I have never tried any Elecraft equipments yet. Generally, their products, especially K3, sound great on CW. The keying shape is always perfect. It is thanks to the engineers like Wayne who have developed them while testing them by themselves. They must have made feed back to their design of products after testing the prototypes by themselves on the air. There must be a big difference if any active ham is involved in design and development of equipment products or not. Elecraft has made a big success in the market. This must be a reason for their success in business.
As I told above, I haven't used any Elecraft gears yet. But I am still concerned about how they will progress with their business in the ham radio market.
Hi Shin,
ReplyDeleteI spent around 20 years designing a homebrew all-analog transistorized transceiver, working on it a few hours a week. Finally, five years ago, I completed it and put it on the air. But it cannot compare with my K2 and K3. It's a fact that Elecraft have produced two superb rigs especially designed for the CW enthusiast. My homebrew rig sits on the shelf unused !
73
John
John,
DeleteI guess your home brew one is of a traditional circuit design not like the modern CPU controlled one. So it is not appropriate for you to try to compare it to such as K3. Just enjoy it. I would hear your signal from that machine some day. It might remind us of old '60s.
Shin
Hi, Shin - After returning from my "long QRX" in 2009, I noticed Elecraft K3s and Steppir antennas seemed to have come out of nowhere in the 10 years I was off the air. I was still using my 1992 TS-850 and decided to evaluate new HF transceivers.
ReplyDeleteMy primary criteria for transceivers is always the receiver, which is how I ended up with the 850 24 years ago. That narrowed it down quite a bit, with the Elecraft, TenTec and high end Yaesu having best selectivity, sensitivity and high signal performance receiver combinations.
My second criteria was less "stuff" of the front panel. It seemed that modern radios had been adding more knobs, buttons, displays etc - and either the front panels and radio size was getting enormous, or the buttons were getting tinier and tinier.
I was not quite ready to go the "no front panel" SDR route, still want a VFO knob and a filter width control, but the K3 hit the spot.
I went with the K3 and have since added the Elecraft amplifier and antenna tune, very happy with all. As a retirement present to my friend WA3SEE, we bought him them K1 kit - that is an even more impressive receiver, but of course missing a few features!
There is also the issue of trying to support ham radio manufacturing in the US - I am willing to pay a bit extra to do that, as there are many benefits to a country having manufacturing jobs *without* government subsidies required to make it feasible.
There are many competitors now for Elecraft, and competition always makes things interesting, if not peaceful...
73 John K3TN
John,
DeleteYour point of view in choice of equipment sounds rational to me. Even though I have never tried K3, it seems one of the best choices.
I nodded at you when you told no more bells and whistles with the radio. Menu function is not also very pleasant to me as well. But simpler front panel is much more favorable to me than complicated ones. Now ham operators are getting older. Why won't they design and manufacture simpler radio with good basic performance?
The condition is dropping a bit lately. I will catch you and would listen about your trekking. Appalachian trail must be most beautiful at present.
Shin
I agree with your conclusion Shin, that the K3/K3s is the best of the available choices for serious CW operators. Besides the basic radio design Elecraft provides the best customer service and listens to customer wants and complaints. There are better radios for beginners in my opinion, the K3 may look simple but is very complex if one wants to get the most from it.
ReplyDelete73, Bill, W6QR
Shin,
ReplyDeleteThinking about your post some more reminds me of a comment made by Rob Sherwood, NC0B. He said that there are many fine transceivers on the market today. Most exceed the performance needs of the average ham. The best transceiver is the one you enjoy operating because that will get you on the air more.
Bill
Hi Bill,
DeleteRob's words sound quite reasonable to me, too. Elecraft products look great on CW. But it won't replace my FT2000 so far! I only hope they will build a bit simpler rig with fine basic performance.
I was on 40m late at night, that is, around 15Z. Surprisingly, it was still open there. See you again soon.
Shin