[K3] [Elecraft] K3 Obsolete?

[Mark Bayern]

> it should be this one for the DSP
>
> http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/tms320vc33.html

That page _DOES_NOT_ say the chip is 'obsolete', it says 'Product is
Not Recommended for New Design'. Go ahead and do a text search on the
page, the word obsolete is not on the page. If you read to the bottom
of the page you see the >10K of chips in the pipeline, and you see a
recent update of distributor stock.

> However, I have never bought a rig before that had obsolete parts in it when
> I opened the box.

(Seems to me that most (all?) of the modern rigs I've bought had a
bunch of proprietary chips in them. Who can tell if they're obsolete?)

If this really bothers you I can think of two options: 1/buy a
YaeComWood, or 2/start your own company and design a competitor to the
K3. Competition is a good thing.

Mark  AD5SS




On Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 5:25 PM, Ken_ke2n <ke2n at cs.com> wrote:
>
> oops  - I see I put in the wrong link (although one of the reply-ee's found
> it)
>
> it should be this one for the DSP
>
> http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/tms320vc33.html
>
> the D/A chip that I was referring to is the TI one too ...
> also tried to find the the TI D/A chip on Mouser and Digikey and got the
> obsolete designation as well.
>
> I am not surprised that there is a big batch of the TMS chips coming. That's
> what they do: announce upcoming obsolescence, get an idea of who wants how
> many and then make one final big batch and no more after.
>
> I doubt anything in this fast moving technology is designed for a long
> product life. Its basically cell phone technology that is driving the market
> and they try to sell me a cell phone every two years.
>
> I believe that unless I am unlucky the chips in my K3 will last longer than
> I will.
>
> However, I have never bought a rig before that had obsolete parts in it when
> I opened the box.
>
> But that is the way things are these days...
>
> Ken