Tony and all,
Have a look at the history of Elecraft products - namely the K2 (the K3,
KPA500, KAT500 and KX3 are following the same path BTW).
A K2 of any serial number can be upgraded by the customer to a
performance level equal to the latest K2 kits being shipped.
Other than very minor differences (none affecting performance), my Field
Test K2 SN 00020 performs as well as a K2 kit recently built and
properly aligned and calibrated.
Elecraft provided that capability by designing changes that can be
retrofitted, and are sold at modest cost to the builder.
The main difference between the K2 and the K3 is that the K3 can be
upgraded at the factory, the K2 must be done by the builder or a
builder-for-hire.
The K3 is following that same model. As hardware improvements are made,
they are also available to the customer. The Elecraft website has a
list of mods for the K3 along with the serial number range when it was
incorporated into production. If you have an older K3, just look at the
mods that have been available since your K3's serial number, and if
there is doubt about whether those mods have been installed, download
the mod instructions which contain information about how to determine if
that mod has been applied to your K3.
The only "problem" with buying an early K3 is not knowing which mods
have been installed. The Elecraft website along with a small bit of
investigation will reveal whether that early K3 is up to date or not.
Of course, the K3 firmware is easily upgradable at no cost - just
download the current version using K3 Utility to download it and then to
load it onto your K3.
73,
Don W3FPR
On 6/7/2013 3:29 PM, Tony Estep wrote:
On Fri, Jun 7, 2013 at 2:14 PM, Ray Sills <raysil...@verizon.net> wrote:
I don't think the intent for not adding improvements that can't be done
for -any- K3 is there to hold back....
===========
Well, the idea of continuing hardware changes has not generally been
embraced by any ham manufacturers, for reasons that ought to be obvious. No
manufacturer could stay in business long if their products had versions A,
B, C, D etc., varying only by the addition of an RF choke in the audio or
similar minor tweaks.
Sometimes after a production run of several years, a staple product is
upgraded (usually with a price increase!); think of the FT897D, for
example, which introduced new circuitry and features and was a (somewhat)
different radio packaged in basically the same way as its predecessor. This
of course clobbers the resale value of the earlier model. Whether or not it
leaves a bad taste with the customer depends on the significance of the
changes, the product life of the original version, pricing, and other
marketing-related issues. Positioning a product, or a line of products, in
the minds of consumers is a delicate art that even marketing masters like
Apple or Procter & Gamble struggle with.
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