[Elecraft] Upcoming K3 features

[Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ, Elecraft]

Wow! I go off-line for the weekend and everyone goes crazy. Must have 
been a slow news weekend, or just poor propagation on HF.. :-) 

I see there is a lot of misunderstanding out there on what is already 
here, or is coming soon, so I'd like to clarify a few items.


1. TX/RX EQ = OFF in digital modes will be implemented in within the 
next couple of releases.

2. RX active while manually tuning through memories will also be 
implemented shortly, within the next couple of releases.

3. AM Sync is actively being completed. We have an internal version in 
the test lab and we should have a beta version out soon. It turns out 
this was not a simple task.

4. The TCXO-1 actually turns out to meet 0.5 ppm over the commercial 
temp range. We were over conservative in our initial public specs on 
this item - It already met this without additional calibration.

We are also testing a future version of K3Utility that lets you enter 
temp correction values for a further increase in accuracy, but I'm not 
sure how quickly this will be released.


As a general comment, we have a very specific prioritized list of items 
that we are working on for the K3. some we've talked about, some we 
haven't. And some are internal items to improve manufacturing yield, 
etc. We certainly do pay attention to the list comments and requests, 
but we do not jump back and forth each week trying to meet new requests 
at the expense of others. Some times it conveniently works out that we 
are already about to implement something requested on the email list, or 
that it is trivial to add quickly. That's why you might see it pop up 
shortly after a list discussion. Also, while it may seem like we have 
not responded to your specific request, it does not mean we have ignored 
it. We get so many varied requests that there is no way to satisfy all 
of them, but we do write them down and we periodically meet and 
re-prioritize those items that are doable.

Wayne and I both feel strongly that a lot of our success is due to our 
company's responsiveness to your product ideas and requests. We see our 
major products, like the K3, as a continually evolving and improving in 
response to customer feedback. We're constantly amazed at the breadth of 
applications that you are using the K3 for. From Rag Chewing, DXing, 
QRP, Contesting, SO2R, Moon-bounce and Data modes to ESSB, each user 
community has a wide range of uses and requests. We can't do everything, 
but we do make careful attempts to add the most useful requested 
features over time. We'll never meet everything requested - there just 
isn't that much development time or microprocessor memory available. But 
we'll strive to make the K3 as good as it can be.

Its impossible for us to guess the many ways our products, like the K3, 
will get used up front, so we make our best effort to get a good core 
set of features into the product at initial release, and then we iterate 
and improve in response to your feedback over the life of the product. 
We hope that approach keeps our products fresh and fun to use over their 
life, and that it keeps us ahead of our competition :-)

73,  Eric   WA6HHQ



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