[Elecraft] troubles with kits

[Mike Morrow]

Buddy wrote:

>...if you're looking to save money by buying a kit, you may well
>find that you aren't saving a bunch...but on the other hands, diehard
>builders will tell you that the experience can't be bought at *any*
>price. 

I agree about the price-savings aspect.  Good quality kits are not cheap to produce.

A few people are like me...I don't really value kit building as an end in itself, though I've built a few since that Heathkit HW-101 took me four months to put together in 1976.  However, the completed K1 and KX1 kits (both far simpler than the K2) are products of a unique nature that can't be found from any other source.  I would have preferred a factory assembled K1, but the features of the K1 that were available in no other rig convinced me to put up with the (to me) uninteresting task of assembly.  In other words, I bought a K1 in spite of, rather than because of, it being a kit.  More than four years later it's still my favorite QRP rig.

73,
Mike / KK5F