[Elecraft] K3 Bandswitching-My experiences to Date

Thu May 29 10:52:10 EDT 2008

Steve and All,

A point well taken Steve.  But setting up the the memories this way (if 
really deemed necessary!) is an owner convenience really.  And if you don't 
use it yourself enough to do it without a "sticky note", then it probably 
wasn't that convenient in the first place.  If I had set it up this way, and 
a friend wanted to use the radio, I'd just tell him to use the regular 
bandswitch buttons.  A visitor will have enough trouble operating any 
strange rig, so you don't want to add to the problem with operating tricks 
the radio allows you to implement--at least not initially.

I'm a little mystified by the "passion" some folks seem to have about 
accelerating the band switching process.  Do you really switch bands that 
much?  I suppose some do.  And my judgement may be tainted a bit right now 
by the lack of activity on a bunch of the bands higher up.  For me, I'm 
usually just going between 3, or maybe 4 bands, which are all contiguous on 
the band rotation.  Pushing the up/down bandswitch works pretty well for 
that.  I'm just grateful they put both an up and down switch on the K3 
instead of making you rotate all the way through like you have to do on rigs 
like the Argonaut V.  When I had one of those radios, I found it very 
frustrating to have to go all the way around to get from 30 meters back to 
40 meters.  I sort of solved that by putting one VFO on one band, and the 
other VFO on the other.  Then I could just use the A/B button.

Nonetheless, I suspect that you are more or less correct that a couple more 
inches or so on the front panel would have accomodated a bandswitching 
keypad.  It might have accomodated 2 or 3 more knobs as well for other 
things.  But it would have added considerably to the volume of the radio. 
For some this would have been a good thing, and for others it would have 
been a waste.  I suspect all of us have at least 1 or 2 changes we would 
like to see in the K3.  Problem is, our wish lists probably don't always 
match up very consistently.  The process of deciding how to design a radio 
like this seems very complex to me.  Just think about how many questions 
need to be considered regarding each control and feature.  It really 
suggests some powerful product/market research is needed, and to be honest, 
I don't think Elecraft is big enough to provide/engage/conduct this type of 
study.  So, we end up with someone's (Wayne's mostly I suppose) best guess. 
And it sure won't be perfect.  Wayne did a pretty good job I think, but it 
"ain't" perfect!  But thank goodness he's an operator, in addition to being 
the designer, so he didn't saddle us with a multitude of compromises like 
Yaesu does perhaps?  Then there are radios like Ten-Tec Orions, and Icom 
7700/7800's, that put everything under the sun on front panel.  But look at 
the size of those radios!  You almost have to renovate your operating desk 
to accomodate them.  And when you look inside of one of them one of the 
first things you notice is a ton of wasted space.  But, if you aren't going 
to be moving the radio around much, that's very possibly quite acceptable.

The K3 is a compact (but not too compact?), but reasonably "full featured", 
radio.  A lot of things were left out though, and many of them will perhaps 
be incorporated in the "K4"!  The K3 was a substantial improvement on the 
K2, and the K4 will be a substantial improvement on the K3.  If the next set 
of changes aren't all that substantial, they might just call it the "K3A"  I 
don't even know if a "K4" is on the drawing board, but I bet pieces of it at 
least are already in Wayne's head.  A keypad band entry may very will be 
high on the list.  I'd almost bet a bandscope is high on the list.  QRO 
folks will be glad to learn that, out of the box, it will have provision for 
negative ALC!  I'm being a bit facetious, but I would probably like having 
these features myself--some "just in case", but appreciated nonetheless.  We 
are all still looking for the "perfect" radio.  If and when you think you 
have found it, you can bet that a bunch of others will be loudly lamenting 
that it doesn't have this or that.  My advice to folks who are excessively 
frustrated by omissions on the K3 is to start dropping your loose change in 
a cookie jar to save up for the K4.  A friend of mine recently told me he 
saved up nearly $1200 by just dropping the quarters in a jar he got in 
change, mostly from stopping after work for a beer!  This made me realize a 
couple of things:

1.  You can really save a bunch of money by doing this with loose change;
2.  My friend probably drinks too much!

Nevertheless, I think you have plenty of time.

Dave W7AQK

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "S Sacco" <nn4x.steve at gmail.com>
To: <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2008 4:59 AM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Bandswitching-My experiences to Date

> When I want to QSY to 6 meters, I expect to punch a button that says
> "6M" or "50".   If a friend comes over to operate my K3, I don't want
> to have to point to a yellow sticky note hanging from a shelf, and
> then spend 10 minutes briefing them on the intricacies of using the
> user-programmed memories.
>
> This issue isn't about finding other clever ways to institute a common
> and expected function; it's about justifying Elecraft's choice to
> package the radio in a specific footprint.  For its size, the
> ergonomics are excellent, but it's about 2" too narrow.  With that
> extra 2", they could have fit a keypad.
>
> IMHO.
>
> 73,
> Steve NN4X
>
>
> On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 9:04 PM, David and Dianne on Comcast
> <dhhdeh at comcast.net> wrote:
>> Hi Everyone,
>>
>> In hanging around the K3 booth in Dayton this year (some would say I was
>> 'lurking' around the booth) I overheard several K3 prospective owners
>> pressing Wayne on the absence of dedicated bandswitches and bandstacking
>> registers.
>>
>> Having been a user of Icom and Ten Tec gear for many years, I too admit 
>> that
>> this was one of my reservations when first considering my K3 purchase 
>> over a
>> year ago.
>>
>> Now after almost four months of K3 use, I wanted to past a comment 
>> directed
>> at those considering a K3 who believe that this issue may be a deal 
>> breaker.
>>
>> IMO it is not.
>>
>> It takes a bit of time and study to adapt to this approach of Elecraft's 
>> UI,
>> but the K3 has some remarkable and flexible alternatives.
>>
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