Re: [Elecraft] K3: 7.2 pound tuning knob
On Apr 5, 2008, at 11:31 PM, Brett Howard wrote: There is no way that that knob could be 7.2 pounds. My wife (who I mentioned this to and has too much time on her hands). Calculated that if the thing was 2.5 in diameter and 1 thick solid tungsten billet it would only weigh about 3.5 pounds. How big is this knob and what is it made of? Depleted Uranium. grin Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASELMail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Quote: Not within a thousand years will man ever fly! -- Wilbur Wright, 1901 ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] K3: 7.2 pound tuning knob
Brett Howard wrote: There is no way that that knob could be 7.2 pounds. My wife (who I mentioned this to and has too much time on her hands). Calculated that if the thing was 2.5 in diameter and 1 thick solid tungsten billet it would only weigh about 3.5 pounds. How big is this knob and what is it made of? Sounds like somebody is exaggerating, as is usually the case when people start boasting that my knob is bigger than yours. :) - Julian, G4ILO K3 s/n: 222 K2 s/n: 392 G4ILO's Shack: www.g4ilo.com Zerobeat Ham Forums: www.zerobeat.net/smf -- View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/K3%3A-7.2-pound-tuning-knob-tp16512669p16522597.html Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.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
[Elecraft] K3: 7.2 pound tuning knob
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Re: [Elecraft] K3: 7.2 pound tuning knob
Uranium and it glows in the dark. Doug W6JD -- Original message -- From: Brett Howard [EMAIL PROTECTED] There is no way that that knob could be 7.2 pounds. My wife (who I mentioned this to and has too much time on her hands). Calculated that if the thing was 2.5 in diameter and 1 thick solid tungsten billet it would only weigh about 3.5 pounds. How big is this knob and what is it made of? ~Brett ___ 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
[Elecraft] K3: 7.2 pound tuning knob
Bill, W4ZV said BTW I had to laugh out loud when I saw a new IC-7700 owner tout its 7.2 pound tuning knob! Gosh he could've had a K3 for only 1 more pound! Yup, it's true. On a weekly basis, I still get to appreciate the size and weight (or lack of) of the K3. I am (lately) moving lots of stuff on the desk around, opening up the K3, etc and there is NOTHING like being about to lift the entire rig up off the desk with ONE HAND while the other hand is free to do other stuff. A very long way from thinking that I should have help when simply moving a brand X rig off the desk. And excerpted from a private email from Wayne to me on May 5, 2007, in describing the vision Affordable -- portable -- high performance. Portable? VP6 showed that. High Performance? ARRL and Sherwood, plus lots of happy users show that Affordable - YMMV, but on a bang for the buck scale, without a doubt and beyond reproach. Again, taking Bills' example of the IC7700...well, all I can say is give me a break. How many K3's can you get for one 7700? :-) We should all celebrate in what Elecraft has accomplished...beyond just the radio itself, but in setting (through achievement) new benchmarks. 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
Re: [Elecraft] K3: 7.2 pound tuning knob
Before someone calls for a big Elecraft Group Hug... As long as I have my K3, I'll wish that it allowed me to directly switch to the band I want, rather than have to sequence up/down, or program memories, which still requires two keystrokes. Same with the mode. Although the knobs aren't as close together as I thought they'd be, I still wish there was a bit more space between them. All said, the UI (including menu system) is excellent and very intuitive, and MUCH better than I thought it would be. I'm still wondering why/how Elecraft gets away with such little surface cooling area for the PA. It must work, but I've always wondered why the other manufacturers seemed to put more into that area. It doesn't have a built-in power supply, which shifts the size/weight/cost away from the K3, but are nonetheless expenses the owner must bear. Along with that, it also doesn't have band-scope, which is something I grew to like quite a bit when I had my ProII's. Again, the size/weight/cost for this has been shifted away from the K3, but is an expense the owner must absorb. The K3 was shipped 8-9 months too soon, given the immature state of the firmware. This behavior would have been wildly and viscously attacked if exhibited by a Japanese manufacturer. Elecraft consistently failed to provide accurate shipping status. Elecraft has already been well rewarded for their efforts: If we assume they've shipped 650 K3's @ $2,200 (I thought I'd err on the lower-end of the range), they're received $14,300,000 in revenue. Revenue NOT = Profit, obviously. That said, I like my K3, and have a 2nd on order, and I'd do it all over again...but, no doubt, better radios are on the horizon (they always are). The K3 is not protected by any patents, so the hardware is easily cloned. It's the firmware and UI which will be Elecraft's competitive advantage going forward. Time will tell if they're up for the challenge. I like to think they will be, but if they're not, oh well. Time to go back outside, and finish my South 4/4 10M stack. Next up: the 4/4 20M stack. 