[Elecraft] KPA 500

[Guy Olinger K2AV]

There are a bunch of guys on this reflector, however decent and
technically competent, that I would never want to run a business I had
stock in.  Decent folks, probably be great neighbors, and favored ham
buddies, would trust my kids with them, but they would do what 85% of
all startup businesses do, go bankrupt.

There is a concept they are edging toward in their K3 nit-picking, and
it's called mil-spec.  They just don't want to admit it.

A company that makes mil-spec MUST charge for it.  A company that
allows construction options MUST charge for it.  The screws themselves
either add bucks to ALL of the products, OR options increase
production complexity and therefore cost for the option.

However embedded, LABOR is the major cost of a radio.  Even the cost
of a screw has labor embedded in it.

There ARE mil-spec radios that exceed K3 specs.  You can buy them.
You can get a LOT of that mil-spec in a K3, but not all.  Exactly what
part of that "lot of a mil-spec" was a business decision.

If Elecraft were to go bankrupt, I'm fairly convinced that would make
some posters happy.  But bankrupt would bring further development and
features to a crashing halt.  And who repairs K3's then?  Who will
line up a source for your stainless screws and make them available
then.

There's a real easy answer for the malcontents.  Are you peeved?  Put
it up for sale right here.  I've noticed that they sell REALLY fast,
usually in a couple hours for most of the retail price.  Then you can
go to another reflector and complain about Yakencom.  They'll be happy
to have you back.  They might even put you in an ad about how you
switched back to Yakencom because you didn't like the screws.

OR, you could go out and buy 4000 K3's worth of stainless steel
screws, drop your day job, spend several thousand dollars on
advertisements for your new stainless steel screw replacement service,
charge four times the minimum wage for your assembly time plus screw
cost, and then wait for the business and profits to roll in to pay
your mortgage and grocery bill.

Myself, I hope Elecraft keeps making SOUND BUSINESS DECISIONS.  I
already know they have the technical moxy and the most
customer-centric policies in this business niche. At this point, for
me personally, their greatest worth is that they stay in business and
keep developing.  I want them PROFITABLE so I get to keep them. I feel
good about that because Elecraft was developing products and making a
profit right through the worst recession since the great depression on
a product line that is completely optional to everyday life.

They must be doing SOMETHING right smack on dead center to have half
of all the transceivers at WRTC and made it through these financial
conditions.

73, Guy.