[Elecraft] [K3] Need for advice was; noise reduction

[eric manning]

Dear Joe

With respect, it seems to me that the secret sauce in the K3 is largely 
in the FIRMWARE, which is why I carefully avoided
even mentioning it, let alone asking for descriptive material on it.

[ I agree that Elecraft would be nuts to publish
the firmware in human-readable form, and I trust that developing same 
from the bit strings in  ROM is
too expensive to tempt the competitors to do so. Besides, competitors 
would have to sell  K3 or K3 superset hardware to
make direct use of it. I also trust that Elecraft has filed patents on 
the appropriate items, and will defend them vigorously.]

If much of the proprietary advantage lay in the HARDWARE, would Elecraft 
publish a complete set of schematics?
They would not. [Fault diagnosis would be done entirely by Don and Scott 
telling us to measure voltage X at pin Y.]
  As you noted, a set of schematics, plus a working K3, plus a 
half-decent lab,
is all that a good electronics/rf engineer would need to develop the 
'what' and 'how' information which  I mentioned.
So, the information you are worried about is already out there.  
Finally, Wayne & Eric would, I'm sure, keep mum
about any really subtle, obscure yet critical bits of design.

The text would just make it easier or possible for us amateurs to 
understand the design, and more important, the design
choices, why the K3 was designed the way it was.

BTW, I think that seminars at Pacificon might be an even better way to 
give us this insight, as one of the Sams proposed.

73

Eric
VA7DZ

The On 07/12/10 9:54 PM, Joe Subich, W4TV wrote:
>
>>> While we're on the topic, I would really like to have a text
>>> describing the design of the K3, an aid in understanding what the
>>> components do, the design choices and why they were made, WHY
>>> modules were designed the way that they were, and HOW they work at
>>> the component or group of components level.
>
> This is absurd!  Much of what you are asking for falls in the
> category of "trade secrets."  Why certain design decisions were
> made and how specific circuits work are often key items of
> competitive advantage.  A competent RF designer may be able
> to reverse engineer the circuit board or schematic and get a
> reasonable idea of how something works and maybe guess the
> reason for key design choices but why should Wayne "give away"
> his secrets?
>
> Nikon doesn't provide schematics, circuit descriptions and
> design process summaries with its digital cameras.  Even if
> that information would somehow be useful to the user, it would
> never be released as Panasonic or Canon or Olympus or Sony
> could easily use that information to their competitive advantage.
>
> 73,
>
>    ... Joe, W4TV
>
> On 12/8/2010 12:15 AM, eric manning wrote:
>> While we're on the topic, I would really like to have a text describing
>> the design  of the K3,
>> an aid in understanding what the components do, the design choices and
>> why they were made,  WHY modules were designed the way that they were,
>> and HOW they work at the component or group of components level.
>>
>> Something more detailed than the very sketchy "how it works" piece in
>> the Owner's manual, but less detailed than the schematics - a document
>> which I could read while staring at the schematics, which would help me
>> understand why the circuits were designed the way they were and how they
>> work.
>>
>> Yes, it would likely be at least 100 pages, but . . .
>>
>> Bring It On! [ G W Bush]
>>
>> Elliot Organick wrote a similar piece [ a book] about the Multics
>> Operating System [the Mother of Unix, in a way]
>> and it was very valuable.
>>
>> Eric
>> Va7DZ
>>
>


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