73, Steve NN4X On Sat, Apr 5, 2008 at 8:26 AM, DOUGLAS ZWIEBEL [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Bill, W4ZV said BTW I had to laugh out loud when I saw a new IC-7700 owner tout its 7.2 pound tuning knob! Gosh he could've had a K3 for only 1 more pound! Yup, it's true. On a weekly basis, I still get to appreciate the size and weight (or lack of) of the K3. I am (lately) moving lots of stuff on the desk around, opening up the K3, etc and there is NOTHING like being about to lift the entire rig up off the desk with ONE HAND while the other hand is free to do other stuff. A very long way from thinking that I should have help when simply moving a brand X rig off the desk. And excerpted from a private email from Wayne to me on May 5, 2007, in describing the vision Affordable -- portable -- high performance. Portable? VP6 showed that. High Performance? ARRL and Sherwood, plus lots of happy users show that Affordable - YMMV, but on a bang for the buck scale, without a doubt and beyond reproach. Again, taking Bills' example of the IC7700...well, all I can say is give me a break. How many K3's can you get for one 7700? :-) We should all celebrate in what Elecraft has accomplished...beyond just the radio itself, but in setting (through achievement) new benchmarks. 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 ___ 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
Re:[Elecraft]K3:7.2 pound tuning knob
Using HRD and a PC you can directly select bands, and many other functions. Simon hasn't gotten around to adding 6m to the list, but then he is a very busy man 73 Bryan GM3AKF K3 s/n 0181 ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] K3: 7.2 pound tuning knob
... If we assume they've shipped 650 K3's @ $2,200 (I thought I'd err on the lower-end of the range), they're received $14,300,000 in revenue. I think that would be for 6,500 K3s, not 650!!! 73, Lyle KK7P ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] K3: 7.2 pound tuning knob
Yes, if you want to make a small fortune with a niche ham radio company, start with a large fortune. 73 Bob K4LW - ... If we assume they've shipped 650 K3's @ $2,200 (I thought I'd err on the lower-end of the range), they're received $14,300,000 in revenue. I think that would be for 6,500 K3s, not 650!!! 73, Lyle KK7P ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] K3: 7.2 pound tuning knob
S Sacco wrote: The K3 was shipped 8-9 months too soon, given the immature state of the firmware. This behavior would have been wildly and viscously attacked if exhibited by a Japanese manufacturer. In my slow-flowing way, I just came back from a meeting of our local DX group where a guy -- who also has a K3 -- poured molasses all over a new FT-2000, which he owned for about a week before getting his money back. According to him, the DSP artifacts were so bad it was impossible to use for weak-signal DXing. That counts as immature firmware, or at least thick, glutinous, sticky firmware. -- 73, Vic, K2VCO Fresno CA http://www.qsl.net/k2vco ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] K3: 7.2 pound tuning knob
Remember after WWII when scrap metal used to be collected and sent to Japan? I often wonder where it went. Now I know. de K3KO DOUGLAS ZWIEBEL wrote: Bill, W4ZV said BTW I had to laugh out loud when I saw a new IC-7700 owner tout its 7.2 pound tuning knob! Gosh he could've had a K3 for only 1 more pound! Yup, it's true. On a weekly basis, I still get to appreciate the size and weight (or lack of) of the K3. I am (lately) moving lots of stuff on the desk around, opening up the K3, etc and there is NOTHING like being about to lift the entire rig up off the desk with ONE HAND while the other hand is free to do other stuff. A very long way from thinking that I should have help when simply moving a brand X rig off the desk. And excerpted from a private email from Wayne to me on May 5, 2007, in describing the vision Affordable -- portable -- high performance. Portable? VP6 showed that. High Performance? ARRL and Sherwood, plus lots of happy users show that Affordable - YMMV, but on a bang for the buck scale, without a doubt and beyond reproach. Again, taking Bills' example of the IC7700...well, all I can say is give me a break. How many K3's can you get for one 7700? :-) We should all celebrate in what Elecraft has accomplished...beyond just the radio itself, but in setting (through achievement) new benchmarks. 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 -- View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/K3%3A-7.2-pound-tuning-knob-tp16512669p16516523.html Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.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
