[Elecraft] Big Knobs Syndrome

[Steven Pituch]

I guess hams in general are impressed by a lot of knobs and buttons and 
lights.  I think that if we want to utilize any radio the best way possible 
we need to forget some of our biases and try to adapt to the features of the 
radio.  This is why many hams derive so much pleasure out of some well 
designed small qrp rigs.  I don't agree with the conclusion that the K3 is a 
bad radio for the older generation because of small knobs, etc.  People who 
have various disabilities (i.e. blindness) will probably find the K3 to be a 
delight to operate.  You may not be able to push the same type of buttons on 
a K3 as you would a Yacomwood but if you go with the flow of the radio, you 
may find that although the radio's interface is different, it may end up 
being better and more pleasurable to use.  It may be like CW, you need to do 
it for a while in order to enjoy it and appreciate its good points.  Also if 
a smaller VFO knob is designed well it can be nicer to use than a large VFO 
knob.

A long time ago I sent my Sierra to Wayne because he was curious about 
questions I had about its alignment.  I was surprised one Saturady with a 
call from him concerning the radio.  While we were talking I mentioned how I 
admired his talent for designing radios and regretted not becoming an E.E. 
instead of becoming a civil engineer.  He said not to have that hold me back 
as he was educated in cognitive science, (I think that's what he said)? 
Anyway, it didn't really register with me at the time what that meant, until 
recently..

I just looked it up and it seems he has studied and worked a large part of 
his life to acquire a skillset that is probably the best preparation to be 
able to design machine interfaces for human interaction.  It seems God knew 
Wayne was going to be involved with the design of the K3, and that there 
would be many people asking for the big knobs typical of inferior rigs. So 
in order to ensure that the K3 was the best out there God told him to go get 
a degree in Cognitive Science.  Then Wayne went on to use his education and 
talent to design the K3 front panel with features so radically new and 
friendly that it was destined to redifine the human interaction experience 
for radio transceivers.  People said that the K3 human interface was an 
order of maginitude better than anything else out there.  It met up with 
some resistance from some of the old school who still wanted their big heavy 
VFO knobs, but in the long run everyone saw the light and all the other 
radio companies had to copy the features of the K3 human interface just to 
stay in business.

And so it will be.

Just try it, and if you can forget some of your biases for a moment, I bet 
that you will like it better than any other radio.

Steve, W2MY