[Elecraft] 3,000 K2's!!!

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Trends are interesting to me. 

It appears that they are selling at a very constant rate. I bought #1289
29 months ago. I think they started shipping K2 just about 2 years
before I bought mine. So the rate of K2 sales is darn near constant
since they were introduced. 

Other trends of interest are: 

What is the growth in the QRP community over the past five years? The
introduction of a really state-of-the art QRP rig by Elecraft certainly
sparked some new interest - and the other manufacturers certainly aren't
ignoring the opportunity. 

Within that QRP growth - whatever it is - how much is CW and how much is
SSB or other non-CW modes? I constantly run into new hams who are
determined to us CW, bless them all! Clearly, there is lots of SSB
activity among the QRP crowd, from what I see here. And the "warble
holes" in the band are frequently filled with PSK31 signals. 

How many QRO ops have been seduced into building again (or for the first
time) by the availability of the K2/100? It is, after all, the first
fully integrated state-of-the-art 100 watt HF Ham transceiver available
in kit form in decades. How many new K2's being sold are being sold as
K2/100's. I notice a lot of comments here about getting a new K2 "on the
air" and the writer observes that it's time to start assembling the
KPA100, suggesting that they were bought as a set rather than
"upgrading" a QRP rig. No offense intended, but the excitement of buying
everything Elecraft makes because they are so much fun to build and
tinker with has me wondering how many QRP ops built a KPA100 just
because "it was there" and not because they are dyed-in-the-wool QRO
ops. That would account for some of the initial rush of KPA100's to add
to K2s. Now we get down to those how choose the K2/100 because it is a
100-watt rig. How big is that group and how fast is it growing?

When someone tells me that Ham radio is dying, I suggest that they go
dust off their HF receiver and tune the CW bands a bit. Changing, yes!
Ham radio has always been in a state of change. I am particularly
enthusiastic and interested in the changes the K-rigs have brought about
over the past several years.

Ron AC7AC
K2 # 1289