[Elecraft] K3 or K2-B (New Elecraft Products)

[N2EY at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/26/06 2:52:32 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
Keith.Darwin at goodrich.com writes:


> Start with a K2.  Build a new bigger
> front panel to give you a  "big" K2 (K2-B).  Later, design a new RF
> board that can hook to the K2-B front panel and you have a K3.
> 

This idea has been kicked around a bit in the past - something like a "K2Big"

- Same basic K2
- Bigger cabinet and controls
- Can hold *all* the options at the same time, including the battery, 
amplifier, tuner, etc., with room for more. That way, you could do anything from QRP 
- battery to 100W operation without changing anything
- Possible new mainboard that could take multiple fixed ladder filters in 
addition to  the variable BW filter
- Bigger speaker? Built in 12V PS/battery option?

The real driving force is the desire for better ergonomics. The K2's 
ergonomics are excellent for such a small box, but it *is* a small box (with 'big box' 
performance)..

-----

Reading all of the new-product ideas has been interesting. But one thing I 
notice is that some of them boil down to asking Elecraft to make a 'mainstream' 
HF rig that would compete with the various Ikensu products.

IMHO, the success and genius of Elecraft has been producing products for 
which there is no competition. For example, there are lots of QRP CW rigs out 
there, but none of them offer all the features or performance of a K2. And the K2 
isn't strictly a QRP rig - a stock one will do 10-15 watts, and there's the 
100W amplifier.

But none of the 'big rigs' offer the QRP performance of a K2, either. They 
all draw way too much power on receive, and most don't have as good a receiver.

One thing I learned from contesting and running is that you don't try to beat 
somebody at their own game. What you do is to find out what you do best, and 
get them to try to beat you at *your* game.

Every design has its tradeoffs. What Elecraft has done is to pick different 
tradeoffs than most other rigs. For example, the low noise/simple PLL design of 
the K2 saves power and gives a very clean LO signal, but gives up the 
fraction-of-a-hertz accuracy and super-TCXO stability of other rigs. Some of the 
proposed ideas would require radical changes in the tradeoff selections.

The new amplifiers continue that 'different tradeoffs' philosophy. For 
example, is there any other amateur HF amplifier made today that can be bought at 
one power level and then upgraded to twice that power? Is there any other amp 
that is SO2R ready right out of the box? Any solidstate amplifier that is 
owner-serviceable the way the Elecraft amplifiers are, or that include integrated 
antenna matching?

Any amp that has all those features at the Elecraft price?

73 de Jim, N2EY