Parts: If it makes the Elecraft guys feel any better, other manufacturers of every stripe have just as hard a time getting some parts as you do. A critical assembly I have now, at work, is several weeks delayed in release due to the same problem. I have a full-time staff that does nothing but run down long-lead-time parts and potential substitutes. I assure everyone that the lead times were not this long when I designed the part in, in the first place. My customers don't like to hear this delay news any more than yours do, either. It is the same all over, hang in there, it gets better after a while. Also, you're doing the right thing by taking advantage of the 'lull' and using that time for more testing. I am doing the same thing and I figure I will be able to bypass an entire set of field firmware upgrades because of it. Every cloud has a silver lining.
Remote "tuner": Somebody wrote "Imagine being able to mount a weatherproof box outside, run the balanced-line to it, then run coax into the shack - and the coax runs at very low SWR, so it can be pretty long without having much loss." Because there are so many existing autocouplers (yes, autocoupler, not autotuner -- they don't 'tune' anything, I dislike using the wrong name for things) it would be hard to make a new product that didn't compete with somebody's homebrew. I could be wrong about that. Maybe hams today really can't make their own anything anymore, which is sad. Anyway, I have a remote SGC-239 in a galvanized service entrance box, out at the edge of the woods . It's mounted to a pipe driven into the ground. Inside is a small choke-capacitor arrangement to take off the DC power I 'phantom' out the coax to the unit, and the output of this autocoupler is fed to a 4:1 balun, then this assembly feeds a 135' doublet via 450 ohm window line. I don't think the whole thing cost me $200, including the little DC 'injector' in the shack. I suggested to both SGC and LDG that they make up such an item, ready to play, and the idea was smilingly rejected. MFJ *does* make the weatherized remote autocoupler, but it doesn't have the built-in DC power arrangement that is necessary for adoption of the product, nor the output balun. So close, yet so far. Maybe Elecraft could indeed make a product that does it right? After all, the G5RV sells to new hams like hotcakes, despite the shortcomings, because so many people just want "an antenna" and that is the advice they get about what to buy. Visions of coiled-up feedlines on transmission-line doublets, hung 4 meters up, at the bottom of a sunspot cycle ... what a great way to discourage newbies! The outdoor cabinet needed for a remote autocoupler is the tricky and costly part, embedding a slightly modified KAT100 in it would not be difficult. Last comment: Has anyone yet seen (or tried) the new self-contained 'H' antenna from TW Antennas? <http://www.twantennas.com> If it is what I think it is, this could be a great OEM product for Elecraft. Make mine gray to match my K2! ____________________________________________________________________________________ Park yourself in front of a world of choices in alternative vehicles. Visit the Yahoo! Auto Green Center. http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/ _______________________________________________ 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
