[Elecraft] Elecraft technology

[Wallace, Andy]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sverre Holm [mailto:la3za@qsl.net]
>=20
> Is there something in the circuitry of the K1 and K2 which is based on
> recent technology? Could they have been made say ten years=20
> earlier?=20

I do not know when the PICs were introduced, but think back to
what your PC looked like in 1989. It was probably a 286, or at
most a 386 (or whatever the Mac corresponded to).=20

I doubt such small, low-power, processors were around.

As to why the Elecraft rigs work TODAY, and why (I believe)
they beat out the competition:

1) excellent receive performance
2) few hard-to-find parts
3) built in test equipment
4) excellent manuals, factory support, and the Email List.=20

When I was building Heathkits, I didn't have a circle of friends
doing the same, and certainly couldn't have gotten answers to=20
questions within seconds or minutes like with the email list.
That is a HUGE advantage - those who are Elecraft fans generally
know the ins and outs of the rigs and are eager to help.

If you look at what Elecraft has done with these rigs, they really
have compressed the maximum performance into the smallest possible
kit. LCDs and buttons do not make a rig - it's what's behind them.

At first I didn't like the cheap pop-pop feeling buttons. Then I
realized they had better feedback than rubbery modern rig buttons.

At first I didn't like the fact the LCD was nothing but seven segments
and some chevrons. Then I liked the fact that it was uncluttered.=20

At first I didn't like the tap vs. press-and-hold button system. Then
I realized that it was very clever and kept the main functions right
out and accessible on the front panel. If you're right handed, most
of the buttons you'll use are on the right side.=20

Doing more with less is the rule with small PICs and Elecraft
has stuffed every feature possible inside. It's a throwback to
the days of computers with 16K of RAM and you'd better use
it efficiently.

Once you sit down and USE the K1/K2 for a while, you realize that
the guys who designed them are real OPERATORS, not just designers.
You can tell that some thought went into the way things were laid out.
This extends to the inside of the rig, too, where boards have
holes in them to access test points underneath, and boards are cut
with a jog so you can pull the MCU underneath without removing the
option board...=20

Field testing irons out many, many bugs. Did Heath ever do
that? I doubt it.=20

Then, something Heath probably never had, was five years of feedback
from hams about how things worked or weren't working so well. Constant
improvement. The model number didn't change every year, but manuals,
errata sheets, and circuit boards may have.=20

Anyone trying to do the same would also need to have an open minded
user base, willing to accept the idea of a "mod" to improve performance
rather than waiting for next year's model for big changes.=20

It's a ham's ham radio - not a piece of test equipment accurate to
1 in 10^25, not an ergonomic rubberized backlit masterpiece, not
a DC-to-daylight with only 30 dB dynamic range receiver. I think to see
the same kind of basic, "radioness", you'd have to go back to the early
70s or before, in the days before bells-and-whistles.=20

There are plenty of decent QRP kits that are fun to use out there.
Not many of them are part of an integrated or associated system,
though, to build a complete station.

Whether someone else could come along and do the same thing is =
debatable,
but there's no reason why not - but they would need to have the same=20
vision for the product that Wayne and Eric have. The actual hardware,=20
the technology, is there for anyone to use.=20

Andy