[Elecraft] K3 docs ... clarification

[Kok Chen]

The K3 manual, like the FT-1000MP manual, seems to have an index that is ordered by Functions, which is natural for manufacturers and designers but perhaps not so much for users.  The manual is written from the point of view of somebody who already knows how to use the K3.

Someone had suggested an index which contains "subtopics."  I thought that is a great idea.

For example, under an "Antenna" index, you can have sub indexes to everything that has anything to do with antennas, ATU, connectors, buttons that control antenna functions, etc.  

With some books, you will find for example the index for "Rhombic" stating "(see under Antennas)." This way, you can either look for "Rhombics" or look for "Antennas."   Especially useful if you have heard of the term "rhombics" sometime in the murky past but, with a memory like I have, don't really remember the precise name, so you go look under "Antennas."  Not to say the K3 index should include the term Rhombic :-) :-).

For example, if I want to look for information about the RF connectors at the rear panel, I don't need to guess if Elecraft had call it coax connectors, SO-239, BNC, etc.  I just go look under "Antennas" or some such generic term.

The ARRL Handbook leans towards this style.

One thing that I have found very useful in the FT-1000MP manual is that the numbered captions on the front and rear panel diagrams are described in an ordered list containing short paragraphs AND a page number to leads you to the detail description somewhere else.  So, you can jump from the number directly to the short description (to see if it is really what you are looking for) and finally to the main body of the manual.  Very simple steps.

With the K3 manual, the main VFO knob is labeled "22" in the front panel diagram, but to find the description of "22," you need to search like crazy in the following pages: it appears in "The Basics." But how would I know to look for it there if I hadn't written the manual myself? :-)  

OK, so the VFO knob appears later in yet another diagram of the front panel -- but this time there is no number.  So you again have to plow through looking for the reference to "VFOs" but at least finally, you have a reference to the page in the manual where the VFO controls are described in detail.

All that being said, the part I hate most myself is writing documentation.  So I definitely put myself in the category of "do what I say, not what I do" HI HI.  

My documentation for cocoaModem, for example is pretty much along the line of the K3 manual -- function driven.  Then I let the pendulum swing completely in a different direction in the cocoaNEC documentation where I created Tutorials.  E.g., sections that are titled "Creating a New Antenna Model," "Creating a Simple Dipole," "Setting feeds, Frequencies and Radiation pattern parameters," etc.

The excuse I use for the poor manuals for my programs?  They are free :-) :-)

73
Chen, W7AY