[Elecraft] customer service: & NEW RADIOS

[Bill NY9H]

Larry you make such a great point here.////
This is why I cancelled an order a few years ago from another 
manufacturer for a very large expensive radio. BEFORE IT SHIPPED.. 
and it appears that it was the right choice as there were ongoing 
changes (hard and soft)which were never really "finished" in my opinion.

I have an expectation with Eric & Wayne..and Elecraft that if such 
hardware changes are necessary that those "early adopters" would be 
covered like a blanket.

Bill  NY9H     K2# 269   K3# ___


Now this is the spot where we hear some comment from Eric or Wayne 
saying something like..." of course!!!.



>I may wait for the second production run, although that may be sold 
>out by the end of Dayton ;-) I'm guessing 200 for the first run, and 
>maybe as many as 1,000 for the second run. I would like to hear 
>feedback between those runs, but I don't think there will be time 
>for much feedback. My main concern would be hardware changes between 
>runs on the first few runs, and how they would be handled for early 
>buyers. Obviously firmware changes are no problem. As good as the K3 
>design appears to be, there are always little running changes in a rollout.
>
>73,
>Larry N8LP
>
>
>
>johnny wrote:
>>Hi Larry,
>>I have enough with my FTDX9000 and luckily I have already sold it 
>>only at some losses. Even I now have my IC7800, I still placed my order for K3.
>>As everyone here, I appreciate the customer support from Elecraft. 
>>I have enough experience with Ft2000 and FTDX9000 which I do not 
>>discuss in an Elecraft mail reflector. K3 will be my new rig which 
>>can be serviced by myself to some degree. I like my IC7800 but if 
>>the radio has anything wrong, my hands will be up in the air and a 
>>tip to ICOM service center is unavoidable.
>>cheers,
>>Johnny Siu VR2XMC
>>
>>     ----- Original Message -----
>>     *From:* Larry Phipps <mailto:larry at telepostinc.com>
>>     *To:* Bill W5WVO <mailto:w5wvo at cybermesa.net>
>>     *Cc:* [Elecraft] <mailto:elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
>>     *Sent:* Tuesday, May 01, 2007 9:09 PM
>>     *Subject:* Re: [Elecraft] Elecraft customer service: appreciate it!
>>
>>     I wonder if there is any K3 chatter on the FT-2000 list... seems like
>>     they are squarely in the crosshairs ;-)
>>
>>     Larry N8LP
>>
>>
>>
>>     Bill W5WVO wrote:
>>     > 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
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