[Elecraft] K3 & Competition

Joe Subich, W4TV lists at subich.com
Mon Feb 15 01:16:29 EST 2010 

> In reality I prefer the way Kenwood does things. The Kenwood 
> TS480HX is a good example of this. Well researched, well 
> designed and well built.  Turning out radios like Icom does  
> full of bugs and component failure is certainly not very 
> professional.  

And who says the TS-480 is without serious bugs?  Start with 
the microphone connector ... Kenwood have reversed the PTT 
and mic audio grounds.  Such a reversal guarantees hum and 
RFI problems if an external device (e.g., soundcard, audio 
processor, equalizer, etc.) is connected to the mic input. 

Kenwood is very aware of the issue - it is even documented in 
the service manual.  However, production units have not been 
fixed, the user's manual does not have a corrected mic jack 
documentation and the hand microphones have not been changed 
to correspond to the actual wiring of the mic jack.  

This problem has existed without public acknowledgement or fix 
for almost as long as the Toyota accelerator problem.  On the 
other hand, Elecraft acknowledged and fixed the "pin 1" problem 
on their microphones within weeks of its identification and 
confirmation.  

73, 

   ... Joe, W4TV 
  




> -----Original Message-----
> From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net 
> [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of juergen
> Sent: Sunday, February 14, 2010 9:47 PM
> To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 & Competition
> 
> 
> 
> I would not be so dismissive of the competition. The 
> emotional value of the Kenwood name in ham radio is well 
> known. The Kenwood name is still hugely popular. Who does not 
> comment about "kenwood audio quality"
> 
> You joke about  catching up with the K2. The Kenwood TS830s 
> is a 30 year old radio that has  performance thats better  
> than  the K2 in many areas. It is the case of the K2 catching 
> up with the 30 year old TS830S!
> 
> I would suggest that if Kenwood released a updated version of 
> the TS950SDX or Kenwood TS870S  model radios  it would be a 
> top seller.  This would be especially so if the performance 
> matched the K3.  Just try buying any one of these models in 
> good condition, good luck!
> 
> The TS870S was radio that was many years ahead of its time. 
> It introduced concepts that  we take for granted today. Many 
> of these concepts that we take for granted were   pioneered 
> by Kenwood in the TS870S.
> 
> Just because Kenwood is not releasing numerous models of 
> transceiver does not mean its not interested in the ham radio 
> market. The board of Kenwood Japan still has a few hams on it 
> including that of the founding family. It has been said in 
> numerous places that the ham division of kenwood was  not 
> closed had it not been for these  ham board members who had 
> an emotional attachment with this hobby and its role in the 
> companies history.
> 
> Kenwood could release a new model transceiver every month if 
> it wanted to do that. Its in-house engineering  and 
> development  department is much bigger than Yaesu or Icoms. 
> Most of the engineers at Icom and Vertex got most of their 
> training at Kenwood.  Alinco is a company that is very good 
> at poaching Kenwood Engineers and designing the same products 
> with their name on it.
> 
> In reality I prefer the way Kenwood does things. The Kenwood 
> TS480HX is a good example of this. Well researched, well 
> designed and well built.  Turning out radios like Icom does  
> full of bugs and component failure is certainly not very 
> professional.  
> 
> I am sure if Kenwood designed the IC7700 it would not have PA 
> device failure, or static problems when you touched the radio.
> 
> There is 2 rumors going around. The first is that Kenwood is 
> designing a direct sampling super HF transceiver. This rumor 
> comes  from a good source who indicates that the radio was 
> being developed for the Japanese services. This came about 
> because of Kenwoods links with JRC who have essentially 
> closed down their HF radio manufacturing division.
> 
>  The second  rumour is that  Kenwood is  also designing a K3 
> like radio.  This makes good  sense because this is what 
> market wants. The last thing we need is a another 70mhz IF 
> radio with below average performance.
> 
> All of these long debates we have been having about receiver 
> and transmitter performance is only going to result in better 
> products for us all. The only losers in this debate are the 
> manufacturers who cant deliver performance. Those who insist 
> on charge ridiculous prices for sub-standard products that 
> dont meet the needs  of the market will suffer.  You can only 
> rely on a color screen, a big box and 20,000 knobs for so 
> long before the customers  wake up and realize its just hot 
> air and will ask for better performance. 
> 
> We know that the better performance cant be delivered with 
> the up conversion architecture, so dont be surprised if  
> there is a 9mhz IF radio with a huge color screen some time 
> soon! If Elecraft wants to keep its market share it cant just 
> rest on its receiver laurels either.
> 
> John
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --- On Sun, 2/14/10, lstavenhagen <lstavenhagen at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > From: lstavenhagen <lstavenhagen at hotmail.com>
> > Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 & Competition
> > To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> > Date: Sunday, February 14, 2010, 5:37 PM
> > 
> > Heck they're still trying to catch up to the K2.... and
> > Icom and Yeasu too.
> > And I dont think any of them yet make a rig with the
> > performance of the K3
> > at all...
> > 
> > LS
> > W5QD, K2 #6880
> > --
> > View this message in context: 
> http://n2.nabble.com/K3-Competition-tp4571345p4572492.html
> > Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
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> 
>       
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