[Elecraft] K3 versus FT2K

[Joseph Trombino Jr]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "J F" <phriendly1 at yahoo.com>
To: <barry.n1eu at gmail.com>; "Elecraft Discussion List" 
<elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2007 9:04 AM
Subject: [Elecraft] K3 versus FT2K


> Barry,
>
> I wonder about this and the Orions that seem to be on
> the  second hand market so close to the initial
> offering. That usually speaks of poor performance
> and/or other issues (including warranty service).
>

---------------------snip---------------

I have had an Orion for over 3 years now without any issues.

The firmware has been revised and improved several times over the years and 
you can pick the version that works best for you...that's what's great about 
this radio.

Improving these radios with updated firmware revisions has resulted in a lot 
of discussion on the Ten Tec list about nits-n-picks about flaws, etc but 
they do not detract from the basic performance of the radio.

Ten Tec probably needs a few full time expert software writers to perfect 
the firmware for these rigs but that will probably never happen....looks as 
if Elecraft has them beat in this respect

However, the Orion has the best ham band receiver I have ever used....I had 
an OMNI VI/3 for 9 years before selling it to buy the Orion.....tried out 
the FT1000 for a weekend before buying the OMNI VI/3....no comparision from 
my perspective.

There  no poor performance issues in either the Orion or the Orion II...they 
are both superb radios with the some of the best receiver specs on the 
market today.....that's why I purchased one (grin).

Compare the Orion receiver specs against the IC7800 and the FT9000 on the 
Sherwood web site and see what I am talking about....the K2 doesn't do too 
band either (bigger grin).

If the K3 can beat out the Orion(s) in receiver specs then it will probably 
reign as the best receiving rig on the market today...I'm gonna buy a K3 to 
use as my primary QRP rig and keep my K2 for portable ops....the best of 
both worlds (grin).

Didn't want this list to get the impression that the Orion is a poor rig 
with lots of problems.

I know that a lot of Orion owners are selling their rigs to upgrade to the 
Orion II.....I thought about this but didn't thinking spending all that 
money to upgrade to essentially only a new color display was worth 
it....I'll spend that money on a K3 (grin).

                                    73, Joe W2KJ
                                    I QRP, therefore I am