Re: [K3] [Elecraft] K3 Obsolete? [OT]
I believe the FT-847 was discontinued because finding some key parts became impossible and Yaesu didn't want to redesign an old-ish radio. As for buying a Kenwood - I have the TS-480 and TS-2000 and would like to see a new Kenwood HF radio, with any luck pure analgue. Simon Brown, HB9DRV www.ham-radio-deluxe.com - Original Message - From: Mark Bayern [EMAIL PROTECTED] If this really bothers you I can think of two options: 1/buy a YaeComWood, or 2/start your own company and design a competitor to the K3. Competition is a good thing. ___ 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: [K3] [Elecraft] K3 Obsolete?
The D/A converter is listed as obsolete and no longer available. From what I see on the TI site, the part you mentioned is listed as 'not recommended for new designs'. While there is no factory stock at the moment they are expecting 10K on Dec 15th, so it is still in production, and distributors still show stock on hand. Should we be concerned ? Not me. Eric and Wayne maybe, but that would be their decision. While there are companies I feel I could manage better than the current owners, Elecraft is not one of them. Mark AD5SS On Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 9:27 AM, Ken_ke2n [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The DSP chip in the K3 - TMS320VC33PGE (as of Sept 2008 per TI) is Not Recommended for New Design (i.e., obsolete) and a lifetime buy order is in effect http://focus.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tms320vc33.pdf the potential replacement (TMS320C6727B) is similar but not functionally equivalent - whatever that means. The D/A converter is listed as obsolete and no longer available. Should we be concerned ? Ken ___ 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: [K3] [Elecraft] K3 Obsolete?
The K3 is designed for a long production life. The use of functional circuit modules, like the DSP board or the synthesizer board, allows us to upgrade and improve and support the radio with a simple board swap. To my knowledge there are *no* components that are on a lifetime buy or no longer in production status. You can be certain that we monitor the supply chain very closely, and that we want to ensure a long life for our premier product! 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: [K3] [Elecraft] K3 Obsolete?
I would be more concerned with YaeComWood and their proprietary chips than anything Elecraft makes. Try to find components for some of the other rigs... Mike AI4NS ___ 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
[K3] [Elecraft] K3 Obsolete?
The DSP chip in the K3 - TMS320VC33PGE (as of Sept 2008 per TI) is Not Recommended for New Design (i.e., obsolete) and a lifetime buy order is in effect http://focus.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tms320vc33.pdf the potential replacement (TMS320C6727B) is similar but not functionally equivalent - whatever that means. The D/A converter is listed as obsolete and no longer available. Should we be concerned ? Ken -- View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/K3-Obsolete--tp1485486p1485486.html Sent from the [K3] 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: [K3] [Elecraft] K3 Obsolete?
oops - I see I put in the wrong link (although one of the reply-ee's found it) it should be this one for the DSP http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/tms320vc33.html the D/A chip that I was referring to is the TI one too ... also tried to find the the TI D/A chip on Mouser and Digikey and got the obsolete designation as well. I am not surprised that there is a big batch of the TMS chips coming. That's what they do: announce upcoming obsolescence, get an idea of who wants how many and then make one final big batch and no more after. I doubt anything in this fast moving technology is designed for a long product life. Its basically cell phone technology that is driving the market and they try to sell me a cell phone every two years. I believe that unless I am unlucky the chips in my K3 will last longer than I will. However, I have never bought a rig before that had obsolete parts in it when I opened the box. But that is the way things are these days... Ken -- View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/K3-Obsolete--tp1485486p1487457.html Sent from the [K3] 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: [K3] [Elecraft] K3 Obsolete?
