K3 Status: Sept 6th, 2007
All of the K3 raw PCBs are in house and are in various stages of
production. (SMT reflow, wave soldering, hand soldering etc.) Some are
complete and are in production test.
We're still hunting down a number of problem parts and vendors. This is
our primary focus right now in Aptos. We've received more of the
pre-wound toroids but our vendor is still late on several critical
values. They have promised us another schedule update tomorrow. (You
are not the only ones waiting for updates. :-) This is holding up the
final production of a number of our boards, including the main RF board
and 100W PA board.
Our TCXO vendor informed us today that they will be late delivering the
higher stability versions to us, but they should have parts to us in
about 10 days. Since these parts plug into the reference module, we can
add them as we do final assembly. (We have small quantities here for
basic test use in production.)
Our sheet metal vendor began delivering the final K3 sheet metal to us
today and their latest commitment is to get us all of it by next week.
We're also using this time to exercise and test the K2 MCU and DSP
firmware. We want the K3 to be as solid as possible when it ships. Our
field testers have been doing a great job giving us feedback on the K3's
operation and helping us knock down any problems that they find.
Wayne and our tech. pubs people are making a few last minute edits to
the K3 assembly manual and they are now telling me that it will be ready
to post Monday. (I guess I was -way- too optimistic on that last week.. ;-)
As they say, 'We will sell no wine until its time.' But if the 'fun and
games' with our parts and fab vendor schedules continues much longer, I
may be driven to drink some of it first! (Just kidding..) Every day is
exciting in Aptos. While it may be stressful, we wouldn't be doing
anything else for a living. Bringing a major new product like the K3 to
market is both the most difficult -and- the most exhilarating experience
one can have.
I'm heading down to the Southwest ARRL convention in Torrance, CA,
tomorrow through the weekend. If you are in the area please feel free to
drop by our booth to check out our K3's and ask questions. We really
enjoy the interaction, and to be honest, that's how we got many of the
ideas embodied in the K3.
I'll be posting another update next week. Stay tuned!
73, Eric WA6HHQ
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