My story: In the Spring of 2007, after a 20+ year hiatus from Ham Radio, I upgraded to Extra. I was a little out of touch on current rigs and wanted something to get started again. I ended up buying a Ten-Tec Argonaut V. I loved that rig for it's silky QSK CW ability and compact size. Even at the bottom of the cycle it's 20 watts was enough to work lots of DX with CW. The itch for more power resulted in the purchase of a used Ten-Tec Jupiter in 2008 - a very nice rig with typically fine Ten-Tec CW ability. After a very brief and less than satisfactory foray into FLEX SDRs I turned my attention to Elecraft. By now I was hearing lots of good things about Elecraft, their rigs, and their support. I liked that Elecraft had it's roots in CW and QRP. I was impressed with the K2 receiver specs compared to anything I had experienced and wondered just how big a difference such a receiver would make. Since I wasn't confident enough to jump right into the K2 construction, I bought a K1 in Septemb er 2009 and had a blast building and using it. With the confidence gained from building the K1, I decided to move up to the K2 but after looking at the K2 price with preferred options I decided that there wasn't a significant price difference between a half loaded K2 and an entry K3. I decided that I just had to experience a rig with top receiver specs to see the difference for myself, so the Jupiter went on the block and I ordered a K3/10 kit with KAT3 in January 2010. What a difference! I ordered and installed the KPA3 in March. I was so thoroughly happy with Elecraft and their rigs by now that I ordered a K2 and KAT2 in August 2010. This purchase might be considered a step backwards by some, but I wanted to enjoy the K2 build experience and a dedicated QRP K2 to complement the 100W K3 made perfect sense to me. I've been drooling over the P3 and a KRX3 and think the second receiver will soon be my next addition.
To summarize: What made me decide on purchasing an Elecraft transceiver? 1) The enjoyment of building my own radios. 2) Top receiver specs at an affordable price. 3) Modularity that permits buying only what you need until you need more. 4) Life is too short not to buy and enjoy Elecraft equipment. Thanks to Wayne, Eric, Lyle, et al - keep up the good work. Will ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
