[Elecraft] Wish list - PBT

[David Garnier]

Hello,

I have certainly earned a booby prize for opening my mouth
on this one; my only intent was a "heads up" to the designers
of this fine transceiver on the possible integration of features
that later turn out to be patented.  I work for a large medical
electronics company an "we" have gotten burned before by
offering "features" on our equipment that turned out to be
patented and thus had to be removed...


dave garnier



> > As a end user I really appreciate designers asking us users
> > what we would like, so refreshing.  But I got a possible
> > heads up for you concerning a possible implementation of
> > "passband tuning" (PBT.)  As an original owner of a Drake
> > TR-7 I remember reading (back in the late 70's or 80's)
> > that Drake sued ICOM, the result of which was that ICOM
> > removed passband tuning control off the front panel of their
> > newly introduced HF transceiver.
>

> I believe it was Yaesu who sued Icom over the passband tuning in the
> IC761. Icom removed it in the IC765. Passband tuning
> is back in the later Icoms. I think it was the particular two-IF
> technique that Yaesu claimed was copied rather than passband tuning in

> general.

> I can't possibly imagine how Drake could sue for that.
>
> Passband tuning was a feature of my Collins 75A-4 built in
> the late 1950s!  They were probably the first to offer it.
>