Congratulations on the introduction of the K3! I am a fan of Elecraft but I won't be buying a K3. Our K2 still has some recognized defects that haven't been addressed in over 6000 units and almost 10 years of production. Although the K3 seems to take into account a lot of the comments we've made over the years, it looks like it is jumping on the SDR bandwagon. If any of you have followed the Software Defined Radio Bandwagon, as it applies to "amateur radio" developments, it simply means that the radio manufacturers are more willing to put out a "half-baked" radio than to commit to thoroughly testing a radio. Flex Radio and Ten Tec have tried to take the approach telling us that we won't need to replace hardware for a long time since the software can be updated to take into account new features. All I've seen is that the manufacturers who pursue this route take advantage of reprogrammability to fix their own problems at a later date. By the time the problems are solved, technology has improved and a new piece of hardware becomes available and support for the older equipment dwindles. Both of those companies have obsoleted their initial releases in 3 or 4 years.
Perhaps the modular approach taken by Elecraft in the K3 is the way to go. I for one am curious if they are still using MicroChip PIC's, which are way too slow, or if they have chosen a real processor. I really would like to be happy about this new radio but with OUR K2's issues still unresolved, it makes me wonder if it is worth spending almost $3000 to take a chance. Perhaps it is better to play it safe and go with a tried and true ICOM Pro3 or even a Yaesu FT2000. Good luck. Dave- __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
