[Elecraft] Katiegram - Stay or go, yes or no

[John]

Rethink the kit. I got mine in kit form, #501, and it isn't right 
yet. It's headed back to Aptos today for repair. So, I guess this is 
kind of a Johngram.

The boards are tested and calibrated before shipping, however, I'm 
guessing that all the boards you get in a kit are not assembled and 
tested as a unit, and then taken apart and sent to you to put back 
together. It seems I have a data buss problem that affects the KAT3 
and NB board. We have been troubleshooting it for three weeks now, 
they've even sent me a new KAT3 board, no joy. I had a problem with 
the synth board too, an un soldered component. It must have been 
making physical contact when tested, but was intermittent after 
install, causing high noise level in receive. I was lucky and found it.

The K3 is not a rig that you will be able to post a problem to the 
list regarding a HW problem and expect someone to come up with an 
idea for repair, like the K2, K1, etc. Even if it is possible you 
would have to be skilled in SMT to do the repair.

There is something to be said about buying an assembled/tested unit, 
think about it.

I'm not knocking the product, or the service, but the K3 is a whole 
new ball game.

John
k7up
2 K2's, K1, K3?

At 09:39 AM 27/03/08, you wrote:
>Hi
>
>Stay with the kit. It saves $240 and only requires a few hours of 
>turning a screwdriver, plugging in circuit boards and messing about 
>with the menus for the calibration. Really easy stuff, really good 
>manual and you will feel better about knowing a little about the 
>works inside in case you want to add an option or two later.
>
>Thanks
>
>Don Brown
>KD5NDB
>
>K3 S/N 0575
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------
>From: "Darwin, Keith" <Keith.Darwin at goodrich.com>
>Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2008 10:22 AM
>To: "Elecraft Reflector" <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
>Subject: [Elecraft] Katiegram - Stay or go, yes or no
>
>>Just call me Mr. Waffle.
>>
>>I ordered a K3 at the end of Sept 07.  Yea, I want one but paying for it
>>is not quite so easy to swallow.  No biggie, I have months to think
>>about it.  With the shipment of my K3 approaching, I made a few changes.
>>Added 100 watt PA, CW filter and finally switched to factory built.  I'm
>>still not completely sure I want to go through with it, but I have time
>>...
>>
>>Yesterday I got my Katiegram.  My time is up.  I have to decide whether
>>to stay or go.  Total price is about $2200.  I knew it would be that
>>much but somehow seeing it in an invoice makes it very real.  I suppose
>>I could drop back to the K3/10 kit but that's not what I ultimately
>>would want.  I could go K3/100 kit but truth is I just don't have the
>>time right now to put it together.  When I look at that $2200 bill, I
>>wonder if I should just make the time.
>>
>>I feel like a kid who has climbed the high-dive and is standing with his
>>toes hanging over the edge of the board, nervous and unsure, wondering
>>what he's gotten himself into.
>>
>>Mr. Waffle, signing out for now ..
>>
>>- Keith N1AS -
>>- K2 5411.ssb.100 -
>>- K3 (in the on-deck circle as we speak) -
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