[Elecraft] P3 Manual Updates

[Jim Brown]

On 4/17/2011 7:42 AM, Bill Henderson wrote:
>   8 pages of revision in a 27 page
> document is way too much.

What you're complaining about is one of Elecraft's greatest strengths.  
When Yaecomwood upgrades a product, it gets a new model number, and if 
you already own the older one, you have to buy the new one and sell the 
old (at a loss, of course) to get the improvements.

Elecraft has done it very differently -- they have designed a radio that 
is both modular and utilizes DSP extensively in a manner that allows 
major upgrades simply by rewriting firmware that programs the DSP, that 
we download and install.  Those improvements, mostly new features and 
more flexible use of controls, must be described in the manual 
operationally, hence the revisions.  All that is free to users, but it 
certainly isn't free for Elecraft.  And occasionally upgrades are made 
to the hardware, some of which can be purchased by owners.

Like you, I consider the errata to be a huge PITA -- what is needed is a 
manual that is continuously updated and downloadable with all the 
changes integrated in a logical stream. That happens periodically with 
Elecraft manuals -- I downloaded a new K3 manual a year or two ago then 
printed out pages with significant changes and stuck them between pages 
in the manual that had come with the radio.

I haven't taken the time to see if a new P3 manual is available, but 
firmware for the P3 is still evolving, with VERY useful features being 
added as they are suggested by users and can be implemented.

73, Jim Brown K9YC