http://elecraft.85.s1.nabble.com/Re-News-from-Visalia-tp4929281p4929583.html
> what you get. Now seeing photos, its certainly better
> looking than my ALS600. And the build quality is probably
the ALS-600.
in the KPA-500 vs. 4 x $36 in the ALS-600 for Q=1000) but the
and calibration. I would expect the KPA-500 to sell for no more
than 20% above the street price of the ALS-600 with linear supply.
Any more than that is difficult to justify ... after all, a watt
is a watt.
... Joe Subich, W4TV
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
[hidden email]
> [mailto:
[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Luis V. Romero
> Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 11:51 PM
> To: 'Jim Brown'
> Cc: 'Elecraft'
> Subject: [Elecraft] : Re: News from Visalia! (:-))
>
>
> I wrote that statement, Jim:
>
> I'm just stating my opinion that, in the big picture, the
> price point for the KPA500 seems a bit on the high side for
> what you get. Now seeing photos, its certainly better
> looking than my ALS600. And the build quality is probably
> better than my Ameritron product, but for that power level,
> and taking into account the value of my time if I had to
> build it, the cost is a bit high in my opinion.
>
> I'm not in this to have a pretty shack to impress my friends
> with lots of lights, gingerbread and ham status symbols. If
> I were into that, I would take out a 2nd mortgage and buy a
> 7800/PW1. :)
>
> Maybe I'm "cheap", maybe not. After all, I do own a rather
> well equipped K3. But with two kids in college and a
> mortgage payment in today's economy, what I have does an
> admirable job. I did have to do "final QC" on my ALS600, and
> I did have to integrate a band decoder to it to switch bands
> from the radio, and I did have to install Phil AD5X's
> marvelous little QSK board, but the K3/ALS600/MFJ998
> combination I currently operate does exactly what it needs to
> do with little fuss and surprisingly high reliability at a
> very reasonable price point.
>
> While its true that you get what you pay for, as I used to
> say when I was in TV and purchased EFP cameras instead of the
> 5 times more expensive studio versions of the same thing for
> my station. "Nobody at home can see the difference".
>
> It would be nice to have a matching amp and panadapter to go
> with my K3. The Panadapter is well priced for what you get,
> what it is, and for its computer-less feature set, and I will
> probably end up with one of those next year.
>
> The KPA500, in my personal environment, is not.
>
> Again, my opinion, and your mileage will indeed vary.
> Matching boxes are not high on my priority list because,
> well, "You cant hear the difference at home".
>
> -lu-w4lt-
>
>
> Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:59:58 -0700
> From: "Jim Brown" <
[hidden email]>
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] News from Visalia! (:-))
> To: "Elecraft" <
[hidden email]>
> Message-ID: <
[hidden email]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> On Sun, 18 Apr 2010 16:16:58 -0400, Terry Posey wrote:
>
> >ALS600 with the Linear Power supply, AD5X Full Break In mod and an
> >external bandswitching accessory plus an MFJ998 would come in
> >considerably under the $2,000 price.
>
> Do I understand that you are equating MFJ with Elecraft?
> That's quite a
> stretch! While I have great respect for W8JI's engineering,
> that does not
> extend to MFJ's manufacturing, and Ameritron has common
> ownership with MFJ.
> :)
>
> I can also buy at least twenty different models of 100 watt
> HF transceiver
> for much less than the cost of a K3. Yet I OWN two K3s.
>
> I just returned from Visalia. The exhibit hall included large booths
> showing Icom and Yaesu rigs. The Elecraft booth was JAMMED
> from the minute
> the doors opened until they closed. The Yaesu and Icom booths
> had only
> modest traffic, and were oftn next to deserted.
>
> 73,
>
> Jim K9YC
>