[Elecraft] Fw: K3 and CW Skimmer

[Bill W4ZV]

David Gilbert wrote
> 
> Even more useful in my opinion, the N2QT hardware mod allows you to 
> monitor the activity on another band ... subject of course to the K3 low 
> pass filter considerations.  I never understood why Elecraft didn't 
> provide for that capability, or why they've never subsequently offered a 
> mod to do it.    It seemed especially odd not to have that feature once 
> the P3 became available.
> 

It's a marketing decision.  There's a limited market for adding IF OUT to
the KRX3 versus simply buying another K3 and doing true SO2R.  The more
complexity and cost you add, the smaller the potential market.  Elecraft has
so much low hanging fruit to pick with their limited engineering resources
that they don't need to chase niche markets.  

If I was doing SO2R (and didn't need diversity for the low bands), I'd
configure 2 basic K3s with KXV3 and one CW filter each.  If you're clever
you can find recent units for <$1600 (K3/100+KXV3+filter)...or about the
same as a new TS-590S.  I recently bought a 2011 unit with that invested by
deconfiguring many options I didn't need.  IMHO this is preferable for SO2R
contesting versus one K3 loaded with everything.

So far Elecraft has not made many bad marketing decisions.  When and if they
do a K4, I hope they don't fall victim to the FT9000/IC7800 Swiss knife
mentality.  I doubt that will happen as long as they keep their modularity
mindset. 

While on this topic, here's a marketing hint for folks selling K3s loaded
with whistles and bells.  Deconfigure most of your options and sell them
separately.  You'll address a much wider market and get higher prices than
if you attempt to force a more limited market to buy the exact configuration
you have.

73,  Bill  W4ZV


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