The K2 is still in production, but it is not the same as the K2 started out.
It too went through a major upgrade at SN 3000 - new boards with all the
prior mods included as standard, and at that time you could no longer
buy the older K2 from Elecraft anymore.
Take a look at the FAQ for the K3S and you should see a parallel to the
K2 upgrade at SN 3000, only the "K2" designation was not changed when
that happened. With the K3, Elecraft decided to upgrade the model
number as well as the insides.
And by the way, Elecraft still offers upgrade kits to bring an older K2
almost up to the electrical equivalent of a new K2 - the "almost" is
that there are a few minor items that are not practical to upgrade
(unless you replace the boards too).
The situation with the K3 is similar. Elecraft offers (or will soon
offer) upgraded modules that can be added to a K3 to bring it almost up
to the same as the K3S. The new synthesizers are already available as
is the KXV3B, and they are offering kits to upgrade the KBPF3 to the
KBPF3A level.
Yes, it is a "Marketing Tactic", but instead of having a negative
connotation, I believe it is a very positive one which says "We will
provide you the means to upgrade your older transceivers, and we will do
that as long as possible and as completely as possible".
Some parts for the Elecraft legacy gear (K2, K1, and KX1) are becoming
difficult to source, but Elecraft has gone to great effort and expense
to provide suitable substitutes. I have personally been involved in
evaluating some of those part changes, such as the exercise needed when
the blue wide range 1 to 40 pF trimmer capacitors were not longer
available. That event "shook up" the entire legacy product line. I
have known other companies to respond by simply dropping support and
parts supplies.
73,
Don W3FPR
On 8/20/2015 2:40 PM, bs usb wrote:
I know the K3 will have to be a used radio because new ones are no
longer available. I am not sure why that is. Sounds like a marketing
tactic. I believe the K2 is still in production.
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