[Elecraft] Elecraft customer service: appreciate it!

[Bill W5WVO]

Just as an aside on the tremendously personal and intimate experience of participating in the K3 roll-out, I've also been monitoring the FT-2000 Yahoo group to see what they're talking about over there. Over the past week, nearly 100% of the voluminous postings there have been about firmware updates.

1) A new firmware revision called v1.26 showed up on the Internet from SOMEWHERE -- nobody knows where it came from. A lot of people tried to install it and found serious problems. Yaesu eventually disclaimed it as somebody's unauthorized hack and advised people not to install it. This took weeks.

2) People began wondering how they could determine what firmware revision their unit is running. Answer: Fuhgedaboudit.  There is no way to get feedback from the FT-2000 as to its own firmware revision. So patently absurd that nobody could believe it until it was finally confirmed by a Yaesu tech rep. Reason: Yaesu keeps track of what firmware revision is in your radio on a serial-number basis. You don't need to know this.

3) When a new and officially sanctioned v1.27 firmware update finally emerged, people wondered what bug fixes it covered and what new features it offered. Answer: Fuhgedaboudit. You don't need to know this. Just trust Yaesu that it's better. Well, your country's sales rep might be able to find out for you... If you can actually talk to him. Or maybe not.

4) Want to go to the Yaesu website and download the update? Fuhgedaboudit. You can only get it by email from an authorized rep from your particular country on a one-by-one basis. Got problems and you want it right now? Fuhgedaboudit. You get on a wait list and... wait. And hope it gets sent to you One of These Days Real Soon Now. (So as a result, unauthorized personal website postings of the update popped up within 24 hours of its release. Is it the real v1.27? The correct country-specific v1.27 for your radio? Who knows?)

Y'all can thank your lucky stars that Elecraft owners have a completely different kind of experience with the manufacturer of their radio. I just thought you might like to know just how different it really is.

Bill / W5WVO