[Elecraft] A modest proposal...

[Don Wilhelm]

While "green is good", I do not think an assembly or operator's manual 
in electronic form is practical.
It would only result in most owners printing the manual locally, and 
that nullifies the overall "greenness".

It is more costly for individuals to print locally than for the manual 
to be printed in bulk, so the overall global cost would be increased 
even if a few dollars could be saved on the kit price.

Have you ever tried to put checkmarks into an electronic manual on a 
computer screen?  I shudder at the thought of following a long list of 
resistors or capacitors to be inserted on a computer display.  It is 
just too easy to lose your place - take a look at the K2 assembly if you 
do not know about the lists I refer to.

How about working your way through a multipage schematic on a computer 
display during troubleshooting?  Printed pages are a great help in those 
instances.

I agree that in many instances .pdf manual have advantages, especially 
for archiving, but Elecraft already makes those available for download.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 8/21/2011 4:14 AM, Alastair Couper wrote:
> I would like to suggest that the good folks at Elecraft consider making
> paper manuals an optional item at check out time. It could save a little
> money and paper, and some like myself are more inclined to download the
> info in any case. Especially with radios that are evolving, like the K3,
> one ends up doing this when new firmware makes the old paper manual
> incomplete. So just being able to eliminate the paper completely would be
> a fine thing, IMHO.
>
> NH7O
>