[Elecraft] Could this operate on a motorcycle?

[Mark via Elecraft]

RE:  “…with all the praise for this unit, it seems odd it is such a wall flower…”




I wouldn’t call it a wall flower.  The radio was designed as a high performance trail friendly radio (TFR).  As such, it represents the best there is for that mission.  Light weight, small size, self contained are just a few of its exceptional characteristics.  Wayne set trail friendly design requirements early on in its design, and compromises were made in other areas to be sure it met those requirements.  Use in high vibration areas, immersion proofing, and high power output were not high priorities. 


In engineering, it is easy to think that you can make things a little better by “just adding one more feature”.  We call it “requirements creep”, and it is the death of good designs that would have worked well in the environment originally specified.  You see this over and over in many military designs where government representatives are encouraged to get a little more out of a supplier than what he originally agreed to.  Unless this is limited, it kills a good design.  In the case of the KX3, Wayne resisted requirements creep and now we have an absolutely beautiful TFR.


I spent much of my career taking designs similar to the KX3 through environmental testing.  Based on that experience, I so not believe the it is the best candidate for high vibration environments due to the compromises (i.e. small light-weight components such as No. 2 screws) necessary to meet the TFR requirements.  I did, however, select the KX3 for my backpack, walk-in-the-park, portable use radio.  It excels for those uses, and makes a nice table-top radio as well.


Mark
ars: KE6BB