Hi Ed, Sorry for the delay replying to this thread. I've been out of town for ten days and am just now catching up with older emails.
I just checked and we're running at 3-4 weeks right now for repairs and upgrades. My target is 2 weeks or better. I was in the factory yesterday and personally looked at the queue. The majority of the K3s awaiting work are for customer requested factory upgrades on older units, factory additions of new options, followed by a fair number with significant lightning damage (we see that this time each year) and a remaining mix of normal repair issues. We had the queue down to a shorter time recently, but the recent rush of radios coming in before field day (for upgrades, factory alignments and deferred repairs) pushed us back a bit. We are also down one repair technician (part time) after they returned to the job they had been laid off from in Silicon Valley. What caught us off guard has been the number of people asking us to upgrade older used K3s to the current revision levels and adding options along with the larger number of K3s damaged from lightening strikes and other physical damage. We also had a number of K3s recently returned for repair after customers mistakenly transmitted into them while preparing and testing their SO2R set ups for the WRTC competition in Moscow next week and weekend. (The largest numbers by far of any rig used by U.S. and other country WRTC teams are K3s.) Our tech crew has been working overtime to get things back below two weeks. Rene was in yesterday working hard when I checked in to pick up some items at the office, and Dale has been working extra hours in the evening and weekends. I'm also assigning some of our regular production crew to perform returned K3 dis-assembly, re-assembly etc so the repair techs can focus on what they do best. If all goes well, we should be at the two week or better target in the next 1-2 weeks. 73, Eric WA6HHQ _..._ On 7/2/2010 1:06 PM, Ed Lambert wrote: > Hi Guys, > > Please don't misunderstand my original question. (And thanks to all who have > contributed to an interesting discussion.) > > I had been inactive for quite some time when I purchased a K2. That purchase > not only returned me to the hobby, but it also made me, probably, a lifetime > Elecraft devotee. I will be purchasing either a "tricked out" K2 or a K3. > The Asian manufacturers are not in consideration. > > Please note that it is not my intention to be critical of Elecraft or the > K3. I understand the technology changes that have mandated a slight change > to the Elecraft business model where we are dealing, more or less, with a > line replaceable unit (LRU) concept radio as contrasted with a component > level repair model like the K1, K2, and KX1. > > I am only trying to get an idea of the scope of the "problem", if there is > one. The repair times for the K3 seem to indicate a long queue and I > naturally wonder what is in that queue. If it is filled with K3's, I wonder > why. > > My life has changed from employment to retirement; every dollar is very > important to me in this new fixed income world in which I now live. If there > is some kind of quality control issue developing with the K3, I would like > to get a handle on it so that I can make an informed decision about a (2nd) > K2 purchase versus a more expensive K3 purchase. > > I would not expect a zero defect business model to be in place at Elecraft. > Having said that, however, I would like to obtain and understand the > "out-of-the-box" and the "infant mortality" failure rate data for the K3, if > such information exists. > > Thanks, > Ed, KD3Y, PE (electrical) > > > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 > ______________________________________________________________ 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
