Hi Joe... Yes, I'm sure a K4 (or how about a K88 so the SE Asia guys would buy in big time) could be "easily" made. In fact, for "that" group, it might make sense to price it even higher than "theirs"...say $15 or $20k. You know, when you get into the upper tiers of any market, it's the HIGH PRICE that convinces folks that it's good. And if it really is good (as I'm sure the K88 would be), then bingo. Tons of profit margin....with a concomitant lower volume. It all balances out.
However, if you look at the track record of Elecraft, they appear to be very good at identifying very tiny niche markets (although the K3 seems to have a wide appeal...wider than expected?). Somehow, competing "head to head" with a "big" radio doesn't seem to fit the "Eric/Wayne" approach. As I recall (it's probably on their web site somewhere), the K3 was targeted to be a "high performance, very portable, light weight" radio...with some very neat features too. They have certainly achieved that. If I were them (which I am not), I'd be focusing on refining what I have (which they are obviously doing). It is probably just a matter of time before the FT9009 and IC7878 come out, using nearly identical receiver design approaches to those used in the K3 (and Orion). Citing my own previous post today, this could be the Trophy wife with four PhD degrees. It's got to be only a matter of time. Of course, it will still be a BIG, HEAVY radio, taking up lots of real estate and providing lots of future opportunity for Herniorrhaphy surgeons. The K3 will still have its niche market. Okay..end of make-believe "I can see the future" diatribe. :-) de Doug KR2Q _______________________________________________ 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
