OK, so I gotta ask ...Am I the only one on this reflector who does the vast majority of his radio adjustments via CAT/software? About the only time I touch the radio is tuning the VFO nobs, Power up and down, and occasionally the AF gain. I like having the options (as opposed to say a FlexRadio) ...but I have too much equipment that plays together to mess around with buttons on a regular basis.
73 Steve KL7SB -----Original Message----- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Vic Rosenthal K2VCO Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2014 6:39 PM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 - Ergonomics I too am an 'old' K3 owner (in more than one sense). I have K3 #0007. Yes, /seven/. I was one of the incredibly lucky members of a focus group when the K3 was still in prototype form. I love my K3 as much as anyone can 'love' a radio. But I agree with Dave, Joe and Ian that the K3 still has some rough edges. My analysis is that this is an economic problem. Elecraft has to pay the bills, which they can't do unless they sell stuff. I once suggested to Wayne that he charge something for 'premium' firmware, possibly with specialized features that not everyone would want. That would give them some revenue to finance continued development for existing products. He told me -- in no uncertain terms -- that Elecraft would never, ever charge anything for firmware updates. In any transaction you get what you pay for, and we have no way to pay for continued K3 development. On 4/3/2014 2:12 PM, David and Dianne on Comcast wrote: > Joe, W4TV and Ian, GM3SEK; I found both of your posts to be spot on > with me and very insightful. > > I own K3 #371 and have been disappointed with the lack of its further > development in the past 18 months or the "finishing" of some features > as mentioned by Ian.. And as much as I have tried, really tried, for > SIX years to adapt to the "tap and hold" button feature...it's not for me. > > When new, the K3 was a blast to own, to use and to participate in the > development of it for about the first four years. But my attitude > towards it has changed in the past two years or so. > > It's not the the K3 is "bad", far from it, but it could be refined > into an even better rig rather than into an apparent development > stepping stone for the KX3 which holds no interest here for me. To me, > one of the shortcomings of SDR is that the promise of on-going support > and upgrades is usually not fulfilled in the long run, for myriad > business and technology related reasons. I view promises from any > manufacturer (TT, ICOM, Kenwood, Flex etc.) concerning future, > long-term firmware development with great skepticism. It never > continues past a certain time-frame which is usually ends much sooner > than one initially expects. As for updated/redeveloped K3 boards to > be forthcoming, I hope ... but expect not. So I am not holding out > hope for any further meaningful development for the K3. Elecraft has > been far better with it than most but it appears that the K3 with > 8000+ units sold is now a mature product which will see refinements > and enhancements as rarer and rarer occurrences if at all. > > I have found myself contemplating parting ways with the K3 and > Elecraft of late being drawn back to using my TT Corsair II and Omni > V.9 more and more. Highly modified by me, they compete very favorably > with the K3 for my op style and expectations. (IMO TT has gone in a > very strange business direction of late which causes me to wonder what they are doing). > > Everyone is entitled to their personal opinions and for most the K3 > seems to still be the epitome of HF rig evolution. That's fine. I mean > you no bad will nor is my intention to convince you otherwise. > > But after six years I still miss my dedicated band switching (with > stacking registers) and I still don't like Kool-Aid regardless of > flavor. ;-) > > 73 de N1LQ-Dave -- 73, Vic, K2VCO Fresno CA http://www.qsl.net/k2vco/ ______________________________________________________________ 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 Message delivered to sbl...@acsalaska.net ______________________________________________________________ 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 Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
