[Elecraft] K3 Manuals (WAS: Re: Shipping Status)

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

David, M0XDF wrote:

Well, I had half expected it and was hoping it wouldn't be late (as I'm sure
lots were) and I agree with the others, do it right.

I had hoped I'd have it at the beginning of Aug, not so I could assemble it
- too much going on in Aug for that. But so I could read the manual during
my 2 week vacation at the end of Aug. Is there any chance of an early
release of the manual in electronic form?

-------------------------------- 

The problem is that the documentation, including the Owner's Manual and the
kit Assembly Manual, will be finished *after* the last changes to the K3 are
made and tested! 

Wayne is spearheading the Owner's manual because the ongoing work on the
firmware has a huge effect on the operating instructions. Obviously, those
instructions will continue to change as long as tweaks are being made to the
firmware! 

I'm pursuing the kit assembly manual. Under Wayne's direction, our goal is
to 'raise the bar significantly' in making the K3 an even easier kit to
assemble and to assure builders that your kit-built K3 meets all the
performance specifications of the "factory assembled" K3s. 

Although no soldering is involved, there are a lot of things to do to put a
K3 together and the manual leans very heavily on photographs and drawings
illustrating almost every step! As minor changes to the hardware are made
the illustrations need to be changed and new pictures shot in order for the
parts you find in the kit to match the photographs and instructions. So,
once again, changes are on-going as long as the testing and tweaking of the
K3 goes on.

I've had a K3 in my lab for over a month, all in parts. It arrived ready to
operate, but my first order of business was to take it to bits in order to
work out and validate the assembly procedures. No one is more interested
than I in seeing it all in one piece again, making RF and hearing signals. I
suspect that will happen only after the first K3s are in the hands of those
of you who are patiently waiting. 

Ron AC7AC