Re: [Elecraft] K3: 7.2 pound tuning knob
On Apr 5, 2008, at 10:48 AM, Rick Dettinger wrote: Sporting types might want to put some money down on when the number will be in the 6000 range and pass up the very popular K2 number. 73' Rick K7MW On Apr 5, 2008, at 9:44 AM, Lyle Johnson wrote: ... If we assume they've shipped 650 K3's @ $2,200 (I thought I'd err on the lower-end of the range), they're received $14,300,000 in revenue. I think that would be for 6,500 K3s, not 650!!! 73, Lyle KK7P ___ 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 ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] K3: 7.2 pound tuning knob
The K3 was shipped 8-9 months too soon, given the immature state of the firmware. This behavior would have been wildly and viscously attacked if exhibited by a Japanese manufacturer. ...only because a Japanese manufacturer would have made you purchase the next model to get newer firmware ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] K3: 7.2 pound tuning knob
That's unfair - ICOM and Kenwood have made quite a few firmware updates for their radios, all at no cost. I don't have any Yaesu HF kit so can't comment about their level of support. Simon Brown, HB9DRV -- From: Mark Bayern [EMAIL PROTECTED] ...only because a Japanese manufacturer would have made you purchase the next model to get newer firmware ___ 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
[Elecraft] K3: 7.2 pound tuning knob
NN4X: I'm still wondering why/how Elecraft gets away with such little surface cooling area for the PA. It must work, but I've always wondered why the other manufacturers seemed to put more into that area. What counts in cooling is air flow over the heat sink. With dual 4-speed fans I'm sure cooling is not an issue. When I operated my first contest in December, I kept an eye on the PA temperature just to see what happened. I never saw it go much above 40C before the fans would bring it back down, and the best thing about the K3 fans is their near total silence. The K3 was shipped 8-9 months too soon, given the immature state of the firmware. This behavior would have been wildly and viscously attacked if exhibited by a Japanese manufacturer. Remember when Icom introduced the IC-7700 at Dayton? Since then the K3 has shipped over 600 production units...and the 7700 just started. So which manufacturer introduced prematurely? Being primarily a CW op I haven't felt the firmware was immature. Granted, if I were waiting for AM or FM, I might feel differently. The beauty of the K3's modular approach is that I wasn't forced to pay or wait for functions like those that I never use, and yet I can wait for other options I want without paying for them until they are shipped (e.g. the KRX3). I do often marvel at the forethought that went into the K3 design to allow this modularity. I also marvel at the electrical and mechanical design which allows customer assembly using pre- calibrated board assemblies. Simply elegant and simply amazing. 73, Bill W4ZV ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] K3: 7.2 pound tuning knob
Hi Bill - Cooling is also accomplished with sink area, which is how some of the other manufacturer's have (claimed) to accomplish it. Cast aluminum, and all that. As I said, it works, no doubt. More power to them if they can do it without 10 pounds of aluminum. WRT the firmware, I stand by my position. Remember the disappearing functions? Didn't the NB go away once? The multiple times/week updates is less a tribute to their ability to fix issues, and very much a function of shipping it before it was properly tested. I'm a software developer, and one of the truisms of that field are that the firefighters get the good publicity - that is, folks who swoop in on problems and figure out how to get things working again are highly regarded, but the dirty, ugly work of properly designing and testing is infrequently acknowledged. Regarding the 7700 a really important thing to recall is that ICOM never promised that they'd ship, what, two months after the