Thanks for taking the time to reply with the details, Wayne. It's a shame. I (and many others) feel the K1 has some advantages over the KX1, such as the analog VFO, higher output power, and 4-pole filtering. It's internal antenna matching unit also offers more tuning range than the KX1. I have also built a 160m/80m 2 band board for mine.
I have built and own all the Elecraft rigs, and each has provided great enjoyment, each has it's strong points. Time marches own, it would be wonderful if a 4-band redesign solution could be found, using modern components. Perhaps a pre-built, pre-tuned SMD based board. But, I imagine the potential sales volume would not justify the costs. Too bad. Bruce/N1RX -----Original Message----- From: Wayne Burdick [mailto:n...@elecraft.com] Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2014 2:43 PM To: Bruce Beford Cc: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: K1-4 4 band version gone? Hi Bruce, The 4-band module requires extremely low-temperature-coefficient trimmer capacitors because of its narrow-band pre-mix and RF band-pass filters. The last source for these exotic trimmers dried up recently. A redesign using higher-TC trimmers might be possible, but the filters would end up being triple-tuned, which would force the use of SMD components throughout, and tuning the filters would then be very difficult without a spectrum analyzer. Sales volume for the K1 has decreased in recent years due to the KX1 (which is smaller and has a DDS VFO), and the KX3 (which covers all bands, all modes, with up to 12 W output and has a much more capable auto tuner, nicer user interface, etc.). So the cost of a redesign wouldn't be recovered. That said, for the time being we're continuing to offer the two-band version and the other options (KAT1 ATU, KBT1 battery pack, etc.). The K1 is one of our "full" kits, and has a bit of a fan club of its own. We'll update the website to reflect the change in option availability. 73, Wayne N6KR On Jul 17, 2014, at 4:13 AM, "Bruce Beford" <bef...@myfairpoint.net> wrote: > All this talk about the K1 backlight led me to look back at the K1 order > page. There is no option for a 4-band version, nor for the KFL1-4 4-band > filter module itself. Is this an oversight, or has the 4-band board been > discontinued? If so, when and why? Also if so, then the K1 description page > should be edited to remove reference to the "new" 4 band board... or at > least explain that it is no longer available. > > Bruce > N1RX ______________________________________________________________ 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
