[Elecraft] K3: Interim Build Report

[David and Dianne on Comcast]

Hi Everyone,

As I posted here at mid week, K3 #371 arrived from Aptos in fine shape. 
I have begun the build and thought I would share some comments both 
positive and negative with all. You opinions of course will most likely 
be different but here are mine so far:

Positive:
The kit was packaged magnificently. The care in packaging is first rate. 
The manual is by far one of the most comprehensive I have seen in 
building many kits over the years. Clear, concise and detailed but very 
logical and easy to follow. Build quality of the boards is indeed 
elegant.  Fit and finish is simply excellent. Tolerances are amazing.  
It is a work of engineering art. Congrats to Eric and Wayne of all of 
this. They should be proud of their baby.

Negative:
Yup I have a negative.  Of all of the kits I have built over the years, 
many of them fairly complex, from Heath, LDG, W9GR and many others, this 
is the first to arrive short parts/hardware.  And while the shortage is 
minor, it is specialized and significant enough to stop me cold in the 
build process and add yet another week to the final K3 experience.  
Simply put, it has been deflating. Yet more delay. While Elecraft was 
attentive to this matter over the phone and in a response from 
K3Support, I am still not sure if the parts are headed this way as no 
confirmation has been positively received. This will be my last kit 
experience. I should have bought it factory assembled as I planned 
originally. But I bought into the kit mystique. Never again.

Concerns:
I am both a CW and SSB operator as non-contesting DX'er. SSB TX issues 
are important to me. Several reports are surfacing here and elsewhere 
from very reputable sources about the current lack of SSB bandwidth and 
the lack of more "powerful" modulation. I urge Elecraft to address these 
issues ASAP (now perhaps with more priority than the second receiver.)  
This will be a deal breaker for me if not rectified. IMO it should have 
been correct out of the box. This K3 will be evaluated against my highly 
modified Ten Tec Omni V.9 which has for my operating requirements beat 
out every transceiver on both CW and SSB since its arrival here at this 
QTH, bar none, including my Pro III which for all its true Rx warts is a 
pretty darn good value for the $$.

I paid my $$ and took my chances and hope that this will all get 
rectified in the end. And for those of you who may think that I should 
not air complaints in public, I ask, did yours arrive complete?

My $.02

73 de N1LQ-Dave