size, complexity and confusion - just like MS office!

We had a word for that back in my engineering days. We called it "creeping
elegance". Very befitting of Elecraft, actually. ;-)  Though I must say,
mentioning "Elecraft" and "MS Office" in the same context makes me kind of
nauseous. We definitely don't want to go THERE.

Bill W5WVO

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RE: K3 capabilities

Ken817821
In reply to this post by Ken Kopp-3
STOP trying to make the K3 like a cell phone!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The name&nbsp;"cell phone" will soon have to be changed since it is&nbsp;only secondarily&nbsp;a phone anymore --- and too complex to completely remember all the features!

Ken K5WK
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