[Elecraft] - Manuals (was KX3 and KPA500)

Mon Jun 11 17:55:24 EDT 2012

In this day and age, I wonder how large a subset is represented by those
who are amateur radio operators and *don't* have a computer?

I've travelled in numerous parts of the world. In many cases, the U.S. is
looked upon as the greatest place on earth - but, from a technology
perspective, many countries offer significantly greater bandwidth "across
the board" than we do here in the U.S.

A friend of mine who lives in South Africa often crosses the border in
Mozambique. Long-distance back to South Africa is prohibitively expensive,
but SMS (i.e., text messaging) is free. The data is "piggy-backed" on many
transmissions. Try convincing AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, etc., that they could
do that here.

In numerous contries around the world, you can already use your cell phone
to make purchases from vending machines. Why aren't we doing that in the
U.S.?

My first personal experience with the internet was back in the late 80s -
about all that was available to the average user was FTP. AT the time I had
a 1200 baud modem and thought it was hot stuff.

Now, with reasonable broadband (even in a small town like mine) 24/7
connectivity would seem both affordable and prevalent. However, I also
remember seeing a statistic recently that indicated more than 40% of all
internet users (in the U.S.)accessed the web from somewhere other than
their own home!

After I win the lottery, I'm going to buy an Elecraft K3/0 and a remote-rig
setup - I already have 6 computers and two iPADs!

Art - N4PJ

On Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 3:40 PM, hawley, charles j jr <c-hawley at illinois.edu
> wrote:

> Well...if you buy a computer program, you pretty much would have a
> computer. It seems possible that some radio buyers would not.
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On Jun 11, 2012, at 2:22 PM, "Arthur Burke" <aburkefl at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > N1MM has taken the approach that *they* are not going to be responsible
> for
> > you having a paper copy. But they do have a set of instructions available
> > for you to "print" to a .pdf format so you can have a "local" copy on
> your
> > PC or your iPAD.
> >
> > I find that works extremely well and it's a lot easier to remain current
> -
> > and it was already too much of a PITA to print the manual in a standard,
> > printed document.
> >
> > Personally, I find the manual availability in .pdf format from Elecraft
> to
> > be a very workable solution.
> >
> > Art - N4PJ
> >
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 1:21 PM, Lu Romero <lromero at ij.net> wrote:
> >
> >> A lot of Equipment manufacturers I work with have stopped
> >> shipping printed manuals.  You get a printed "Quick Start"
> >> or "installation guide" with the product and either a DVD/CD
> >> ROM with the manual in PDF or a website to download and
> >> print the latest iteration of the manual in PDF.
> >>
> >> Printed manuals are both expensive and hard to keep current.
> >> There are many benefits to paper manuals, but also many
> >> benefits to "soft" manuals.  There are mutual benefits to
> >> both the manufacturer and the customer, and yes, detractions
> >> as well. One video server device that I use has the manual
> >> included in the product's hard drive as a web page which
> >> they update remotely and automatically via the internet as
> >> needed.  Anywhere you use the product, the manual is as
> >> close as the client computer's browser. When (not *IF*,
> >> *WHEN*!) the server goes down, though, how do you reference
> >> the manual if you didnt print it or move it to your
> >> Ipad/Tablet?
> >>
> >> Im still not "paperless" in manuals and technical reference
> >> documents; I like to have a printed version around. Its an
> >> old habit. But Im a dying breed. More and more, I see IPads
> >> or Tablets being used for this purpose, a handheld
> >> "reference library" of sorts.  Its quite efficient with text
> >> search functions... that is, until you need the manual at a
> >> remote site when the power is out and the battery in the
> >> device runs down.
> >>
> >> The tech in the gear we use today is more and more software
> >> based.  It changes so quickly and so often, usually by the
> >> time the product ships, the manual is several iterations
> >> old.  Its a sign of the times. I have been doing a lot of
> >> thinking about this issue at work recently.
> >>
> >> So, Im wondering, how upset would us Elecraft customers be
> >> if paper manuals were not included with the product? When
> >> purchasing the product, you would have to either download
> >> the manual from the web and print it if you wanted a printed
> >> copy or get it on Optical Media and print it from there
> >> Just wondering what everybody thinks about these scenarios.
> >> Is it blasphemy?  Is it progress?
> >>
> >> Lu - W4LT
> >> K3/P3/K1
> >>
> >> ------------------------
> >>
> >>
> >> Message: 5
> >> Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2012 08:51:48 -0400
> >> From: Don Wilhelm <w3fpr at embarqmail.com>
> >> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] KX3 and KPA500
> >> To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> >> Message-ID: <4FD5E9E4.3080506 at embarqmail.com>
> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
> >>
> >> Yes, updating of on-line pdf manuals is easy and trivial,
> >> but what does
> >> Elecraft do when 100 manuals have been printed and have to
> >> be updated -
> >> open them and pencil in the changes?  I think not - Errata
> >> sheets are
> >> the only practical method.
> >>
> >> 73,
> >> Don W3FPR
> >>
> >> On 6/10/2012 10:34 PM, Jim Brown wrote:
> >>> On 6/10/2012 6:34 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote:
> >>>> This is a classic example of the results and frustration
> >> caused by
> >>>> ignoring the Errata Sheet.
> >>> Yes, BUT -- with modern desktop publishing, it is
> >> trivially easy for a
> >>> decent technical writer to keep a pdf up to date. I have
> >> several dozen
> >>> tutorials online as pdf files, and I can edit the source
> >> file, save it
> >>> as a pdf, and upload it to my website in an hour.  If I
> >> can do that,
> >>> Elecraft should be able to do that.  It's equally easy for
> >> that pdf to
> >>> include a running list of changes and additions as an
> >> appendix.
> >>>
> >>> 73, Jim K9YC
> >> ______________________________________________________________
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