[Elecraft] [OT] Hilberling PT-8000 canceled - let me get this straight

[Ian White GM3SEK]

Don Wilhelm wrote:
>DOUGLAS ZWIEBEL wrote:
>> Methinks there is more afoot than meets the eye.

>The announcement did *not* say that they did not meet standards, nor 
>did they say that the standards were too high - they did say that they 
>did not expect to meet the standards  in production units at a cost 
>they considered reasonable (whether those are EU compliance standards 
>or internal company quality standards, it makes no difference). Quote:
>"However, guaranteeing this high standard without limitations in a 
>series production program with many vendors runs into difficulties 
>which cannot be overcome at a cost level which is still acceptable."
>
>The engineers produced a product that was not reproducible within 
>budget.

Don's final sentence puts his finger right on the problem.

In a product of such high quality, it would be surprising if there was 
any difficulty in meeting EU compliance standards. However, if 
production difficulties required repeated design changes, the costs of 
mandatory re-testing would have to be recovered from the final selling 
price.

It's a great pity that the PT-8000 could not be brought into full 
production, because the world always needs new and different ideas. No 
doubt the ideas from the PT-8000 - along with the hard commercial 
lessons - will be re-absorbed into Hilberling's highly successful 
commercial and military products, but it would have been so much better 
if those ideas had been out on the market to inspire and challenge other 
designers.

Above all, I feel so sorry for Hans Hilberling, DK7LG, because this 
project was his own personal "baby" to put some of his company's 
commercial success back into amateur radio. (See 
http://www.hilberling.de/ and click on "Ham Radio".)

It's a story that must give Wayne and Eric a shiver down the spine.



-- 

73 from Ian GM3SEK
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek