[Elecraft] Pretty-printed manuals...

[John Ragle]

Although my original response to "the original suggestion" was intended 
to be somewhat jocular, I am really quite appalled at the number of 
people who (a) thought I suggested DOING AWAY with manuals, and (b) took 
their hip-shot at me for making a suggestion which was (1) not mine, and 
(2) not what was suggested anyhow.

It makes me wonder if written manuals serve any purpose at all -- since 
people evidently can't extract meaning from what they read.

It is also appalling (but no longer surprising to me) that there are so 
many hams out there who are relegating themselves to the early 20th 
century. The Elecraft design line is very modern and designed to take 
advantage of, but not be dependent upon, the ubiquitous presence of 
computers. According to the latest surveys, roughly 2/3 of ALL American 
households contain at least one computer. Why is it that a supposedly 
technologically-adept hobby like ham radio contains such a larger than 
average Luddite constituency?

In addition, though some readers thought they saw the concept "GREEN" in 
my note, again this is reading with no comprehension. The original 
point, which BTW came from Alistair Cooper's post, was that people might 
recognize the choice offered and save the manufacturer and themselves 
money by not requesting a pretty-printed manual. The lovely Elecraft 
manuals, printed on high quality stock, are not cheap to produce, and 
local printing of a few selected pages on cheap Staples stock is 
certainly "greener."

With regard to checking boxes, I have made a K2 with almost all its 
accessories, an XV144, along with numerous other kits over the years, 
and in the recent half-dozen builds, I have not used the printed manuals 
at all. Anyone who thinks it is somehow difficult to check the boxes in 
an electronic version is just plain out of touch with reality. If one 
has a computer, for heaven's sake use it! After all, it is supposed to 
be a labor-saving tool, not some shibboleth from a previous culture.

John Ragle -- W1ZI

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On 8/21/2011 9:04 AM, Gary Gregory wrote:
> The original suggestion was to make the paper manual 'optional' at 
> time of
> order...