introduction. Elecraft did, and they missed, and they didn't tell anyone until after the fact. Then they missed again and again, and they still haven't shipped the KRX3, which is an option to which they give special emphasis. So, who introduced early? Regarding the design of the K3, I wholeheartedly agree! Time and again, I've been amazed. Some were the little things, like the fan testing functions. Obviously, that it can do all that on-board calibration is fantastic, and I applaud the brilliance of the software writers. I have a copy of the User's Manual at work, and study it at lunch, and keep being amazed by the flexibility they've build into the radio. How they got the holes in all those panels to line up perfectly is beyond me, but it was cool and impressive as all get-out to see. Wellback to workthe shack awaits my labor. 73, Steve NN4X On Sat, Apr 5, 2008 at 4:31 PM, Bill Tippett [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: NN4X: I'm still wondering why/how Elecraft gets away with such little surface cooling area for the PA. It must work, but I've always wondered why the other manufacturers seemed to put more into that area. What counts in cooling is air flow over the heat sink. With dual 4-speed fans I'm sure cooling is not an issue. When I operated my first contest in December, I kept an eye on the PA temperature just to see what happened. I never saw it go much above 40C before the fans would bring it back down, and the best thing about the K3 fans is their near total silence. The K3 was shipped 8-9 months too soon, given the immature state of the firmware. This behavior would have been wildly and viscously attacked if exhibited by a Japanese manufacturer. Remember when Icom introduced the IC-7700 at Dayton? Since then the K3 has shipped over 600 production units...and the 7700 just started. So which manufacturer introduced prematurely? Being primarily a CW op I haven't felt the firmware was immature. Granted, if I were waiting for AM or FM, I might feel differently. The beauty of the K3's modular approach is that I wasn't forced to pay or wait for functions like those that I never use, and yet I can wait for other options I want without paying for them until they are shipped (e.g. the KRX3). I do often marvel at the forethought that went into the K3 design to allow this modularity. I also marvel at the electrical and mechanical design which allows customer assembly using pre- calibrated board assemblies. Simply elegant and simply amazing. 73, Bill W4ZV ___ 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 ___ 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
[Elecraft] K3: 7.2 pound tuning knob
NN4X: Regarding the 7700 a really important thing to recall is that ICOM never promised that they'd ship, what, two months after the introduction. Elecraft did, and they missed, and they didn't tell anyone until after the fact. Then they missed again and again, and they still haven't shipped the KRX3, which is an option to which they give special emphasis. For the record, on April 28 Elecraft promised 1st shipments in July. Their actual first customer shipment was to K1EP the week of October 9th, ~3 months later than promised. On May 19th at Dayton, Icom said We expect availability in the December time frame (near the end of the clip below). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EYXR5UyCrY 1st shipments to Europe were March 6 to a UK distributor, the US followed in early April. That's ~3 months delay for Europe and ~4 months for the US (which I'm sure their American spokesperson at Dayton was referring to). So, who introduced early? Answer - they both did, but IMHO Elecraft did not introduce nearly as early as Icom. The simple fact remains that 600 K3s have shipped and I'll bet 100 7700s have been shipped. 73, Bill W4ZV ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] K3: 7.2 pound tuning knob
- Original Message - From: S Sacco [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Elecraft Reflector elecraft@mailman.qth.net Sent: Saturday, April 05, 2008 9:31 AM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3: 7.2 pound tuning knob Elecraft has already been well rewarded for their efforts: If we assume they've shipped 650 K3's @ $2,200 (I thought I'd err on the lower-end of the range), they're received $14,300,000 in revenue. Revenue NOT = Profit, obviously. Steve, I might like your math! At least if you were making change for a $100 bill. I might get $950 back on a $50 purchase Your total should be $1,430,000---not $14,300,000! Sorry to say you erred on the high end, rather than the low end! But what's a few million here and there? Dave W7AQK ___ 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
