Hi All,
No criticism of Elecraft as I am a convert to the K3 but building your
own means home brew not building a kit. Heathkits, were always fun and yes
you learned something from the step by step assembly but never so much as
you learned from scrounging exchange parts, laying out the chassis, drilling
cutting filing and building from scratch. A design of your own takes
things even further down this path but even using a magazine article project
counts as home brew but not kits.
I like kits, I like my assembled K3 and I like home brew but have not
done any not in a shameful length of time. Forgive an old goat of 51 years
in the hobby. I do understand that the K2 does involve more work than many
a kit including some coil winding. Elecraft makes good gear and good kits.
Mechanical assembly of the K3 may well help when trouble shooting in future.
73 Doug EI2CN
-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of David Gilbert
Sent: 06 March 2011 16:38
To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Why I won't purchase K3
No offense meant (seriously), but I'm not sure why your definition of
"build it yourself" must include soldering, which I perceive as just as
mechanical operation as tightening screws. Yes ... it is a different
skill requiring dexterity and care, especially in the case of surface
mount devices, but it bears no more relationship to the electronic
aspect of a kit than does aligning a connector. There is just a lot
more of it to do. If the percent of effort in assembly is a required
part of your definition, fine ... but there is no reason why you can't
learn every bit as much about the theory of operation of the K3 as you
can with the K2 except that the K3 is a heck of a lot more complex. The
schematics for the K3 are all available and there are folks on this
reflector who would gladly step forward with insight into the tough parts.
Now then, if you were required to design part of the rig yourself, or
write some of the processing code, or align the various stages ... then
I would say that you had a hand in homebrewing your rig. Otherwise, I
think you're simply making an arbitrary distinction between two purely
mechanical tasks.
You also mention that you want to make "sure that it is in the best
state I could possibly make it." I can fully understand that
philosophy, but for a rig as complex as the K3 there is no way you could
do that manually. Modern automated soldering of fine pitch SMD's is
going to vastly beat anything you can do by hand even if you were a
world class surgeon with excellent eyesight, steady hands, and great
tools ... if for no other reason than the odds of a mistake on the
zillions of joints involved.
Again, I'm not knocking your preferences, and they are exactly the
reason that lots of people still prefer to design and build their own
QRP rigs. You've chosen the middle ground between that and the K3 by
deciding that you want to stuff a lot of parts on a PC board but don't
want to settle for less performance than the K2 offers. That's probably
a very good choice on your part, but it's an arbitrary selection on a
continuum of complexity.
73,
Dave AB7E
p.s. I don't find your comments insulting at all ... I just find them
to be a bit curious and arbitrary.
On 3/6/2011 6:30 AM, Alexey Kats wrote:
> Ladies, gentlemen, and all the other species of HAM community,
>
> I apologize for such aggressive and somewhat insulting subject of my
> posting. But after reading all the "why I purchased Elecraft radio"
reasons
> I felt like chirping in.
>
> I like radios, I like to find out what I can do with it. I like building
> things with my own hands. I didn't have so much fun building fully loaded
> K1, K2, and KX1 in years... like... like.. like I had when I was
assembling
> my own computer with nothing but pliers, 40W soldering iron and
individually
> acquired spare parts back in 90es. It felt like I was giving birth to a
baby
> or something - making sure that it is in the best state I could possibly
> make it. And I could also learn from it, a lot, in fact.
>
> Now, don't get me wrong, when it comes to the specs of K3 I bow my head to
> the designers of it - it's truly a one son of a gun radio. It's pretty
much
> the heaven dream for CW. I know that. But there is one thing which makes
me
> uneasy - it's not the radio I built. It's not even the radio I assembled.
> It's the radio someone else built, and all I am reduced to is plates
> arrangements and screwdriver turning. It's almost like I am not sure
whether
> I should be thanking Wayne and Eric, or curse them. (Probably thank them
> more than anything...)
>
> My gripe with K3 is that even if I buy it, build it, and use it, I can't
> honestly say that I BUILD it. Simply because I didn't build it. With K1,
K2,
> KX1 I learned a lot from its schematics, I was able to figure out what
went
> wrong if something went wrong (just to prove to myself that it was me who
> was an idiot). I loved the process of making sure that I understand each
and
> every piece of it, to the last capacitor, even if I don't understand the
> assembler code of its main controller (I spend enough time with computers
to
> hate them thoroughly as it is). My problem is I can't do the same with K3.
> I'd love to own it. I'd love to use it. But I'd hate to build it.
>
> I am sorry if this posting makes no sense to all of you. I was simply
trying
> to express my feelings...
>
> I think I'll try to find more money to build another K1 or K2. (Actually,
I
> like K1 more, don't ask me why.)
>
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