[Elecraft] Is the KX3 going to be sold as a kit?

[Mike Morrow]

Jack wrote:

> I wonder whether it makes sense to offer anything more than "screwdriver"
> kits where the purchaser does mechanical assembly and perhaps installs a
> few through hole parts, such as connectors.

Indeed.  SMD components are specifically designed solely for efficient
automated machine assembly.  Human part-by-part assembly of SMD circuits 
is a gross misapplication of the design.  A complex SMD kit, lovingly
assembled by a skilled builder, would almost certainly *still* be
technically inferior to the machine-assembled equivalent.  From a circuit
quality standpoint there is *nothing* good about human assembly of SMD
circuits.  At the other extreme, a "screwdriver-only" semi-kit can easily
be the quality of a factory-assembled version.

Two extremes...I'll take the latter, and always reject the former.

Mike / KK5F