[Elecraft] On a more technical note.....

[Dick Dievendorff]

My K3 has crystal filters, the KPA3 amplifier, the receive bandpass filter, the transverter interface and the antenna tuner.  I would say that none of these would require more than an hour to add individually.  It takes less time to install several options together than to install each option individually, because you have the covers off.

I bought the bandpass filter and some more filters after the initial assembly.

Of all these options, I'm glad I installed the ATU and transverter interface during initial assembly.  I performed the KPA3 install after the complete assembly of the base K3, and suggested to Elecraft that the KPA3 rear shield could perhaps have been installed during the initial assembly to some advantage. That suggestion worked its way into the next rev of the assembly manual (see page 46 of revision C of the K3 Assembly manual).  That actually was probably more rework than any of the other options.  But even that rework wasn't a whole lot of work.

The 2nd receiver and DVR option aren't yet shipping, so I'll be back in there again when my 2nd receiver arrives.  I'm looking forward to this, it's another pleasant little construction project that will take an hour or so.

All of the assembly manuals are available on the Elecraft web site, and each of the option installation manuals has complete instructions to deal with the situation where they're be installed during the initial build or later.  If you have any detailed "what if" sorts of questions, visit those manuals, they have nice pictures and you can get a feel for what's really involved.  Before you start building, verify that you're building from the most recent manual.  Sometimes a K3 ships, and the next manual rev becomes available before the K3 gets to its owner.  The "old" instructions will still work fine, but I found myself going through the new assembly manual and making slight adjustments (mine is S/N 00018, and after I built my unit slight adjustments were made of the nature of adding a split lock washer here and there, so I went back and made those changes).

My real message is that it isn't a huge amount of effort in any case.  There is a little bit of rework to add later as opposed to adding during the initial build, but not so much as to be tedious.  Opening it again after the initial build is sort of like visiting an old friend.  I took my time and looked around and enjoyed myself.  I'd plan on 5 to 8 hours to build the initial K3, add 15 minutes per option if performed during the initial assembly, and maybe half an hour per option if done all alone after the fact.  If I were assembling these day after day, I could cut that time down in half.  But for my own unit, where I'm savoring the whole experience, I wouldn't want to rush it.



73 de Dick, K6KR


-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of aj9c at indy.rr.com
Sent: Friday, December 07, 2007 7:25 AM
Cc: elecraft
Subject: [Elecraft] On a more technical note.....

Are there any add ons that would be better ordered with a radio at the time of initial construction?  I'd hate to have to disassemble the entire radio to install the 2d rx for instance if it is better installed at the start.  Are the add on modules more like computer cards where you will put the card in the slot and then activate the feature?

Mike/aj9c
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