I believe that unless I am unlucky the chips in my K3 will last longer than I will. Let me re-phrase that. Unless my K3 is unlucky (gets struck by lightning) it should last a long time. I myself personally hope to last through a couple more new radios :-) -- View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/K3-Obsolete--tp1485486p1487729.html Sent from the [K3] 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: [K3] [Elecraft] K3 Obsolete?
it should be this one for the DSP http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/tms320vc33.html That page _DOES_NOT_ say the chip is 'obsolete', it says 'Product is Not Recommended for New Design'. Go ahead and do a text search on the page, the word obsolete is not on the page. If you read to the bottom of the page you see the 10K of chips in the pipeline, and you see a recent update of distributor stock. However, I have never bought a rig before that had obsolete parts in it when I opened the box. (Seems to me that most (all?) of the modern rigs I've bought had a bunch of proprietary chips in them. Who can tell if they're obsolete?) If this really bothers you I can think of two options: 1/buy a YaeComWood, or 2/start your own company and design a competitor to the K3. Competition is a good thing. Mark AD5SS On Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 5:25 PM, Ken_ke2n [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: oops - I see I put in the wrong link (although one of the reply-ee's found it) it should be this one for the DSP http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/tms320vc33.html the D/A chip that I was referring to is the TI one too ... also tried to find the the TI D/A chip on Mouser and Digikey and got the obsolete designation as well. I am not surprised that there is a big batch of the TMS chips coming. That's what they do: announce upcoming obsolescence, get an idea of who wants how many and then make one final big batch and no more after. I doubt anything in this fast moving technology is designed for a long product life. Its basically cell phone technology that is driving the market and they try to sell me a cell phone every two years. I believe that unless I am unlucky the chips in my K3 will last longer than I will. However, I have never bought a rig before that had obsolete parts in it when I opened the box. But that is the way things are these days... Ken ___ 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: [K3] [Elecraft] K3 Obsolete?
At 08:40 PM 11/11/2008, Mark Bayern wrote... it should be this one for the DSP http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/tms320vc33.html That page _DOES_NOT_ say the chip is 'obsolete', it says 'Product is Not Recommended for New Design'. Same thing. You're obviously not familiar with semiconductor marketing, and how they spin things. ___ 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: [K3] [Elecraft] K3 Obsolete?
Well, I just concluded eight-plus years as a senior tech writer at a major Silicon Valley semiconductor manufacturer, so I know a little about this phraseology. :-) Not recommended for new designs means: We've got a ton of this generation in the bins, so we'll keep selling them to our big customers and distributors, if they really want them, until we run out. And that's not going to happen any time soon. But you know, this generation has always been a little buggy; some things never quite worked the way we expected. We'll continue to support it and all its errata and patches because we have to, but really, we're just not very keen about it any more. We've got a new, improved, more capable, more expensive generation out there on the market already, and another two generations beyond that are already in the development pipeline, so... well, not to put too fine a point on it, you know, but we'd really prefer that you buy our newer stuff. You'll find our support for the new stuff to be much livelier and more enthusiastic. Obsolete means: Some of our distributors likely still have a lot of this old stuff back in their warehouses, so you can still get it. Cheap! And since nobody ever volunteers to go pawing through our public website to weed out all the obsolete app notes, you can probably still find stuff on it if you dig deep enough... But look, we're not making it any more, and we've shut down all real-time tech support for it. The engineers who designed it aren't even here anymore. If you call, our guys won't even talk to you about it. Basically, you're on your own. Sorry about that. That's about the gist of it. :-) Bill W5WVO - Original Message - From: Mike S [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Mark Bayern [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: Ken_ke2n [EMAIL PROTECTED]; elecraft@mailman.qth.net Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 6:49 PM Subject: Re: [K3] [Elecraft] K3 Obsolete? At 08:40 PM 11/11/2008, Mark Bayern wrote... it should be this one for the DSP http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/tms320vc33.html That page _DOES_NOT_ say the chip is 'obsolete', it says 'Product is Not Recommended for New Design'. Same thing. You're obviously not familiar with semiconductor marketing, and how they spin things. ___ 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: [K3] [Elecraft] K3 Obsolete?
Same thing. You're obviously not familiar with semiconductor marketing, and how they spin things. No it is not. It can also mean that they have a newer model that is more cost effective, easier to build, faster, etc ...Eventually any chip will be obsolete, but this only means what it says, 'not recommended for new designs'. ___ 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: [K3] [Elecraft] K3 Obsolete?
At 10:17 PM 11/11/2008, Mark Bayern wrote... Same thing. You're obviously not familiar with semiconductor marketing, and how they spin things. No it is not. Obsolete - Outmoded in design, style, or construction. QED. ___ 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
