[Elecraft] K3 docs ... clarification

[Fred Jensen]

On 12/7/2010 2:40 PM, Kok Chen wrote:
> 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.

A friend, who swears this is true, told me about an attempt to try out a 
new instruction manual for some software on one of the admin folks since 
he would be the primary user.  The software was on a 5 1/4" floppy [this 
occurred a long time ago, if you don't know what a 5 1/4" floppy disk 
was skip to the bottom].  The instructions had been made very precise 
and followed the principle that each instruction did one and only one 
thing so that no confusion could result and nothing could go wrong.  It 
went something like:

1.  "Locate the 'SOFTWARE' diskette in the file case on the desk."  User 
flips through and finds it.

2.  "Remove the diskette."  User pulls the floppy out of the case, 
leaving the sleeve behind.

3.  "Remove the diskette from its cover."  User proceeds to tear the 
outer cover off the diskette.

Tech writing is hard, and how one writes depends on who the audience is 
and what their situations are.  I'm happy with the technical accuracy of 
the K3 manual, and the Index/PDF Search.  It's easily as good as the 
better examples I have used, and light years ahead of some.  Admittedly, 
I do have to have a reasonable idea of what it is I'm looking for, and 
sometimes it takes a couple of tries, it tends to be function oriented. 
  So does Google, and the new ARRL Web Site is probably one of the 
poorer examples in this regard for me.  So is the N1MM documentation.

What most folks seem to be wanting is, for lack of a better metaphor, 
"K3 USAGE for Dummies," focused on K3 usage.  Not every 
function/feature/adjustment applies to every one of the multiple uses of 
my K3.  Tell me about receiving CW under varying conditions ... I'll 
read that.  Since I'm really still a dummy at K3 Usage, I won't write it 
[there are other reasons I won't as well, but that's my story and I'm 
sticking to it].

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the 2011 Cal QSO Party 1-2 Oct 2011
- www.cqp.org

Maybe that wasn't a "metaphor," perhaps a simile?  I can't keep them any 
straighter than prepositions and split infinitives.