[Elecraft] A few words about the Elecraft K3 modular, no-soldering kit

wayne burdick n6kr at elecraft.com
Sat Apr 28 02:42:18 EDT 2007


The K3 is a modern, high-performance radio with many features never 
seen in this size or price class. Of necessity, about 60% of the 
components are surface mount (SMD).

In order to ensure consistency in performance at this level of 
integration, we must 100% test all of these surface-mount components 
after installation. But such testing is very difficult unless *all* of 
the components and connectors are present at manufacturing test time. 
So, we elected to create a modular, no-soldering kit: all of the 
modules are pre-assembled and pre-tested. By implication, all toroids 
are pre-wound, too  :)

By pre-testing the modules, we can guarantee that any K3 -- whether 
purchased factory assembled or built as a kit -- will have identical 
performance.

Modular kit builders will find the K3 very easy to build, yet not 
without effort: there are over 100 individual pieces of hardware, many 
modules, sheet metal panels, bezels, knobs, etc. The builder will also 
perform a number of firmware-assisted alignment steps. The assembly 
manual will serve as an RF theory tutorial, so that you'll learn a lot 
about how the radio works. Builders will, we hope, have a deeper 
understanding of the K3. And they'll save a significant amount of money 
in the process.

We will continue to offer all of our present traditional kits, and will 
have new full kits in the future. We hope that first-time builders who 
tackle the K3 will also try their hand at soldering, building, and 
experimentation. We hope to offer some SMD-based kits in the future 
where the builder gets to install all of the parts -- but it probably 
won't be anything at the level of the K3.

Please send any comments or suggestions regarding the K3 kit philosophy 
to wayne at elecraft.com (or n6kr at elecraft.com).

Of course this is also a potentially lively topic for the reflector. We 
welcome your views.

73,
Wayne, N6KR
Eric, WA6HHQ


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http://www.elecraft.com



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