[Elecraft] Parting shot

Thu Dec 9 14:07:53 EST 2010

There is an important philosophical point here.

While it IS true that I have 52 years of slogging and suffering
through electronic misconceptions and outright falsehoods enroute to
what pitifully little I know, and can definitely say that I came by a
lot (most?) of what I know the hard way, we have schools because we
value the idea that it's BETTER that something, which caused ME
half-a-life's grief to discern, can be taught to a fifth grader out of
the box.  That IS at some level deflating for the oldies, but we DO
hope our children can use our learning as FOUNDATIONAL, and take it on
to a higher level.

To wish that advantage for our fellow hams is, in a word, civilization.

I buy your excellent Microham stuff (and recommend it to others)
because it gives me a jump ahead, and I can take my pleasant, sweet,
sipping-a-mint-julip time learning all the cute things you guys put in
it.  To fuzzily extend your documentation thinking, the only worthy
proper distribution format of a Microham box would be as a box of
parts, to insure that the purchaser "suffered" enough to be an
acceptable recipient of the Microham mojo.

73, Guy.

On Thu, Dec 9, 2010 at 1:04 PM, Joe Subich, W4TV <lists at subich.com> wrote:
>
>> 5)  A serious documentation methodology breakthrough certainly IS a
>> patentable offering.
>
> What you are seeking falls in the category of "expert systems."  Too
> many of the posters here are simply demanding documentation that tells
> them what to do in every possible situation - no matter how unlikely
> the situation or whether the operation/usage is even within the design
> parameters of the K3.
>
> In essence, those who are complaining about the documentation are
> demanding that the learning curve be made flat.  They believe they
> are *owed* the same operating experience as others have gained
> through decades/years/months of experience.  This is but one more
> facet of the "fairness" mantra that has become so prevalent in
> western societies.
>
> I, for one, would be upset at underwriting the overhead of developing
> and implementing these expert systems when they only serve those who
> think the world "owes them" and refuse to accept responsibility for
> their own results.
>
> 73,
>
>   ... Joe, W4TV
>
>
> On 12/9/2010 12:04 PM, Guy Olinger K2AV wrote:
>>
>> I'm right there with you.
>>
>> I find the schematics to be of more use for the fine elements of the
>> HARDWARE aspects of the K3.  But the real meat of the K3 is in the
>> firmware, which is not going to be published in any way to allow, for
>> example, to tweak the APF code to suit ourselves.  So for those of us
>> who have always done our own prying in the hardware and maintained a
>> degree of independence back in the old world, SMD, high degrees of
>> functional integration on SMDs, and Software Derived Radio have made
>> us dependent on the radio manufacturers to a degree with which we are
>> getting INcreasingly UNcomfortable.
>>
>> It's kind of like having a fine topographical/photographic map of
>> everywhere around Area 51, with of course fences and security at the
>> boundary, heavy penalties for trespassing, and also of course, having
>> Area 51 itself blanked out on the map.  It's regretfully, necessarily
>> a non-negotiable boundary between insatiable public curiosity, and an
>> armed need for government security.
>>
>> And, while I know Eric is trying to shut down this long, long, long,
>> long multi-paralleled thread for procedural reasons and has been
>> fairly forgiving of it, I hope Elecraft has noticed some things about
>> THIS thread that sets it starkly apart from the likes of "true north"
>> and other famous endless, everybody-weighs-in thread.
>>
>> 1) It is NOT being advanced by a NARROW slice of the user base (as in
>> CW contesters or 2M digital moonbounce operators).
>>
>> 2) The usual futzglop of it's-never-good-enough'ers does NOT dominate
>> the cast of posters.
>>
>> 3) ALL aspects of the documentation have been questioned, not focused
>> on one thing.
>>
>> 4) Those with professional documentation training or involvement are
>> questioning the state of affairs of documentation in general, and
>> regretfully see the K3 in the same state as documentation in general.
>>
>> It seems to be what the Klingon Ruler called the "undiscovered
>> country" in one of the Star Trek movies.
>>
>> Despite all kinds of good faith effort by Elecraft and their
>> most-excellent volunteer cast, there is clearly an unmet need that
>> current state of documentation art does not meet.  Sort of like radio
>> front ends before TenTec, huh?   Oh, yeah...
>>
>> 5)  A serious documentation methodology breakthrough certainly IS a
>> patentable offering.
>>
>> 73, and I'll try to pay attention to Eric's end-of-thread.
>>
>> Guy.
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Dec 9, 2010 at 11:22 AM, Mel Farrer<farrerfolks at yahoo.com>  wrote:
>>>
>>> FWIW, the user manual is fine.  What you are describing, is a service
>>> manual.
>>>
>>> Mel,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ________________________________
>>> From: eric manning<eric.manning at engr.uvic.ca>
>>> To: Jim Garland<4cx250b at muohio.edu>
>>> Cc: elecraft at mailman.qth.net; "Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ, Elecraft"
>>> <eric at elecraft.com>
>>> Sent: Thu, December 9, 2010 7:42:08 AM
>>> Subject: [Elecraft] Parting shot
>>>
>>>
>>> Precisely!!!
>>> I'm trying to diagnose a K2 fault at the moment. I'm largely acting as a
>>> robot
>>> directed
>>> by Don Wilhelm, thank goodness for Don&    Gary.
>>>
>>>  I would be
>>> even more at sea, out to lunch,  if I were trying to cope with a fault in
>>> the
>>> far more complex K3.
>>> I've read the K3 manual carefully [fb user manual!] and I still don't
>>> have a
>>> clue as to circuit level function, sufficient to infer fault from
>>> malfunction.
>>>
>>> [I did my PhD thesis on electronic fault diagnosis&    co-wrote the first
>>> book on the subject . . .]
>>>
>>> ERIC
>>> VA7DZ
>>> [PhD in EE, F.IEEE, FEIC, P.Eng., etc etc]
>>>
>>> ________________________
>>>
>>> I'd like to see a K3 service manual, or at least a comprehensive circuit
>>> description. Without some explanation, the downloaded schematics are
>>> pretty
>>> worthless to somebody trying to understand the radio. In particular, the
>>> published K3 block diagram is an exercise in obscurity. In my opinion,
>>> it's
>>> nearly impossible for someone even to follow the receive or transmit
>>> signal
>>> path.
>>>
>>> 73,
>>>
>>> Jim W8ZR
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
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