[Elecraft] What made you decide on purchasing an Elecraft transceiver?

[Chuck Shefflette]

After being exposed to Collins and other tube equipment in the early 70s then being away until 2008, I started again with an Ft-897d and picked up an FT-901DM that needed a lot of work. One of our club members brought his K3 to Field Day in 2009. I spent about 8 hours running the K3 operating 20M CW  and the other 16 using various Kenwoods in a 10A operation. I decided then and there that I had to have one. The K3 was worlds above the club supplied Kenwoods and my 897 as well. One thing led to another and I bought K3 #4072 in kit form and love it.

In the middle of 2010 I picked up #4407 after it had suffered a lightning strike. I hoped that I'd be able to salvage at least the filters. To my surprise, most of the radio worked. After replacing the obviously destroyed KIO3 and did some troubleshooting by swapping boards between the two, it was obvious the front panel had a problem - the TX pin on the MCU was being held high. Support at Elecraft was wonderful during the troubleshooting exercise and did a wonderful job repairing the front panel. The DSP ended up needing replacement as well. Now I have two fully operational K3s to keep the 901 company. The 897 is in the hands of another new ham.

If this had been one of the big 3's radios, I'm sure the repair bill would have exceeded the cost of a new radio and I would probably have used it for parts. Instead, for a fraction of the cost of a new K3, I have a fully operational second K3. I give credit to all the staff at Elecraft, not only for the wonderful design but for their help in getting 4407 working again.

Since we were planning a trip to the West Coast about the time the front panel repair was complete, I made a stop into the Elecraft office in Watsonville a part of the trip. It was great to meet everyone there, see the KPA500 on the bench and pick up the front panel and DSP while I was there.

Hats off to Elecraft. I will certainly pick up some more of the mini modules and am considering one of their smaller radios for really portable operation.

73,

Chuck - AA3CS