Eric, You weren't replying to me, but as someone who has already spotted for the K4D a good while ago; my thoughts are to take your time. If parts aren't available, they will be. If the parts are not available because of a pandemic, they will be as soon as is realistic. It just takes patience when dealing with things nobody has an answer to or a timetable impossible to offer because of that.
I'm looking forward to the K4D when you're able, good, & ready to release it. I suspect we all feel that way. 73, Gary KA1J > Hi Irwin, > > We are also concerned about the impact of the COVID-19 virus on the > shipping and supply chains we use for parts used in all of our > products, including the K4. While managing the supply chain and > quickly finding alternate parts when they go obsolete or when > shortages pop up has been a normal part of our production planning > process for years, it has certainly become more challenging as this > situation quickly evolves. > > We've been tracking and compensating for this on the K4 for some time. > While we manufacture our radios, amps etc. here in California, the > electronic components used by us and almost all other U.S. > manufacturers come from both the U.S. and from suppliers all around > the world. (Many are not even manufactured in the U.S.) We've been > careful to source many of the major K4 items, like the flat screen > display used in the K4, from other countries than China. The biggest > area of concern recently has been with the passive components > (resistors, caps etc) used on all of our designs. Even when purchased > from U.S. suppliers, many of these parts may come from China and other > offshore sources. > > We also have built up inventory on many critical K4 parts here > (including Knobs etc.) but of course, as noted by others, it only > takes a single critical part delay in the future to hold things up. > We plan with alternate suppliers when possible, but even then we have > to periodically scramble to source new parts for production. Fun, eh? > > In any case, so far we have not encountered any major show stoppers, > though even prior to the current COVID scare began seeing delivery > delays increasing. We'll have a much better picture on how this will > impact the K4 as major component deliveries arrive at the factory over > the coming weeks. Fortunately, we are busy both getting all aspects of > production started and we are also working in engineering every day to > add cool new features to the K4. Not much time to sleep at Elecraft > these days. > > Time for more coffee.. > > 73, > Eric > *elecraft.com <http://elecraft.com>* > > > On Thu, Mar 5, 2020 at 5:14 AM Irwin Darack <idar...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > I am curious to know if the reduction in manufacturing in China, do > > to the COVID-19 virus, is having an affect on the ability of > > Elecraft to obtain parts? The area of China that is the epicenter is > > a major manufacturer of electronic components. > > > > Irwin KD3TB > > > > > > > > On Wed, Mar 4, 2020 at 6:11 PM Rick Miller - N1RM <n...@arrl.net> > > wrote: > > > > > Very clever post. > > > > > > When they announced the last delay, there was a statement that > > > there > > would > > > be more frequent updates. Perhaps, if nothing else, this thread > > > will provide motivation for another update. Since many of us are > > > "investors" > > in > > > the K4, it seems reasonable to ask. > > > > > > 73 and hope your twitter remains under control! > > > Rick > > > N1RM > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > Sent from: http://elecraft.365791.n2.nabble.com/ > > > ______________________________________________________________ > > > 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 > > > idar...@gmail.com > > > > > -- > > Irwin KD3TB > > ______________________________________________________________ > > 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 eric.swa...@elecraft.com > > > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 g...@ka1j.com > ______________________________________________________________ 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
