RE: K3 Status Update: August 29, 2007

[Steve Sacco NN4X]

Eric -


I'll apologize in advance if the computer programming-based "Just the
facts" tone of my e-mail offends you or anyone else, but if I might
take the opportunity to distill your lengthy Update:

You knew two weeks ago that the K3 would be delayed, but chose not to tell us.

Why?


Regards,

Steve NN4X
(apparently, my K3 ship date is now December....)

>------------------------------
>
>Message: 29
>Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 23:40:10 -0700
>From: Eric Swartz WA6HHQ - Elecraft <[hidden email]>
>Subject: [Elecraft] K3 Status Update  8/29/07
>To: Elecraft List <[hidden email]>
>Message-ID: <[hidden email]>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
>K3 Status Update: August 29, 2007
>
>Note from Eric:
>I apologize for not posting earlier. I planned on posting an update for
>everyone before I left town for the JA Ham Fair last week, but ran out
>of time. So you can blame this delay in status on me (and the Marketing
>dept.) instead of the Engineering dept.
>
>
>Our revised target for the beginning of K3 shipments is now September
>17th. The K3 shipping date is now primarily determined by delays in K3
>part deliveries, PC boards and completed assemblies from our vendors.
>The remaining handful of delayed parts are scheduled to arrive this week
>and early next week. There are less than ten different parts in this
>category, but it only takes one part not arriving (or arriving with the
>incorrect value) to delay production. Every time this has happened our
>PCB stuffing operation has had to halt working on one board and move to
>another while the part problem is resolved. The final four raw PC boards
>took 2 weeks longer than expected and they arrive tomorrow. (There are a
>total of 16 PC boards in the basic K3/10.) Also, our sheet metal
>fabricator has taken several weeks longer than they projected to supply
>us with painted and silk-screened K3 chassis parts. Final K3 sheet metal
>is now scheduled to arrive in Aptos on Friday.
>
>Our field testers and engineering team have done an excellent job over
>the last four weeks thrashing out the K3's design, assembly manual and
>operational features. (Thanks guys!) Wayne, Lyle and the rest of our
>engineering team have been working 7 day weeks incorporating the Field
>Tester's suggestions and making sure the K3 meets their expectations and
>hopefully yours. We've field tested the first release of the assembly
>manual and we are now testing the latest update.
>
>The KNB3 noise blanker was the last core board completed for the K3. It
>was released to production last month and is one of the best performing
>noise blankers I've used. It includes 8 different NB gain levels and has
>two stages of internal AGC, along with three separate widths of
>blanking. The net result is that I have been able to remove almost
>anything my local power company, electric fences and noisy autos and can
>throw at it. And combined with Lyle's latest version of the DSP NB, we
>have a formidable tool for interference reduction. (The hardware and DSP
>noise blankers can be used simultaneously to reduce a wide range of
>pulse type interference.)
>
>We are receiving assembled K3 boards in Aptos now and are testing them
>in preparation for their inclusion in K3 kits and assembled units. So
>far we have received, or will receive this week, initial shipments of a
>number of the K3 board assemblies, including the front panel, mixer,
>audio and digital I/O, PLL, crystal filter and transverter I/O boards.
>
>We appreciate your patience as we get the final pieces in place to ship
>your K3s. From now until we ship we will post weekly updates on K3
>shipping here on the Elecraft list and on our web page. We'll also be
>posting the pre-release version of the K3 assembly manual on our web
>site later this week to give you a feel for what is coming.
>
>73,
>Eric  WA6HHQ
>Wayne, N6KR

  _.    _.   ...._   _.._   [hidden email]


_______________________________________________
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

[Simon (HB9DRV)]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Sacco NN4X" <[hidden email]>
>
> You knew two weeks ago that the K3 would be delayed, but chose not to tell
> us.
>

He did tell us why in his posting, alone with the name of the person who
shoulders the blame!

Eric and Wayne own a small company competing in a market with minimal
margins, they epitomise the true spirit of our hobby; a lot of work being
put into a new product which will benefit many thousands with sacrifices
being made along the way.

I think we should be very grateful that we have the K3 as an option - for
the first time in many years a real HF radio by amateurs for amateurs. Where
else can we talk with the developers like this? My experience with ICOM and
Yaesu is as bad as talking to a brick wall.

As has been said by others, the K3 will redefine HF radios, we really should
'cut them some slack' and let them get on with it. I'm a big boy - I can
wait (just).

It's only a hobby - there are far worse things happening elsewhere.

Simon HB9DRV

_______________________________________________
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