[Elecraft] I thought Elecraft was a household name!

[Bill Frantz]

My club, the West Valley Amateur Radio Association (WVARA) is 
where I learned about Elecraft. I had heard nothing but praise 
for the K2 and K3 at mettings and when I was put in charge of 
the GOTA tent a couple of field days ago they said, "We've got a 
K2 for you.", so I downloaded the manual with my usual fear of 
having to learn another obscure, idiosyncratic, radio UI. Boy 
was I wrong in this case. The controls were obvious. There 
weren't any "features" that get turned on by "magic" and can't 
be turned off. There weren't any modes that were "impossible" to 
get out of. In short, I was sold.

Then the question came to: K2 -- which is a real kit and would 
let me feel that I had built the radio I was using, or K3 -- 
better performance and more directly usable in the digital modes 
where I spend most of my time. I dithered back and fourth on 
that question for months, until my wife (KI6SLX) and I went to 
Radiofest. She is a retired from an Apple QA position, and has 
definite ideas about how UIs should work. She spent a long time 
talking with one of the people at the Elecraft booth about the 
K3, and came away saying, "I think I could learn this radio." 
With a spousal OK, I immediately ordered a K3 and have been 
happy with it ever since.

BTW - This year WVARA had an all Elecraft field day.

Cheers - Bill, AE6JV

On 7/15/12 at 13:44, dmoes at nexicom.net (david Moes) wrote:

>Elecraft a house hold name?  Not so!   Only a few months ago 
>when I mentioned that I had bought an Elecraft K3 at a club 
>meeting  I would say that half of the group had a blank "what?" look.
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