[Elecraft] SN 1000 and Elecraft 1st year

[Don Wilhelm]

Since you asked, I combed through my saved Elecraft posts and found it.
Wayne got SN 1000 to replace his prototype SN 00001.

If my memory serves me correctly, Gary Surrency has SN 2000, and I don't
really know if Eric ever got one other than his Field Test K2.

This info was in Wayne's post on 12/29/1999 which re-capped Elecraft's first
year accomplishments.  Pardon the reflector space, but I have appended
Wayne's note as a part of our Elecraft history 'lesson' for today.

73,
Don W3FPR

----- Original Message ----- 

> Congratulations Mike and have fun building it!
>
> Wow number 3,993 !  Remember the big hubabaloo when we were approaching
> number  1,000 (who got it anyway???)
> Tom
> WB2QDG
-------------------------------------------------------
Wayne Burdick's post of 12/29/1999 (long)
-------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Elecraft customers,

As 1999 comes to a close, I'd like to reflect personally on this whirl-wind
year. It seems hard to believe, but Elecraft has gone from a gleam in our
eyes to an established company. And not only are we having a great time, we
also think we know where our next meal is coming from. This is not
something every start-up company can say.

In late January, Eric, Lerma and I packed up and shipped 100 field-test
K2s, then crossed our fingers and toes and held our breath to see what
would happen. Seemingly within hours, we heard that the PC boards had a
fabrication defect. Fortunately, local toroid-winder extraordinaire and
veterinary surgeon Jeff Grudin was the first to find the problem, and we
traced it to a ground short. Ugh--several shorts! But our field-testers
quickly cleaned up the shorts, we chastised the fab house, and thus humbled
we were on our way.

During the first month of the field test, some of our customers emerged as
heros. They helped others debug problems, alerted us to potential issues
with the manual and firmware, and reassured us that we were doing the right
thing. You all know them, because they've never stopped: Jerry Henshaw, Tom
Hammond, Jeff Grudin, Nils R. Bull Young, Bob Tellefson, and many others.

It was also during field test that we realized the power of the
reflector--how important it was in keeping people informed and in forming
an Elecraft community. If the internet had been functioning during the
Heath era, that giant of the kit world may never have lumbered off the
stage. E-mail and the web have afforded Elecraft a new level of
communication and feedback with customers, and I really don't see how we
could have survived without it.

But the field-test is now in the distant past. We have shipped over 800
K2s, and it looks like I'll be getting *my* first new K2, serial number
1000, sooner than I had imagined possible. At that point I'll retire #0001,
which will join my other well-warn prototypes, the Norcal 40, 40A, Sierra,
and SST, not to mention a few rigs that noone has ever heard of because
they were evolutionary dead-ends: the Safari-4A, Koala, and Mt. Laguna (!).
These hacked-up, jumpered, parts-piggybacked, hybrid-hardware beasts are my
daily reminders that worthwhile designs don't happen overnight.

My shelf-full of past projects also, very significantly, includes a photo
of my wife, Lillian Svec. It was her support and encouragement that
convinced me that I could be a part of a successful start-up *and* a new
dad at the same time. Now I have my hands really full, trying to keep our
baby daughter Marissa from sending CQ when she sits on my lap at the work
bench!

                                  *  *  *

There are a number of people I'd like to thank personally for their
contributions this year and beyond:

Gary Surrency, AB7MY

>From the first time I communicated with Gary after he bought his K2, I knew
he was a rare breed. He was right on top of so many technical issues that
we finally realized we should just hire him. He's already at work helping
with customer support, and we're sure he'll make a great addition to the
team.

Scott King, AH6KL

Scott has tirelessly served as our first line of defense against problems
in the field. He's just about the nicest guy you'll ever meet, too--just
ask anyone who he's helped via phone or e-mail. In addition to maintaining
his good sense of humor in the midst of difficult support tasks, Scott
sorts, bags, matches, weighs, tapes and staples many of the things that go
into an Elecraft kit.

Rob Capon, W3DX

A few years ago, Rob was in the Bay area, showing me his customized
Wilderness Sierra transceiver. I invited him to my house, and we discussed
what it would take to create a significant new kit company. It didn't take
more than 10 seconds for Rob to point out that I couldn't do it by myself;
he told me I needed a partner, which would allow me to focus on product
development, which is what I really wanted to do. In fact the partner he
described at the time sounded so much like Eric that I started lobbying
Eric shortly after that. Since then, Rob, who is a gifted business
strategist with a string of success stories under his belt, has advised us
at every step of the way. Rob is also one of the most meticulous kit
builders I've ever met, and has one of the best un-built Heathkit
collections in the world. (If you dare, ask Rob to compare the HW-5400 to a
K2!)

Conrad Weiss, NN6CW

I'm incredibly fortunate to have Conrad living only a mile from me, in San
Carlos. He's a technical author, mechanical designer, ace marketing guy
*and* a well-known e-mail humorist, as you've no doubt noticed from his
postings. Conrad's fine-tuned sense of aesthetics and functionality has
served us well at all phases of product design: somehow, he just seems to
know what will fly and what will flop. Among other things you can thank
Conrad for the K2's bullet-proof 12-volt input and battery-protection
circuitry, a direct result of his near panic when I first told him we were
going to put a gel-cell in the top cover. Conrad continues to be a valuable
asset to us in new-product strategy, and, along with Rob, he's one of our
most trusted advisors.

Bob Dyer, KD6VIO, owner of Wilderness Radio

Many of you know Bob, who owns and operates Wilderness Radio, which is
located about 20 minutes south of my QTH. You'll never find a more
hard-working guy. Not only is Bob continuing to support his Wilderness
product line, he's also up to his knees at times helping us with K2 option
kits. Bob is a crack builder who  is usually the first person to build each
new Elecraft product, after which he gives us detailed feedback. Whenever
you pick up a an Elecraft manual, you can be sure that Bob has caught most
of the subtle problems already--things like parts insertion order,
soldering technique, and solid explanations that don't dwell on tech-speak.
Bob and I go way back to the beginning of NorCal. In 1993, with a twinkle
in his eye, he asked me if perhaps he could help start a company to sell
these cute little transceivers; a few years later, Wilderness Radio was
born. Even though Wilderness and Elecraft are separate companies, we work
together in many ways, including future product planning and mutual
promotion.

Lerma Swartz, KD6ANH

Most of you have had the good fortune to talk to Lerma at one point or
another. She's been Elecraft's equivalent of the Strong Nuclear Force,
nearly single-handedly shipping and tracking K2s and option kits, making
sure things happen on time, and insisting that, at some point in the day,
Scott and Eric break for lunch. Elecraft would be perpetually mired in goo
if not for Lerma's high level of dedication and organization.

Eric Swartz, WA6HHQ, Chief Operating Officer

Here's a guy who doesn't need an introduction, but who does deserve a huge
pat on the back, and some kind of weighty medal with all the stripes and
dangly accessories. Eric *is* Elecraft--an entrepreneur with boundless
energy who continues to take us boldly into the future. He's a taker of
calculated risks, a careful planner, a great engineer, and a good friend.

                                  *  *  *

Above all, I'd like to echo Eric in thanking YOU, the best customers a
little startup company ever had. Best wishes for the year 2000 (Chinese
year of the transceiver) from all of us.

73,
Wayne Burdick, N6KR
Chief Technical Officer
Elecraft, LLC