[Elecraft] K2 vs K3 re: final COST

[AJSOENKE at aol.com]

Most of the posts, so far, have dealt with the  K2/K3 cost differential on a 
basis of fun to build and production manufacturing  economics. In the SMT vs 
PTH/discreet component examples cited there was limited  mention of the vastly 
expanded capabilities and somewhat improved performance -  not to mention the 
many new options and programming features of the K3. Needless  to say (and I 
believe Brian noted) the fact that the change to SMT was largely  driven by the 
extreme addition of parts count to duplicate the process using  PTH/discreet. 
Packaging such a system would be nightmarish and much more  expensive. 

Considering the many anticipated advantages of the K3 over a  K2, even a 
modest added cost would more than justify the purchase for an  individual not 
strongly driven by the addictive scent of vaporized pine  resin.
It is also quite possible that the assembly of the K3 is within the  
capabilities of the prospective buyer, giving them the possibility of doing  something 
more than opening a box and not quite as challenging as a  K2.

It may be suggested that VLSI/LSI designs could also reduce the parts  count 
and simplify assembly. No doubt, but the economics of the design of the  
device and finding a manufacturer who would tool up and run the devices at an  
affordable level is highly unlikely at the quantities involved. That sort of  
setup usually requires 10s of thousands to even consider. BTDT.

An  example from industry involved a unit that is part of a military weapons 
system  that ran into the 20,000 plus range of deliveries. Cost was 
substantial and the  device ran on a single VLSI programmable device. After producing 
10,000 units,  it was decided to regress to a device that was two LSI OTS 
devices and some  added discreets. The redesign of the PWB and changes in production 
tooling etc  was far offset by the lower cost of the custom VLSI and reduced 
the price of the  system to the customer (taxpayer) by 10%  

73 Al WA6VNN



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