[Elecraft] Need for advice was; noise reduction

[Bill VanAlstyne W5WVO]

Don et al.,

As a pro technical writer, I should like to address myself to your point.

I am not and have never been an Elecraft employee, and I have not worked on 
the Elecraft documentation. Had I been privileged to be asked to do so, 
however, I would have lobbied hard for taking a slightly different tack with 
some of it -- something more along the lines that you suggest.

One of the truisms in technical writing is that most people don't like to 
read manuals, and it is clinically true that some people -- those with 
learning disabilities -- CANNOT read manuals: or, at least, cannot retain 
any meaningful knowledge from reading them. Their brains simply don't work 
that way. This affliction seems to be increasingly prevalent as the years go 
by. Some blame the media, some the educational system. In any event, a 
derivative truism has developed over the past couple of decades as people's 
attention spans have become shorter and shorter. And that is: Shorter is 
Better. Less is More.

As an editor, I spent much of each day deleting unnecessary verbiage from 
other people's technical writing. I am unstinting in my use of the Delete 
key. However, just as often, I find that key concepts are not adequately 
explained. Sometimes it is abundantly clear to me that the original writer 
simply didn't actually understand the material; in other cases, however, it 
is equally clear that the writer was just trying to keep the material as 
brief as possible, on instructions from "higher up." And in many such cases, 
the material winds up being too terse to be comprehensible to any beyond 
that cadre of readers who already understand it.

To write a technical document that completely explains every nuance of a 
highly sophisticated, complex piece of equipment is to write a Book. The 
"religion" of technical writing nowadays is that Nobody Reads Books. 
Anything that has page numbers in three digits is a Book. With the K3 Manual 
version I currently have on my computer at 82 pages, Elecraft has stayed 
well under that numinous edge-of-the-world limitation -- I believe, to its 
detriment. But that is just one man's belief -- well, perhaps two or three. 
I am admittedly old-school when it comes to such matters. Perhaps, with all 
my skills accumulated over many years, the fact that I am only part-time 
employed (albeit at a goodly rate) speaks to that fact to some degree.

In any case, I just wanted to let you know that there was somebody out here 
who's in the same choir you're preaching to.

Bill W5WVO
New Mexico


-----Original Message----- 
From: Don Cunningham
Sent: Monday, December 06, 2010 18:30
To: Wayne Burdick ; n4zr at contesting.com
Cc: Elecraft List
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Need for advice was; noise reduction

Wayne,
You didn't ask me, but I'm going to break my rule and respond to this one.
The K3 has been a unique radio in a respect that you may be overlooking.  It
has "evolved" over many years, with some of the "knowledgeable" guys owning
low serial numbered rigs, and they don't see what we are faced with as new
owners.  My K3 is serial number 4076, and my background is more into analog
rigs, but I have owned many "DSP" based rigs, from the IC-775/TS-870 era up.
I used to do mostly digital (RTTY), but find upon this return to ham radio
that RTTY rag chewing is sort of a thing of the past and I am re-learning
SSB and hopefully CW in the future.

All that said, the K3 manual, to this old guy, looks more like a reference
book for the low serial numbered guys that have helped this fine radio
evolve over the years.  It doesn't explain button/knob functions like you
would for a new user, but is a fine reference for those who have helped
determine just what that knob/button would do.  I HAVE read through the
manual, but it has changed three or four times since I bought my K3 in
February of this year, and I haven't taken time to read through them all to
see what the differences are.

What I think "MIGHT" clear up things somewhat is a Mode section that
actually teaches you what default settings are, and what "enhancements"
changes might make to your operation, by mode.  In the front of the manual
where you try to explain what each knob/button does, refer the user to the
"advanced page" by mode.  In other words, if a control does different things
in SSB, CW or DATA, refer the user to the appropriate page by mode for
further learning.  I think that would take some of the fatigue we are seeing
as new users.  We haven't been here since the birth of the K3, and anyone
can see in a day's read of the reflector that the archives are nearly
useless for learning, as each subject gets so convoluted that you can search
forever and not find what you want.

I am retired, have lots of time, BUT I want to spend my remaining years
operating, not reading all the time, hi.  When I have asked about things on
the reflector, the common answer from the "experts" is RTFM!!!  That's lots
of help.  I hope others will chime in, but the manual needs to become a "new
user's guide" as well as a nice reference for the old timers.
73,
Don, WB5HAK


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